“Oh, god. Did I just kill someone?”
“You did what you had to do Jessie, now come on! We have to go!” Mae hissed. She figured they had thirty seconds, tops, to get out of the cell and through the back hallway door Laurel had mapped out for her. There had to be an alarm or a camera somewhere along the way, and they needed to bolt past it as fast as they could if they stood any chance of surviving.
“He has other keys!” Jessie cried reaching through the barto grab the other key ring of his belt. They looked like keys to a vehicle!
“Lo, grab his knife before I get this door open.” Laurel nodded at Mae’s instructions.
“Here,” Laurel handed the knife to her. “Figure you offered to get me out, you won’t stab me until we’re free and clear of this place.”
“And after?” Mae asked, slipping the knife into her right hand.
“I deserve worse.” She shrugged. “Give me the keys. I’ll open the door, you run first. I’ll have your back.”
“Alright. Jessie, you ready?”
“To freedom?”
She nodded. “To freedom. Let’s go.”
The next thirty seconds were a blur. As soon as the cell door was open, their feet slapped harshly against the linoleum and the second they hit the hallway, Mae was transported back to the hospital, to the moment she ran down the ICU the afternoon Stone woke up. So much had happened in just a few short weeks. But she was still running to him. Because that’s what getting out of the facility meant. The only thing keeping her going was the thought of running back into his arms.
She didn’t look back for Laurel as her hands slapped against the metal push bar to the door at the end of the hallway. Blinding bright light assaulted her, halting her steps, but only for a second until she started to see the forest in front of her. It was daytime. That was good for making sure they could see any dangers in their path, but also more dangerous, because they could be easily spotted.
“Mae… which way?”
“The van. It has to be out front. Hug the building and let’s go.”
The women linked hands and with as much urgency astheir cold and stiff bodies could manage made their way around the building. The area around them was eerily calm and quiet.
It felt like an entire year passed by as they made their way along the facility. It was huge, but Mae was thankful they weren’t stuck inside, trying to navigate through a maze of rooms. Out there, in the frozen wild, they stood a chance of escaping their captors.
Another minute passed before the vans came into view. Freedom. They were so close, Mae could taste it. Her fingers shook around the keys. Maybe that split second, where she looked down at the keys, was the reason why she didn’t see him step out of the shadow. Why she didn’t know he was coming for her until it was too late.
Mae turned, just in time to take the brunt of a man crashing into her. And in that split second, everything went dark.
Steps crunched in the snow. Stone. He was there. Mae’s eyes fluttered open, waiting to see the man she loved crouched down in front of her.
“Wake up, bitch.”
No. No, no, no, no.
A scream pierced the air.
Jessie.
“Where… w-where are they?”
“Doesn’t matter. They weren’t going to be worth much anyways. But you,” She recognized the man standing above her. Christoper’s hand came up to touch her hair. “You are too important to me. Doesn’t mean I won’t teach you a lesson. A little present for Stone to discover when he finally findsyour body.”
“F-fuck you.”
“Exactly what I plan on doing to you, Mae. I’m going to fuck you, mark you like the dirty little bitch that you are after being with a fucker like him, and then I’m going to leave you to rot out here in the forest.” His eyes darkened as his lips curled in the corner. Mae’s eyes rolled, her vision spinning. “But don’t worry. I’ll leave a little tracking device here. I know how much the Montgomery Defense team loves those. Once I have what I want from them, I’ll send the coordinates to come get your spent body off my property.”
Christopher bent forward, his nose pressing into her neck beside the hand that was choking her. She felt his disgusting tongue lick across her skin. Mae’s whole body trembled, and she tried everything to make it stop, because it only seemed to fuel him.
Her body was slowly slipping into the cold. Pins and needles seared her skin, and her muscles wouldn’t listen to the commands her mind was screaming at them. To thrash. To buck. To try anything to get this putrid asshole off of her.
Instead, she laid gasping for her next breath while he lifted the hem of her shirt and forced his fingers under the band of her pants.
