Riser (Teen Horror/Science Fiction) (Book #1 in The Riser Saga) ((Volume 1)) (27 page)

Footsteps clacked on what seemed to be a wooden staircase. Okay, good. My head was clearing slightly. I needed to concentrate, break out of this fog. Where was I? Who took me? Was it Turner? After the mess I left him in, I wouldn’t be surprised. Who else could it be?

I looked through my bleary eyes to see the silhouette of a man walking toward me. I couldn’t see his face, my sight was too blurred, and the angle of the light made him look like a walking black shadow of doom coming toward me.

“Hey.” I attempted to speak, but my tongue felt like it was made of lead.

“Not time to wake up, my sweet,” the silhouette said. His voice was low and terrifying. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but every instinct in my body was telling me I was a dead woman.

I felt the prick of a needle in my arm.

“No.” I don’t even know if that came out properly my mind was starting to fuzz up again.

I made one last lame struggle before the blackness overtook me again.

Wednesday September 22, 2320

…W…w…where…?

Thursday September 23, 2320

PRICK!

Ouch. W…w..hat?

I was awake again. I puked all over the floor.

Why was I feeling better?

I looked over at where I felt the prick and saw through my blurred vision a tube plugged into my arm. An I.V.? How long have I been here? I looked down and noticed he had taken my shoes and socks off and my ankles were tied to the chair as well.

“Sleep, little one, I’m not ready for you,” the man’s voice was almost a whisper and sounded like the reaper coming to claim another victim. He injected more of the drug into my I.V.

I struggled to fight off the effects, but the feeling of sleep was overwhelming. My thoughts were too scattered. I just need to stay awa…

Friday September 24, 2320

I came to again. I felt slightly better than the last… I couldn’t remember how many times I had woken up… I threw-up on top of a puddle of dried puke. Gross.

I knew my captor would be coming down those wooden steps to drug me again any second now. I had to think quickly, but thinking was proving a challenge unto itself. I needed to be sharp and focused so I could figure a way out of this mess, that much my brain acknowledged.

What could I do? Could I use something dead? I searched the area for any spinning black hole I could find. Tons of roaches (eeeewww), a fly and…. Worms? I wiggled my toes on the ground. Dirt. I was in a cellar of some sort. I just needed something to tie off the flow of the I.V. into my veins without him noticing.

The door creaked open and the same slow clacking of footsteps sounded my doom.

My head still wasn’t screwed on straight. I needed more time.

Instinctively, I reached out and connected to a dead worm’s black center.

My captor’s slow methodic pacing down the stairs made my skin crawl with the realization that this man felt very calm about keeping me tied up down here. He was nearing the bottom of the stairs. I could see his silhouette through my fuzzy eyes.

I made the worm move as fast as I could. I almost wanted to laugh at the absurdity of making an earthworm slither its way to my chair to perform some kind of rescue mission I didn’t even know would work yet. It squirmed up the leg of the chair.

The man was within a few steps of me.

I needed to cause a distraction so I could try and make the worm tie off the I.V. tube.

The man was next to me now. He lifted my I.V. to inject it with the drug.

I looked up at him. I couldn’t see any of his facial features. He was completely in shadow. “Who are you?” I tried to divert his attention from injecting me.

The worm slowly wrapped itself around the base of the I.V. squeezing off the flow of nutrients to my body.

“Not now, little one.” He stroked the top of my head and I wanted to puke again.

I snapped off both ends of the worm (its dead it can’t feel anything!) to disguise the cinch from my captor.

He released the toxins into my I.V. “Sleep.” He sounded like the wicked witch in
The Wizard of Oz.

“N…no… please.” I tried to slur my words as much as possible so he’d leave. I didn’t know how long the worm restraint would last. The liquid drug was shoving up against it, just waiting to enter my blood stream.

I dropped my head as if I was out cold.

I could feel him standing over me, watching. Please don’t notice, please don’t notice. I breathed slowly trying to convince him that I was properly drugged. What was he looking at? As the minutes passed by and he remained immobile I found it hard to keep up the charade from sheer terror. His presence felt like a pillar of mortifying psychosis that wouldn’t leave. Slow deep breaths. Let the sicko watch me. He obviously wasn’t looking at my worm ring or he would have done something by now which meant he was staring at me and only me. I can’t tell you how scary it is being tied to a chair; helpless, knowing some psychopath is standing within inches of you, just staring. He could slit my throat, shoot me, anything, and I wouldn’t be able to stop him.

LEAVE!!

It took every bit of strength I could assemble to keep my breathing even and normal.

Finally, he walked away. The sensation of relief I felt was so overpowering I wanted to cry. I was still tied to a chair, but having him leave felt like a physical weight being lifted off my body.

He walked up the stairs in the same slow, even pace he had walked down them. When I heard the click of the door shutting closed I wanted to scream with joy, but I knew I had to keep silent.

My mind was almost completely clear of drugs and I wanted to keep it that way. The sensation of feeling almost normal again was a high I couldn’t explain. I just wanted to get out of there.

I knew I had to be as quiet as possible. I had to assume that he would hear any sound I made. Or maybe see… There could be cameras…

On the chance that I was being watched, I lolled my head back as if I were still sleeping soundly. I peeked through slitted eyes to get a good view of my surroundings.

The ball of light that illuminated the room was, in fact, the light of a holo-camera. It wasn’t hanging like I first thought; it was resting on a six-foot tri-pod. Okay, he could see me
and
hear me. Good to know. The rest of the room was empty. The walls and floor were dirt, a plywood staircase was against the wall to my right, and a few roots dangled from the ceiling. My only concern would be what was beyond the door at the top of the stairs. If I managed to get that far. I couldn’t think like that. My shoes!

The realization that Ryan had put a tracer in my shoes hit me hard. The man who kidnapped me must have had some kind of detector device and that’s why he removed them. I guess I couldn’t expect help from Ryan. Maybe Jason had some way of tracking me? Oh man, I hope they didn’t think that I ran away again! Taking off the shoes would be a sure indication that I didn’t want them following me! I wanted to throw-up again and not because of the drugs in my system.

I’d have to rely completely on myself. What else was new?

I rolled my head forward feigning sleep for the holo-cam.

First things first, I needed to get this I.V. out of my arm. I made what was left of the worm slowly tug up. The I.V. popped out of my vein and the fluid poured out onto the floor. I tried to keep it situated so it appeared to still be in my arm, but there was no way to tell if I was successful.

No opening of the door, so I was probably okay.

Next, these bonds.

Cockroaches, get ready to eat.

I connected to about a few hundred dead roaches. He must have had an exterminator down here recently because I could sense from the roaches strength that these troopers were freshly killed. Better for me.

I could hear the skittering and clacking of the hard shells making their way toward me over the dirt floor. Thank goodness they were darkly colored,
he
would be hard pressed to see them on the holo-cam. I tried not to think about the fact that I was making hundreds of the most foul disgusting bugs crawl up the back of my chair and behind my ankles. They were chewing within seconds of my connecting to their spinning centers. I could feel their chitinous mandibles gnawing their way through the leather bonds that held me to the chair. Tiny legs tickled my wrists and ankles as I made the roaches bite and chew. Gross.

SNAP!

The leather ties securing my hands dropped to the floor. Since the camera was only pointed at my front there was no way he could see the bonds fall.

SNAP!

My ankles were free now as well.

I stayed put, still pretending to be asleep, still acting as if I were out cold.

I made the cockroaches crawl far away from me. Never wanted to do that again! I thank the little fellows for freeing me, but yuck!

Next step was to stand up out of this chair. I knew as soon as I did my captor would be down here in seconds, so I had to think of an advantage I might have over him. I knew more than I’d known anything in my life that the man that kept me hostage was a killer. And not the military type of killer who attacked Jason and I at the Virtual Reality bar, no, this was a man who
enjoyed
killing. It was like breathing to him. I could still feel him standing next to me, staring for ages. This was nightmare stuff.

There was nothing for it.

I stood up and smashed the holo-cam to the ground, grinding it into the dirt with my bare foot.

The room went black.

The latch sounded and the door swung open in a rush. The faint glow from the doorway was the only source of light anymore, but it was just enough to see my captor’s body hit the stairs at a run. At least I managed to make him move at a speed above turtle status.

It was terrifying not being able to see anything and knowing that this person was with me in the dark charging toward me. I moved slowly and cautiously to a corner of the room, the dirt floor hiding the sound of my footsteps.

The man was groaning in what I can only describe as ecstasy. He was enjoying this cat and mouse game. Then he pulled out his one advantage.

A flashlight.

Great.

He found me quickly with the glaring light. The brightness nearly blinded me. Like a bull he rushed at me.

I called on my little roach friends once more and made hundreds of them race across the floor and crawl up his legs, chest, arms and face. He screamed. It was the first time I sensed any fear from him, but cockroaches were harmless, he’d realize that soon enough.

I ran past him before he could grab me and practically flew up the wooden staircase. My heart was racing, my head was pounding, I didn’t know what I’d find when I ran through the door.

I could feel him brushing off the bothersome roaches. The flashlight flared in my direction as I reached the top of the stairs and ran through the doorway.

He was already on the steps, taking two at a time.

I slammed the door shut and searched for a lock on the knob, the door frame, anywhere!

Nothing.

BOOM!

The door hit me hard against my chest as he slammed it open, flashlight blinding me. I fell on my backside and tried to get back up to run.

“You’re a bad little girl,” I heard him say and his voice sounded almost pleased by that notion.

I managed to get to my feet and whirled around to run when I realized…

…I was in a small metal hallway with a steel door at the opposite end that was locked shut.

I turned around to face my attacker…

SMACK!

Ouch.

My head.

Everything went black.