Page 5 of Escaped
Buoyed by my courage, I was halfway toward the next door when a sudden, perturbing noise met my ears.Not footsteps, but something far more disturbing.
“Why me?”The sound of a disgruntled man’s complaint reverberated from somewhere, spiking my heart rate.His voice was coming from the end of the corridor, though I couldn’t discern which direction.“The last thing I need to worry about is babysitting some woman.”
“Because that’s the order,” another man replied, his voice silently instructing my feet to take me to the nearest door.“If the boss tells you to jump, then you don’t bother asking how high, you just make sure your feet leave the ground.”
“Really?”the first guy whined.“Is that how this works?”
“You know it.”The other man’s response sounded smug.“Keep doing as you’re told, and he might reward you with the pussy.”
My heart stopped altogether at the crude reference.I had no way of knowing if I was the ‘pussy’ the thugs referred to, but I didn’t want to be around to find out.It had been dreadful enough attempting to fight off Hawkins’ advances, but the thought of the hordes of daft followers he had strewn around the place also assaulting me was simply too much.I didn’t know if the next room was occupied or not, but if there was any chance it was empty, I had to take it.I couldn’t be standing there when the strangers rounded the corner to discover me.
Acting on that self-preservation reflex, I reached for the handle and pushed the door open.The soothing black that greeted me was the greatest reprieve yet, and slipping into it, I closed the door behind me.
Pressing my back against the wood, I steadied the gun and tried to calm my breathing.I was glad the contents of my stomach had already emptied itself over Hawkins because the way my belly was cramping, it threatened to deposit any remaining vomit in the latest proximity.A few deep breaths helped to quell the nausea, though the approaching threat did little to assuage the desire.
For all I knew, the two could have been heading to the very room I sought sanctuary in, but I doubted it.Their language had spoken of ‘babysitting’ and that was how Hawkins had referred to me before he’d scuttled off to the bathroom.I had every reason to believe the two of them would pass right past the door toward Hawkins’ office, presumably en-route to where they expected to find me.
That meant two things.First, Hawkins hadn’t yet realized I was gone, and that was pleasing.No doubt the odious git was too busy cleaning and preening himself to have given me much thought since I’d vomited over him, but it also presented the unmistakable fact that once his goons arrived at his office and found me gone, they were going to sound the alarm.
Holding my breath, I pushed my ear to the wood and waited.Their voices were louder, but with the timber barrier between us, their words were harder to discern.Nevertheless, as they presumably passed directly behind me, I was able to make out more of their horrid exchange.
“… not this time, no!”
It was difficult to tell which of them was speaking.
“The boss seems keen to have this one to himself.”
My eyes fell closed.If I had anything to do with proceedings, their boss wasn’t going to be having anything from me.
“I didn’t think it would be like this…”
One of them was still protesting as their voices trailed away toward Hawkins’ office, my senses primed in case they changed their minds and did a one-eighty.I stayed there long after their voices were no longer audible, suspended in the intensity of such a close brush with danger.Even though the apparent risk had passed, I couldn’t compel my feet to move again.
“Come on.”
Whispering the words into my chest, I tried to coerce myself, but the quiet darkness of the room had taken on an odd solace I hadn’t expected.I didn’t know what waited for me outside, but in that moment, at least, I was safe in there.
“I have to get Eli and get out of here.”
In the end, I persuaded my fingers to turn the handle and, peeking my head into the corridor, I checked the coast was clear.
They’re gone.This is as safe as it gets.
Stumbling out into the hallway, I blinked at the abrupt light.The shadows had been my sanctuary, but the only way out of the shithole was in the light.
Inching to the end of the corridor, I glanced nervously in both directions, trying to decide which way to go.For all I knew, both led to certain doom, and with no new information to guide me, it was essentially a fifty-fifty choice.I opted to stay against the wall that was currently propping me up and turn right, a decision that gripped fresh apprehension in my stomach as I forced myself on.
The new hallway was narrower than the last one, and a quick survey of it revealed there were no obvious doorways.If another of Hawkins’ friends came wandering, there would be nowhere to hide.The next encounter was going to be a lot messier, and there wouldn’t be a damn thing I could do to take it down a notch.
Best keep moving.
It was the only thing I could think as I lurched on, trying to stay as close to the wall as possible.I wasn’t entirely sure why, but dragging my free palm along the fading paintwork centered me somehow, as though the wall was going to absorb me in any worst-case scenario.I seemed to have conveniently forgotten that it was the black weapon in my other hand that was likely to be my savior, the gun hanging toward the floor as my journey progressed.
The passageway seemed endless, meter after meter of faded paint, all part of the same never-ending labyrinth sent to torment me.Glad to be away from the morons sent to supervise me, I was still far from safety and no closer to finding the man who’d smashed into my world and turned everything on its head.
Without Eli, I’d never have found myself in the grim destination, would never have encountered Hawkins or have ended up tied up in his hideous office, but that was mainly because, without Eli, I’d have probably frozen to death in the wilderness.
Eli was both the bane and the solution, the poison and the remedy.For everything he’d put me through and all the trauma he’d inspired, I should have despised him, but a part of me recognized I was desperate to see him, to know he was okay and see where our fated alignment could lead.
