Page 8 of The Arabis Triad

Her brain whirled in confusion as she struggled to understand where was actually was. If she didn’t feel like one big throbbing ache, she might think she was dreaming of flying through a cloud.

But she didn’t dream anymore. No, her sleeping hours, as well as her waking hours, were filled with nightmares.

She looked about for the other girls in the cages, but the mist encasing her was too thick.

Then she remembered there’d been a fight, and she’d been picked up by a massive man-mountain. ‘Picked up’ wasn’t the right way to describe how he’d held her against his broad chest as though she was the most precious thing in the universe. He’dclaimedher, if she’d read the possessive glint in his eye properly. And she’d been trained to read even the subtlest of body languages.

Her heart lurched and her stomach dropped with a sickening thud. She might have gone from one nightmare to another. Apart from being somewhere she couldn’t see, complete silence rung in her ears, which was an abrupt change after weeks spent living next to other women stuck in cages lined up along a wall.

She had to get out of… wherever the hell she was. She lifted her arm and hit a solid wall. Her breath caught and she pushed both hands against the immovable surface. She was stuffed into a container no bigger than a coffin.

Stifling the welling scream, she formed a fist and beat the hardness surrounding her. A tremor passed around her. Wherever she was, wasn’t too solid after all. She punched upwards, harder this time.

There was a hiss as the surface retreated down her body, and a swirl of cool air gushed over her skin. The mist cleared to reveal that she was on a thin bed in a room she’d never seen before.

And she was alone.

No doubt whoever had put her here had intentions she didn’t care to wait around for. She swung her legs off the table and stood. Her vision blurred, her knees immediately buckled and she crumpled to the floor.

That was when she noticed she was naked.

Although they were only rags, she’d still been wearing clothing—a barrier however insubstantial—but now she was completely vulnerable.

Her breathing came in short pants as she remembered the sheer size of the man who’d picked her up as though she was as light as a baby. A man of that strength could do anything to her.

She managed to come up onto her hands and knees, her limbs shaking like a newborn colt. Gritting her teeth, she forced herself to her feet. Her body sagged against the table as she waited for the lightheadedness to dissipate.

She blinked away the black dots, forcing them from her mind as much as she did the weakness that had claimed her body. She momentarily looked back at the table, resisting the urge to climb back on it, curl into a ball, and sink back into the warm depths of sleep.

Instead, she ran her fingers through her hair, grimacing as they snagged in knots so large she’d have to cut them out. So much for the high-cost shampoo and conditioner she’d always bought. Her hair had once been a happy source of pride, the light color a testament to her Swedish heritage. She had always taken care to look after it, but her efforts had been wasted, thanks to those reptilian fuckers. If she never came face to face with one of those things ever again, she would be a very happy woman.

However, that just might be something that would happen if she lingered for too long. Anyone could come into this room and find her awake and vulnerable. She glanced around for something to cover her. She staggered over to a small side room, happy to see it was semi-recognizable as a bathroom, complete with a towel on a drying rack.

She picked up the towel and slung it around her body. It was still slightly damp and her skin prickled with goosebumps at the coolness, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. A musky, and not unpleasant scent emanated from the cloth. Spice and pine and earthiness all rolled into a smell that pebbled her nipples and liquefied her insides.

She frowned, running a hand over the material, and then shook her head as though it could clear her mind. Here she was lost and alone, so scared she could barely think straight, and she was turned on?

It was official. She’d lost her mind. Actually, she’d lost it the moment she’d been picked up along that dark, lonely straight of road that was a long way between a whole lot of wind, sand, and absolutely nowhere. She wouldn’t have been there if it wasn’t for the missing women she’d been researching. They’d simply vanished off the face of the Earth. No leads. No crime. No trace. The authorities had no idea and their missing persons cases were being swept aside amongst the seriousness of more pressing crimes. This situation was merely adding to the what-the-fuck factor her life had become.

Her heart stumbled at the memory of the strangers she’d come to care about as much as family while they’d been imprisoned in those cages. That crash. Sally dead. Dorothy. Lucie. Gone. All of them. Her breath hitched as a white-hot lump came up her throat and threatened to choke her. There was no telling what had happened to her friends. She could only hope that they had somehow survived.

Which was exactly what she must do.

Not wanting to linger, she crossed the floor to the open doorway and peered around it into the dark corridor beyond. There was no one there, and the heavy silence indicated she was alone. She tiptoed down the corridor, her shoulder pressed into the wall.

Light filtered around her, becoming brighter as she walked farther along the corridor. The air surrounding her grew hotter and more humid. A tropical breeze brushed over her. She took a deep breath of fresh air, her first breath after so long contained in the stench of that cargo hold she and the other women had been caged in. She nearly salivated. She would happily live outdoors for the rest of her life if she had her way.

She rounded a corner and realized where the breeze came from. A gash had rent right through the metal, creating a long jagged scar in the otherwise smooth metallic surface of the wall.

She cautiously approached, keeping her footsteps light, and peered through the gap. Beyond, lush rainforest beckoned. She kept a watchful eye, but there was no movement outside to indicate that anyone was out there.

She slid an arm and a leg though the slim gap. She’d lost more weight than she’d thought. There was no way she would have been able to fit through something that tiny, but now she slipped through easily. The jagged metal cut several gashes on her arms and across her back, but she barely felt them as she dropped onto the ground and into freedom.

She scrambled to her feet, locking the towel around her, and sprinted through the wide leaves of the jungle. Her heart raced as she clambered past branches laden with vibrant, shining leaves and vines as thick as her thigh. She darted over layers of soft, fallen leaves, pushing aside branches to create a path through the thick jungle, the uppermost thought in her mind to get away from wherever it was she’d woken up from and the massive man she feared, yet disturbingly burned for at the same time.

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Paxt

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