Page 85 of Sheltered By Love

For the first time, he speaks. And it’s a nasal whine with a strung-out edge to it. “You’re not supposed to be here,” he says.

“Well, I am. Now put your damn hands in the air,” I growl.

His hands start to raise, but at the last minute, he picks up the closest object, my night vision goggles, and throws them at me.

It hits my chest, making me more annoyed he might have damaged them than anything, but as I take a step forward, another object is in his hand, a glass paperweight, and he blindsides me with it.

I stagger slightly, now thoroughly pissed off, I squeeze the trigger and watch him go down like a sack of potatoes.

As quickly as I can, I check I got the sweet spot between the shoulder and collarbone.

When I’m sure he’s still breathing, I swipe the blood out of my eyes and then look at the cameras again.

There’s another masked hulk of a man on the grass outside the backdoor, but as I leap to my feet and run down the hall, dripping blood all over the floorboards, that’s not what worries me.

One thought and one thought only on my mind.

Where is Felicity?

Felicity

For the second time that evening, I seem to lose all common sense.

I pull my hair out of my ponytail, take off my glasses and step out from behind the bush.

“Yoohoo!” I yell.

Masked man number one spins around, and as I spy the flick knife in his hand, I belatedly rethink this idea.

I stagger towards him, thrusting my chest out and flicking my hair as I fake a hiccup.

“Hey, sugar, it’s not Halloween,” I slur.

He backs up a step, the eyes beneath his Leatherface mask darting from my face to my chest.

“Who are you?” he spits at me.

I giggle and do my best Marilyn Monroe impression. “My name’s Candy. I came all the way from Portland to see the jerk next door, but he’s not home,” I say.

He mutters something about me being a drunken whore from the ball, so I giggle again.

“Hey, Mister! I’m a respect-ick-able lady. He’s the one who’s at some stupid singles thing, he said he’d be home,” I slur.

I’m now standing so close, that I can smell his deodorant and the reek of weed on his clothing.

It’s dumber than dumb, considering he’s twice my size, but I peer up at him and tilt my head. “Wait a minute, Zane? Baby? Is this like that time in Vegas we were dressed up in costumes?”

He moves forward a step and grabs my arm. “Get out of here you stupid bint,” he hisses at me.

I wince as his fingers pinch my bare skin and have to grit my teeth to keep from crying.

“Alright, alright, you were the one who called me. Next time you want a booty call, have some consideration. And get the damn date right.”

I start to turn my back, my heart thudding uncomfortably against my ribs as he reaches out and grabs me again.

This time, his arms lock around my waist. “Wait a minute. Since you’re here…”

All my bravado vanishes as I find myself staring into his hideous masked face as his gloved hands reach for me.

---