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Rising Doom
Pain tore in my shoulders as one of them shoved me into the back of the van, but it was nothing compared to the panic flaring in my chest. There, in the half-light of the vehicle they’d pushed me into were the three people caught in the nightmare with me.
My focus darted intentionally to my daughter; the most important of the three. She looked understandably haunted by our most recent experiences, but there was a stoicism to her expression too, a pillar of mettle that no man seemed able to break. I forced a smile at her, inching closer to the place she sat beside me.
“It’ll be okay,” I whispered under my breath, conscious of the nearest brute hovering by the doors.
“Quiet.” Nathanial hissed the warning, his gaze narrowing at me.
The brutes had already told us all to shut up, and we all feared the consequences if they heard me speaking. I didn’t blame Nathanial for his terse response.
Looking at him across the van, the man I’d met looked crestfallen, though I suspected his mood was less to do with the kicking he’d taken and more to do with his pride. Perhaps he truly believed he could keep us safe and this whole, sorry incident had come as a bigger shock to him than to any of us.
He’d always been able to herd us back to well-being. Until now.
Somehow, even after everything Sam had put me through in the past, I couldn’t accept what was transpiring. That the men who’d burst into our motel rooms could truss us up and drag us into alleged custody was absurd.
Not in this country. Not in this century!
Yet our fate was happening right before my eyes. Nathanial, Sally, and I had all been cuffed, our hands forced behind our backs. They’d taken pity on Laurel at least and had allowed her wrists to be cuffed in front of her. I eyed the metal bracelets around her delicate wrists, loathing my impotency. Not only was I unable to ease her bondage and help her, but I knew my reassurances about what was to come were shallow.
None of us knew what would happen next. We didn’t know who the men who’d rounded us up were, where they were planning to take us, or what would happen there. My only consolation was that, at least so far, they’d kept us together.
“Oh, God.” Sally’s head fell as she gasped, her sobs echoing around the van.
Back in the crappy motel, a further three men had appeared with Sally shortly after I’d admitted my identity, her red eyes and trembling hands demonstrating she’d experienced some type of trauma, although she hadn’t yet been able to share what they’d put her through. After years of abuse at Sam’s hands, I had some ideas, but I despised the fact that her association with me had led her down the same dark alleyways.
“What did I fucking say?” The growl came from the same ugly brute who’d warned us to be quiet.
Sally’s head rose, her eyes as wide as saucers as she heaved in air.
“Shut your fucking mouths, or I’ll find gags for you all.” He smashed his fist against the side of the van, causing Laurel to jump with terror. She yelped, inching closer to me until our shoulders grazed. “I won’t tell you again!”
He lingered for a terrifying moment until his unpleasant face vanished again, leaving the four of us in subdued silence.
I’m sorry. I stared at Sally’s horrified expression, hoping my eyes conveyed the sentiment in the shadows of the back of the van. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.
“Right.” The snarly asshole was back again, his narrowing gaze scanning over us. “We’re leaving. Keep quiet and don’t try anything fucking stupid.”
He slammed one door closed, throwing half of the musty space into increased darkness. Alarm intensified as a crawling sense of claustrophobia clawed at my throat.
He’s shutting us in!
It was such a stupid thing to be concerned about. Not only was it obvious the doors would have to close, but frankly, there were far larger issues at stake than sitting in the back of a van. Still, my breaths accelerated as the second door crashed closed, descending the space into black.
I leaned against Laurel as the noise of the front doors closing echoed, followed by the low, throaty thrum of male voices. Briefly, I wondered where the rest of the brutal gang was hiding. I’d counted seven aggressors when the remaining three had dragged Sally into Nathanial’s room, but the van couldn’t seat that many. Perhaps the remainder had more vehicles. Or perhaps I should be spending more time concentrating on how to get Laurel out of this latest hellhole before I worry about the goons who captured us.
The engine roared to life around us before the van started to move.
“Where do you think they’re taking us?” It was Sally’s voice that rose just high enough over the engine noise to be heard.
“Fuck knows.” Nathanial’s demoralized tone answered her.
“Who are they?” I called back. “Does anybody know?”
“They’re working for Wilson.” Nathanial’s sense of resignation sliced through me. The fact that he seemed to have given up made the entire situation even worse. “They have to be.”
I too believed it was unlikely that any other insalubrious band of men would arrive in the middle of the night to take us away. While it was possible the police wanted to question me about Sam, they wouldn’t operate like this. The thugs who’d kidnapped us were not the police.
“If they’re here about Sam, then why not just hand me over to the police and let the rest of you go?” The idea of being separated from Laurel was genuinely petrifying, but in that moment, I’d have accepted whatever the state considered to be justice, so long as she and the others could go free. Laurel’s welfare was everything, and being stuck in this dark space rushing toward God only knew where was surely not in her best interests.
As though the van sought to prove my point, it lurched to the right, almost sending Laurel and me spilling from the bench we were perched on.
“What about him?” Laurel’s voice was soft beside me. “Why would the police want to talk to you about him?”
“I...” I hesitated, realizing rapidly that Laurel didn’t yet know that I’d killed Sam. Anxiety churned as I faltered for the right words.
“Never mind that.” Once again, it was Nathanial who spoke up to save me. I had to be honest with Laurel, but that moment of escalating dread was hardly the right one. “Let’s focus on what happens to us next.”
“Will they h-hurt us?” The flicker of fear in Laurel’s voice was devastating.
“They won’t hurt you.” My instinct was to comfort her, even if I had no facts to back up my assertion. “You’re just a child, sweetheart.”
“But what about you?” she demanded. “We have to get out of here. Maybe if I find a way out of these cuffs, I can...”
“They’ll question us.” The certainty in Nathanial’s voice was chilling. “This isn’t about Sam, it’s about Wilson. They’ll want to know what we know about his assault on you. They’ll want to gauge how much of a threat we are.”
Nathanial’s logic made sense.
“Then we tell them we know nothing,” I declared, flinching at how loud my voice had become. I prayed the noise of the engine was still enough to drown me out.
“They already know I know what happened.” His tone was clipped. “Likely, they’ll guess I’ve shared what I know, but they’ll want to be sure.”
Shit. I couldn’t bring myself to dwell on how the thugs intended to extract the information.
“Then what?” I heard the determination in my own voice, my resolve that whatever happened to me, I would get through it—I had to—for Laurel’s sake. My courage was fragile at best, but I clung to it regardless. “What will they do to us?”
“That I don’t know.” He paused and I had the distinct impression he was choosing his words carefully because Laurel was with us. “A man like Wilson, who rules with mobs of men like these galivanting around the country and rounding citizens up... who knows what he’s capable of.”
“We’ll find a way to get out.” My wild assertion sounded preposterous, but I couldn’t help it. Right at that moment, staying mentally strong seemed the most critical thing. If we gave in, there would be no hope.
“How?” Nathanial’s question bounced back at me, his firm tone stinging more than it had a right to.
Sure, we’d shared intimacy and he’d even spoken about a possible future where we could be a couple, but he wasn’t mine, and I certainly didn’t care about his fate more than mine and Laurel’s, yet his cutting timbre jarred inside me.
“I don’t know how.” Emotion rose to my throat. “But we’ll figure it out.” We always do.
I wished I could reach for him then, hold his hand and offer some meager token of consolation, but it was hopeless. Sitting on the opposite side of the van to me, I could scarcely even see him and Sally.
“I can’t believe this is happening!” Sally’s frantic cry filled the space as the van raced on toward our unknown fate. Beside me, Laurel shivered and cuddled closer.
The sound of Sally’s sobs was the perfect soundtrack to our woe. Snuggling closer to Laurel, I fought back tears as the tin can around us rushed us into the unknown.