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Seven

The Mine

After a freezing night, Olivia fought to breathe.

If it weren’t bad enough being kidnapped and held in a stinking cell underground, she had asthma and it had chosen now to make life difficult.

Without an inhaler, an attack could be fatal.

Her purse and inhaler had gone down with the limo.

She choked back tears. He’d killed her friends, shot one and drowned the others without a second thought.

He’d taken Madison. In her mind, she could still hear her screams echoing through the caves and his laugh.

The thought of him sent shivers down her spine.

Her chest tightened and she tried to concentrate on just the next breath, but breathing the thick air in the neglected mine was like trying to inhale in a dust storm.

The only air seemed to be outside of her cell.

She pressed her face against the bars in the cell window at the top of her door, gasping in the breeze that came from the outside.

In the faint glow of a swinging dust-covered light bulb, eerie shadows danced across the cold stone walls, but for now they were alone.

Their captor hadn’t returned all night. She stepped away from the window and ran a hand down her once beautiful prom dress.

After a night sleeping on the dust-caked mattress, the expensive gown was too damaged to even use as rags.

She’d washed her face and hands in the sink but there was nothing to dry them on, apart from a few sheets of toilet paper pulled from a roll that she discovered on the cistern.

The darkness inside the cell suffocated her and she went back to her position in front of the door.

The cleaner air helped and her breathing improved.

Cold seeped into her bones and her stomach growled with hunger.

The old military rations that the man had given them had been disgusting.

She’d forced them down not knowing even what they looked like and she imagined them covered with maggots with every bite.

She shuddered. Sobbing came from the other cells.

All of her friends were terrified just the same as her.

Would they die trapped in these cells? Or would he come and get them one by one?

She’d hoped Madison would have returned by now, but after the initial screaming, they’d heard nothing.

He’d probably killed her. Panic gripped her and she wanted to scream, but no one was coming to help them.

She needed to calm down. There must be a way to escape.

She just hadn’t thought it through. “Hey, are you all okay?”

“Alive.” Sam coughed. “I won’t last much longer in the cold.”

Everyone was at their window, and the sounds of their shallow rugged gasps filled the quiet. Olivia waved at the two she could see. “Keep moving if you’re cold. Remember what they told us about survival in camp when we were kids?”

“I don’t figure that included being locked in a cell at the bottom of a mineshaft with a maniac intent on murdering us all.” Chloe’s large round frightened eyes peered at her. “That’s what’s happening here, isn’t it? We need to face facts: we’re not going home anytime soon—if ever.”

Olivia wanted to at least try and keep their spirits up.

She’d never been a defeatist. During competition as the leader of the cheerleading squad, even when the chips were down she’d managed to encourage them to give their all and they usually won.

“We have to think positive. There must be a way to escape this man. If he takes us out one by one, there’s a good chance that he’s going to make a mistake sooner or later, and when he does, we act on it.

For now, if he comes back, we should try and get some decent food and some clean blankets.

Just starting to negotiate with him will make him see us as human beings and not toys for him to play with. ”

“I figure you’re all batshit crazy if you believe this guy’s going to let us escape.” Isabella shook the bars. “We’re all going to die. If he doesn’t kill us, we’ll die here. Have you seen his eyes? It’s like looking into the eyes of the devil. He is enjoying seeing us frightened. He’s a monster.”

Olivia heard something and hushed them. She listened intently as footsteps echoed through the cavernous space.

She looked at the others staring open-mouthed toward the source of the noise.

Her stomach churned with dread as the footsteps grew louder.

She wanted to run, hide, do anything to get away, but the steady deliberate footfalls kept coming.

The beam of a flashlight cut through the darkness and illuminated the girls’ terrified faces.

“Did you miss me?” He moved the flashlight across each girl’s face.

With him hidden behind the balaclava and wearing gloves, all that Olivia could make out was the glint of black eyes peering at her.

Terrified, her breath caught in her throat as he approached her cell.

She trembled but stood her ground as he came closer.

Determined to give the others encouragement to remain strong, she sucked in a few deep breaths.

Without warning, the man reached through the bars and touched her face, stroking her cheek.

Her skin crawled at his touch and she recoiled, but too late.

He’d grabbed her by the throat and the smell of blood on the leather gloves crawled up her nose.

His fingers tightened and the cell blurred.

Fighting for her life, she grasped at his arm, pulling it down hard, and the grip released.

She staggered back, gasping for air and wheezing.

“I like that you’re afraid of me.” His voice sent shivers down her spine. “But this is only the beginning. I have great plans for you.” He pointed at each door. “Eeny, meeny, miny, moe, which of you is next to go?”