Page 199 of Creep

Maybe it was the elevator, and there was no service in it. I took in a deep breath and tried to call Mael again as soon as the elevator dropped me off at the underground garage.

I nearly smiled when the call went through, but it only rang once before I felt something hard against my back. I froze. I might not have much experience when it came to stuff like this, but I had a feeling there was a gun pressed against me.

“Hang up the phone,” a masculine, accented voice spoke out.

“I think you have the wrong person,” I said, stalling. I could hear the rings as the call went through.

Please, please, pick up.

The man behind me laughed. “I don’t have the wrong person, Lia. Hang up the phone. Now.”

I closed my eyes. It didn’t matter because the call went to voicemail. I should have called Theo first, and I was too scared now to think of anything else. I hung up and held the phone in my hand. The man grabbed it from me. I flinched when I heard him drop it to the ground and stomp on it, the glass crunching beneath his shoe.

“Now, be a good girl and get in the fucking car.”

He indicated to the small white van nearby, the side door already open and waiting.

I shook my head. I knew better than to let him take me to a second location. He poked at my back with the gun to get me going. The car keys were still in my hand. I took three steps before turning around and trying to jam the key into the side of his neck. I registered the shocked look in his brown eyes just as I made contact.

He let out a small grunt, but I doubted I had done any damage. I didn’t wait. I veered off to the left and tried to run out of there, but the man snaked his arm around my waist, pulling me back against him and lifting me up until my feet no longer touched the ground.

“Help me!” I screamed, struggling to get away. “Help?—”

My words were cut off when the man covered my mouth with his sweaty hand. I could taste something salty on my tongue, and I twisted my head to the side, trying to get away from his hand as much as I was trying to scream. He carried me over to the van. I kicked my legs out, trying to prevent him from putting me inside.

“Stop it, girl,” he gritted out near my ear. I struggled harder.

He used one hand and pressed against the back of my knees, making my legs give out, and he managed to throw me inside the van.

I turned around and tried to run. He slapped me with the butt of his gun. I blinked, feeling disoriented from it, just as he gathered my wrists together and duct-taped them behind my back before pushing me further into the van. I lost my balance and fell hard on the floor. I looked around in a haze, but I couldn’t see anything that would be helpful to me. Not that I could see clearly when blackness danced around the edge of my vision, making it hard to focus.

I got in one good kick to his face when he tried to do the same with my legs. I couldn’t even allow myself to get any satisfaction from that because he still managed to tie me up and shut the van door, locking me inside.

A perforated metal separator was nailed down between the back of the van and the front seats, so that wasn’t a way to escape. I looked around, unable to get myself up while bound, my heart jumping erratically in my chest as the panic settled deep inside me.

There was no escape.

I could see the man getting inside the van on the driver’s side through the holes of the metal separator and starting the car. I hadn’t gotten a good look while I was trying to fight him off and escape, but now… even sitting down, I could see he was a big man. Much bigger than me.

And then we were off.

* * *

The drive was long.

I didn’t speak to him, knowing there was nothing I could say that would help my situation. Plus, I was getting a big headache from when he hit me with the gun, and my muscles ached from being in the position I was in. It didn’t help that there were no seats or seat belts in the back of the van that would hold me. I felt every pothole, every bump, and every uneven terrain the man drove on.

I lost track of where we were going about half an hour before he turned onto a dirt road.

I was trying hard not to lose it.

How was Mael going to find me now?

I closed my eyes as tears rolled down my cheeks.

He wasn’t.

I felt my heart drop down to my stomach when the car pulled up to a stop in the middle of nowhere.

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