Excerpt: Point Liberty

Tee brought the hammer down on VP’s shoulder and he collapsed with his hands on his head. She showed no mercy, dropping the second hit. His shoulder moved disturbingly out of place. 

“Where is my mother?” Tee demanded an answer.

VP wailed on the floor, grasping his shoulder. Tears flooded his eyes and snot spilled in his lips but he did not answer. And so, with little remorse, Tee hit him again. This time it was his knee that cracked. He flopped on the floor, screaming out. 

“Stop! Stop, now!” His cries were not heard.

“Tell me where she is.”

Tee’s estranged behavior was horrifying. She planned on every act to kill VP, but her demeanor remained strategic besides when her hands gripped and swung the hammer. She was not shouting, nor was she expecting an answer. She expected him to die and she would need to find her mother on her own. With VP gone no one would stop Tee from finding her.

“She is not here!” VP shouted, “She is not here.”

Growls crawled out of his throat. Blood carried with spit down his chin. Tee dropped her hammer. The thud startled VP more. He sobbed again, curling into a pathetic ball.

“So where is she?” Tee asked

“I didn’t take her. I tried to tell you. I never saw her.”

Tee did not believe him. She drove her foot into his chest. He sprawled out, panting.

“What do you mean, you never saw her?” Tee spat

“She never responded to my letters. Reiker had her in his carrier, and I haven’t seen her since.” 

“Reiker? But he said…”

Tee stood back, itching her face. Her lips quivered as she paced, pondering her next step. She could not believe VP. Reiker would never. Reiker would never. 

“Liar.”

Tee spun around, pointing her finger at the stained floor where VP no longer laid. She traced the trail of blood to the door, which VP slipped silently behind. Her sigh echoed around in her head as she followed behind him. He was limping, dragging himself. He was practically holding himself together. Tee caught up to him and threw him by the collar to the floor. 

“Liar,” she hissed, “show me those letters.”

VP’s eyes grew wider than before, tinted by blood. “Impossible! I do not have them. They are with him.”

Tee calmed, pondering again to herself. “Then lead me to him.”