Page 5 of Darkest Descent

Masked and relaxed. Anger boiled myblood.

“Hello beautifuls,” he said, his voice gruff, deep, a little muffled under themask.“I’m so looking forward to playing withyou.”

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Alice

Playing.

Like this was agame.

I scrambled up to my feet and raced towards the fucker who’d taken us, rage overtaking any sense ofself-preservation.My body ached, my head throbbed, but his masked face was all Isaw.

Asher clambered up too, yelling at me to stop, trying in vain to grab me before I did somethingstupid.But he was too far away and slammed onto his knees instead, the rope around his ankle catchinghim.

I lunged, screaming something even I didn’t understand, and I…missed.My tied up ankle tugged behind me and I crashed to the floor like Asher, just out of reach of the asshole, who was standing with his arms crossed over his chest, not an ounce ofconcern evident.He tipped his head to the side.Chuckled.

“You’ll be fun to break,” he said, like he was telling me the fucking restaurant specials, so calm andcasual.When I huffed and tried to recover, he pulled a knife from his pocket and used the handle to scratch at his scalp, messing up his blackhair.“Brilliant news.Exciting.”

“Fuck you,” I groaned, shuffling back on the floor, trying to hide how much my ankle nowhurt.The rope had burned my skin on the way down, thick and rough as itwas.My brain fought to panic. On the edges of my mind, it tried to sink into despair, to let go of any fight and go into mentalflight.Asher came up behind me and helped me stand, both our eyes never leaving theman.

Asher was right. He wasenormous.Filled up the entire doorway as he crossed through it, wide andtall.He looked heavy, thick and muscular, not from fat, though his stomach appearedsofter.He was like a massive bear, unnerving andpacing.I wasn’t a tiny woman, but he looked to be at least two ofme.I gulped, fear making me want torecoil.

“What do you want?” Asher asked, trying to keep his voice steady and failing only alittle.I knew my twin inside and out and heard the wobble in histone.“Who areyou?”

The man chuckled, taking a measured stepcloser.“I suppose I better give you aname.Can’t have you call me asshole the entire time, canI?”

I scoffed, but he only laughedmore.There was something so unnerving about how casual he was, howcalm.Asher and I stood, huddled close, tied to the fucking wall, but he was there, twirling the knife between his fingers, lifting his head like he wasthinking.“Call meHunter.”

“Hunter?” I spat, noting Asher tense up behindme.If the situation had been any different, it might have made melaugh.So fucking cheesy,desperate.May as well have asked us to call him ‘predator’ or someshit.

“Yeah, Hunter.” He took a step closer to us, a large one that closed the gapsignificantly.“Now. What do you say we get on withit?I bet you’re hungry.Curious.Want to understand why I abducted you both, stalked you through the streets, blahblah.”

Asher squeezed my arm when I went to reply, answering for us before I could, “Yes, please,Hunter.We want to gohome.”

“Oh, shit, really?” Hunter replied in a gruff, mockingtone.He was in touching distancenow.I could reach out, kick him, punch him, but Asher’s hand on my upper arm told me notto.Stay calm, Alice, he told me withoutwords.We’ll figure this out. I refused to let my fear stopme.

No one would be looking for us yet, assuming it was only Tuesdaymorning.Neither of our parents were the kind that forced us to check in regularly, and it would probably be days before our roommates raisedconcern.We were alone for now. Didn’t know where we were, how to getout.Hunter was between us and the only exit, a knife and whatever fucked up plan he had trappingus.Asher and I were at a severe disadvantage, and it felt almost like a daze, a dream - how could this bereal?

“Tell us,” I urged, trying to goad Hunter into messingup.Not that I knew what I’d do if hedid.Or even how he could. He’d padlocked the rope around our ankles, for fuck’ssake.“What are you going to do? Get some sick jolliesoff?I’m fed up of your fucking face already, so get on withit.”

“Alice…” Asher hissed, but again, Hunter just laughed, showing for all the world that he was enjoying himself.I wanted to stab him. Rip his mask from his head and kick his nosein.I clenched my fists at myuselessness.Fuck.

“You can’t see my face, bitch,” he replied, getting even closer to me, the very tip of the knife pressing into myjugular.I felt his warmth, his aura pressing into mine, and I shrank back intoAsher.“You don’t know what I look like,” he said teasingly, playing with the blade along myskin.“Do you wantto?”

He scared me, he did. My stomach ached and churned, and my legs shook, but I refused to let him seeit.When I gulped, the knife pressed a little more into my neck, straining theskin.Still, I didnothing.

How much further could I pushhim?Was it stupid? It wasstupid.But I never did react well when someone bigger tried to threatenme.Asher would tell me to shut up, that this creep had the upper hand by a long way, and we should becareful.

“You’re a cunt,” I whispered. “A pathetic, weak cunt.”

Hunter’s shoulders dropped, and I heard him release a breath, almost as if he wasrelaxing.Like whatever I’d done soothed himsomehow.It was damn terrifying, more so than the blade at mythroat.Time dragged, slowed, pressurebuilt.It was clear whatever was about to come out of his mouth, whatever he was about to do, would change meforever.Change Asher too. I didn’t believe, in that moment, that I had very many breaths left tobreathe.“Kiss him,” Hunter muttered at last, twisting the point of the knife just under my ear, still not breaking the skin, but making mewince.He was so close to my face that without the mask, we would have been sharingair.Our eyelashes would have tangled together when weblinked.The material was hot, my breath fogging acrossit.Tension rose, making meshudder.

“What?” Both Asher and I blurted after a few seconds, once his request had caught up with us, so beyond whatever thoughts we’d had of hisintentions.He wanted us to… It didn’t connect in mymind.

“Kiss each other,” Hunter said again, and I could fucking hear him smiling behind themask.Sick, twisted fucker. He tilted his head up to Asher, the frozen smile on his mask making it evercreepier.“Kiss your sister. And do it right, or I’ll slit herthroat.”

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