I try hard to push myself up with my arms, but I keep getting shoved back down.
“Go. Go. Go,” I hear Steven yell. “We’ve got the package.”
Something slams hard against the side of my head, and then there’s a sharp prick in my right arm. I try to yank away, but it’s too late.
My whole world wobbles and spins.
Chapter 2
CARA
The world blurs, and at first, I think I’m still dreaming, and I’m underwater, but then I taste the sweetness on my tongue. I always taste the metallic hint of blood in my nightmares, and this is not it. This is sickly sweet.
My eyes feel heavy, but I pry them open, squinting around me. It’s dark and whatever I’m on makes a hollow banging sound as I push myself into a sitting position. I wait for my eyes to adjust, but they don’t.
Crap, it’s really dark in here, as if I’ve been dropped into a pot of ink.
“Hello?” I whisper because I’m too scared to say it out loud. There’s no answer, only the harsh echo of my own pathetically frightened voice.
Slowly I get up, carefully testing the ground beneath my feet, and again it makes the hollow banging sound. I must be standing on some sort of metal sheet... I think.
Trying to reach for anything around me, I bring my arms up, but there’s nothing but the darkness. It feels as if my balance just up and left me, and as my fear intensifies, it throws my senses totally off.
I’m too scared to move, but I know I can’t just stand here.
God, I’m in trouble.
My body begins to tremble uncontrollably as the thought hits hard.
“You’re okay,” I try to calm the panic growing in my stomach. “Find a way out. You just need to find a way out. Stay calm. Don’t lose it.”
I take small steps forward, my hands shaking terribly. When I walk into a solid wall, my breathing turns to rapid gasps of terror. “Shit, where am I?”
I feel my way along the wall but find nothing but another wall, and then another… and another.
“No. No. No. No,” I gasp fearfully as desperation and horror erupt inside my chest, sending a shockwave through my body.
This… box is small.
Claustrophobia sets in, making my heart pound frantically against my ribs and a fine layer of sweat form on my skin.
Fuck, I’m so deep in shit.
Was I found by the same people who killed my parents? Did they somehow manage to track me down?
But how?
I was so careful?
Shit. Shit. Shit.
My panic increases, numbing all common sense. I feel my way to a corner and slide down until my butt hits the floor. I press back against the cold, hard metal wall until, and bringing my knees up to my chest, I wrap my arms tightly around my legs.
God.
Please.
Dread makes the dark reach at me with clawing fingers, only making the shivering in my body a million times worse. It makes time slow down and the air thin. The horror of my situation makes my insides quiver and my mouth dry.
Shit. What’s happening?
Where am I?
Who has me?
Why?
Seconds tick over into bloodcurdling, terror-filled minutes.
Minutes slither into what feels like unnervingly scary hours.
I don’t know what time it is. I don’t know if it’s night or day outside. I don’t know who has me or why.
I know nothing but the naked terror that keeps growing… and growing until it’s impossible to form a coherent thought.
I begin to go through stages – panic, fear, and then I’ll start to reason with myself that I’ll find a way to escape until I’m able to take a deep breath.
Anger comes last, where I begin to plan ways of defending myself until I’m filled with rage, and I’m imagining ways I’m going to kill whoever has me.
It all happens in a matter of minutes, and then the panic overwhelms me again.
I go from feeling hot to cold in seconds, from crying hysterically to just rocking myself like some crazy person.
Please, God…
Paralyzing fear, unlike anything I’ve felt before, seizes my soul.
I keep thinking any second can be my last second. I keep worrying I’ll run out of air.
What if I’m buried, and I don’t even know it?
I keep imagining dying in this black hole, and no one will ever know. A sob escapes my parched lips, and I grip my knees tightly to my chest, rock myself.
More unnerving minutes pass, and then I hear a loud bang against one of the metal walls. I shriek and press further back into the cold sheet behind me.
What’s that?
Oh, God.
This is where they kill me.
I’m going to die.
No. No. No.
Please.
I hear keys clinking and something like a lock being turned, and then light spills into the box. A frightened yelp slips from my dry lips. I quickly scan my surroundings, noticing I’m in a freaking shipping container.