Lunatic (Ruthless Asylum #1) - K.L. Savage

Ten years old

They are going to find me.

They are going to kill me.

And there’s nothing I can do. There is no escaping them. There are so many of them. It’s impossible to win.

“They’re coming,” I whisper, staring out the window and watching the sky.

“No one is fucking coming,” Martin, my big stepbrother, snaps. “You’re insane. You keep thinking they are going to come out of the sky and get you. No one is fucking coming, Zain. Jesus, enough already.” He flops onto the bed and untwists his headphones that are tangled in a nest. “Will you get the fuck out of my room? Chelsea is on her way back with Jesse.”

“You would say that because they aren’t coming for you!” I yell and tap against the window to the black sky with all the flashing lights. “They are there. They want me! Why aren’t you listening to me! Why doesn’t anyone ever listen?” I cry, feeling the panic grip my heart. “They want me to be their leader. I’m not ready.” I ignore his order to leave the room. I don’t want to be alone. I want to be right here, where I know I am safe.

My stepbrother rolls his eyes and covers his ears with his headphones, then blares rock music to tune me out. Everyone tunes me out, but my parents always listen to Martin. He can do no wrong, and it’s because he is the next in line to have the MC handed down to him. Stupid Legacy crap. I never understood the meaning behind it all.

My brother is twenty-one and got a girl pregnant seven years ago. While it wasn’t responsible for a fifteen-year-old to get his girlfriend pregnant, they kept the baby. He’s grown into a six-year-old boy who runs around without a shirt and likes to steal my stepdad’s cut, since he is in charge of the Ruthless Kings.

The kid’s name is Jesse. He is my nephew, which is weird since we are only four years apart. Well, step-nephew. We don’t have any blood shared, which is probably why I’m the outcast, the unloved one, the outsider. My blood is no good. At least, that’s what momma says.

Martin could have six kids and my stepdad and momma would be so happy. Because all of them would be normal. They wouldn’t be freaks.

They wouldn’t be a disappointment. They wouldn’t be me.

But not them. They want me.

I bring my thumb to my mouth and chew on the nail. Maybe I don’t need to be afraid. They named me their leader for a reason. I need to be there. I can do it. I can be who they need me to be.

I grip the sides of my head when the noise becomes too much and begin to rock back and forth. “Stop, please. Make it stop!” I scream at the top of my lungs. “Why doesn’t anyone listen to me?”

The door bursts open, and I jump back. My mom is standing there with a grim look on her face, but one that’s more annoyed than worried. “Can’t believe I got stuck with a dud for a kid,” she says, smacking me upside the head. “It wasn’t even that bad of a fall. You didn’t hit your head that hard. Snap the fuck out of it,” she yells, slapping me again.

“Momma, they are coming for me,” I say, tears filling my eyes. “They want me there. We need to go. We have to move.” I hook my hands in my mom’s shirt, desperate for her to listen to me. I don’t see the threats, but I know what they want.

And they want me.

“You know what, Zain? I’m going to be happy when they take you away,” Momma says as two men wearing white uniforms come through the door.

One has a syringe in his hand. “Momma, who is that? Who are they? They came for me, didn’t they? I won’t let you take me!”

I try to run around them, jumping over the bed, but my foot catches on the edge of the mattress. I tumble to the floor, smashing my face against the hardwood, and my arms are pulled behind me as something wraps around my wrists. It’s tight, hard, and feels like the plastic that my toys are made of.

“They found me,” I whisper. “There is no getting away from them. You guys have to leave! Please leave.”

“I can’t wait until I’m no longer responsible for you,” Momma says. “You’re too much to bear, Zain. You’re too much of