Chapter 25 #3
I heard another shaky breath leave her, and when she spoke again, her voice sounded smaller still. “What do you think I should do?” she asked. “Because I honestly have no idea anymore.”
Rhys didn’t answer right away. I could picture him leaning back against the couch cushions, brows drawn together like he was carefully considering it. Like he wasn’t the reason half the people at this camp were dead.
“Stay in the assembly hall with the others,” he finally said. “At all times. Nobody goes anywhere alone, no matter what. And you can’t come back here again.”
“But you need food.”
“I can stretch what you already brought me,” Rhys said. “And I can still raid the Snack Shed too.”
“Oh. Right.”
“I’m gonna start moving between cabins,” he went on. “I won’t stay in one place for more than a few hours. That way the killer will have trouble finding me. If I’m right about him coming for me, that is.”
“God, this is all so fucked up,” Jasmine said. “It’s like—ugh, shit.”
“You okay?”
“It’s these fucking cramps. As if a killer on the rampage isn’t enough for me to deal with, I have to have my period too.”
“Feel free to use the bathroom again if you need to,” Rhys said. “It’s probably nicer than the one in the hall, right?”
“Yeah. Way nicer.” There was a short scraping sound as she stood. “I’ll actually take you up on that. Be back in a minute.”
I heard footsteps crossing the cabin, followed by the bathroom door closing.
For half a second, I lay there frozen, and then my heart started pounding.
Oh my god.
The right-hand side of the closet backed directly onto the bathroom wall beside the toilet. So if I could kick hard enough to dislodge one of the pillows from the wall, and then kick the wall itself, Jasmine might hear it. Then she might realize someone was in here.
I knew she could be impulsive, but I was pretty sure she was smart enough not to react immediately in this case. Smart enough not to say a word to Rhys. But she’d tell the others afterward, and then she’d come back with help.
Adrenaline surged through me so violently it almost made me dizzy.
I twisted onto my side and started wriggling as fast as the restraints would let me, shoulders grinding awkwardly against the padded blankets beneath me. The cramped space suddenly felt ten times bigger as I shoved myself inch by inch toward the right wall.
Come on. Come on.
The gag muffled the harsh sound of my breathing as I squirmed until my bound ankles finally brushed the biggest pillow propped against the right wall.
I bent my knees as much as the bindings allowed and kicked, but the pillow absorbed most of it. I kicked again. Harder this time. Then again and again. Eventually, the pillow slipped sideways a few inches, then dropped to the ground.
I felt a wild surge of hope and kicked sideways as hard as I could. The resulting thud on the wall was loud enough that I felt the vibration travel up my legs. But at that exact same second, the toilet flushed, and the roar of rushing water completely swallowed the noise.
Every bit of hope inside me collapsed in an instant.
No!
I kicked again desperately as the flush faded, but the sink had turned on now, water rushing loudly through the pipes and drowning out any noise I made. A second later I heard movement again; the creak of the towel rack, footsteps crossing the tiles, then the bathroom door opening.
I lay there shaking with frustration so intense it made my eyes burn. That had been my only shot, because Jasmine wasn’t coming back after this.
“I’ll walk you down to the end of the path,” Rhys said. “That way you don’t have to go too far alone.”
“Thanks.”
A moment later the cabin door opened and shut again.
I screamed into the gag as soon as they were gone, the sound muffled and pathetic inside the padded closet as I twisted violently against the restraints, rage and helplessness crashing through me in waves.
It didn’t matter. Nobody could hear me.
By the time Rhys returned a few minutes later, I’d gone completely still again. He opened the closet door and looked down at me, his eyes glimmering faintly.
“That went well, didn’t it?” he said as he crouched and reached for the gag.
“Fuck you,” I muttered the second it came free. “I’m going to kill you.”
He laughed. “Sure you are, sweetheart.”
“I will if I get a chance,” I shot back, glaring up at him. “I swear.”
“I don’t know why you’re so mad.” His head tilted slightly. “I thought you wanted me to let Jasmine live.”
I didn’t answer.
He untied my wrists and ankles with quick, practiced movements, then stood and waited while I dragged myself stiffly upright and climbed out of the closet.
Pins and needles stabbed through my legs almost immediately. I staggered toward the bed and sank down on the edge of it, shoulders drooping with exhaustion.
“Last night you said you’d give me answers,” I said in a low voice. “About all of this. Your plan. Your list.”
“I will,” Rhys said, nodding slowly. “But first, I want some answers from you.”
A frown pulled at my forehead. “About what?”
“Well…” He leaned back against the wall beside the closet door, folding his arms across his chest. “For starters, Alissa Madsen doesn’t exist.”
My stomach flipped.
Rhys’s eyes stayed fixed on me as his mouth curved faintly.
“So let’s start there,” he said, tilting his head again. “Who the hell are you?”