Chapter 18: Saving Zarah

Meanwhile, the truck that carried the captives from Mt. Zaltana arrived at their base an hour after they left Mt. Zaltana.

It was easy for them to leave the mountain as they were members of the tribe who used to live in Mt. Zaltana.

As they pulled over, the bandits who were waiting for their arrival gathered at the back to carry their unconscious captives to a cottage where they would stay for the night.

Each of them would be evaluated by the doctors and would be separated from v*****s and non-v*****s.

They would then be transported into Bridgewood City where the auction happened.

The man carried and brought Zarah to a room but when the son of their leader saw Zarah, he immediately asked them to bring her into his room as a gift for his guest.

Meanwhile, Zarah woke up and found herself inside a dimly lit room. She wanted to move but she couldn't. Her hands were bound by the iron cuffs and chained to the railing of the bed while she could feel the leather strap on her ankles.

Zarah heard a movement from the outside and so she closed her eyes and pretended that she was still asleep.

A man entered the room with a jacket made from animal skin. His clothes were a part of a collection from a luxury brand.

He walked closer to her and he drew his hand to touch her face.

Zarah felt disgusted being touched by a stranger. Whoever this person was, she would make sure to break his hand that touched her face.

The man slowly moved his face closer to her and Zarah could feel his warm breath against her cheek.

The man then said, "I know you're pretending to be asleep. That's fine. However, you'll be mine tonight."

She could hear him shuffling the fabric of his clothes and sighed. She thought that he should be looking for something and found it.

The man indeed shoved his hand into the inner pocket of his coat and pulled out a syringe that contained a drug.

Zarah was tempted to open her eyes and confront the man however she felt something pierced through her skin.

The man injected it into her arm.

He then tossed the syringe on the floor and said, "You'll feel hot soon but don't worry, I'll be there to help you."

His hand then moved to roll her shirt up but before he could even do so, there was a loud knock on the door.

"Boss! There's a problem." The man immediately left Zarah's side and rushed to open the door.

Zarah then heard the sound of the helicopter as it passed by.

Zarah knew that she had to escape this place before the drug took effect and fully control her.

As the helicopter went closer to the base of Black Skull Bandits, all Xavier could think of was Zarah.

The fear that he would also lose her the same day as he lost his mother grew. His whole body was tense.

He was sure that Zarah would blame him for what happened to her. And he was willing to accept the blame as it was his fault.

He should have been more careful and should have planned this trip well.

He vowed that as long as she was okay, he would no longer mistreat or try to distance himself from her.

He no longer cared if she was dating another guy. All he cared about now was he was with her.

He would make her realize that there's always someone best suited to be her man and that person was none other than him.

However, he also considered what Chris said.

"I don't care if she'd become my weakness. Zarah...she's the person I cared about the most." Xavier told him.

Chris was baffled to hear such a response from Xavier. He didn't expect it to come from him. He thought that Xavier was doing this out of guilt.

However, he was wrong. He guessed that maybe this was the secret that Rupert was hiding from him.

"Okay, Master. Bravo and Charlie are on the way. Should I give them a heads up that you're coming?" Chris asked him.

"Follow the protocol. Don't disclose who I am."

"Okay, Master."

Soon, they landed on the open grounds of the Black Skull Bandits' base. It was an estate with a two-story manor and on the side were bunk houses of its members.

Only tall trees and plants separated the estate from the world. They were this confident that no one would dare to attack them in their territory.

Xavier watched as the bandits gathered around them with their high-caliber rifles and guns.

Xavier's reinforcement also came and started to surround the entire area.

A middle-aged man came out of the big house and in a hurry, he told everyone to lower their weapons and they did. He received the call last minute and he immediately came out as soon as he heard the helicopter land.

Meanwhile, Zarah started moving before the man returned. If she was lucky, she could use it to escape from this place.

Zarah could feel the coldness of the metal against her wrist and she knew that she had no other choice but to break her hand.

Zarah could hear the crispy sound of her dislocated joints as she tried to fit and remove her hand against the small hole of the iron cuff.

This was where her high pain tolerance came in handy as she only felt the pain like being pierced by a needle.

Zarah managed to free both her hands and she fixed her joints back to normal. She could hear them cracking one by one.

The next thing she needed to do was to free both her feet.

She was right when she thought that it was leather. She unbuckled the leather strap and fully freed herself.

When she got up, she felt dizzy. She inwardly cursed as the drug he injected into her was strong. This drug would test her mental toughness.

She made her first step and happened to step on the syringe that was used on her earlier. She picked it up as this would come in handy.

She tiptoed and somehow managed to reach the door.

She heaved a sigh of relief when she saw that the door was not locked.

She peeked into the hole and saw that one person was guarding the door.

She quickly opened the door and the man jolted in surprise. However, before he could react, she slit the man's throat with the edge of the needle.

Her movement was swift and agile and the needle didn't break. The next second, the man's neck became a bloody fountain.

However, she didn't stop there as she moved behind him and twisted his neck to finish his pain quickly.

Zarah's green eyes flickered with bloodlust.

Zarah heard the sound of a helicopter as it landed nearby. If she was lucky, she could use this to escape from this place.

And so she started heading to where the noise came from.

Xavier hopped off the helicopter and walked toward him. The noise of the background would muffle the conversation and so the man wanted to invite Xavier in.

Xavier declined and commanded the pilot to turn the engine off so they could understand each other.

"What did we do to owe a visit from Lockbourne Mafia's representative?" The man asked with a genuine smile like he was honored to welcome him into their territory.

"Your men had taken someone that belonged to us," Xavier told him directly.

"You must be mistaken, sir. Our men had never been into your territory." He told Xavier with respect as their group was inferior to Xavier's group.

Bridgewood Province was not Lockbourne Mafia's territory. Xavier's group had territories in Country A and F.

"Ask your men who went to Mt. Zaltana tonight," Xavier told him impatiently.

Just then, one of the bandits approached their leader and told him that armed men were surrounding their base which made him serious.

He asked him to bring the two men who had just gotten back from Mt. Zaltana.

"Bring the two quickly." He commanded with urgency.

A few minutes later, Xavier saw two men coming toward them.

One of them was the man who drugged Zarah to make her unconscious.

As soon as they got closer, Xavier's anger rose as he thought about their filthy hands touching Zarah.

"Where is she?" Xavier asked them coldly and the leader looked at his men in response, "What the hell did all of you do up there?"

"Boss! We're only doing our regular tasks. The tribe did not pay their protection money and so in return, Boss Franco told us to take the children and women away." One of them responded as they were clueless about what was going on.

The leader calmed down after hearing the explanation. The people in Mt. Zaltana had to pay them money monthly but they refused for three months now.

"Is she a member of the tribe who owed us? Then, you have to buy her out from us. The last time I checked, the tribesmen in Mt. Zaltana belonged to us." He said with pride and was even thinking of taking advantage of the situation to ask favor from Xavier.

However, Xavier's gaze went fierce and cold when he heard them lying in his face.

"It happened that there were campers near the site and they saw us. So we decided to include them, too." The other one also said this after he was faced with Xavier's pressuring gaze.

"Where is she?!" Xavier repeated the same question he asked them earlier.

Meanwhile, the man who drugged Zarah came back and found out that the guard guarding her had bled to death and she was no longer there in the room.

He went to the leader's son and asked him to find her.

Zarah's actions started to become clumsy as the drug took effect. She started feeling hot flashes and she wanted to strip naked.

She knew she had to maintain her focus thus she needed to feel pain. She hit her temples with the gun handle and somehow, it worked.

She already had a theory that she had a high pain tolerance from her neck down to her toes. And she had proven it this time.

She hit herself hard as she could feel warm liquid starting to trickle down her face.

A bandit member saw her and shouted to get others' attention.

Zarah decided to shoot him and the sound of the gunshot was heard by everyone.

Xavier became alarmed and so he was about to go where the noise came from but he was stopped by the leader.

"Don't touch me!" Xavier shouted and the leader reluctantly let go of Xavier.

Xavier went to where the noise came from.

Zarah on the other hand managed to kill the last guard that chased after her.

She knew she had to leave before they found her.

"Come on kitten, where are you going? Why would you dare to run away?" Zarah halted when she heard that voice. He was the man earlier. The man who dared to drug her was standing behind her.

Zarah turned around and finally saw the man's face.

He was handsome and from the way he presented himself, he could be from a rich family.

"Come to me and I'll treat you right." He said while the other bandits started surrounding her.

Zarah would never let this man live after what he had done to her. She fired a shot at him but her gun had already run out of bullets.

The man smirked and even laughed at her. He then confidently walked to her and his excitement grew when he saw that the drug had already taken effect.

Zarah would never let them capture her so she had a clever idea and ran into the door beside her and prayed that this was unlocked.

And when the door turned, she wasted no time and got inside. She locked the door behind her and found the chair and used it to stop the door from opening easily should they manage to open the door.

Zarah paused to take a couple of breaths before she went to the window.

However, much to her disappointment, the windows had grills and so she could not escape from them.

Zarah looked around for a sharp object to use as her weapon should they barge into the room.

She cursed when she felt the desire to quench the heat inside her had grown stronger. She started sweating and she knew she was at her limit.

She leaned on the wall while trying to steady herself. She tried to remain calm while looking for ways to distract herself. She somehow thought of Josh. Maybe she was hoping that the man would come and save her.

She became angry after realizing that she still could not get him out ot her mind.

Nevertheless, the technique did work as her mind became clearer. However, her body had gotten weaker. She needed the antidote as soon as possible.

The door handle moved and Zarah wanted to stop it but the next second, the door was forcefully opened, and not even the chair she placed as a barricade could stop it from happening.

Despite not being in good condition, Zarah thought that she would kill him should he force himself on her.

She was ready to give him a hard punch on the face but she was surprised as soon as she saw who came inside the door.

"You..."

***