Page 18 of No Way Out
I looked up to see them staring down at me, sinister smiles painted on their faces as they watched me struggle. I bit my cheeks through the pain, knowing there was no way to avoid the torture, that giving up would likely cost me my life.
I had one thing going for me.
I knew the way out.
I tried to stand again, biting hard enough to taste liquid metal over my tongue as I masked my misery in front of my predators.
“Three,” Harkins sneered menacingly.
I hobbled past them, doing my best to take large but fast steps to distribute the throbbing ache. Tears streamed down my face, though I clenched my jaw shut to avoid crying out from the suffering. I moved as fast as I could, only stopping once Camila’s ‘four’ sounded safely enough in the distance for me to drop to my knees and crawl.
I could get out of here.
This place was littered with cops. All I had to do was make it out of the maze.
All I had to do was make it out of the maze,I repeated in my head like a silent prayer, convincing myself I’d be able to do it. The sharpness in my feet never dulled, even as they became heavy weights, anchoring me back as I drug my knees across the hay. It stabbed the palms of my hands, itching as it crawled up my sleeves while I desperately scuffled toward my next left turn.
“Five,” Harkins’ voice boomed out.
I froze, a cold wind brushing the back of my neck, the dry sweat sending a chill down my spine.
“Please, God, if I make it out of here…” I began to bargain, not knowing what promises I was yet willing to make to save my ass from whatever death she’d planned for me.
“God’s not listening,” I heard her whisper in the wind.
“Six,” she called back from a further distance.
I dragged myself forward, shuffling on all fours as fast as I could manage.
“Just let me go! Please!” I begged loudly, hoping my cries would somehow reach the outside.
A sharp sting slashed through the back of my ankle, the wet of the blood trickling freely down the side of my foot, letting me know my achilles tendon had been sliced. A feral screech passed through my lips before I collapsed once more, sobbing from the agony.
“Stop! Please!” I cried, my body convulsing and seizing from the torturous pain as I dragged that leg, now limp, behind me.
A giggle rang out. “I thought I was yours to play with? Are you tired of playing, Zeke?” I felt her breath right in front of me, but I was too afraid to open my eyes and face what I’d see, what she might do to me if my eyes were open.
I clenched my eyelids shut, my nose dripping snot as I trembled weakly, waiting for the heat of her breath to dissipate.
I heard the crunch of a leaf and a cackle in the distance.
“Seven,” Harkins announced.
“Eight!” She didn’t wait, shouting happily from somewhere in front of me.
I moaned in pain, whimpering as the cold of the night began to settle into my bones—I must have been losing blood quickly. Dropping my chest to the ground in exhaustion, I dragged myself through the hay, army crawling an inch or two before the blinding ache forced me to give up.
“Nine,” Harkins’ voice came from right behind me.
“Oh fuck, shit, please, Jesus,” I breathed out, panic coursing through every vein in my body as I spiraled in the dark, unsure which left I had taken and which right would come next. I dropped down to the ground, sobbing from the pain and from the panic, when I felt a large hand grip me by my hair.
I yelled, snarling as Harkins yanked me by my hair, forcing me to look at the black leather boots in front of me.
“Ten,” she whispered, standing tall above me in all her terrifying power. “I think we hurt him too much. He barely moved.” She shrugged her disappointment while twirling that damn knife in her hand.
Harkins remained silent, his only contribution how hard he gripped at my short hair, threatening to rip the strands from my scalp.
“Okay, okay, okay, okay.” She paced maniacally before coming to a halt again. “Okay!” She smiled so large, the corners of her mouth stretched from ear to ear, almost inhuman in this light. “I have an idea! What if we just let you go, and you don’t tell anyone? What do you think?” she said all sweetly, batting her eyelids at me as if I had any say anymore.
