Page 57 of Cole: Bloodlines
He needed to get out of these fucking cuffs.
Maddy leaned against the wall, the rough surface scraping his shoulder blades as he pressed his head back against the crumbling plaster. Dust and tiny fragments rained down his neck as he closed his eyes. His pulse hammered in his temples, each beat a thunderclap behind his closed eyelids. His mind raced like a trapped animal, thoughts colliding and fracturing. He inhaled through his nose—the air tasted of rust and mildew—then slowly pushed it out through his cracked lips. Again. Again. The way Cory had drilled into him during those endless training sessions.
Just focus—and breathe. Breathe. Breathe.
The darkness behind his closed eyelids was no different from the void surrounding him. When he opened his eyes again, the blackness remained absolute. First priority—free his hands. If he encountered his kidnapper again, he needed both fists ready. Cory had taught him methods for breaking free of various restraints, including handcuffs.
Breathing deeply again, Maddy began to rotate his wrists in opposite directions, binding up the handcuffs chain until it bunched up and the links locked against themselves like a metallic serpent coiling for the strike. Bowing his elbows outward until his shoulder joints creaked in protest, he pushed his wrists past each other as he splayed his fingers wide, causing the cold steel cuffs to bite deeper into his already raw wrists, then twisted inward with savage determination. Maddy clenched his teeth until his jaw ached and kept twisting even as the pain in his injured hand exploded white-hot through his fingers and up his arm like molten lead being poured through his veins.
“Fuuuck…”he ground out in a tight hiss that echoed in the blackness.“Come on…”
The chain links slipped with a mocking jingle, losing tension like a deflating balloon.
“Fuck!” Maddy repeated the process, trying to ignore the blinding pain that pulsed in time with his racing heartbeat as he twisted his wrists harder, feeling tendons strain to their limits. The jagged metal cuffs sliced into his flesh like serrated knives, drawing warm blood that trickled between his fingers and dripped onto the unseen floor as they ground against the prominent bones of his wrists.“Uuuhhh! Fucking COME ON!”
The pivoting connector snapped with a sharp crack like a gunshot, and his wrists jerked apart with such force his shoulders nearly dislocated, the broken chain clinking against the concrete in the darkness. Maddy bent forward, panting, hot tears dripping from his eyes as he clutched his throbbing hand, now pumping blood that felt thick and sticky as it streamed between his trembling fingers.
“Fuck…” he gasped, the word barely audible over his ragged breathing, and straightened up on trembling legs, taking deep breaths that burned his lungs. He wiped his eyes with his less-injured forearm, leaving a smear of blood across his face, and sniffed back the mucus draining from his nose. His entire arm throbbing as if it had been beaten with a hammer, he staggered forward on unsteady feet, his fingers outstretched like blind antennae, feeling for doors, praying for a miracle that he would find the one that led him to Savannah.
“No… no… no…” Savannah's knuckles whitened as she crammed her fists against her mouth, teeth cutting into skin. Her eyes bulged, hot tears streaking down her dirt-smudged cheeks. She scrambled backward, toenails scraping as she clawed herself away from those yellowed fingers reaching through the bars. “P-Please go away… go away…go away…”
The figure withdrew its arm with an animal-like hiss, dropping to all fours. It prowled around the perimeter of the cage, fingernails—overgrown and filed to points—clicking methodically against each rust-flaked bar like a clock ticking down her remaining seconds. Savannah clamped her hands over her ears, lungs spasming as her breath caught in stuttering gasps. Thescrape-scrape-scrapeof those nails followed her pulse, quickening as the creature circled toward the door.
“No... no...”She kicked wildly, heels drumming against concrete, the skin of her bare feet splitting on the rough surface. The figure's nostrils flared, inhaling deeply, pupils dilating. This couldn't be real. It had to be a hallucination born of terror and trauma—a nightmarewithina nightmare.
The thing rattled the latch, its knuckles bulging white beneath papery skin. The padlock held. It dropped to a feral squat, head cocked at an unnatural angle, and studied the mechanism with predatory focus. From somewhere in its oversized ratty coat, it extracted a thin metal implement,inserting it with the delicate precision of a surgeon, and began topickthe lock.
Savannah's lungs seized as the creature's tongue darted between filed teeth, licking cracked lips in concentration—a flash of horrifying humanity in this otherwise bestial form. When the lock surrendered with a triumphant snap, her heart slammed against her ribs like a trapped bird. The cage door swung open on rusted hinges that wailed like a dying animal.
The creature dropped to all fours and slithered inside, shoulder blades jutting beneath its tattered coat, nostrils flaring as it scented her fear. Savannah's throat closed around a whimper, black spots dancing at the edges of her vision as she hyperventilated. Her kidnapper had been a monster wearing human skin, but this... this was something worse—a human who had surrendered to something primal and ravenous that lived in the darkest corners of evolution.
Savannah squeezed her eyes shut until starbursts exploded behind her eyelids.“Please... go away... go away...”Her fingernails dug into her scalp as she covered her head. A strangled scream tore from her throat when the figure's talon-like nails raked across her ankle. She kicked backward, her heel connecting with something solid. “No—No! Please—Go Away! GO AWAY!!”
In the gloom, huddled beneath her trembling arms, Savannah felt hot, moist breath seeping through her hair to her scalp. The creature's stale breath flooded her nostrils as yellowed teeth clicked inches from her ear. Its weight shifted, knuckles scraping concrete as it crouched beside her.
“No… no… no…”she whispered, each word fracturing into sobs that convulsed through her chest. “Please go away… please… please…”
The intruder's nose pressed against her scalp, inhaling deeply with a wet, snuffling sound. Its jagged fingernails rakedlightly across her shoulder, raising goosebumps in their wake.“Pretty… baby,”it cooed, shocking Savannah with an almostchildliketone, yet still made her shudder in horror.
Savannah's stomach lurched at this horrifying collision of childlike human speech and bestial behavior—this thing that understood language but moved like something that had forgotten civilization.
“Please don't... hurt me,”she pleaded, voice cracking. Deep in her gut, despair bloomed—why fight? If Cole and Gabe didn't return… the killer would rape, torture, and butcher her.
But they will come for you. They’ll save you!
That tiny shred of hope made her plead for her life.
Savannah cringed when the figure stroked her hair, almost as if it were a child stroking a doll’s hair. Who was this… person?Whatwas it? She understood it was human, but its behavior almost felt like that of an animal.
The intruder backed out of the cage, but remained crouched at the threshold.“Come...”
She raised her head through molasses-thick terror. The creature's hand extended—fingers curling and uncurling in a hypnotic, spider-like beckoning.
“Come... come...”It rocked slightly on its haunches.
Her muscles had solidified into stone, terror crystallizing in her joints.
“Come with us…”
