60
Blinding pain shatters out from my spine, splintering my every thought into jagged shards.
My cheek hurts too.
I taste blood. More blood clogs my nose.
What’s under me quivers—
It’s floor. Varnished wooden floor.
A heavily-booted foot lands an inch from my eye. My other eye is pressed against a floorboard.
My butt is in the air. Arms splayed to the sides.
Total lack of dignity.
The boot swings away.
I close my eye and wait for the kick.
Instead, metal clatters across wood.
I try to breathe. Gotta get myself together.
Fire lights up my back. Did I break even more ribs?
It takes Deke’s pained groan to slap me into actual consciousness.
I’m on the cabin floor, face-down beside the torture wheel, right on my busted cheekbone. An angry mule has kicked me in the middle of my ba
