Live Free or Die Complete Series Boxed Set: Age Of Madness - A Kurtherian Gambit Series, Hayley Lawson [books you have to read TXT] 📗

at the assembled men, “wanted somewhere to bury their dick.” Jasmine tilted her chin, and the other women agreed she was right. “They need to pay.”

Ryder looked at the hunters and generals. While she was getting beaten, no one had come forward to help her except Decso. If they got out of the bunker they wouldn’t help anyone, and the women would always be scared that one of the would capture them again.

“You’re right,” Ryder agreed.

The woman cheered, and the men shit themselves.

Ryder turned to the men like she was judge and jury. “Their punishment is to live on Level Six. They will never see daylight again.”

The men shouted obscenities at Ryder, calling her every name they could think of. All of the men showed their true colors. Ryder didn’t regret her decision not to kill them. A quick death would have been too easy for them anyway. They were finally getting served the punishment they deserved, and the women would get the Justice they deserved.

The women, on the other hand, were cheering Ryder’s decision. “We need to get everyone off Level Six. Every section needs to be double-checked. We have to make sure not a single person is down there before we send the men down,” Ryder explained.

“Um, Ryder? What about me?” Decso asked nervously, his finger raised.

Ryder smiled. “Except for Decso. He was the only one who did the right thing and helped me.”

Decso let out a big sigh of relief. The women looked at him a little confused, they hadn’t expected Decso, of all of the men, to help. It wasn’t because Decso was a jerk, but rather because he wasn’t brave. However, he’d chosen the right time to step up.

“Hey, Ryder, what about me?” another man wanted to know.

Ryder laughed. “You’ve got to be kidding me! As fucking if.”

Other men called to Ryder, and she just ignored them. Instead, she turned to Terrier. “Where’s Natalie? Mama Lou?” She couldn’t see Peter either. She panicked. “Where are they?”

Under the blood, Ryder could see that Carter’s face had gone white.

Terrier’s smile put Ryder at ease. He looked at Jasmine. “Tell them it’s safe.”

Jasmine quickly passed the message down to Level Six.

Within a few moments, Peter arrived. He stood in the doorway with the look of a killer in his eyes. His face quickly softened as Samantha’s little hand wrapped around his.

“Ryder’s back!” Samantha yelled. There was a patter of boots on the stairs as the rest of the kids came running up. All the kids were as happy to see Ryder as she was to see them. The kids swarmed her, hugging her with excitement and relief.

“Samantha worked out how to open the door from watching Advisor George. She’s one smart girl,” Peter told them, which made Samantha blush.

Carter’s eyes were locked on the stairway, waiting for Natalie to appear. He didn’t know what to expect. She’d been the age of the kids when she’d been taken, but now she was a woman, and pregnant at that.

Carter’s heart was out of control, bounding like a crazy drum. He pulled down on his beard and it was wet, then he looked at his hands, which were covered in blood. He couldn’t have Natalie seeing him look like this.

He took a jacket from a general who was beside him and used it to wipe his face, then dropped the jacket on the floor.

A large dark-skinned lady appeared in the doorway, and Carter shot Ryder a look that said, ‘That’s not her. Are you blind?’

Ryder couldn’t help but laugh, and she shook her head, “Mama Lou!” Ryder beamed, and a smaller person bobbed around Mama Lou. It was Natalie.

Carter’s eyes were locked on her as Natalie looked at the new faces. She smiled when she spotted Ryder. She looked well, Ryder thought. Terrier headed over to Natalie, who looked like she was ready to have the baby any minute.

Carter quickly glanced at Ryder, and she nodded to confirm it was her. Ryder’s emotions welled up inside of her; she’d been able to reunite brother and sister. Ryder wondered how many other people she’d be able to reunite. Many of these kids hadn’t been born here.

Ryder stepped closer to Natalie and nudged Carter to follow her. “Natalie, someone would like to say hello.” Terrier looked at her and then at Carter.

Natalie looked at Carter, confused, but her confusion started to fade. It had been twenty years since she had last seen Carter, and back then he didn’t have a head of long hair and a face covered in a beard.

They stared into one another’s eyes. The eyes never lied.

“Natalie?” Carter began nervously.

“Carter?” Natalie replied in the same tone.

The two of them froze, and everyone felt a little awkward that they were intruding on their special moment. Still, they couldn’t stop watching since all of them were hoping for their own reunions soon enough.

Are my parents still alive? Ryder wondered.

Others were thinking similar things. My brother… My sister… Where are they now? Will they remember me? And the question everyone in the bunker had, “Why didn’t they rescue me?”

Ryder wasn’t going to get soppy now. She had come to rescue them, but they weren’t out yet. Once they were, she’d go and find her family and be reunited like Natalie and Carter.

Carter stepped closer to Natalie, who raised her hand haltingly. “Can I?” she asked, and he nodded.

Natalie brushed his hair out of his face and went up on her tiptoes, then looked into his eyes, “Carter!” Her curious look changed to one of joy, and Carter’s mirrored hers. “Carter…you’re here! You’re really here.” Tears of joy flooded into Natalie’s and Carter’s eyes.

“Natalie! My little sister Natalie is all grown up.” Carter was in shock at how his little sister looked, which was not so little anymore.

His arms were wrapped around his sister, the fingers just able to touch. Her overgrown belly was stopping them from fully connecting. He remembered how he used to be able to pick her up and swing her