I drop to the ground and scream Hayride’s name.
He doesn’t answer. There’s only a groan.
Shit! I sneak a peek around the corner and see him flat on his back. There’s glass on the floor around him since the brick shattered one of the windows. Blood soaks into the white shirt he’s wearing underneath his leather vest.
Oo, no!
I don’t have my phone. It’s on a table too far away for me to reach. I don’t want to move since I don’t know if the shooter is out there, ready to spray bullets the second I pop my head out.
“Cami.” Hayride’s voice sounds rough. “Run! Get to Rex.”
I don’t answer him because he passes out.
“Camille,” a gritty male voice calls from outside the broken windows. “Come out, come out wherever you are.” The sing-song chant belongs to the stalker. He’s back.
I need to get my phone. Since the stalker knows I’m here, there’s no point in hiding. Slowly, I stand, backing away from the entrance to the store, and moving toward the table in my line of sight. If I can get to it, I can call Rex.
When I glance at the window, I see the stalker. He’s no longer outside but stepping over the broken glass and moving toward me.
“Leave the phone. You won’t need it.”
I shake my head. This isn’t happening. Where’s Rex!?
“Don’t make this hard, Cami. I don’t want to hurt you.”
I glance at Hayride, and my heart squeezes. He needs medical help, or he’s going to bleed out. “Please. We have to call 9-1-1.”
He doesn’t answer me, lifting his hand to point a gun at my chest. “Move, Camille.”
I slowly step away from the table and my phone, and toward the broken window. When I pass the stalker, he reaches out and yanks me against him. I try to fight him, but he presses a soft cloth over my face that covers my nose and mouth.
It smells sweet, but there’s a chemical, strange odor to it.
By the time it registers in my head that he’s kidnapping me and this is probably chloroform, I’m already losing consciousness. I have no idea what I’ll wake up to, and the terror has just enough time to sink in before I go limp.
The last thought in my head is a scream. Rex!
I’M GROGGY WHEN MYeyes flutter open. It’s dark, and I can’t see well, but I know I’m in a big, drafty space, and I can feel the echo of the wind through the walls. The floor is cold beneath me as I blink and slowly sit up. My palm presses on the concrete, and I shiver.
“You’re awake.”
I scramble to my feet and sway, hearing the stalker’s voice. He’s close enough to send an icy river of fear down my spine. “Where am I?”
“Interesting. I thought you’d go with the classic question.”
“It’s hardly relevant why you’re doing this. If you wanted me to know, you would have told me,” I point out.
“So smart and beautiful. It’s a shame I have to use you as bait.”
Bait?
“Come on, Cami. You know Rex is going to come. It’s his type. The avenging hero and savior complex. So predictable.”
Why does he hate Rex? “You want him to suffer.”
“Yes.”
It doesn’t make sense. What did Rex do to this man?
