Page 14 of Saved By the Soldier

I was keepingan eye out from the cabin when I heard the big window blow apart, then Viktor comes strolling in and I fight with him. I punched him twice and then we struggled, and there was a gunshot. At first I thought it was me that pressed the trigger, but when the pain hit, I realized he had shot me.

He lifted me over his shoulder and strides out of the forest. I can hear Luke shouting for me and then I hear gunshots, but it doesn't take long for the pain to make me pass out.

When I come to, I’m in the backseat of a truck and we’re moving at speed down the highway. I hope Luke knows which direction we've gone, or I'm fucked. The pain is horrendous. I've never felt pain like it. I try to move to see where we are, but the pain is too much, and I give up. Just lying on the backseat and watching the sky and the clouds.

The truck stops and I nearly roll off the back seat. The pain rips through me and I shout out, "Fuck."

Viktor laughs and says, "You’re going to be in so much pain by the time I finish with you that you'd wish the first bullet had killed you." He gets out of the truck and goes to the bed atthe back. Then I feel the truck shaking as he is clearly taking whatever animal he killed on the mountains out of the truck.

I want to sit up. I wish I had my camera with me. I wish for a lot of things. But I wish Luke was here telling us that everything is going to be okay. I hope to God he wasn't shot. I can't bear the thought of that.

I can hear Viktor talking outside the truck. I wiggle and wiggle until I am sitting up straight and I can see outside. Viktor has his back to me, and I try to look at the man who is clearly buying the pelt off him. I recognize him, but I'm not sure from where. Interesting. He takes the animals and leaves. Yeah, I would leave too, if I could.

Viktor turns to the truck, and I quickly lay down. I hear the door open, and he drags me out by my feet and then grabs my arms behind my back and stands me up. I get a little lightheaded from being over his shoulder and then lying flat in the car.

"Slower, I feel like I going to pass out," I scream. He pulls me around and then stops.

He marches me into the warehouse where he parked. It doesn't seem like anyone else is around. Just the two of us. Fantastic. I wonder how he's going to kill me. I have no doubt in this world that he’s going to kill me. For that I am certain.

"I know you saw the Blue Wolves up on the mountain. I searched everywhere but they had left. Your boyfriend scared them off so we couldn't get near them."

"That's right he did." He slaps me across the face. "Fuck what was that for?" I scream at him.

"That's for being you. I want those pictures. I want to sell them and get the pay day that you were after. You always seem to be getting in my way lately. I'm sick and fucking tired of you beating me to the line. I want the money those photos can bring me."

"No chance, do you think I'd have them on me? The camera is back at the cabin. I'm sure some hikers might have ransacked it by now and taken my expensive camera. So, someone else is going to get a pay day or they’ll sell the camera with the photos on them. You didn't think that through very well did you, Viktor?"

"Fuck. Fuck." Viktor closes his eyes and takes a few deep breaths. Meanwhile, I'm even more scared because if he thought I had the photos, then he needed me alive, but now that he knows I don't have them on me, he might kill, like he threatened.

Viktor paces back and forth, like he's thinking about what his next move is. I'm hoping he makes the right decision-- to let me go.

But when he walks past me this time, he stops and stares at me. "What the fuck am I going to do with you now?"

"Let me go. I'll just go home, and I won't say anything. To anyone." Hopefully, he believes me.

He laughs. "I don't think so. You’re forever getting to the best photos before me." He's angry.

"You don't photograph the wildlife, though. You kill it," I shout at him. Like seriously, we are very different.

"Yes, and I get a good price for everything. Do you know how much money I would have gotten for the wolf’s pelts?

I feel his tightened fist hit my cheekbone. Fuck, I think it might be broken. "What the fuck?”

"You have taken thousands, hundreds of thousands away from me, by taking those photos and then scaring them away so that I couldn't get to them. I could have retired with that money." He's pacing again and then he comes over and screams in my face. "I fucking hate you for what you've done."

Am I scared? Absolutely. Do I think I am going to die? Absolutely. Do I wish I was wrapped in Luke's arm and naked in his bed? Abso-fucking-lutely.

I just wonder how Luke is. It was madness. I was barely conscious as Viktor was running through the forest with me over his shoulder. Imagine two days ago I didn't even know Luke.

9

LUKE

Get in.Get Emma. Get the fuck out of there. Copy that.

It feels like we watched Emma leave hours ago, but it was only an hour ago.

We’re low to the ground. Then we spot Viktor. He has Emma with her arms behind her back. Whoever he was doing business with was driving toward us. We can't intercept him so close to the warehouse, Viktor might see us and the God knows what he’ll do to Emma. From what I can see, she’s hurt. The anger is bubbling inside of me. Seeing she's been hurt, all I want to do is run towards her and fuck the consequences, but I know it won't work and he could kill her.

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