Page 26 of Hysteria Rises
I’ve lost all track of time, but my body aches from long days and nights cooped up in this cell. Feeling weak isn’t something that sits well with me, but I’ve refused all food. For all I know, they’ve put another sedative in it. But if I stay on this path, I won’t be able to function, even if I can find a way out of here.
My heart kicks hard. I simply won’t handle it well if these lunatics knock me out… if I were to awaken to one of them touching me again.
I blink into the darkness, focusing on the agile movements of the man with the intense blue eyes before dropping my gaze to the metal object in his hands. It’s a motherfucking collar. I exhale hard.It’s now or never.I fling myself forward, ramming his abdomen with my shoulder. It’s like running into a very solid, very immovable wall.
He grunts in response, but then his arms wind around me like a constrictor, pinning me to him. A sound of pure anguish is pulled from my lips. “Please don’t,” I sob, twisting in his hold as I realize that I’ve spoken.Nooo. Will that be all it takes to make them silence me?
And then, to my surprise, he hushes me, the same way I’d expect him to do with a crying child or maybesomeone who’s in need of comforting. I swallow down another sob, fighting for control and confused by his actions. I hate the way fear courses through me.Hateit.
Pivoting with me in his arms, the blond brute’s warm breath coasts over the shell of my ear with each word he utters. My entire body goes rigid while he begins speaking in a gritty, raw-sounding voice. “I’ve got her but help me get this on so we can get her out of here.”
I jerk, my heart rate ratcheting up as nervous energy courses throughout my body. I’ve been subjected to one awful thing after another at the hands of these miscreants since I was brought here. The exam I’d awakened to was bad. The midnight visitor. Being drugged. This cell, though? It’s been nothing short of horrific. No matter how I’ve tried, it’s been difficult to block out the many things I have no desire to remember. I can’t stop the words that burst from my lips. “Where? Where are you taking me?” I cringe, berating myself for being unable to hold my shit together.And what’s next?
The door to the cell creaks open, then slams shut again. I’m greeted by the intent hazel-eyed stare of the one who’d been all up in my business when I awoke on the exam table with my wrists and ankles shackled. He doesn’t utter a word but shifts my braided hair to the side. The brush of his fingertips over the skin at the base of my neck makes me shudder as he secures the medieval-looking device with a devious-soundingclick.
“You can’t do this.”
A small huff escapes his lips, and he shakes his head, shoving the key in his pocket. “Correction, there’s nootherway to do this.”
My throat has gone completely dry as I’m set on my feet. I hold perfectly still, the weight of the collar settling into my shoulders. It’s gotta be a good five pounds or more of metal, and I imagine I will be uncomfortable very quickly. There’s no more time to spend contemplating when both men pick up one of the lengths of chain attached to either side of the collar.
“Okay, let’s go. Open the door.” It’s the blond again. I truly have no choice but to do exactly as they tell me to do.
This new metal prison gives the sensation of being tugged downward with every step they force me to take. Trembling, I dampen my lips, waiting to find out which level of hell they’re leading me toward.
Anxiety plows into me like a freight train that can’t be bothered to brake. “Please,” I whisper, the rest of the words caught in my throat.
“Please what?” Hayze—I think I’m remembering his name correctly—stops us, turning toward me.
“I—” I stare at this man, unable to make myself speak. But he’s also not the other one. The one who threw me up against the stone wall of the cell and threatened me. “Please don’t take me back to the one—” I hesitate, worry coating my skin like a thick, ugly residue.
Piercing blue eyes search mine in a desperate bid for the truth. I shouldn’t have said anything. Oh god. I’ve definitely picked up on some weird vibes among the men I’ve encountered, but I have no fucking way of knowing the intricacies of their relationships. What if the man who came that night is his brother? Or his father? Or best friend? There’s no way to know. I close my eyes. If I speak out I’m putting myself in a very tenuous position.
A second later, his hand cups my chin, holding me steady while he squeezes until my eyes flicker open. His brows raise as if to say,Finish. The command is there, ingrained in his gaze, without the need for him to speak it.
Because I sense that he won’t stop until I’ve answered, I force the words from my throat. “I don’t want to be anywhere nearhim.”
For several seconds, total silence reigns, ricocheting off the stone walls that surround us. “Hayze?” The voice of his hazel-eyed companion is cautious.
On either side of me, the men hold the chains so that I can hardly turn my head. There’s no doubt in my mind I’ve just missed a silent exchange between them.
Clearly the leader, Hayze, responds, “I’ll find out later,” his tone clipped and firm. He seems to be in charge. I don’t dare try anything. One good yank by either of these men and I’ll be in a world of pain. Releasing an anxious breath, only one thing is clear.
I have no choice but to go where they lead me.
When they bring me through the doorway at the opposite end of the hall from where I’ve been cooped up, my eyes widen, frantically taking in the area.Women. There are other women here besides the one who had come to deliver her terrifying message to me. I swallow hard, unsure what to do.
For a full day, maybe more, I wondered if I’d imagined the one who came to check on me. Ever since, all I’ve been able to see every time I close my eyes is her wide-open mouth… and the vacant place where her tongue should have been. A shudder racks my body. Not a single one of the women looks up as we proceed past. In fact, it’s as if they’ve been trained not to react. It’s fucking creepy. No way I’m saying a word about it.
Interestingly, there are also several children of varying ages at the long table running down the center of the room. Without thinking, I pause to gawk. But then, the chains pull at the collar around my neck, and I’m forced to keep going.
“Don’t. Seriously,” mutters Hayze.
We see no one else as I trudge along with these two men. They take me up a stone staircase to what seems like a much nicer part of the building. I’d run into the woods, lost myself for days, and somehow wound up here. But where the fuck amI?
At the end of a ridiculously long hallway, we finally enter a spacious room. It’s very masculine but lavishly furnished. There’s some sort of strange setup in the corner of the room that I wish I could get a better look at, but they don’t take me near it. Instead, we go through a doorway into a small bathroom.
A motherfucking bathroom.
