Ren made a face. “It’s just kinda slutty.”
Tyler stuck out her tongue. “I’m kinda slutty.”
Rachel offered, “At least she owns it.”
“What can I say?” Tyler smacked her own ass. “If you got it, flaunt it.”
Emily smiled as she looked in the mirror at her own bikini. She was flaunting it, but not in a thong. That was definitely not her style. They left nothing to the imagination. Her bottoms were more traditional and small enough, but a thong was just ridiculous.
Tyler stepped in behind her. “Damn, girlie, you’re smokin’. Sometimes I forget what’s going on under those clothes. Sweet Jesus, do you live at that gym? Look at those abs.” She slapped Emily on the stomach. “Damn, that’s shmexy. I want those. How do I get those?”
Emily smiled and waved a hand. “You work hard and eat right.”
Tyler huffed. “So you eat tasteless trash and you live at the gym. I got it.
Emily shrugged. “I kinda do live at the gym.”
Ren stepped in to the mirror. “You’re an obsessive freak, you know that, right?”
Emily pursed her lips. “I do.”
Ren turned to inspect her butt in the mirror. “Well, as long as you know.”
“Oh, I know. I’m a completely obsessed lunatic. I need therapy.”
Ren took off the black bottoms and slipped on a neon green bikini with tube-style top. “Oh, yeah, there we go.”
True to form, Katie rocked an American flag bikini. Her older brother was away in the Marines and she was on a full-time support America campaign. All the soldiers cruising Virginia Beach were going to love that. Rachel slipped into a one-piece in black, with cutouts on both sides.
After inspecting their beachwear, they covered up with shorts and T-shirts, grabbed some towels, and headed out to get some breakfast.
The hotel wasn’t a five star accommodation, but it was decent enough. Most of these big chain hotels were the same. In general, they were all nice enough for a bunch of college girls. Emily smiled at the thought of being a college girl. It felt good.
No one was going to load up on a big meal before stripping down at the beach, so they raided the fruit bar at the continental breakfast nook. Once everyone had their fill, they headed down the boardwalk to the beach.
The ocean was perfect. Waves curled and rolled into the sand at a leisurely pace as they headed down the steps. Emily kicked off her sneakers and let her bare feet sink into the sand. It was so soft and warm. It felt great. They searched for a good spot and found one just near the water.
After picking their spots, a cute group of guys walked by and gave them a long look. The guys kept going, and Tyler waited about ten seconds before she started slowly trolling behind them. Katie and Rachel were not far behind. Ren and Emily waved them on and settled into the sand.
Emily slid out of her jean shorts and started spraying some sun block. Ren spread a towel next to her and flopped down. Neither of them were interested in meeting any guys on this trip, they just wanted this to be an easy, relaxing trip with no drama. Guys always brought drama with them. Emily had been single for a while now and was fine with it.
“Oh, brother,” Ren said. “Dugger just sent me a text. He called me a bitch and a whore and hopes I catch syphilis.”
“What?”
Ren laughed. “I know, right?”
“He’s the jerk. He cheated on you like three times.”
Ren nodded slightly. “True colors. Now that I’m the one who won’t run back to him, he’s feeling it.”
Emily sighed. “Guys refuse to grow up, they’re all children. They always want what they can’t have. You take away their candy and they’ll tell you they don’t want it anyway because it’s too sour.”
Ren stuffed her phone into her shoes near her towel. “Well, screw him; screw them all. I’m just going to sit here and suck up this sunlight until my skin turns brown.”
“Right on, babe. This is our weekend to enjoy life.”
“Your parents are the coolest,” Ren said.
Emily looked over at her. “Where’d that come from?”
“I was just thinking. They’ve trusted you to make your own choices since you were like twelve.”
“No.”
“Well, maybe not twelve, but pretty young.”
Emily sat yoga-style and looked out to the ocean. “I guess I’ve never given them a reason not to trust me.”
Ren shook her head. “I’m not buying it. How’d you pull that off?”
“There’s really no secret to it, Ren.”
“I’ve envied you all these years. I mean we’re talking about all our newfound freedom, but with me the moment I turned eighteen back in January, that was it for me. That was my taste of freedom. My parents were always so desperate to keep me under their thumbs, you know. I went a little crazy.”
“New adult rebellion. It’s pretty normal.”
“But see, that’s what I mean. You didn’t rebel.”
Emily shrugged. “I never wanted to.”
“Yeah, because you didn’t have anything to rebel against. You’re not like a normal teen. You’re like my older sister and we’re exactly the same age.”
“I’m almost four months older.” Emily smiled.
Ren looked at her with a comical glance. “Why I ought to slap you.”
Emily held her arms out in a defensive fighting stance. “Make your move, rubber legs.”
Ren laughed. “O-M-G. I can’t believe you remember that.”
“Of course I remember it.”
“That’s probably the most embarrassing moment of my entire life.”
“I wish I’d gotten that on video, but I was laughing too hard to get my phone out of my purse. The way your legs were bending was freaking hysterical.”
“I didn’t wear heels to school again for like three months.”
“A welcome mission of mercy for your ankles.”
Ren reached over and hugged Emily. “I’m going to miss you so much.”
“Oh, don’t make me cry.” But Emily did cry a little bit. At least she didn’t have on any eye makeup to ruin.
***
After hours of lounging around at the beach, they headed back to their room. Emily felt great, it was exactly the unwind she needed. While deciding what they were going to do for the evening, there was a knock on the door.
“I got it,” Rachel said and moved down the small hall.
Emily was just about to take off her shorts when a loud crack scared her. She turned but another crack pierced her ears, followed by another and another. Exactly what was happening didn’t register. It didn’t make sense. Screams of terror and a blur of bodies flying took over.
She saw Rachel crumpled on the ground, she watched Katie fall and Tyler drop after the shots hit her. Emily didn’t know where to run.
Ren ran at her, staggering from the impact, but managed to tackle Emily to the floor between the beds.
Finally the silence came. Emily could only hear her own frantic breathing. Ren was lying lifeless on top of her.
“Ren, Renner, hey.” She pushed herself up and a man in a mask was standing over her with a gun. She tried to get up, but he went at her, not with the gun but with a red rag. He forced it over her face.
Emily struggled to break free of his grasp, but he was too strong. She held her breath, trying desperately not to breathe in whatever he wanted her to breathe, but after a few seconds she couldn’t fight the urge to suck air into her lungs, and when she did, it was horrible acidy air. A few seconds later, she was out.
Chapter 5
Emily’s vision swam into focus but the darkness was thick. Her head was foggy and thumping slightly. Stiff fingers touched the softness of a mattress and she gingerly pushed herself up. With considerable effort, she rolled her legs off the bed, searching for the floor. Attempting to stand, she quickly realized her right hand was shackled to the bed.
A deep breath ushered in some dewy air. It was warm but
not hot. After a hard swallow and a clear of her throat, she tried to yell. “Hello? Is anyone there? Hello? Someone help me!” The taste in her mouth was vile.
Her eyes were acclimating to the darkness and a room started to become clear. To her right stood a small nightstand with a wooden lamp. She reached over and flicked on the light, but it didn’t illuminate. “Hello!” There was nothing else in the room that she could see other than a cushioned chair across from the bed under a small window.
Yanking on the cuff around her wrist proved painful. It was digging into the back of her hand. “Help me! Someone, is anyone out there?” She could see out the window, but there was no real light. A faint glow off in the distance flickered through some trees. It was clear she was no longer near the bright lights of Virginia Beach.
She screamed as loud as she could until her throat became sore and dry. It was clear no one was coming. A feeling of complete doom started to chill her. Tears felt like they wanted to come through, but for some reason didn’t. It didn’t seem real. Her friends were all dead. Memories of Ren’s lifeless body made her want to puke. It was all so vivid now. She was going to be sick.
Emily leaned over the edge of the bed and vomited. There wasn’t much in her stomach, but something came out. Her throat, raw from screaming, now burned with acid. She wanted to punch something, break something, cry so hard, but only soft weepy tears escaped. This was a profound sadness unlike anything she’d ever felt before.
It all happened so fast, it was hard to remember any details other than the horrible noises and the sickening results. She tried to piece together how many men there were, if there were more than one. There were several gunshots, but the chaos that ensued seemed to be over in just a few seconds.
After a while, it surprised her how quickly the sadness was starting to fade into something different. It wasn’t exactly anger, but there was a feeling building inside her that wanted to lash out at someone. Frustration was a good word for it, but even that didn’t quite encompass the depth of the hateful explosion that percolated in her belly.
Somewhere in the night, a car door closed. In that split second her body stiffened, her heart rate increased and the fear returned. Emily listened intently as footsteps started to carry through the wooden structure. A flicker of light cast probing shadow fingers under the gap of the door.
Someone was walking around out there. Her imagination ran wild with a million different things, none of which were any good. Then the mystery walker stopped in front of her door. The slight groan in the wooden planks carried an ominous weight.
The door swung open and a tall sturdy man dressed in all black stood there in the shadows looking at her. There wasn’t enough light to see his face, but he had on what looked like the comedy half of the classic comedy-tragedy white rubber mask.
He walked over to the table next to the bed and placed a small, plastic, battery-powered dome lamp. He then handed her a brown paper bag without saying a word. But Emily just sat there.
He held the bag out closer, shaking it in urgency for her to take it. She didn’t want to touch it, but he just stood there looking down at her, silently. She tentatively reached out and took hold of the bag.
The obvious smell of food radiated through the brown paper, but she wasn’t hungry. She placed the bag down next to her on the bed and he turned to walk out. “Who are you?”
He stopped and looked back at her, staring, still without saying a word.
“Why are you doing this to me?”
He tilted his head.
“Are my friends all dead?”
He nodded once.
“Please, just let me go, please—please let me go.”
He turned and walked out, shutting the door softly.
Emily looked to the ceiling and around the room now that she had some light. It looked like a log cabin, an old one. It smelled old and musty before. Now all she smelled was the food and she was suddenly very hungry.
Part of her didn’t want to eat anything. A trace of fear inside her worried that maybe it was poisoned or laced with something. But she felt like she hadn’t eaten in days and she never skipped meals. People often thought because she was in such good shape that she doesn’t eat. But that’s completely wrong, she ate a lot, she just ate clean foods. Junk foods, fast foods, candy and soda were not part of her daily routine, which made her a rare creature in her world.
Finally, she opened the bag. It was a submarine style sandwich and a small bag of potato chips. It was not normally something she would eat. Deli meats were full of fillers and chemicals. It’s not that she didn’t eat meat, she did. But she only ate actual meat, except for beef and pork. Not because they were unhealthy in moderation, but because she loved pigs and cows. There was nothing more cute than a little baby piglet and there was no way she was going to eat one. Even the sight of bacon gave her shivers, which was hard these days since people were putting bacon on and in everything.
She gave up eating beef because of a documentary she saw on how the cows were treated. It made her stop consuming dairy of all kinds. Some people called her silly and made fun of her over it, but she didn’t care. Never one to go along with trends, Emily relished in being against the grain. There was no delusion in her mind that maybe she was a bit loony when it came to her food. Her friends joked that by the time she was thirty she’d be eating weeds, bark, and free-range snails. Nevertheless, she had to eat something, so she reluctantly sank her teeth into the sandwich.
After finishing the meal, she opened the bottle of water that was at the bottom of the bag. The water was a brand she’d never seen before, but it was very refreshing. She wanted more.
“Hello?” she called, but her captor didn’t answer. “I need to use the bathroom.” After a few seconds, she heard the creak of floorboards and the door opened. “I don’t want to pee on the bed.”
He stared at her for a long few moments and finally stepped towards her. A jingle of keys and a snick of the lock and her hand was freed. A brief moment of anger hit her and she punched at him hard, connecting to the side of his face, knocking him backwards.
She bolted from the bed, but only got about two steps before he caught her by the back of the shirt. She kept her feet digging, but he had a firm grip and yanked her backwards. She spun around with her elbow, connecting into his head and he let go with a long moan.
Heading towards the front door, fingers reaching for the knob, she felt him close the gap in a hurry. He slammed into her from behind, crushing her into the closed door.
A gasp of air escaped her body as he threw her to the ground. She tried to roll away, but he grabbed her by the hair, held her head to the floor, and sat on her midsection. There was no way she was moving, she could hardly breathe.
He put a leather-clad hand around her throat and forced her head from moving. She threw a wild punch at his crotch and connected hard; he groaned and took hold of both her hands and pinned them to the floor. But it put his face close to her and she threw her head up into his face, head-butting him right in the nose, he yelled and fell off her. Scrambling to her feet, she headed to the door again, twisted the knob and throw the door open.
Plunging into the night, she started running down the long driveway in a full-blown sprint. Mid-stride she felt something bite her on the lower back. It felt like a bee, but when she reached back, she felt the dart and quickly pulled it out of her skin.
Though she was running as fast as she could, everything was moving so slowly. She heard footsteps coming fast, but couldn’t tell from which direction. Everything was so hazy. Within the next few seconds, someone tackled her hard and pinned her to the ground.
Emily squirmed and struggled with everything she had, but he was much bigger and heavier, and although the feeling from whatever was in that dart was wearing off quickly, he just sat there until she tired herself out.
With no fight left, she let her arms slump to the dirt. She was not one to take defeat lying down. It made her mad, made her want to figh
t more. But there was nothing left except pure exhaustion.
Several minutes later, he got up and yanked her by the arm, spun her around and walked her from behind with her arm bent in a hard angle in her back, pushing her back towards the cabin.
Inside, he ripped open the door and shoved her into the bathroom. It was a huge relief that he didn’t stand in the room with her. It was dark, but she managed to find the toilet. She didn’t even really have to go before, but she did now.
After washing her hands, she felt around the room for a weapon or something, but there was nothing except a towel. She dried her hands, wiped her face, and started to resign herself to the fact she was doomed. There was no window to climb out of and the only option was to open the door and face him again.
Emily pulled the door open. He stood on the other side, this time he had a gun prominently displayed in the air. He walked her back to the room, cuffed her to the bed, and closed the door.
She didn’t want to sleep, but after a while she closed her eyes.
Chapter 6
Lying in the bed staring at the ceiling, a blast of morning invaded through the window and caused her to come out of the daze. Initially, it was a nice feeling, the warmth of the sunrays, but reality crashed down when she saw him sitting in the chair gawking at her.
Emily gasped and sat up. She didn’t even know she’d fallen asleep, but he must have snuck into the room at some point. He just tilted his white-masked face and continued watching her. It made her incredibly uncomfortable and afraid. His face wasn’t visible, his expressions hidden by the cheap plastic mask. But she knew there was something creepy going on underneath.
The only part of him she could see were his eyes, and they bathed her in a sickening fashion. She could feel them examining every curve of her body, over her tight white T-shirt and skimpy jean shorts and back up again. He hadn’t said a word, but his eyes gave away his every intention.
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