The slow, agonizing creak of the warehouse door shattered the silence, and I felt a jolt of terror lance through me. The echo of metal groaning against metal reverberated through the cavernous space, sending a prickling sensation over my skin. I could almost feel the cold, biting air creeping in through that open door, flooding the room with a chilling draft as it swung open wider and wider. Light poured in, a thin, sterile strip of it that cut across the concrete floor in a straight line, slicing through the darkness and illuminating the damp, dusty ground beneath me.
I could hardly breathe, my throat dry and tight, as I watched the light creep slowly toward me. My muscles tensed, and I forced myself to inhale, exhale, to cling to whatever fragments of composure I could manage. I was bra
