237

RUNE

Rune could taste the blood that coated his mouth. Still, he gritted his teeth, refusing to let the cries out. With his hands held back, the old man pounded his fist into his abdomen unrelentingly.

The pain was excruciating, each blow sending shockwaves through his body. Rune's vision blurred, but he forced himself to stay conscious, to keep thinking.

There was no way out of this, he knew. They were behind closed doors, in a room that smelled like dust and cobwebs; no one could hear him here.

Well, no one except Laron, whom he constantly ordered to shut his eyes. The boy stood before the second goon, eyes shut, yet tears still rolled down his face.

Every sniffle he heard from Laron cut through like a knife, and he wished he could do something, be the super dad Laron believed in, but right now the only thing he could do was stare at the floor.

"Had enough?" the old man sneered, his knuckles smeared with Rune's blood. "I thought to make this easier on you, but..." He grabbed a handf