Page 18 of Cruel (Brutal Academy)

She staggered forward a few steps, her eyes wide with shock. Her hands clutched her middle, blood quickly coating her fingers. She dropped to her knees before collapsing to the floor with a soft thud.

The whole room froze.

Brutus laughed. He shoved Danica away so hard she fell on her shoulder with a cry of pain. She rolled over and scurried away to curl up beside the wall.

"You fucked that up, didn't you?" Brutus stood over Mary, gun held loosely in his hands. "You're ruined goods now, stupid bitch.” He scowled like it was her fault, then shrugged.

His expression changed to a vicious smile that chilled my blood.

Would he really…

He knelt beside her. “Might as well have some fun."

He shoved her legs apart with his knees and shuffled forward between them. Grinning with anticipation, he pushed her dress up to her waist and undid his fly with one hand.

I didn't wait to see him pull out his cock. Without thinking, I grabbed one of the chairs and slammed it into his back as hard as I could. The impact jarred my hands.

He grunted with pain and slumped forward.

The moment he dropped it, I dove for his gun. My fingers closed over steel still warm from his hand. Acting on pure instinct, I found the trigger and fired off a shot into his head.

Then one each for the other two men who pulled out their weapons.

The women jumped to grab their guns and aim them on the other three men.

"You're not—" one of them started to say when Danica unloaded straight into his chest.

The other two raised their hands and dropped their guns to the floor.

What would Hunter and Parker do if they were faced with an unarmed enemy who surrendered?

I answered that question with a bullet in each of their brains. That was what they got for being involved in an operation like this.

I lowered the gun and dropped to my knees beside Mary.

“Holy shit,” I whispered. This was beyond fucked up. My stomach rebelled, but I swallowed my last meal back down. I grabbed a fistful of fabric and tugged her dress back in place to give her some modesty.

“Mary?” She was so still, covered with so much blood. It soaked into the fabric of her dress and spread like a stain.

I'd never seen so much blood in my life. So much innocent fucking blood.

"We need to get her to hospital," one of the women spoke frantically.

I choked back my emotions and took a long moment.

"It's too late."

Brutus must have hit a vital organ for her to have died so quickly, but she was definitely gone. He would have raped a corpse.

I closed her eyes and wiped back tears. She deserved better than this. She should have gotten out of here with the rest of us. She would have met someone who treated her like a queen and had a long, happy life.

Now, none of that would happen. Not for her. It was so fucking unfair.

As for the rest of us… We needed to get out of here before anyone else came.

"Try the door." I nodded towards it.

Danica stepped over and rattled the knob. "It's locked." She aimed the gun at it, but quickly realised it was empty. She looked back at the man she killed with dawning horror on her face.

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