Chapter 13

Max

"Think this belongs to one of the little girls?" Matthews says from behind me.

I shrug my shoulders wanting to just get out of here. We normally don't have any problems with the women here but we are also trained not to trust anyone.

Matthews walks over towards the small child located directly behind the woman attempting to communicate with Wells. The small little girl leans back, clearly afraid of the strange giant man in front of her, but after a moment, takes the doll in her clutch and buries her face in it. Matthews, now satisfied, stands and offers me a goofy grin.

Yeah, fucker, you have a way with kids.

I hear something shouted from behind me in a language I don't recognize and suddenly I see the woman right in in front of us, holding what looks like a make shift RPG. People are screaming and children are being run into a different locations by the rest of the women as a few men appear, and the woman in front of us begins screaming something in a language that I've never heard before.

"Everyone calm down. Put the gun down." Wells shouts as Jones tells us not to go for our guns just yet.

We're surrounded and none of us have our hands on our guns. If we make a move we're dead. If we allow them to capture us, we're dead. I look around, trying to memorize where each of my brothers are. I make eye contact with Tolino and see him shake his head in my direction. He knows what I'm about to do.

I hear more yelling and screaming and hear Jones and wells attempt to tell them to lower their guns, but something feels off. Their languages aren't meshing up, causing even more animosity.

I slowly move towards the woman threatening our lives and before she can blink, I move behind her, capturing her hands causing her to drop the RPG and pull my knife out and place it just before her throat. Wells begins cursing and Jones pulls his gun out as well as Matthews. Peterson is too close to these fuckers with guns trained on us to pull his gun out and the same goes for Jones and Tolino, who looks like he wants to kill me first.

"Don't move." I say to her knowing damn well she can't understand what I'm saying.

Everyone is shaking, including me as more yelling and cursing fling around the air. The woman in my clutches begins thrusting, attempting to get free and I use one of my hands to try and push her back towards the knife. Her burqa comes lose and her long flowy black hair comes down around my eyes. I push it away while still pushing the knife up to her throat and that's when she turns around and I lose everything.

"Shawna?"

I sit up in bed and place my hands on my face.

Another nightmare.

I can no longer tell the nightmares from my past and the daunting images attempting to plague my mind with darkness.

I attempt to steady my heartbeat but it skyrockets the moment I feel a hand grab at my arm.

"Max?"

I jump out of bed, ignoring the fact that I am naked.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" I shout not knowing what the hell is happening right now.

She's managed to sneak into my house and strip me down, no doubt looking for a weapon. I move over towards the nightstand, grabbing my boxers along the way. I quickly put them on, not taking my eyes off her as she says my name over and over again. I grab the gun out of my nightstand satisfied that it's still in there and she never found it.

"I don't know how the fuck you go in here, but you're going to wish you hadn't." I pull the safety as she fakes some tears rolling down her cheeks. Part of my heart aches from seeing her tears but I shake that thought away. She's just a good actress.

"Max, please. Baby listen to me. It's me, it's Shawna." I shake my head at her lies. That's how she got me the last time. She's lying just so she can do exactly what she did before.

She keeps calling out my name so I fire the weapon right above her head causing her to scream and duck. "Shut up. Just shut the fuck up. No more talking. You're going to answer for your fucking crimes bitch."

"Max please, please don't do this. Look at me. Look at me baby. You would never hurt me." I rub my eyes a few times. Apparently this bitch had given me something last night that has me feeling so fuckin' strange right now.

Knowing exactly what to do, I grab my cell phone off the nightstand and dial my brother. He will help me figure out how to torture this bitch. Then, and only then will she be able to go to jail. He answers on the second ring sounding groggy.

"The fuck you calling me at seven in the morning?"

"I've got her Aus." I say smiling. "I've got her. She's fucking done for man. I've got my gun trained on her right now, you in on this? She's going to fuckin' pay man."

"Max, what are you talking about? Who do you have?" I can hear someone speaking in the background and want to laugh that he finally fucked one of the club whores.

"Need you to come to my house and grab some rope. I'm going to teach this bitch a lesson, and then, only then, do we call the authorities to come and get her. She's on my turf now." I hang up before he can utter a word then bring my gaze back on the woman that took everything from me.

"Max, baby please. I'm Shawna. We made love last night Max. Please listen to me."

"You're just trying to poison my mind. You are the enemy and you're going to pay for what you did. My brother is on his way and then we'll get started."

I stare at the small girl lying naked in my bed continuing to rub my eyes but stay trained on her. If she moves I will fuckin' end her.

Ten minutes later I almost laugh when I hear Austin running into my house. Fucker got here quick. Must want part of this badly.

"Max?" He shouts and the woman in my bed startles.

"In here Austin."

"What the fuck are you doing man, put the gun down." I look over at him like he has lost his mind.

"What? Why would I do that? I have her man, I finally have the one that caused all of this."

"Max, I want you to look at me." I look over at my older brother and give him an are you kidding me look. "That is Shawna, you brought her here to protect her. This ain't protection man."

I shake my head at him and look back over. Shawna's not here, she isn't because she left me. She broke my heart and left me.

"Max, don't you fuckin' do this. Look at her man, really look at her." Austin shouts but I'm too busy wiping at my eyes. What the fuck did she drug me with and why do I keep having tears in my eyes?

Austin suddenly moves in front of her pulling his gun out as well but training it on me instead. I briefly here her call out his name but focus on my brother.

"What ae you doing Austin?"

"You know I would never fuckin' pull my gun on you. It's the one thing dad taught us never to do. That's how fuckin' serious I am right now. You're here, man. You're not there anymore. She's gone, you killed her already, and that scared vulnerable person lying in your bed, is Shawna. Remember Max. Fuckin' remember." He cries out and I shake my head of all the images plaguing my mind. I look behind him at Shawna pulling the blanket up to her chin and when I look up at the hole in my ceiling from my gunshot.

Holy fuck.

I lean against the closet and slide my body down, placing the gun on the ground next to me. Austin moves in, pushing the gun away but he no longer has to worry about, I don't plan on using one ever again.

"Austin?"

"It's me Max. You're okay, you're going to be alright."

"Get her out of here man. Get her the fuck out of here." I continue to stare at the hole in the ceiling and only blink when I see Austin turn around and grab Shawna.

She begins calling out my name and fighting Austin to get to me but he's doing the right thing. I can't be around her, I don't know when this will switch in and out, but one thing's for sure.

I need some help.

Someone please help me.