Read Initiation: A Novella (Initiation Trilogy Book 1) Online
Authors: Franny Marie
Ryan and I walk through the tall brown grass and across the street to the warehouse. I run up behind staying close to Ryan and let him lead the way. Getting closer, I notice two windows on each side of the front are tinted slightly and there are three doors to enter in, something that would be hard to notice from a distance as they’re the same color as the building.
“Are you sure this is where they are at?” I ask him again.
“Yep. I saw them here not to long ago like I said before,” he confirms.
We head inside the building and walk down the dark hallway. The lights flicker on and off on the ceiling. As we are walking, I can hear the faint voices of people talking and the closer I get I can finally hear the voices of the I-Ten gang more clearly and it gives me a rush. As I finally reach them the question that pops up is whether or not Leanne will be here or do they have her somewhere else?
“They might be through those doors,” Ryan says as he points to it and I spot a door a few feet down.
“I want to check through those doors next to it first,” I reply.
“Okay, I'll be on the lookout. You go on ahead in,” he covers me as his eyes are wide. I don’t know whether it’s from a rush or from fear yet.
“Got it.” I run up to the door, pulling out my gun and holding it close to me while gripping it tightly in my hand.
I slowly reach out for the handle and pull on it gently and as I'm doing so, it makes a faint creaking noise. I take a peep inside and see Leanne tied up in a chair. I creep in slowly. She raises her head up and her eyes grow wide as she sees me, but I put my fingers up to my lips giving her a shushing motion.
“I'm going to untie you and get you out of here,” I say to her in a whisper.
I remove the yellow ropes from her hands and legs then taking the black duct tape off her mouth.
“Collin, I'm so glad to see you,” she whispers in delight and lifts up from her seat, wrapping her arms around me giving me a big tight hug.
“Did they hurt you?” I ask.
“No,” she says, shaking her head and letting me go.
“How did this happen?” I ask her my tone the same as hers.
“I don't know... I was at the party and... I was talking to my friend and-” she stops as her voice begins to choke and her tears weld up.
“Okay, okay. It's going to be all right. All that matters is that you are fine and no one is going to hurt you now, baby,” I promise.
“You sure about that?” I hear a voice from behind me. I turn around to see who is speaking and when I do, Ryan points a gun to my head.
“Ryan?” I say his name and my eyes widen with shock.
“Collin?” he sarcastically says my name, smiling.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I ask him, my eyes never leaving his and my body going numb.
“He's part of the I-Ten's now, sweetheart,” Kristen walks up from behind him. She is dressed in the gang color purple with a pair of black shorts and her heels to match. Her blonde hair is in curls and her green eyes burn into mine. The rest of the crew is now guarding the doors with their shotguns loaded.
Shit!
I think to myself.
I can't believe I was set up! I should have known. Fuck!
“You have one last chance, baby. Are you going to come back to us?” she says sweetly as she walks around me. “Or... Are we going to have to have your beloved baby sister take your place?” She runs her fingers through Leanne's hair and I stare at Leanne as I try to think of an answer while hiding my fear from her and them.
“Neither,” I speak as my voice echoes through the room.
“You still that stubborn son of a bitch, aren't you? Haven't you learned nothing over the past few days?” She stands close to me as she continues. “Your car and house wasn't enough of a lesson? What about being shot at a few times? No?” She chuckles and as she does, it echoes through the room, sending chills down my spine. “I think you want to come back or otherwise you would have never shot that guy at the store, yes? I have some news for you, baby. Things have changed over the last few years and as you can see I'm much more patient now, don't you think?” She runs her hands up and down my chest as I roll my eyes.
“How the fuck would I know?” I say my voice tight.
“Oh, I'm sure you've heard around... And the fact that I waited this long for you to show up for your bitch ass sister.” She says matter-of-factly with a smile. “All she did was talk about you the first night she was here: how her big brother was looking for her and how bad you were going to mess us up, so I had to tape her mouth up, to shut her the fuck up!” She wraps her hands around Leanne's hair and pulls on it tightly, making Leanne wince in pain.
“Let her go!” I demand her. Ryan pushes the gun harder on my head.
Kristen marches towards me and slams my head in with her pistol knocking me to the floor. The intense pain in my head explodes and she puts her foot on my back pinning me down on my stomach. I can feel her heel piercing my spine.
“NOW, I'M GOING TO ASK YOU AGAIN! ARE. YOU. IN? OR AM I GOING TO HAVE TO PUT THIS FUCKING BULLET INSIDE YOUR SKULL?” Her voice is rough and it digs deep into me. My mind spins as I'm trying to process everything that has been happening over the past few days. I don't know if I should go back or not. I shouldn't even be thinking about this crap, but I know if I don't say yes they are going to kill me and my sister too. I mentally gather myself to give her an answer.
“All right... I'll come back... Just please, let Leanne go. Please,” I say as I try to lift my head up, but Kristen puts her foot down on me tighter.
“Good boy. I love it when my men beg,” she says in a delighted tone and lifts her foot off me. Ryan helps me to my feet.
“Now to be sure it’s legit, you know you what you got to do,” she says with a smile and stands next to Leanne. She bends down to whisper something in Leanne's ear and it makes her cry even more. I wonder what she told her to make her upset. I don't fucking like seeing her that way, but knowing Kristen she couldn't care less. This bitch gets on my nerves.
“Oh, Ryan, baby. Will you take our sweet Leanne here to the back and stay with her? I don't want her to get into this bloody mess,” she says with a smile and winks at Leanne.
“Sure thing, Miss Kristen.” Ryan replies and does as he is told and grabs my sister's arm tightly and drags her to the back.
“Collin! Collin! I don't want to go! Collin! Collin!” Her voice and the sight of her tears drifts off to the distance. I take a deep breath and brace for the shit that is about to happen.
“You ready, baby?” Kristen asks as she walks pass me, the sound of her heels echoing the warehouse.
I take another deep breath and exhale.
Shit!
“Boys, I believe its Initiation time,” she says with a wink and takes a seat in the chair flipping her hair off her shoulders and crossing her legs, giving off her devilish smile.
CRAP!
My body is now completely numb. I close my eyes and can feel the I-Ten gang surround me. There are six of them and I'm only one. I know I can't fight them off. I know they're going to tear me apart.
Suddenly, I feel a blow to my head that knocks me down in an instant. My gun flies out of my hand and onto the floor. I immediately stand back up after the blow, my anger boiling up and my adrenaline rushing at its peek. A
m I really going to let these mother fuckers beat the living daylight out of me without putting up a fight first? Hell fucking no!
I turn around and punch one of the guys in the face, giving him a bloody nose.
“Get up and get his ass!” Kristen says with anger.
I try to reach for my gun, but one of them grabs my arms holding me back. I feel a kick to my face as I'm being held down tightly. I try to get loose from his grip, but fail. Several times, I'm punched in the stomach. The pain is unbearable, but I take it like a man and try to get loose. When I finally do, the blood from my face is pouring down. I’m feeling weak, but I manage to pull out of the grip and reach for my gun and start shooting it a few times at them, hitting them one by one, their bodies dropping to the floor.
“Get the fuck up!” Kristen yells.
I turn around, facing her, looking her over for a moment and then marching up towards her in blistering anger. I feel my face burn from the pain, but it doesn't stop me. All I can think about is beating Kristen's ass. I don't fucking care if she is a chick or not. She wants to act all tough, but she really isn't.
“What the fuck are you doing?” she demands as she puts her hands up and jumps out of her seat and takes a few steps back. I have her scared and I fucking love it. She's nothing without the guys to back her and her big fucking mouth up. I grab her by the hair tightly and as it begins to wrap around my wrist, she yelps like a puppy and looks up at me with fear in her eyes.
“Oh? Nothing smart to say?” I ask her in a sarcastic tone with a chuckle.
“Just don't hurt me,” she whispers and begs.
“I won't have to unless you tell me where the fuck Leanne is,” I point out as my grip gets tighter and tighter on her hair.
“She's... She's in the back behind those two doors,” she stutters with a brittle tone. I push her to the ground with all my strength and her body impacts the ground and slides across the floor. She crawls on her hands and knees to the wall, sitting against it. Her eyes glossing over with tears.
“Stay there,” I order, pointing the gun at her as I walk backwards to the two doors.
When I finally reach the doors, I bust through them, holding the gun in my hand and I see Ryan sitting next to my sister.
“Put your fucking gun down!” I demand him. He looks up at me and does as he is told the sound of the gun falling on the cold hard ground echoes in the small room, looking past me and realizing that the others have been defeated.
“Look, Collin, I-” he starts as he looks down.
“Shut the fuck up!” I interrupt him. “Leanne, go sit in the corner.” I see her move out of the corner of my eye, but I keep my eyes on Ryan. She gets up and follows my instructions though it’s a little hard to see as the room is small and dimly lit.
“What the hell was that?” I ask Ryan as I kick the gun over to Leanne.
“Wh- What do you mean?” He says in a brittle tone.
“You know damn well what the fuck I mean. Why did you set me up?!” my words loud and filled with anger.
“I didn't, man! I- I just...” He says quickly. I can tell his mind is boggled on how I got out of that fight.
“I'm sorry, man. They told me to!”
“Told you to do what? Bring me here? So they can kill me and probably Leanne too?!” I say as I lean the gun to his temple.
“I didn't think they were going to do all that shit. They said if I don't follow what they told me they were going to kill Leanne and me too!” His voice shakes and for some reason, I kind of believe him, but I don't want to.
“You know what, man? Fuck you!” I say and put down my gun to the side of me still holding a tight grip. He sighs in relief.
“I'm sorry, Collin. Please don't hurt me,” he begs as his voice is low and his breathing heavy. I stare at him for a few seconds and then turn my back from and shake my head in disappointment. I know damn well he deserves an ass whopping, but I won't kill him. For some reason, my heart isn’t able to bear it.
Suddenly I hear a gunshot and I freeze. Once I gather myself, I turn and see Ryan's body falls to the floor, blood leaking from the side of his head. I look over to Leanne who is holding the gun with two hands pointing it at him. Her mouth open and face expression shocked.
“He was coming after you, Collin,” She says in a low shaken toned voice as she drops the gun. The sound of the clink is loud as it hits the ground and echoes.
“It's okay, baby,” I say to her as I walk over to her and holding her tightly in my arms.
“I- I didn't want him to hurt you.” she says as her breathing becomes heavy and her tears stream down.
“It's okay, you did good,” I smile. “Let's get out of here, hmm?” I wipe her tears away with my thumb.
“Yeah, I want to go home,” she nods her head.
“I know you do.”
“Collin, your face is all bloody. Oh my God, are you okay?” she says with worry and covers her mouth with her hands.
“No. Yeah. I'm fine... Just let me uh.”
I look around me for something to wipe my face off, but Leanne takes my purple bandana off my head and removes the knot that is tied in the back. She unfolds it and hands it to me.
“Use this. I don't think you'll be needing this ever again,” she says with a small smile but her voice still shaken. I chuckle softly and nod as I take the bandana to wipe my face off.
We head out the exit and outside, I look around to where we are at and have no idea where the car is. I look back at the warehouse and head around the sides of the doors.
“I parked over here,” I tell Leanne as we head over to the other side of the building.
“That's not your car, is it?” She notices the white highlander.
“No, but you have no idea what I had to go through to get here.”
“So you stole a car?” She asks as she hops in.
“Yes, I did. I had to.” I say with a smirk and get in the drivers seat, starting up the engine.
“Hmmm, okay.”
“Are you sure they didn't hurt you?” I ask her once more.
“Yes, Collin. I'm fine. I- I just can't believe I- I killed your friend,” her voice low as her tears begin to fill up her pretty blue eyes.
“Look, you have nothing to worry about. If anything were to happen, I'd take the blame.” I say to her in a soft and sincere voice.
She nods as she looks down and fiddles with her fingers.
I pull out of the lot and screech down the road then I look over to Leanne as I know mom kept her safe until my arrival, I'm glad she did.
TWO
YEARS
LATER