Page 136 of Guarded Knight

I round another corner, past an old conveyor belt hung with empty plastic garment bags that flutter like ghosts toward the sign, and finally reach the door. I push on it.

It doesn’t budge.

I spin, heart hammering, just as Trent barrels around the corner. Eyes red. Nose running. A welt blooming on the corner of his eye. He looks deranged.

I turn again and beat the door with all my might, kick it hard. It’s locked. Fucking locked.

I kick again, as hard as I can.

Behind me, Trent is closer. He’s still clutching his crotch. “You can’t leave… You won’t leave me. Not again…”

He’s too close… I won’t make it if I try the door again. It’s futile. There has to be another way out.

I dart left along the perimeter of the building, hoping to get on the other side of the industrial machinery and rusty racks. Can I hide? I just need to buy time.

I’m sure Gabriel is coming. He will… I believe it. All I need is a safe place where Trent can’t reach me. Gabriel can’t be far behind. He’d have noticed I was gone quickly. Figured it out… he will.I believe in you, G…

But my legs feel funny, weak and fuzzy. I’m parched and then I cough. My steps slow despite my best efforts, and my mind reels back to Trent’s syringe. He’s a fucking pharmacist. He knows what he’s doing. Does he want to kill me?

Diving into the middle of the labyrinth from hell, I scan wildly for a place to hide. Somewhere he can’t reach me. The onlyadvantage I have now is my size. I’m small. He is huge… There has to be a place he can’t reach. Not immediately anyway.

I spin to see he’s closer now, running faster than before, eyes wide with haunting determination. He’s fully recovered from the kick and…

Where can I hide?

There’s a long conveyor-style machine ahead… he’ll never be able to crawl there… if I can just get in deep under…

I throw myself to the floor, at the bottom of a giant machine, and dust flies up into my lungs. I splutter and commando crawl, deeper under the grime and years’ worth of dust, into the darkness when…

A hand grips my ankle tightly.

I scrape across the floor swiftly, my head bumps a pipe, and my head echoes with a sharp pang. Before I know it, I’m facing upward in the light again, Trent’s face a shadow of rage.

He grips the sides of my arms and pulls me up to standing, lifting me straight off the floor and shoving me mercilessly against a concrete wall, another blow to the back of my skull. He’s ten times scarier now with devilish red rings around his dark, ominous eyes, and sweat beading on his forehead.

Black spots flicker in my vision, and I cough. I can hardly breathe, and a single tear escapes down my cheek. Fuck.G… please… I need you…

Trent pants and lets out a groan as though he’s still in pain. He holds me against the wall, hard, his chest and hips on my body like he’s trying to fuse us.

“Why did you do this?” He’s breathless. “I didn’t want it to be this way.”

Evil soaks right through from his chest to mine.

“Now I have to punish you.”

36

Anton loosens his shoulders;we’re both still stuck in suits from the gala.

“You take the west, I’ll sweep the east.”

Just then, a male voice slices through the quiet, echoing off the walls inside and out through the cracks in a boarded-up window.

“Angel!”

Another shout. Louder. Desperate.

“You can’t get out!”