E & Alexander


    E


    The world kept slipping in and out of focus.


    One moment I was sitting at the restaurant table, the next I was being carried out the back door, seeing Lilith’s bloodied head on the ground behind me, and then I found myself staring at the back of a car seat, my cheek pressed against cracked leather.


    My head felt like it was filled with cotton. When I tried to lift it, everything spun.


    “There we go, sweetheart. Just rx.”


    The man’s voice came from somewhere above me, but it sounded distorted, like he was speaking underwater. Or maybe I was the one who was underwater, drowning, sinking. I tried to turn toward the sound, but my neck wouldn’t cooperate.


    “What…” My own voice sounded strange and slurred. “What did you…”


    “Shh. Don’t fight it. Makes everything easier.”


    I blinked hard, trying to clear my vision. The man was driving with one hand on the steering wheel, the other reaching back to… to touch my leg.


    I tried to pull away but my body wouldn’t listen. My arms felt like they weighed a thousand pounds.


    “Get away from me…”


    The manughed. It was an ugly sound. “You’re not in any position to make demands, Luna.”


    Luna. He knew who I was.


    Terror shot through me, cutting through some of the drug-induced haze. This wasn’t random. This wasn’t just some creep who’d seen a pretty girl in a bar. He’d targeted me specifically.


    I tried to sit up and get a better look at where we were going, but something was wrong with my wrists. When I looked down, I saw silver duct tape wrapped around them, binding them together.


    “No, no, no…” I struggled against the restraints, but they held firm.


    “Save your energy,” the man said. “You’re going to need it.


    The car hit a pothole, jarring me against the door Through the window, I could see we were no longer in town. Trees shed by in the darkness


    1.3


    The man held up something small and rectangr. A camera.


    “Smile for me, sweetheart.”


    The sh went off, temporarily blinding me. I squeezed my eyes shut, but he kept taking pictures, the shes hurting my drugged retinas even through my eyelids.


    Finally, the car began to slow, turning onto what felt like a dirt road. Branches scraped against the windows as we drove deeper into the forest. And then we stopped.


    The man got out and came around to my side of the car. When he opened the door, I tried to scramble away, but my legs wouldn’t support me. He caught me easily, and the acrid scent of his unwashed flesh made me gag.


    “Easy there. Don’t want you hurting yourself before we have our fun.’


    >>


    Ignoring my weak protests, he dragged me toward an old barn, maybe, or some kind of storage building. The wood looked rotten, and half the roof had caved in.


    “Perfect spot, don’t you think?” He pushed open a door. “Nice and private. No one to interrupt us.”


    Inside, it smelled like decaying hay and animal waste. My feet dragged across the dirt floor as he hauled me toward the back of the building, where a few broken stalls remained.


    He shoved me down onto a pile of moldy hay, and I couldn’t catch myself with my hands bound. My shoulder hit the ground hard, sending a spike of pain through my body.


    “Now then,” the man said, pulling out the camera again, “let’s get some good shots.”


    The sh went off again and again. I tried to turn away, but he grabbed my chin and forced me to look at him.


    “Please,” I said, my voice stronger now as some of the drugs began to wear off. “Please don’t do this.”


    “Oh, but I want to. Someone’s paying me very well to make sure you have a really bad night.”


    Someone was paying him?


    Before I could process that information, he reached for the hem of my dress.


    That was when the adrenaline kicked in.


    I rolled away from him, ignoring the pain in my shoulder, and scrambled to my feet. The barn door was still open, a rectangle of slightly less darkness against the ck walls.


    I ran.


    But with my hands bound, I couldn’t bnce properly, and the drugs were still making


    everything swim in and out of focus. I stumbled over broken boards and Goddess knows what else, but I kept going.


    Behind me, I could hear him cursing and giving chase.


    “You fucking bitch! Get back here!”


    Somehow, I managed to make it outside and plunge into the forest. Branches tore at my dress and scratched my arms, but I didn’t stop.


    I didn’t get far, though, before I tripped over a fallen log and went down hard, tasting blood where I bit my tongue.


    “There you are.”


    He was on me before I could get back up, his weight pinning me to the forest floor. I could smell his breath, sour and rotten, as he leaned over me.