Another man blocked my path; swaying drunkenly, he slurred, “Richard, we need to talk, and I won’t take no for an answ—”
Seizing him by the lapels of his tuxedo jacket, I pulled my arm back and punched him square in the jaw before tossing his now limp body aside.
Racing forward, my path was blocked by a horde of writhing, naked bodies.
Elizabeth screamed again. My heart pounded a terrified cadence in my ears as I struggled to locate her through the dense trees and plants by the direction of her screams.
Finally, I saw her being hoisted in the air by several men, her dress in tatters around her body. Two woman were now pulling at her hair and the necklace at her throat.
Veering off the path, I crashed through the plants and trees, trampling the delicate flowers.
Fuck! I needed to get to her.
After an eternity, I was close.
“Elizabeth,” I shouted.
Her arm flung out as she desperately reached for me over the pitching sea of drunken bodies. Her beautiful face stark white with fear. “Richard!”
Grasping an overhanging branch of a tree, I swung forward, striking two of the men who held her aloft in the back with my feet. They tumbled forward.
Without the support of their hands, Elizabeth began to topple to the hard floor below.
“Richard!”