Panic sets in as my memories return.
Fragments really. Scattered like broken glass.
I was with Ethan last night. He went down to the house to get a sleeping bag, and we fell asleep beneath the stars together.
But I’m not there right now…
…how did I get here?
I try to get up, but I can’t. Something metallic is around my wrists.
Handcuffs?
I try to scream, but there’s something stuffed in my mouth.
“Oh, look. She’s awake.”
I hear the sound of boots on the hollow floor beneath me, and suddenly whatever was over my head is torn away and I find myself blinking up at two masked men in suits staring down at me with cruel, cruel eyes.
“Oh, yes. I’d love to have a go with her.”
The light from above burns my eyes. I look down and realize that I’m completely naked. Again, I try to scream, but I’m firmly gagged. I thrash against my bindings, but it’s useless. The men laugh like spectators at a zoo watching an animal.
“Don’t hurt yourself,” one of them tells me. “Damaged merchandise will bring our prices down.”
Merchandise.
The full realization sets in. These men are from Ethan’s family. They somehow kidnapped me last night, and now I’m moments away from being sold into sexual slavery.
More adrenaline pours into my body, and I twist and kick as hard as I can as the men laugh. But it’s futile. I’m not going anywhere.
Exhausted, I slump forward and begin to cry. But then, out of the corner of my vision, I see something. Someone moving beside me. Slowly, I look over, and when I see who it is, I’m gripped with despair.
Gina.
She’s passed out, gagged and bound, but her head’s uncovered, and I can see a large bruise on her right cheek.
No. This can’t be happening. Ethan took me away. He said he’d protect me. If this is happening to me, something even more awful must have happened to him.
I don’t know what hurts more – the fear of knowing what’s going to happen to me or the pain of knowing what must have happened to Ethan.
“Take it away!”
One of the man bangs on the wall and I hear the sound of an engine springing to life. I’m in a truck. That’s why the floor felt hollow when they were walking over to me. I hear a hiss, and the truck lurches forward. There’s a hard bump, and if I weren’t chained to it, I would have come out of my seat.
Again, I try to scream. I know it’s pointless, but I can’t help it. I glance over at Gina, hoping that she’ll wake up and somehow be able to do something. She’s always been the stronger one out of the two of us. But her head is slumped over, swaying from side to side with the movement of the truck.
One of the men leans down and gets right in my face. I can smell the acrid scent of cigar smoke on his breath as he grins. “Just so you know, you and your friend aren’t a package deal. You won’t be going together. You’re going to be all alone.”
He’s actually enjoying this. What a monster.
The truck brakes hard, causing me to slam back in my chair and my bindings to tear into my wrist. I cry out, but it’s no use. There’s the sound of more male voices outside, and I try to prepare myself for what’s coming next. But how do I even do that?
Then, a gunshot.
Instantly, the two men inside pull pistols from their jackets.
“The fuck was that!?” one asks. He moves to the end of the truck near the cab and knocks on the wall. “Red, you all right out there!? Red?”