The Benders by Katie French Read Free Book Online

beam. Between us and the light, a lean, tall structure throws shadows down the road. It looks like a light pole erected in the middle of the street, but that doesn’t make any sense. Why would someone put a pole in the middle of the road? And I thought this town didn’t have electricity. Either way, this is bad. I reach for Ethan. We have to run.
    Another light snaps on, this time from the side. With the light not blazing in our eyes, I can see what they’re spotlighting. It’s a pole, all right, but it isn’t for light. Someone is hanging from it, tied by his hands, arms extended upward, head dragging forward as if dead.
    As I stare, shocked, horrified, the body turns. A long mane of gray hair stirs lightly in the wind. Not a man, a woman. A woman with long gray hair.
    Clay grabs my arm. “Run.”
    But I can’t run. My heart is pounding in my chest like a bass drum. My mouth tastes like iron shavings.
    As her hair twists in the wind I see what I feared—the bruised and bloodied face of my Auntie.
    I can’t move. Can’t speak. My legs are liquid, my belly a fist of fury and fear. Auntie’s body twists, the rope creaking, and I can see her face, the purple-blue mask of someone who’s been beaten.
    “No,” I cry, low in my throat. She’s not moving. Why is she not moving? Behind me, Ethan begins to cry.
    I run, blinded by panic. Ten steps and I’m at the pole. Before me, Auntie’s body hangs from the wrists. Her bare feet sway inches from the dirt. Jagged red marks, like fingernail scratches, run the length of her collar bone. Dried blood encrusts her chin like a red-brown beard. Her eyes are shut, her features motionless.
    “Auntie!” My chest squeezes until I can barely suck a breath. “Auntie!”
    Clay stumbles up, takes one look at Auntie, and flicks out his knife. He hands it to me. “We got to get her down. Get on my back.”
    He hunches over and I do my best to scramble up, one hand on the pole to steady myself. I reach up for the rope that binds her hands.
    Below, there’s a sickening crack and Clay cries out. I fall and hit the ground hard, breath oomp ing out. Dazed, my eyes travel to the dark shape in front of me.
    Kimber stands with his fist still balled, knuckles bleeding from where they collided with Clay’s face. When he lifts the revolver and aims it at us, I can’t say I’m surprised.
    Clay staggers up and touches the bleeding cut on his cheek. “Christ, Kimber!” He glares at the gun. “I thought we were friends.”
    “We were friends,” Kimber says in the detached voice of one who’s already come to terms with betrayal. “Then you left. We all gotta do what we gotta do. You understand.”
    “You’ll understand when you’re flat on your back, beggin’ for forgiveness,” Clay says, reaching for his gun.
    Kimber cocks his revolver and shakes his head. “I’ll kill you dead in the street before you can draw that gun. We trained together, remember?”
    Clay’s hands go up in surrender. “Let them go and we can talk this out.”
    Kimber shakes his head.
    “My aunt,” I manage to choke out, pulling down my bandana. I want him to see the hatred in my face. “Is she dead?”
    “Wasn’t last time I checked,” Kimber says, flicking his eyes to the silhouetted figure still twisting on the rope.
    “When was that?” I want to kill him.
    Before he can answer, more lights appear at the town gates. More spotlights? No. Headlights. They bounce over the dirt road, heading in our direction. More enemies. Ethan, Clay, and I tighten into a circle, back to back. I grab Ethan’s hand, then reach for the knife in my pocket. It might do me no good, but I can’t wait to cut any sonovabitch who gets between me and my family.
    Please let Auntie be alive , I pray as the headlights near and dust thickens the air. The slow creak of the rope as she turns is like a blade slowly sawing through my ribs.
    An open-topped Jeep skids to a stop, spraying up dirt. We all cough and I think of Ethan’s