76. Kiera
KIERA
I can’t breathe. I can’t fucking breathe.
I wasn’t sure how I’d ended up here. One second I was watching Dom’s silhouette against the flames, holding my breath as she ran back into the fire. And the next…
Darkness. Fabric over my head. Hands over my mouth, zip ties binding my arms, dragging me off into the woods. And the sharp pain of being tossed into the back of a car.
I tensed against the bindings at my hands and feet, but it was no use. I didn’t even have enough leverage to separate my hands. Each deep breath I tried to take pulled the fabric further into my mouth, alluding to my suffocation without actually following through.
I’m going to die here.
A cold spike of anxiety surged through my chest, but I couldn’t let it take over. I couldn’t afford to die here — not while my saviors still needed me.
Are they okay?
My chest tightened, but that thought sobered me more than anything else. Fighting to keep my racing heart in check, I straightened up against the cool metal wall and tried to calm my racing thoughts.
I can’t freak out. I can’t freak out.
Instead, I tried to walk myself through Leo’s calming technique.
Can’t see a fucking thing with this hood on. But I guess I can still feel.
I focused on the rocking of the car — a beater, if the shitty suspension was anything to go off. I could also feel peeling leather beneath my shoulder, the plastic cutting into my wrists and ankles, and the silk of my pajama bottoms.
God. Don’t let them take my —
I shook my head, moving on to what I could hear: the rumble of the engine, the static of the radio, my kidnappers' repulsive mouth breathing, and the rush of air through the window. We were moving fast, covering too much ground for my liking.
Smell: old cigarettes, body odor, and a heavy dose of cheap cologne.
My body tensed as I tried to place the cologne.
Tasting the sweat that broke out over my lips, I knew exactly who’d come for me.
The ride felt endless until it was over. And once the car came to a stop, I found myself desperate to drive farther, to avoid whatever the fuck was waiting for me outside of the vehicle.
As the door by my feet swung open, I kicked wildly, the force of my blows doubled by having my feet bound. But it wasn’t enough to stop the men from grabbing a hold of my zip ties and hauling me out of the car, letting me land face-first in the dirt.
How many of these fuckers are there?
It was impossible to gauge. I could hear several sets of footsteps, but it was hard to count bodies when no one was speaking.
They let me squirm on the ground while they slammed the car door shut and grabbed something from the trunk. Then, before I could get my bound feet beneath me, hands looped under my arms, letting my feet drag as they hauled me inside the building.
Once we were through the threshold, the rough stone pathways gave way to smooth, polished concrete. The footsteps here echoed. Maybe it was some kind of warehouse?
I tried to listen for any other clues, but the air was knocked from my lungs as they threw me against a cement pillar, knocking the wind from my lungs.
Cement pillar? Warehouse… or a factory.
Wheezing to catch my breath, I couldn’t fight back as the zip ties were cut and replaced with sturdy metal handcuffs. I got my confirmation though once the bag was ripped from my head.
A factory, one I hadn’t seen before. Though the lighting was objectively dim, everything felt bright compared to the black void I’d been floating through since they grabbed me. Brick walls made up the room. With so many people in it, it felt rather crowded despite its size.
My cuffs were attached by a length of chain that was looped through a hard point on the floor.
Experienced. Terrifying.
I squinted to the far corners of the room, where several men in ski masks paced around. I’d been expecting a familiar face: Gabe, or maybe Isaac. But these men wore no identifiable symbols.
Maybe my instinct is wrong. Maybe someone else wants something from me.
Dom was certain to have plenty of enemies with her chipper demeanor. It could be one of them. Or perhaps it was some rival of the Oracle’s. Hell, it could have been anyone, even complete randos. After all, I was the number one target on Gabe’s witch hunting app.
But whoever the fuck they were, I didn’t like the way that they were looking at me.
“Should we do introductions?” I called out, trying to hide how fucking scared I was. “I can go first: my name is Kiera, I’m a Capricorn, and I’d like to get the fuck out of here. What about you? What brings you to these parts?”
They weren’t fazed by my mocking. A handful of them stood watching me unblinking, while one of them got busy in the corner of the room with something wet-sounding.
“Whatcha got there?” I craned my neck to get a better look, but there was no need. A second later, the masked man turned to face me, throwing down a bowl of gruel in front of me before waving off the rest of his buddies.
They filed out of the room in neat rows, and as they left, I could see that two men with machine guns were stationed outside my door. I wasn’t sure what I’d expected from them. More roughhousing, a threat, a single fucking word maybe.
But whoever had taken me was far too organized for that sloppiness.
And as the metal door slammed behind them, I was damned to a fate worse than any torture they could have inflicted: complete and utter darkness, the perfect playground for the fears fighting for control of my mind.