Page 23 of Echoes From Within

“Damnit, Venom,”Xander shouts in my head.“Separate yourself from those thoughts and get her the fuck out of here. You can figure the rest out later.”

I race to her side and inspect her body. I don’t see any blood. Why was she screaming?

“Sophia,” I say when I notice her eyes wide open as she stares at me. “Hey baby, I’m going to get you out of here. But, I need to know if it’s okay to move you. What was he doing?”

Nothing. She simply stares at me, tears running down the sides of her face.

“Baby, what happened?” I ask. “What hurts?”

Nothing.

“What the fuck did he do to her?” Ghost murmurs. “Apart from being too fucking thin, cold, and frail, I see no marks.”

“Shut the fuck up, Ghost,” I growl. “She’s beautiful.”

It’s not a lie. She is beautiful. Even if she is too thin, cold, and frail.

“Yes, she is. What’s Doc saying?” Ghost asks.

“He’s assessing the best he can right now without taking over,” I answer. “I’m just going to have to risk lifting her off of this table. I need to get her out of here.”

“She’s not even blinking, Venom,” Ghost says. “Check her pulse and see if she’s even alive.”

My heart races and I rush to do what he says.

“She’s crying,” I tell him. “I saw the surprise in her eyes when she first saw me.”

I grab her wrist and check her pulse.

“Her heart is racing,” I say. “She’s alive.”

“Tr…”

“Thank fuck,” I say, leaning down close to her face. Her eyelids finally slide closed and she takes a huge breath in. Almost as if she were gasping.

“There’s a vial of some drug over here,” Ghost says. “I’ll grab these, you grab her. Let’s get the fuck out of here.”

“Can’t move,” Sophia whispers. “Body frozen.”

“We don’t have time, Venom,” Ghost growls. “Let’s go.”

Without a second though, I reach down and pull her into my arms. So fucking light. Too fucking light.

“Are we clear?” Ghost says into a walkie.

“All clear,” someone responds.

“Time to leave this place,” I tell her softly, leaning down to kiss her forehead.

Slowly, she turns her head into my chest and cries. My heart breaks with each tear that stains my shirt but for the first time since meeting her, I finally release that breath. She’s safe now.

She’s free.

“My baby,” she whispers. “Travis, they have my baby.”

My feet falter but I quickly regain control. They raped her to impregnate her and then stole her baby?

Taking a deep breath in, I know that I’ll be holding it until I get this woman’s baby back.