Page 100 of Deliver us from Evil
Something bumps my foot.
If I hadn’t clapped my hands over my mouth, I would have screamed. In fact, I do still scream, but the sound is muffled.
I jump back, my heart clanging in my chest almost as loud as that dog bowl.
What the hell was that?
I wait for something to happen. A sound that indicates movement, perhaps. More rat claws maybe.
But there’s nothing.
So I crouch down and grope in the dark until I touch the edge of the mattress.
My fingers brush the surface as I move them reluctantly forward.
I’m almost sure I can make out the incredibly vague, pale outline of the mattress. But if so, then there must be a big stain in the center, because that area is dark.
God, I wish there was more light down here.
I swipe my fingers left to right over the mattress, with no idea where I’d felt the thing on my foot.
But there’s nothing there.
Probably because I chased it away.
And I have no idea if I’m relieved or grossed out by the thought that I touched a live rat with my foot.
I’m just about to stand when my fingers snag something.
I freeze.
It takes me a few seconds to figure out what I’m touching.
Hair.
I leap back.
My scream echoes back to me, but I couldn’t give a fuck if everyone above me heard. I scramble away, tripping on the edge of another mattress and falling hard on my ass. Then I’m on hands and knees, crawling. I hit another dog bowl but this one’s dry and doesn’t splash me.
I’m half-sobbing, half-choking by the time I get close to the other side of the basement—arms outstretched as I search out the wall I know is getting closer.
But instead of hitting the wall, something slams into my stomach. I fold in half, gasping in pain, sobbing with shock, and grab for something to hold onto.
I ran into a bar of steel.
A railing.
Stairs.
I’m up them a second later. Now my sobs are tearing me apart. Bile vaults up my throat, but I choke it down with a ragged gasp.
My hands bang against something.
A door.
I slam my fists onto it.
“Let me out! Please, please!” My throat burns as I shriek out a string of desperate pleas. “Let me out!”
