Deadly Hunt (Deadly #1) (2 page)

The Sarge just looks on surveying everything; his eyes darting around the room, like we’re about to come under attack at any moment. His eyes keep bouncing to Skye, I’m not sure if it’s because she’s the most sensitive out of us all, or the fact he wants in her pants. The guys stay for a while. After they leave I end up falling asleep again.

The doctor has been in to see me, the catheter has been removed, thank fuck. He told me the extent of my injuries; I took one in my stomach, one in my leg, and one that ricocheted from my arm into my lung. It was that last bullet that had caused the most damage. It pierced my lung, not good, but their main concern was my back. They had to do a skin graft, it looks good so far, but they have to be cautious. I’m on so many drips, I’m like a fucking tap! I’m on a saline one, a morphine one and I have one called Innohep, yeah sounds weird. Apparently it’s too thin my blood so I don’t get a blood clot with me just lying in one spot for so long. The chance of a blood clot is high, hence the Innohep drip. I was on a feeding tube when I first came in but since I can feed myself they took it out. He also said I’m going to need physiotherapy. Damn that’s going to hurt.

I’m about to go have a sponge bath, I can’t have a shower due to all my bandages. The nurses help me into a wheelchair, I push myself into the bathroom. Heaven, I see a chair in the shower. I wheel into the bathroom by the edge of the shower, I pull myself up using the bars, not putting any pressure on my legs, I manage to pull myself into the sitting position, and I’m so damn tired.

I take a seat and decide to take stock of my injuries. My leg has a bandage around it but it’s not major. I was in an induced coma for eight days. I heard the doctor and my dad a few days ago talking about when they brought me out of the induced coma. I’m in so much pain right now. I’d hate to imagine what it would have felt like if I had been awake from the beginning. The worst pain right now is my lungs, the pain I feel every time I take a breath is unimaginable. I wash; somehow managing to feel a little more human again, it’s great what clean hair can do for you. I make it back to bed and fall straight back to sleep.

I’m finally home after two weeks stuck in that damn hospital. The three weeks of physiotherapy that followed was painful but I can walk without too much of a noticeable limp. I had to scrub myself raw just to get the smell of antiseptic off me. I couldn’t do too hard of a workout while in physiotherapy due to my back.

My back is still sore, I haven’t looked at it but dad took one look at it and cried. I know it must be bad since I was whipped for three days straight. It took doctors ages to take out the stitches, they also had to give me skin grafts, and they did a split level graft. They took healthy skin from my hip and they replaced two layers of skin from my back as some wounds were deeper than others.

The doctors were worried about the skin graft taking, lucky enough it did. I would have hated going through that again. I’m back at the hospital in two weeks, I’m going to see the doctor and hopefully he will say I’m fit to resume all vigorous activities because at the moment I’m restricted until the grafts heal.

It’s weird being home. I haven’t been home in four years, ever since I went to basic training. Yeah I came back to New York, but never home. I couldn’t, the pain was too much for me, it was the reason I joined the Army. My Mom, not the addict, the woman who found me, Lydia Dallas, she was my angel when I needed her. She died three months before my 18th birthday. I took it hard, she was my saviour and now she’s gone. My dad has been amazing, has been since the day Lydia brought me home.

Walking into this massive house, it is so clean. I don’t want to touch anything and I don’t want to dirty anything, which makes people mad. Then Lydia speaks. “Honey, where are you?” it is the next voice that has my whole body freezing, my eyes darting around the room looking for an escape.

“Lydia, what’s wrong?” It is so deep and booming, I can’t help but start to shake. I feel Lydia touch my shoulder and rub her hand through my hair, but it’s not calming me, there are loud, heavy footsteps heading towards us.

“Steven Dallas don’t you dare raise your voice.” She keeps her voice low but it is direct, an order. Suddenly he is there, this big giant and I can’t breathe, I’m scared.

“Lydia, what on earth?” He has a scary look on his face. I press closer to her.

“Now Steven, you need to hear me out, but first you need to call a doctor, the poor girl is bleeding.”

He looks at me then at Lydia, “Fine, but you owe me an explanation.” He stomps off.

Lydia brings me upstairs and into the bathroom, she runs a bath and puts me into it. She washes me, I can’t remember the last time someone washed me. She washes my hair while singing softly. I’ve never heard this song before, but her voice sounds magical. She looks at me smiling, “Sophia, do you know what I’m singing?” I shake my head, I’m sad she’s stopped singing, no one has ever sung to me before. “There is a television program called Friends, and it’s their theme song. It’s called “I’ll Be There for You.” She starts singing again, I start to relax. Once she finishes washing me, she dries me and puts me in a t-shirt. “I’ll get you some clothes tomorrow, this will do for tonight.”

Then she brings me downstairs, where the man she called Steven is with another man. Steven stands up and starts to walk towards us, I start shaking again. I dart behind Lydia and cry. I hear him say, “I’m not going to hurt you, we just want to make sure you’re okay.” Lydia picks me up, puts me on her hip and says.

“Sophia, meet my husband Steven, Steven meet Sophia. Sophia, he will never hurt you, I promise.”

“Hello Sophia, it’s nice to meet you.” He sticks out his hand and I flinch back, his eyes darken and his jaw seems to tighten, I’m shaking again.

“Sophia, I promise sweetie, Steven will never hurt you.” Lydia says while trying to soothe me.

I take a deep breath, “Hi.” I say in a small voice. His face lights up and he smiles, showing a hole in his cheek. I smile back, he doesn’t look as scary with the hole in his cheek.

The other man in the room comes forward and talks to me, “Hi Sophia, I’m Dr, Ford. But you can call me Elliot. Is it okay if I look at you? I need to clean up your cut and make sure it doesn’t need stitches.”

I look up at Lydia, she’s smiling, she looks down at me and nods. Elliot comes near me and I tense up. He starts lifting my leg and looking at it. All of a sudden I’m moving. I’m at the sofa and Elliot is standing over me. I don’t like it. I start to shake, when I feel a hand stroking my hair trying to calm me. I look up, it’s Steven, I just stare at him. Lydia comes over to me with a bottle and spoon. She opens it, and tells me to have some, she feeds me the spoon, it tastes funny. After a while I start to feel sleepy.

I’m pulled out of my memories by someone calling me. It’s my dad “Sophia, are you okay? I’ve been calling you for the past few minutes?” He still has that worried look on his face, I hate causing him so much worry.

“Yeah dad, I’m just reminiscing of the day I was brought here.”

He has the biggest smile on his face “Yeah? It was the best day of my life.”

I walk up to him and give him a hug “Mine too, dad.”

I go upstairs to my old room, nothing has changed, it’s exactly the same way as I left it four years ago. I walk over to the bed and lie down. I turn my head to my left, sadness seeps in, it’s a picture of the five of us taken the very first Christmas I spent here. I again think back to that day, the day my life changed.

Lydia carries me upstairs; she walks down the long hall to a room near the end. “This will be your room, mine and Steven’s is just there.” She points to the door across the hall.

“Okay.” I don’t know what to say, I’m so confused. I have never, not once, had this kind of kindness in my life before.

“The room next to yours and the one across from it belong to my sons Luke and Scott; they are staying with Steven’s parents this weekend.” I just nod; I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what’s going to happen to me. I want to ask, but asking questions can get me hurt. I peer up at her and she is looking down at me with a smile. “What’s wrong Sophia?”

“Nothing.” I’m talking quietly; I don’t want her to get angry.

“Ok Sophia, hop into bed. I just want you to know that you’re safe here, you can talk to me.” I just stare at the floor, and then quickly scurry into the bed facing away from Lydia. “Goodnight Sophia, I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Goodnight Lydia.” I say and close my eyes.

I wake up covered in pee, I wet myself, mama is going to hurt me again. I need to change the sheets and put these into the wash without her knowing. I quickly jump out of bed and cry out, my leg hurts. I hear a noise; I need to hide. I look around and see the closet. I run and hide in it, hoping that she won’t find me in here. I stay quiet, hoping that I can’t be heard. Suddenly the door is yanked opened. I cower, placing my hands over my head hoping to protect my face from the blows she is about to dish out.

“Sophia, it’s me, Steven, I won’t hurt you. Listen, Sophia, calm down, I won’t hurt you. LYDIA!!” I look up, it all comes flooding back, I’m not at home, I’m with Lydia and Steven.

“That’s right Sophia, it’s just me, Steven, and you’re safe now.”

I see Lydia running into the room, she looks at me and starts crying. She comes to me and I scoot back, I don’t want her to touch me, she will know I messed up her nice bed. She looks to Steven who just shakes his head and she leaves.

“Are you okay Sophia?”

I look at him, I need to tell someone, I need to get clean, “I had an accident, I didn’t mean to.”

“It’s okay Sophia, I’ll clean it up. Shall I get Lydia to help you get washed?” I’m shaking my head.

“NO!” I didn’t mean to shout at him, I didn’t want Lydia to come back.

“Okay Sophia, just please don’t get upset. Why are you so sad?” I look into his eyes.

“I don’t want to be hit again for wetting the bed.” He looks sad now.

“Sophia, did you think Lydia would have hurt you?” He asks sadly.

I swallow and look to the floor. “Yes.” He reaches in and does something nobody has ever done, he hugs me. “Oh Sophia, Lydia would never hurt you, she just wants you to be okay.”

I pull back from the memory, realizing how far we have come.

Steven spoke to me that morning asking me about my Mama. He asked where she lived and what her name was, I told him I didn’t know where we lived, that it was full of drugs, but my Mama’s name is Sarah Anderson. Steven left the house a few minutes later.

He came back a while later, He looked to me and said “You don’t have to worry about that evil woman any more Sophia, we are going to look after you, you will live here with us. Nobody is ever going to hurt you again.”

We haven’t looked back since.

My best friends are coming over. I’m still not 100 percent right but the girls decided they would come to me and we would veg out on chocolate and ice-cream while watching the Fast and Furious collection. Vin Diesel and Paul Walker (God rest his soul) are the best way to help get better.

Winter and Maddie have been my best friends since Lydia and Steven adopted me and sent me to school. I remember walking into Kindergarten and looking around and seeing two little girls sitting at opposite sides of the classroom. When everyone else was talking they were both alone. I walked up to one of them and sat beside her.

“Hi, my name is Sophia; I’m new, what’s your name?”

“My name is Maddie. Why are you talking to me? No one does” she looks so shocked.

I reply “Because I want to. Why does no one talk to the other girl?”

She looks over to the girl and back at me “She doesn’t talk to anyone.” I stand up and pull Maddie’s hand, we walk over to the other girl, “Hi, I’m Sophia and this is Maddie, can we sit with you?”

She looks up and has the biggest smile on her face, “Yes please.”

We spent the rest of the day together, playing in the sand and talking. Winter kept making us laugh, she would pretend to be the teacher and wag her finger at us. Maddie, was the quiet one, always watching but she seemed to like us. She would just sit and talk to us.

They asked me about my parents, I was shocked at first, what do I say? Then I remembered what Luke and Scott said to me before I left the house, “You’re our sister, anyone hurts you, we will hurt them.” Lydia and Steven got mad, but I thought it was nice. So I told them, my mom is a high school English teacher, my dad is a policeman, I have two brothers. I was proud to say that. Maddie has a sister named Hailey and Winter is an only child.

We’ve been inseparable ever since. They cried when I told them I had joined the Army, they cried when I left for basic training. I love my girls to death, but they are very emotional, someone else crying is something I’m not equipped to handle.

They come into the living room, and bounce onto the sofa flanking each side of me, and hug me, I laugh, “So what have you two been up to recently?”

Maddie laughs while Winter smirks and I just know something dirty is going to come out of her mouth. The girl can’t help it; sex is constantly on her mind. “You mean like who I’ve been up to recently?” Maddie and I burst out laughing.

“Okay, Wints, who have you been up to?” I ask because if I don’t she will drag it out all night.

“Theo Masters Jr.” Our mouths fall open. I watch something creep into Winter’s eyes, but she quickly covers it.

“Holy shit Wints, you’re screwing the Mayor’s son?” I ask. She has the biggest shit eating grin on her face. Yet there is sadness in her eyes.

“Yep.” Is all she says. It’s not a happy yep. It sounds forced.

It doesn’t matter how much time has passed, we are still best friends who can joke about our lovers, our lives, and nothing is off limits. The difference now is that I can’t tell them what I have done and what was done to me while I was serving in the Army. I just hope that they are able to accept that.

We continue eating while watching the movies. Maddie says “We know you can’t tell us what you’ve been through but we want you to know that we are here for you no matter what. No matter where our lives take us, we’re best friends forever.” Of course Winter can’t go without having the last word, the stupid bitch.

“That’s right bitch, you’re stuck with me forever”

The girls end up spending the night, I wake up the next morning feeling groggy. Eating all that junk food makes me feel sick and I can’t even run it off because my leg is fucked for another week.

Today is the day I have been dreading ever since I left the hospital. I wanted to be there but being in an induced coma kind of put the kibosh on that. I’m going to visit Smithy’s grave. It’s going to hurt like a bitch but I have to do it, I need to do it; I have to say my goodbye to a man who I cared about like a brother, the man who I couldn’t save.

We have been here for three weeks. Marjah has been taken over yet again by the Taliban. We have been watching a small village for the last couple of days. We have seen the Taliban. There are three teams here including us, we are to watch and report back. We’re moving closer, we want full descriptions of everyone, it will help in determining who is a member of the Taliban army and who is an innocent bystander, however they knew we were here.

It was an ambush. They were lying in wait for us. They started shooting at us as soon as we started moving. We were outnumbered and out gunned. In the end they swarmed us then after hooding and bounding us all, we were thrown into a vehicle and transported for about forty minutes when we came to a stop. They hauled us out of the vehicle and dragged us into a building. We were taken into a room. The hoods pulled from our heads and I was thrown to the floor, my head smacking off the concrete with a jarring thud. My vision swam and my eyes darkened, I shook my head trying to clear the fog, pain radiated around my head and into my eyes. It was extremely painful. I needed my head to be clear, I couldn’t be hurt.

Once they took the hoods off our heads, I look around, it was only my team that had been captured. Why? It makes no sense. There were three teams sent to infiltrate that village, yet only our team is captured. My eyes are blurring again; the pain is awful. I hear a noise and look to my right, Smithy is struggling in his restraints. I see the guys that took us, they’re speaking Arabic. I don’t understand it; I never did learn it. Sarge looks like he’s following along with their conversation though. I’m so engrossed in watching the guys that took us that I don’t notice Smithy move. I just see one of our kidnappers pull out a gun and shoot. I follow the bullet or at least try to as it lands in Smithy and it’s like slow motion as Smithy falls. They shot him because he stood up, he didn’t have a chance to say anything, as soon as he was on his feet they shot him.

I scoot over to him, “Smithy, talk to me. Where are you hit?” he looks up at me.

“I’m not going to make it, Soph.” I’m crying now.

“Don’t say that! You are. We're all going to make it out of here.” He looks at me with the tenderest expression I have ever seen Smithy have.

“I love you like I love my sisters Soph. You mean the world to me, but I’m begging you, if you do make it out of here, to remember our pact, don’t leave me here alone.”

My tears are falling fast; my heart is breaking. “Of course I remember our pact, never leave each other behind. Smithy you’re not allowed to die on me! Do you fucking hear me, you’re my brother and we are all getting out of here!” He smiles at me and I crumble, I know what he is saying is true.

The man who I met in basic training, I trained with him, he was one of my best friends, and he’s dying before my eyes and there is nothing I can do to stop it. “I love you John Smith, You’re my brother, and you’re going home one way or another.” I promise him.

“Love you too Soph.” And just like that he’s gone.

I pull out of my memory, I wipe my tears. The girls are watching me, they are worried about me, I see it in their eyes. “I’m going to be okay, I promise.” I try to reassure them but they know me so well.

“We can come with you, just for support.” I give them a watery smile.

“This is why I love you guys. But it’s something I have to do by myself.” I can tell they want to say more but don’t. They get ready to leave when Winter turns around. I’m getting ready to brace myself for what shit is about to come out of her unfiltered mouth when she surprises me.

“I’m here for you even if you just want to cry on my shoulder.” I’m shocked; it’s been a long time since Winter has had a serious conversation, usually she has to add in a laugh or a bitchy comment.

“Yes, I can be nice.” Winter says, she must see the shocked look on my face. I laugh and go hug her. She hugs me back and I feel an arm around me and look, it’s Maddie, she’s hugging us both. Winter quickly pulls away. As they are leaving they promise that as soon as I’m up for it we’re going out on the town, dinner and dancing. Maddie however stays behind. Good, hopefully she can answer what’s happened to Winter.

“What’s wrong with Winter?” I ask her, she looks to the floor,

“I don’t know, this is the first time we’ve been in the same room in two years Soph, we don’t talk at all.” I’m so confused; we have always been best friends.

“What? Why? What the fuck happened?” she’s shaking her head.

“I don’t know Soph, we went out one night, ever since then she avoids me. I don’t know what I’ve done. She never speaks to me, she just stares and looks as though she wants to kill me. I’m tired of the bullshit. I’m tired of her acting like a selfish bitch that everything has to be about her, she has to be centre of attention. Maybe now that you’re back we can try and go back to normal.” I really do hope so. She hugs me and leaves.

I make it to Trinity Church Cemetery. It’s such a beautiful historic place. The burial grounds have been in use since 1697 and it’s now on the National Register of Historic Places. Yet I hate it. I make my way down towards the end of the cemetery. This is where John is buried. I kneel at his grave and make the sign of the cross. I read his headstone and I can’t stop the tears escaping my eyes, I couldn’t save him. My best friend is gone and I couldn’t do anything about it. I think back to the last time we were both state side. I stayed at his apartment. He was my anchor.

“Morning Soph, you’re up early, any coffee?” I pour him a cup and turn to face him, he’s in his boxers, I raise my brows, he just smirks. I hand him the coffee.

“We had an agreement asshole.” His smirk turns into a full-fledged smile. We agreed to be fully clothed when walking around the apartment.

“I know, but I had to escape the madness. Soph, you’ve got to help me. This chick is fucking mental.” I laugh at his facial expression; his eyes keep darting to the bedroom door, like he’s expecting her to appear any second.

“Sorry Smithy, you’re on your own. I told you the last time, that was it. You agreed. Sorry John, it’s time to man up.” I’m trying to hide my smile. He always gets into these situations.

“Please Soph, she’s talking about meeting her parents, why the fuck do I always attract the fucking clingers? The batshit crazy ones?” He looks so serious.

“You attract the crazies because you let your fucking dick lead you around. When the hell are you going to grow the fuck up Smithy? I will not get rid of this crazy for you.” I walk out of the kitchen and go to my room to get dressed.

I’m going to meet my brothers today, I’ve seen them twice since I’ve been home on leave, I’ve missed them like crazy. I walk into the kitchen to find Smithy cornered against the sink, this woman has him blocked. She is running her hands up and down his body, every time she gets close to his dick, he flinches away. Damn now I’m feeling sorry for the fucker. He spots me, his eyes pleading with me. I glare at the asshole. Fine. I take a deep breath and channel my inner actress.

“What the fuck John! Who the hell is this slut?” The woman in question jumps away from Smithy looking wide eyed.

“Baby, it’s not what it looks like, I promise.” He says and comes towards me, relief evident in his eyes.

“Oh, so that bitch didn’t have her hands on your dick? Was I just imagining that? You’re an asshole John. I can’t believe you would do this to us.” Damn I’m fucking good. I swear I should have been an actress.

“Baby, you have to believe me. It’s not what it looks like. I love you, you know that. I wouldn’t do anything to Jeopardize us.” He is actually speaking the truth, we do love each other, not in a sexual way. He means the world to me. I swing my gaze to the crazy person still standing in the apartment, she has her hands on her hips, she’s dying to say something.

“You lying cheating bastard! How dare you, we had the most amazing connection, how can you stand there and say that to her, you can’t love her, not after our connection. You’re lying, tell her the truth.” Holy fuck. This girl is crazy. I mean she needs to be institutionalized crazy!

“What are you talking about Sandy? We have no connection.” Smithy’s face is red; he can’t believe the crap coming out of this girl’s mouth either.

“Ugh! My name is Sierra. You told me I was perfect, that I was amazing. Why are you lying now?” she stamps her foot like she’s a three-year-old throwing a tantrum. Smithy looks like he wants to run. Time for me to step in. He owes me big time.

“Look, Sandy. He doesn’t feel for you the way you feel for him. You only met him last night, where you proceeded to spread your legs. Now in my opinion, that is a sexual connection. But you could have that with your mailman as well as a dozen other men. To know if you have a proper connection, well that won’t happen unless you go on a date and I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news but that won’t be happening.” I’m such a bitch, I know her name is Sierra, but she’s annoying, and it’s fun to fuck with people.

“MY NAME IS SIERRA!!” Geez she doesn’t need to scream.

“Why can’t we go on a date? It’s not up to you, it’s up to John.” I look at John and raise my brows, he never gives a woman his first name, he shakes his head in the negative. Ah the crazy got it from me. Oops. Smithy stays silent, he’s staring at her like she’s about to bite any second.