A Long Road Back: Final Dawn: Book 8 Read Free

going…”
         She choked up while looking down at Martel, who was coughing blood onto the bedroom’s brown carpeting.
         “Is he going to die?”
         “No ma’am. But when he comes to and heals, he certainly has a lot to answer for.”
         Brad finished tying Martel’s hands behind his back with a belt. Bryan Too used a second belt to bind his ankles.
         David barked out orders to no one in particular.
         “Bring me water. And something I can use for bandages. Help me roll him over on his side. We need to clear the blood from his airway.”
         Sarah was sobbing almost uncontrollably. Brad picked up the blanket she’d cast aside and draped it over her shoulders. This time she didn’t refuse it, and wrapped it around herself.
         “Please, sir. Are you a doctor? Can you heal him?”
         “It’ll be okay. I’m not a doctor, but I’ve had some medical training. I’m actually a dentist by trade. And he’ll be fine. Head wounds always bleed a lot, even when they’re not particularly serious. He’ll recover completely, I can almost guarantee it.”
         Sarah looked across the room at Bryan, who was afraid to speak or interfere and risk setting her off again. He was in a state akin to mild shock.
         They locked eyes for a few seconds. In his eyes, she saw confusion.
         In hers there was hatred and the last vestiges of the rage she’d felt. But there was something else as well. There was uncertainty. As though she was no longer confident that this man was her enemy. Could they be telling her the truth?
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    -2-
     
         They were a very odd sight, the six of them. An hour after the battle ended, Martel had been moved onto the bed to make him more comfortable.
         Sarah sat at his side, on the edge of the bed, but had shed the blanket and was dressed in one of Martel’s oversized flannel shirts. He’d long before removed every stitch of women’s clothing from the house as part of his plan to keep her from escaping. The flannel shirt went down to her knees and gave her the privacy she needed. It wasn’t flattering by any means, but she couldn’t have cared less.
         Martel, his head now bandaged, was drifting in and out of consciousness. In his conscious state, he cursed God and every man and woman on earth. He demanded, through frothy blood and broken and missing teeth, that the sons of bitches set him free. So that he could kick the crap out of every damned one of them.
         Even Sarah was not immune to his wrath. When she rubbed his bruised and swollen face and begged him to calm down, he turned on her and said, “Shut up, you stupid bitch. This is all your fault. I oughta kill you too.”
         Sarah was confused. She still believed this man was her husband. She had to believe, for he was the only man in her world. As venomous and vile as he was, he was the only man she knew. The only man whose face she could attach a name to. There were no other women around. No children either. If the one and only other human she knew and trusted was suddenly taken from her, where would she be?
         Alone in the world. That’s where she’d be. So she continued to deny that Nathan was anything less than what he claimed to be. Her husband. The one who fed her and protected her from outsiders. The ones he’d always said would someday break into their farm house and do them harm.
         These men.
         Bryan had given up trying to talk to her. So had David. Her initial trust of David waned when he’d joined Bryan in his attempts to sway her. Then she decided she no longer wanted him to treat her husband after all.
         “Leave him alone,” she commanded. “It looks like he’ll survive, no thanks to you.”
         Her eyes shot glaring daggers in Bryan’s direction.
         “No thanks to any of you.”
         She softened a bit, then