Page 17 of Escape

Fucking disgusting animal, I can’t wait for him to die.

I couldn’t waste any more time, so I proceeded to slam the hammer down with all my strength and drive the nail through Jared’s foot and into the thick wood beneath him. Nailing him into place. The crunch of bone and squelch of skin and tissue splitting and spurting his blood soothed my ache to drive the hammer into his skull. I quickly repeated with 2 more nails and did the same with the other foot, soaking in the last of his cries.

I pushed to my feet and grabbed him by his hair, holding his head still and forcing him to meet my eyes as I pulled the incriminating evidence from my back pocket. I shoved it into his face as he continued to wail.

“You’re going to pay for what you did. Now, be a good boy and shut the fuck up. You'll be out of here soon…and that beautiful angel that you treat like trash will be all mine.” I leaned over his ear so he could really hear me. “And I’ll fuck her on your grave, you worthless piece of shit.”

I released him, throwing his head back so hard that I heard a crack. Both thankfully and unfortunately, his neck did not completely snap. As much as I wanted to kill him myself, that wasn’t my job.

I secured the evidence and tools in the metal box on the desk and took one last disgusted look at him before leaving the room and closing it behind me, muffling his whimpers behind the thick doors.

It was strange…knowing you’d be one of the last people to see someone alive.

Chapter 16

Jasmine

With my feet feeling much better, I crept into the hallway in search of my next destination. I clutched the key between my knuckles just in case the masked demon decided to make another appearance. I was still afraid, but the thought that it might’ve been Kel had my blood pumping with more than just fear.

As I wandered down the halls, a muffled yell came from a door I’d just passed. Room 30. I turned slowly, my fist with the key raised in defense and pressed my body against the wall as I strained to hear again.

Everything changed when the pained whimpers leaked from underneath the door. A new motivation. If there was someone there, another victim trapped with me, maybe we could help each other find a way out.

I listened for another moment longer, making sure the masked demon wasn’t inside with them. If it was really Kel getting her revenge like I thought, it could’ve been Ariana locked up in that room. I couldn’t let her suffer a second longer. After I was sure there was nothing more than the strained cries, I burst inside.

My eyes had to be deceiving me. I blinked, digging the heels of my palms into my eye sockets before looking again. But it was no trick. Jared was in front of me. Gagged and cuffed to a chair on a wooden platform in the middle of the room, screaming and thrashing around.

I ran to him, immediately trying to tug off the gag and ask him what the hell was going on, but it was a metal ring locked shut around his head and it wouldn’t budge.

Planting my hands on either side of his cheeks, I tried to get him to calm down and look at me. But his eyes bulged out of his head. He thrashed around harder as his screams became more desperate. Spittle sprayed from behind the metal gag and landed all over my face.

My brain couldn’t catch up with everything. I couldn’t grasp the fact that I had just left him sleeping at home that morning, 9 hours away and now he was tied up in front of me.

Had he followed me here? Did he set this up and was just trying to distract me?

I clenched my fist and gritted my teeth, needing the overwhelming noise to stop. Just as I was about to knock him back into reality and get some answers, a door slammed behind me.

I didn’t need to turn around to know it was her. Part of me didn’t want to. Turning around and facing her would make it all real. The other part wanted to run to her, fall into her arms and beg for her forgiveness.

Her warmth crowded around me. She was close enough that I could hear her breath, even over Jared’s whimpers. My whole body erupted in little, tingling bumps. The throbbing traveled from my heart down to my stomach and settled between my thighs. The dampness became obvious. Even when I was completely terrified, my body responded to her the same way it always had.

I wanted to lean back into her and feel her new, grown, solid body mold against me. I wanted her hands to travel over my skin, followed by her lips. I wanted her to stop between my legs and…bitch, your husband is chained and gagged in a chair in front of you. This psycho does not want to fuck you, she wants to kill you. Calm down.

As I tried to talk myself down in my thoughts, she leaned in close, her mouth barely an inch away from my ear, her voice low and smooth.

“This game is called Save Yourself or Save Your Sack-of-Shit Husband.”

Her heat disappeared from my skin and I almost mourned it. As the heavy thunk of her boots moved further away, I finally gathered the courage to turn towards her. Her back was to me and I studied it in the dim light.

Thick, tattooed muscle gathered over every inch of the broad space between her rounded shoulders. The way it moved under her skin like a well-oiled machine tugged at the sick desire resting in my belly. I couldn’t rip my eyes away until she reached the desk at the front of the room and whipped around.

“The fun part is, you’ve already chosen.” She smirked as she knocked her closed fists on the two black boxes on the desk. They looked just like the ones in the backpack, but bigger with a different keyhole.

I wanted to say something. I wanted to ask what she meant, why she was doing this, why my husband was here. I wanted to just say her name and see how she reacted, but the words all jumbled and caught in my throat. All I could do was stare.

She stared back, head tilted to the side like she was waiting for a response. When she didn’t get one, she headed towards the door. I should’ve run after her and tried to get out, but I doubted I could make it past her wall of a body. As she left, she turned back one more time.

“Good luck, babydoll. I believe in you.”