Can’t Win Me Back by Ginger Sue

The van experienced simultaneous punctures in both of its front tires. The driver lost control, causing the vehicle to crash into the left wall with a jarring impact, leaving the door dented and the front end mangled. It was a horrible sight.

Fortunately, the officers had fastened their seatbelts, so they sustained only minor bruises. But Zoe, seated in the back row, was in a dire state. Wailing in agony, she suffered a head injury and had her left arm pinned by the door, with a metal plate slicing her flesh, causing profuse bleeding.

Amidst the chaos, confusion arose.

"Why did the tires go flat all of a sudden?"

"It's too strange. Let's go and take a look!"

Both officers got out of the van. The moment they bent down to inspect the tires, they both felt a sharp pain at the back of their necks. They lost consciousness and collapsed to the ground.

When Zoe witnessed that, she wasn't afraid. Instead, she looked at the man in front of her with a gaze full of gratitude. Hopefully, she asked, "Did Grandpa send you to save me? He did, didn't he?"

in a black coat and mask, narrowed his eyes

turned to terror as she stared at him,

are you?" she

I am Ares, the son of Zeus

by iron chains hanging from the ceiling in an unfamiliar room. Stripped of her prison uniform, she was

at all. Zoe figured that she was in a basement. The air was so chilly that it made her teeth

free

the basement door opened, and three burly men entered without a word, stripping away the last shreds of Zoe's dignity. In a harrowing ordeal, they subjected

stared at the dim lamp that was swinging above her. Her eyes were

up from the beatings she took. Yet, she was powerless and could only endure the brutality that was