Defaced

Two

Two

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LILY REGAINED CONSCIOUSNESS, enough to register she was in a confined space. The loud roar of an engine thrummed around her, and from the stench of gas, the limited space, and noise, she figured she was in the trunk of a car. She’d have put any amount of money on the fact it was the trunk of the black BMW.

Her head pounded, a solid thumping which spread from the back of her skull, to right behind her eyes. She tried to move her arms and legs, but they wouldn’t budge. They were bound together, her hands tied to her ankles, like she was a god-damned hog roast. Something was secured across her eyes, blocking her vision, though she doubted she’d have been able to see anything in the darkness of the trunk. Cloth pressed against her tongue and pulled at the corners of her mouth. The muscles in her limbs twitched, threatening to cramp, and she was scared to move in case they did and she was unable to do anything to soothe them.

Why hadn’t she trusted her instincts? She’d known something was wrong, but her social restraints had now put her in very real ones.

Terror filled her, blinding her mind to rational thought. She screamed against the gag, her voice muffled. She fought and struggled and bucked, but none of it did any good. Her head hit the metal roof of the trunk, exacerbating her already bruised scalp. Her wrists and ankles burned from the friction of the rope tied around them. Tears streamed from her eyes, dampening the blindfold.

Sudden pain shot through her calf, focusing her attention. A charley-horse twisted her muscle, making her scream for a different reason. She thought the intense pain would never end, that it would drive her insane until all that remained of her consciousness was a ball of pain and fear, but gradually the cramp relaxed its hold and faded away. She panted and shook, fresh tears squeezing from her eyes. But the pain had helped to focus her mind. Blind screaming and kicking wouldn’t get her anywhere. She needed to think about who had taken her and why, and try to figure her way out of this horrifying situation.

Why would someone want to kidnap her? She was no one. She didn’t have any enemies that she knew of. Yet she was sure the situation had been set up. They’d been waiting for her. This hadn’t been a random kidnapping, a case of her being in the wrong place at the wrong time. It had taken forward planning to arrange the woman to be there at the same time as when Lily had left work, and she even wondered if they’d been aware of her softness for children, for the woman to have pretended to be carrying a baby. Would her car still be in the lot, or would the man have had someone move it? Her abandoned car was currently the only thing that might alert people to the possibility something was wrong.

The fact no one would even notice her missing terrified her. No one would send out a search party or call the police to put things into play to get her back again. No one would even think about her until she didn’t show up for her first appointment with a patient on Monday morning, and even then they’d probably assume she was sick. It might be another day at least before they started to get concerned about her. By then, she’d have been gone for four days. She couldn’t imagine what the bastard who had taken her would have done to her by then. Hell, she could imagine, but she didn’t want to. Four days without hope of any kind of rescue. She would probably wish herself dead by then, if he hadn’t killed her already.

She’d spent her whole life distancing herself from people in order to try to protect herself, but instead the distance she’d created could be what would get her killed.

Lily bounced and jolted in the trunk as the car continued its journey toward her fate, her head, knees and elbows jarring painfully against the walls of her hard prison. She had no idea how long she’d been in the trunk for, or how much longer she would be spending in here. Every part of her body hurt, and, as unconsciousness crept over her mind once more, a tear slipped from her eye and slid down her cheek.

This time, she welcomed the darkness.

***

LILY WOKE TO the click-clunk of the trunk being opened and fresh air hitting her face. Rough hands wrapped around her upper arms, and she squealed and struggled, trying to break the grip.

A blow cracked around her left cheek, sending her head rocking.

His fingers stank of stale cigarettes as he grabbed her jaw, his nails digging into her cheeks. “Don’t cause me any problems, b***h, or you’ll be sorry.”

Lily whimpered, her whole body tense. Her face stung where he had slapped her, and she braced herself for another blow. None came. Instead, she was hauled out of the trunk. Her thighs caught against the metal rim of the trunk, her skin scraping painfully, and she was dumped onto the ground.

Her breath left her body in a whoosh, leaving her gasping around the gag. For a moment, she was terrified she wouldn’t be able to suck the air back in, her lungs tight, but finally they released and she was able to inhale oxygen.

Was it still night time? She couldn’t be sure, but she didn’t feel the warm sun against her skin. She didn’t think she’d been unconscious for too long, certainly not all night. For some reason, keeping track of time seemed of vital importance. At least then she’d be able to calculate when the day arrived when someone might notice her missing and contact the police.

Above her, the trunk lid slammed shut, and she heard the clunk and beep-beep of the central locking of the car. Then she was lifted again, her stomach making contact with the man’s shoulder so she hung in an awkward position, her still bound arms and legs pulled up behind her. The position made it hard for her to catch her breath and she took small gasps as tears squeezed from the corners of her eyes.

He carried her with ease, though she wasn’t a particularly small woman. Despite her fear, she tried to focus on her surroundings. The man’s feet crunched on the ground, heavy with both their combined weights.

Salt and oil tainted the air, the taste on her tongue. Since being blindfolded, her other senses had gone into overdrive.

The foghorn of a large ship blasted through the air. Lily stiffened. Was that where she was? At a port of some kind? Her stomach dropped. If she was at a port, it meant this man intended to move her somewhere.

He dropped her to the ground, her body jarring painfully, and she heard sawing, and then her hands released from her feet. Her shoulders seized at the change in her range of motion, cramp clawing between her shoulder blades, making her moan. But at least her hands and feet were no longer attached and she was able to sit upright. It was such a small thing, but gratitude filled her, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

From farther ahead, she heard another metal clang, and a clunk of a large lock opening.

Her relief didn’t last long.

He half-lifted her to her feet again, and then gave her a shove, sending her flying. She skidded to her knees onto what felt like corrugated iron, taking a layer of skin off as she did so. She came to a stop and toppled to her side, unable to use her hands to balance herself or protect herself as she fell. Her shoulder hit the floor, jarring her once more. Had she ever felt so battered before? Every part of her body hurt. The space she’d found herself was cold and stale. The stink of something she recognized, but couldn’t place, assaulted her nostrils.

Heavy footsteps followed her in, thumping onto the floor beside her head. Lily froze, waiting for the next blow, but none came. Instead, she picked up on something else. Other than the heavy breaths of the man standing above her, she could hear others in the room. More sounds—frantic breathing from one direction, a faint whimpering from another, quiet crying from somewhere in front of her.

The possibility that she wasn’t alone in this made adrenaline fire through her veins.

“Hello?” she tried to call out around the gag, though the words came out garbled. Eeaooo? “Who’s there?” Oooze Aerrr?

Pain blasted through her stomach as the man’s boot connected with her gut, her breath exploding from her lungs. She would have cried out if she’d been able to, but the blow had left her gasping, her knees drawn up, partly to ease the pain, and partly to protect herself from another kick.

“There are rules here, b***h, and you’d better abide by them. No talking to the other captives. No asking questions. And no trying to escape.”

Captives. The word rang through her head.

This was real, she’d been taken.

The man walked away, his footsteps vibrating through the metal floor, and a loud metallic clang followed, reverberating around her.

Exhausted, terrified, and in pain, Lily cried herself to sleep.