Whipping Girl by L. Jacobs
Chapter 11 – Alexander - 5 years ago
“Wakey Wakey.” The light taps to my face rouse me from the pleasant dream I was having and straight back into hell. I peel my eyes open, not an easy feat considering the fact that they are almost swollen shut from the bruising. Fuck. “What’s the matter, Alex? Are you uncomfortable?” Link’s smiling face enters my vision, slightly blurred from the lack of any real sleep.
“Are you offering me a massage? Is that why you wanted me naked?” My voice is like gravel, my throat burning from dehydration but the muscles in my arms and back are screaming from the constant strain of being hung from the ceiling so at least I have that fun distraction. This fucking sucks.
“You’re a funny man, Alex. You’ve always had a great sense of humor.” He smirks. “I could get someone in here for you though, maybe they could help you ease… the tension?” He’s full on smiling when my muscles tighten automatically, I mentally curse myself and my weakened state for showing a reaction to the taunt. “Oh, wait. You don’t like fucking other woman, do you?” He laughs. “You know, I have been wanting to get you like this for a very long time, this is one of the best presents that I have ever received.” He starts walking around me when I don’t react to his words. He wants me to be in fear that he could do anything while out of my sight and I wouldn’t see it coming but I’m not. There is nothing that he could do to me that wouldn’t make Ally's escape worth it.
“I’ve been meaning to ask you about that, Link.” I have to stop to catch my breath, my broken rib making it difficult to breathe. “What makes me so special?”
“I’m glad you asked.” His smile falters now, ready to cut the shit and tell me what his problem is. Finally. “Did you know that we used to be able to move out of The Guard compound once we became Elites? We had to stay close and they monitored all of our whereabouts closely, but it felt like complete freedom to us, as you could probably imagine.” He half smiles then walks backwards toward the only chair in the room. He sits casually but I can see the strain in him, he’s getting himself worked up. “We were allowed to do as we pleased as long as we followed orders. I was 17 when I finally ranked, I went a little wild- drinking, smoking and fucking anything that moved.” He barks out a laugh at the memory. “About a year later, I met a nice girl.. she was beautiful, kind, and she had an innocence about her that I had never seen before. Basically she was everything that I was not and I ended up falling for her pretty hard. I lived in a fantasy world for a year after that, we moved in together, I had planned out our future and what our kids would look like. Everything.” He smiles wistfully looking completely lost in the memory but his face hardens with his next words. “I thought I had kept my feelings for her hidden well enough but I should have known better. I fucked up a contract, pretty badly I will admit, and by the time I got back to our place… she was gone. They had taken her.” He stops and runs his hands over his face roughly, like he’s trying to scrub the recollection away.
“What does any of that have to do with me?” I feel bad for the girl, they probably killed her but it doesn’t explain why he’s been such a cunt to me all this time. I wasn’t the one who took her.
“I’m about to get to that part.” He stands again and resumes his circling, his face now showing no emotion. “I came for her, knowing right away that The Guard had taken her to punish me, I figured I could save her. Stupid, I know.” He smirks when he’s facing me again. “They caught me and put me in a room, not unlike this one, chained me up and beat me but that was okay, I was pretty desensitized to pain by that point… but then they brought her in. The brought the woman that I loved into the room and they forced me to watch as she was beaten and raped before my eyes... repeatedly. Guess who they picked to do the honors- our good friend Ivan.” Fuck.Ivan? “They eventually let the two of us go, my warning very clear. She wanted to die after, I remember that, but I forced her to keep moving forward. When we found out that she was pregnant,” he pauses to let that sink in. “We knew right away that it wasn’t mine because we were always so careful but instead of killing it she wanted to put it up for adoption, kind hearted woman that she was.” My heart starts to beat faster in my chest, things finally starting to sink into my tired brain. “She died giving birth to a bouncing baby boy.” His eyes darken, his hate a palpable thing. I shake my head, unable to believe what he’s telling me. “Oh yes, Alex, you killed her. My sweet Amelia died because she wanted to save the monster that grew inside of her. I hated you- I fucking hated you and I would have killed you if you hadn’t been stolen. Ivan had known that it wasn’t me that impregnated her, we were good friends back then and he knew how meticulous we were. He hadn’t been so careful so it wasn’t hard to figure out who your father was. He saved you, he took you and hid from me, it took me years to find you, the world isn’t as small as some people say, but once I came across your picture, I fucking knew who you were! You looked so much like her that it was impossible for me not to see it. You killed your own mother!” He punches me then, two shots to my abdomen but I take them without a sound, finally able to understand his hatred. I breath through my nose as I try to regain my breath. Link turns away so he can compose himself, breathing just as heavily as I am. “It’s too bad someone didn’t warn that little caregiver of yours, her love for you had cost her dearly.” My jaw clenches at that but I’m still trying to wrap my head around everything that he’s told me, nothing is computing right in my sleep deprived brain. My mother is dead, Natalia is dead. I’m not to blame for their deaths. I know that it’s not my fault but it still worms beneath my skin, knowing they both died trying to protect me.
“That’s where the idea of having Gifts came from. I had been tortured and beaten, starved and sleep deprived just as we all have experienced but nothing had hurt me as much as watching her suffer for my mistakes. I brought it up to the committee years later but they had shot me down repeatedly. But as you know, I eventually convinced them of the brilliance behind my idea.” Link says casually, like we are just having an everyday conversation between friends.
“Why were you still trying to help them? Didn’t you want revenge for her?” I ask, trying to gain as much info as possible, hoping that I get the chance to use it someday.
“I’ve always believed in this organization and what it does, I’ve always been proud of what we do. I knew that one day I would be running it and going against it would have been going against my future.” He shrugs.
“So you suggested kidnapping girls to be beaten... as a way to better us as assassins?” I ask in disbelief. “You wanted the same thing done to us that you had gone through?”
“The girls are never raped. They are used as motivators, Alex. We have an almost perfect success rate because of me and my idea, less deaths amongst the Elites as well. In the past the Elite knew that if they went rogue that we were going to come after them, they knew that they would be eliminated when they were caught but they didn’t care… they didn't care because they had nothing to live for. But you do! Your team was so successful because we programmed your little minds to need those girls, you would literally do anything to keep them safe!”
“And that’s the flaw in your brilliant plan, Link.. I would do anything to keep her safe, and this organization became her biggest threat. I went rogue to protect her from you.” I growl. I have to shake my head to clear it, even with the endorphins running through my body it still wants to shut down. It had been weeks since I’ve had any real sleep, I had barely had any while hashing out the plans and even less since I’ve been in here. I don’t even know how long it’s been since the last time I laid my eyes on Allyanna, seven days? Eight? My mind is shutting down and it’s taking everything I have just to keep my eyes open. “Does Ivan know who I am?” I ask groggily.
“I’m not sure. I think his subconscious has always known, I’ve never seen him have a soft spot for anyone other than you.” His voice echoes in my head and I shake it a few times to try to clear the fog as he continues. “But that’s what I’ve been so excited about, Alex. I finally have justification to kill you… and then I get to tell your daddy all about it!” He claps once after his statement, looking way too happy inside of this cold, concrete room. I don’t think it was only subconscious on Ivan’s part, there have been several instances where I can remember him looking at me a certain way, it just never made any sense until now.
“This is all very dramatic of you.” I tell him dryly. “Just think, if things had gone a different way, you would be bouncing me on your knee right now and calling me your son.” I chuckle. He stares at me, angry at first but then he masks it with a smile, shuttering his real emotions.
“Go ahead and laugh, Alex. I hear we are pretty close to finding Allyanna.” I don’t believe him, I left no trace, no stone unturned. He’s trying to fuck with me, I know he is.
She’s safe, I repeatedly remind myself every time he brings her up. I hid her and she’s safe. Blackness finally overtakes me.
Freezing water splashing over my naked body jolts me out of sleep. When I lift my head I see a few handlers in the room with Link this time. I blink repeatedly to get rid of the haze and notice that I’m now tied to a chair this time, the ropes are so tight that I can’t feel my hands or feet but considering how the rest of my body is feeling at the moment that might not be such a bad thing. I don’t know how many days I have been in this room now, at least a couple of weeks probably, maybe more.
“I’m so glad that you woke me, I would have hated missing this party.” I smile but it probably comes out more as a grimace. I would kill for a glass of water right now. Literally.
“Cut the shit, Alex. Just tell us what we want to know and we’ll make your death go a lot faster.” Link sneers. He’s been slowly losing his patience, and I’ve loved watching him shed the cool composure that he’s known for.
“Faster? But I’m having such a great time.” John walks over and punches me right across the jaw for my sarcasm but it makes me laugh. “Seriously? You guys need to learn some new moves, I haven't been able to feel my face in days.”
“Where is your Gift?” Link asks. He pauses. “Tell us how many Elites that you have turned! What are their names, Alex? I’m not fucking around with you anymore, if you don’t give me some answers I am going to start cutting off body parts and I swear to CHRIST that your cock will be the first to go.” He’s getting desperate now, I see sweat beginning to bead around his forehead and I wonder what the rogue Elites have been doing to make him so nervous. Zeke must have gotten through to enough of them to make Link look this pathetic.
“Do what you have to do, Link.” I smirk but I know that if I had anything at all in my stomach right now I would be throwing it up. “This should be a proud moment for you… you wanted to program me to do anything for her. You succeeded.” My eyes stay on his as the three other men start gathering tools, bringing them closer to my chair. “Cut away, I’ll hold real still.” I say just to provoke his irritability. I continue to hold his eyes as one of the handlers I know as Vin kneels between my legs. I don’t show any outward sign of the distress that I’m actually feeling at the thought of what’s about to happen but I would be lying if I said that this situation could not get any worse. Fuck!
“Start with his-” he’s cut off when the distress alarm rings out, it’s high pitched squeal like fucking music to my ears. “What the fuck?” He runs to the door, throwing it open then looking out into the hall. “What the hell is going on?” I can’t see who he’s talking to but I hear the words. “There’s been a breech… about five minutes ago. They just got the alarm to work, Sir.”
“I’d start running if I were you.” I chuckle over the still ringing alarm. “I told them not to breech until they have the numbers. I guess you don’t have many fans, Link.”
“Get out there!” He yells at the other men, they hesitate briefly but then run out while pulling their guns. I hear yelling and chaos through the still open doorway, nobody really knowing what the fuck to do without orders and on home turf, it’s exactly what we had planned for, there has never been a breech at The Guard.
“You piece of shit!” Link yells as he strides over to me, pulling his gun and aiming it at my forehead, the cold steel presses against my skin but I don’t even flinch while I hold his icy stare. “If I’m going down then you’re going with me!” A shot rings out and I close my eyes, thinking that was it. I’m dead.
“Alex.” I keep my eyes closed, unable to open them in my cold shock. “Alex!” The familiar slap across my face snaps me out of it, my eyes meeting Ivan’s before moving down to see Link’s body lying on the floor, a bullet hole in the center of his forehead. I watch blood trickle out of the small hole as Ivan works to get me untied from the chair. I reach down, grabbing the gun that’s still clutched within the lifeless hand. My body is extremely weak when I try to stand on my own so Ivan lends me his shoulder to help me keep me balanced.
“Couldn’t have brought me some pants?” I croak. I’m not shy about my body by any means but I am still a little nervous that someone is going to try to take my dick off. Fuck, that was close.
“If I had stopped for fucking pants, I would be pulling them onto your corpse right now.” He retorts, making me chuckle and thank my fucking stars. I still have my cock! Thank you, Jesus! The first person we come across is John, his split second hesitation is all it takes for me to lift my weapon and fire two shots into his chest. One for me, one for Ally.
We slip into the first room that we come to and I grab a pair of black scrubs and pull them on quickly, they’re a bit tight but I’m not going to be too picky at this point.
“Do you know?” I don’t clarify. If he knows then he won’t need clarification. There is a long enough pause that I think maybe I was mistaken but one look at him and I know I was right. He knew.
“Yeah. Not right away… it wasn’t until you got a bit older and Link started treating you worse and worse. Sometimes he would look at me, almost like he was waiting for me to confront him about you. Plus you look just like Amelia.” He looks down at the floor at the last part.
“You raped her?” I ask. It’s a weird feeling to confront a man about something so vicious, yet knowing that if it hadn’t happened then you wouldn’t be standing there.
“Don’t, Alex. I was young, and you know as well as I do that we don’t have fucking choices.” I know he’s right, it’s why I am doing all of this. This organization has a choice though, they are either going to change the way that things are run or I’m going to burn it to the fucking ground.
“We need to find Zeke and the others.” I say. I stumble past him but he stops me with a hand on my shoulder. I don’t turn toward him but I stop, listening.
“I’m not sorry. It was wrong but I’m not sorry that you’re alive, I’m also not sorry for having to beat the shit out of you while you were growing up because I believe that it made you unbeatable. But I am truly sorry that I didn’t stop them from whipping Ally, she's a good girl and she didn’t deserve that.” I’m not sure how to respond, this is a fucked up situation and I’m only good at talking when I’m talking to my girl so I just give him a small nod and walk slowly toward the door.
There is little activity as we walk through the halls that Ally once hated so much. It makes me nervous until I hear Zeke’s voice come through the PA system.
“If you are fighting against us then you have already lost! We are not here to kill you, we are here to liberate! If you are tired of having no choice, if you are tired of being a slave to these sick fucks then lay down your weapons and join us! We don’t want to kill you but if you stand against us then we will have no choice.” There is a little more gun fire but it stops quickly, apparently there were not too many people that were happy with the way that things had been run but we’ll find out soon enough.
“Are you with us?” I ask, looking toward Ivan. I don’t want to kill him but I will if I need to.
“Yeah. There has been a lot of activity going on around here while you’ve been on vacation.” He smirks when I scoff at that. “A lot of the fighting today started from within while we were getting the other Gifts out, we were stopped but they’re safe enough until we can get this shit under control. We are the ones that allowed them an easy entry.”
“Jesus.” I shake my head. “If another minute had gone by I would have been your daughter.” I’m still shuddering at the thought.
“What the h- ” A gunshot rings out behind us and I gasp at the sharp, burning pain that goes through my sternum. Looking down I already see the wetness of my blood soaking through my black shirt, I fall against the wall, sliding down it as I watch Ivan fire six shots into Candace's head. She fucking shot me. Breathing becomes painful, one of my lungs collapsing as I stare at her lifeless eyes.
“I-I knew I should have killed that bitch years ago.” I can barely get the words out.
“Shh… don’t talk.” Ivan says as he kneels down, placing his hands over the bullet hole and pressing heavily to stop the bleeding. “Alexander, hold on.” I blink rapidly, knowing I’m losing consciousness but unable to stop it. “HOLD ON, ALEXANDER! Hey, you! Go get the fucking doctor!” He must be talking to someone else… I can’t get the doctor, I’m dying.
“The doctor is dead.” The other person answers before quickly walking away. Fuck. Poor Rachel.
All I can think about is Ally, how I’m breaking my promise to her by dying. I told her I would come back for her, I had promised that I would and now I won’t be able to, I think that hurts even worse than the bullet wound.
“Tell Zeke that he needs to look after Ally.” I cough, scarcely able to bring in air. Ivan is screaming something at me but I can no longer hear anything other than my rattling breath. I close my eyes and smile picturing my girl’s face until I can’t any longer.