Page 7 of Cruel (Brutal Academy)

I leaned forward and threw myself back with everything I had.

The bolt loosened.

I threw myself back again once, twice. The third time the bolt flew out of the wall, throwing me back onto my ass. I landed with a thud on the dirt floor. Thank fuck it wasn't concrete or I could have broken my tailbone.

I caught my breath for a minute or two then staggered to my feet. My wrists were still handcuffed tightly and I was trailing about a metre of chain, but this was a significant improvement in my circumstances.

"Good job, Park," Hunter waited for me to step aside and copied my amazing—if I may say so myself—example. He grunted hard with the exertion, but managed to pull his bolt out of the wall.

I didn't even mind that it took him one try fewer than it took me to get free. There was a time for envy and trying to one up each other, and then there was a time to be fucking glad to be standing.

"Excellent work, Hunt." I helped him to his feet. "I'm guessing the door is locked."

"I won't take that bet, because if I was an asshole, I'd lock us in," Hunter said. He stepped over to the door and tried the handle. An awkward manoeuvre at best with his wrists also handcuffed.

The door swung open.

"Fuck," Hunter grumbled. "I could have won if I'd taken that."

"You win by getting out of this shithole," I pointed out.

"That is very true." He nodded and carefully stepped out through the door.

I followed close behind after gathering up as much chain as I could and holding on to the bolt. It would suck to make it this far only to trip over. Especially if I needed my feet for running away.

"Does this place look familiar to you?" Hunter asked.

I squinted. "Vaguely. It looks a bit like one of the properties owned by…" I stopped and squinted around.

"Caleb," Hunter finished for me. "If he's in on this, he's dead meat."

"You won't hear any argument from me." I loved our second oldest brother as much as Hunter, but chaining us up was not all right. "Although, if I had to guess, I'd say this place isn't used very often. He might not even know anyone is here."

The grass was almost up to my waist. The trees and bushes were overgrown. So much so, the shed behind us was almost entirely obscured on three sides by bush. On the fourth side was a gravel road in a state of disrepair.

"It's no Toorak mansion, that's for sure," Hunter agreed. "Caleb wouldn't be seen dead in a place like this."

"Or alive." I stepped over to the track and peered one way, then the other. "I'm guessing that's the way out." I nodded the direction the truck went. Assuming it wasn't heading to some location deeper in the bush. Either way, we had to pick a direction and try.

"You were wrong about the door being locked," Hunter said thoughtfully.

"So were you," I pointed out.

He ignored me. "Let's go this way." He started walking in the direction I'd already suggested.

I rolled my eyes at his back, but followed regardless.

"Keep your eyes and ears open. If they—"

We both heard the rumble of an engine at the same time. We dove off the track and into the thick of the grass.

It wasn't until I was crouched down as low as I could get, that I remembered the existence of snakes. Right now, I couldn't bring myself to give too much of a shit. If a snake wanted to kill me, the fucker could get in line. The same went for any spiders of whatever else might be lurking around. Enough people wanted us dead, we didn't need animals as our enemies too.

An old SUV drove past slowly. They didn't even slow down when they reached the shed. They went on rolling down the track and disappeared behind the grass and gum trees.

"Let's keep going." Hunter rose, but made his way slowly through the bush, stepping carefully, moving slowly.

We walked parallel to the road. I kept half an eye out for cars and trucks, and the other half for snakes. Apart from the occasional rustle of sound, and cry from a magpie or some other bird, the place was silent.

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