Page 59 of Cole: Bloodlines
The giant man didn’t respond to his antics, even when the twitchy boy leaped up on his back again and hugged his neck. He laid his head on the big man’s shoulder and gazed down at Savannah with a toothy grin that was straight out of a nightmare… yet somehow didn’t feelthreatening.
“Her name’s Savannah,”he told the giant.“Isn’t it a pretty name, Bram?”
Bram. Was that the giant’s name?
The huge man didn’t reply. His small companion was unfazed by his lack of response and dropped back to the floor beside Savannah. She swallowed fearfully, helplessly unnerved by his clacking teeth.
“Wh-What…” her voice rasped and trembled. “What… What’s your name?”
“My name?”he appeared stunned that she had asked—and overlyexcited.He skittered around her, his scary grin broadening, stretching across his face.“My name’s Jitterbug… because I’m jittery.”The sound that came out of him was surely meant to be a laugh, but was more of acackle.His head tilted as he looked at her.“The mean men in prison named me that because I jittered and twitched when they fucked me.”
Savannah flinched at the raw confession.
“They fucked me a lot. Ganged up on me. Hurt me. They thought it was funny to choke me with their dicks.”He tittered.“But they didn’t think it was funny anymore when I sharpened my teeth.”He clacked his pointed teeth, grinning.
Savannah stared at him, horrified.
Something shifted in Jitterbug’s demeanor when he asked,“Did the Mangler fuck you?”His words were thicker, his voice developing an almost guttural rasp.
Recoiling, Savannah hugged herself tighter and shook her head. Tears filled her eyes as the terror of her recent impending fate welled up inside her. “But he… he was… going to.”
Jitterbug shook his head, his lips rippling across his teeth.“He hurts pretty babies,”he snarled.“Him and the other one. They wanted to hurt the pretty boys. I hid them.”
The pretty boys?
“He hurt the pretty guard in prison. He was the only one who was nice to me. He gave me medicine to stop the pain when the others hurt me. The Mangler fucked him… and killed him. I forgot… but I remember now.”
Savannah’s own trauma prevented her from fully processing the things he told her, as she just looked at him, numb and terrified.
The giant halted suddenly and pulled open a rusted door, breaking the corroded seal along the metal doorframe. He looked inside, then nodded at Jitterbug, who ushered Savannah into the small space that appeared to have been a utility closet.
“Wait… what…?” Savannah trembled.
“Stay.”Jitterbug pressed his hand at her.“Hide. Stay.”
“I-I can’t,” Savannah cried. “M-My friends are here. They’re indanger.I-I have to find them.”
“Stay,”Jitterbug insisted.“We find them.”
Savannah shivered. “They… They’ll be afraid of you.” Her chin trembled. “Please don’t hurt them.” Tears spilled down her cheeks. “I love them. Please don’t hurt them.”
Jitterbug just stared at her—and closed the door, the metal emitting a dull shriek. The giant shoved it into place. Then she heard a scraping sound like something heavy being dragged, and athudas it bumped against the door.
Fear gripped her in the darkness, sparking a new wave of panic.
They barricaded the door—I’m locked in!
What if they didn’t come back?
“Fuck.”Cole slammed his shoulder into the door for the third time, the impact echoing a hollow boom through the room. Pain radiated down his arm, but he barely noticed it.
“Cole. Stop.” Gabe grabbed his arm, pulling him away from the unyielding metal. “It's locked. Probably latched from the outside. We're not going to knock it open—you'll dislocate your fucking shoulder if you keep trying.”
“Then how the fuck do we get out?” Cole jerked away from Gabe's hand, pacing back and forth in front of the door like a caged animal, his boots scuffing against the concrete floor. His hands flexed and unflexed, knuckles white, fingernails digging into his palms. Tears glazed his bloodshot eyes—eyes that reflected a mounting panic, pupils dilated with fear. “We have to get to the kids.” He jabbed a trembling finger at the door, a vein pulsing at his temple. “Those fuckers are out there with them. Byrne went after Maddy.” He swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing, tears thickening until they clung to his lashes. “What thefuckare we gonna do, Gabe?” The raw desperation in his voice cracked like thin ice, and the anguish radiating from his face broke Gabe's heart. Cole had fought back against his dad, but if anything happened to the kids—he would still blamehimself.
“I'm not sure,” Gabe admitted reluctantly, his voice rough with fear as he scanned the windowless room. “But we can't knock down the door.”
His throat working, Cole shook his head, the tendons in his neck popping. “Then we're fucked. And the kids...” He bit his lips between his teeth until they blanched white, his chin trembling like a child's. “If we don't bring them home...” His voice shattered in the silence, fragments of raw agony ricocheting off the concrete walls. “How the fuck can I ever look Angel and Abel in the face again? How can I lookanyonein the face?” He smacked his own chest with a flat palm, the sound echoing in the concrete room like a gunshot. “This ismy fucking fault!”
