Page 101 of Entombed In Sin

As I run out of the house through the open back door and slip around the building, praying no one sees us, I have the urge to scream for help. I tamp it down—as hard as it is to do so. I can’t draw that type of attention to us.

It’s difficult not to stumble as the world tilts on its axis. Each time it does, I have to take a second to breathe evenly before I can continue. I feel Beatrix slipping away with each wasted pause on the way to the car.

After what feels like trekking for miles, I spot the green sedan.

I have to put Beatrix down to grab the keys, unlock the car, and open the back door. When I attempt to lay her in the backseat, I’m not as gentle or as careful as I’d like to be. I practically drop her onto the seat as my arms give out.

“Fuck, sorry,” I groan as I reach up and brace myself on the door frame.

Beatrix doesn’t respond.

“Just hold on for me, Beatrix,” I plead, forcing myself to shut the back door and hurry around the car.

When I climb into the driver’s seat, I fumble to get the keys into the ignition. My shoulders sag in relief when I finally get thecar to start. When we peel away from the curb, I only have one thought:

Get Beatrix Starr to the hospital before it’s too late.

Somehow, I find the hospital.

I get us there in one piece, but just barely. There were a few times I blinked and the road had turned fuzzy. Cars honked as I swerved and took turns too fast. Maybe I clipped a parked car or two? I can’t remember, and I don’t really care.

Throwing the car into park, I yank open the door and attempt to get out. I only manage to fall out of the car, landing on my hands and knees.

“Help,”I say, my voice hoarse and slurred. “Help us…please.”

With a great deal of effort, I manage to get my feet beneath me and stand. My stomach revolts and immediately I’m folding in half and throwing up. The little bit of food I’ve consumed splatters onto the pavement.

“Sir? Are you al—” a sharp, concerned voice calls out.

“Help,” I manage to rasp out after I stop heaving. When I straighten slowly, I find a young woman, probably younger than Beatrix, staring at me in alarm.

“I’ll get someone,” she says, blinking away her shock before she turns on her heels and hurries inside the building.

I don’t wait for her to return. Somehow, I manage to get Beatrix out of the back of the car and into my arms. Just as I turn around, a flurry of nurses and doctors appear.

“What happened?” a doctor asks in alarm as nurses take Beatrix from me. They place her on a gurney just as another is rolled out with another handful of nurses.

I scramble for something to say. During the ride, I was supposed to come up with something to explain our situation, but I’d been too focused on trying to get us here in one piece. I can’t let them find Angel Eyes’ house. I don’t know if he has any evidence of us and our nighttime activities. But how can I possibly explain our condition? Thinking fast, I grasp at partial truths and hope to hell like I can piece them together to give me a good story to tell.

“We…my, ah, wife and I,” I start as hands push me down to the gurney. I go willingly, but I keep my eyes on Beatrix as they roll her through the automatic sliding glass doors into the hospital. I’m pushed right in after her. “We were kidnapped but, ah, managed to escape. I stole a car to get us here.”

“Kidnapped?” someone, a nurse, gasps.

“Is Beatrix going to be ok?” I ask anxiously as the nurses that are rolling her gurney put distance between us. We’re following but too slowly for my liking. I start to roll off the bed, but hands push me back down.

“We’re going to do our best to help youboth,” a doctor says between barking orders to the nurses around me.

A woman peers down at me, shining a light in my good eye. I blink at the sharp pain. She says something to the nurse beside her and that one takes down notes.

“Please, I need to make sure she’s alright,” I demand weakly. “Please.”

“I need you to stay calm, sir. Can you tell me your name? And you said that’s your wife? What’s her name again?”

I swallow hard before answering. “I’m Knox and that’s Beatrix… Last name Keele.”

“Alright, Mr. Keele. We’re going to check you out, and when we hear anything about your wife, we’ll let you know,” the doctor says. “We’ll do everything in our power to save her.”

I nod, my head dropping down onto the shitty hospital pillow. The fluorescent lights overhead dim as I finally take a second to breathe.

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