“Please help him,” I whispered, crawling onto my knees.

Without any warning, a booted foot connected with my head. Everything went white, then black.

Chapter 27

Chapter 27

When I came to, I noticed two things immediately. I was freezingso cold my teeth chattered and I couldn’t feel my toes. And I couldn’t move my arms.

I opened my eyes to see nothing but darkness. It was hard to distinguish anything until my sight adapted. Once it did, I delved headfirst into freak-out mode, which didn’t help the pounding in my skull.

I was in a cellar of some sortan old one used to store things no one wanted. The walls reflected a slimy sort of surface. It took me several seconds to realize water dripped down the blocks, pooling along the floor, soaking my jeans. The thin tank I’d thrown on before leaving the house now clung to me like an icy sheet. I had no idea where my hoodie was.

I really started to spaz out then.

Kicking my legs up, I tried to stand, but couldn’t get my arms out from behind me. They were tied to somethinga thick, cold pipe cut into my back. Metal sliced my wrists as I struggled wildly to get them undone. All I succeeded in doing was tearing the skin open, spilling more blood.

A squeaking noise came from one of the dark corners, then the sound of something scurrying across the room.

My heart lodged in my throat. I stopped moving, staring blindly into the shadows. Two beady eyes became visible. I shrieked and yanked my legs up, knocking my shins against somethingseveral coarse, hairy little bodies.

Rats.

I screamed, really screamed, until my throat felt like it’d ripped open. Rats hurried back to the corners, their claws clicking across the cement. I pulled against the pipe, thrashing until my fingers turned numb. Terror consumed me, eating away at the thin grasp I held on sanity.

Time came and went. I lost track. My throat was so hoarse my screams sounded more like moans. I peered into the gloom, sure everything movedthe rats, waiting until I passed out to start nibbling on my skin. A hysterical laugh escaped melittle did they know that the first bite would kill them. My mind started playing tricks on me. I was sure I heard movement above me more than once, but no one answered my cries. No one came. Was this how I would die? By rats or blood loss? Or by freezing to death, because I was pretty sure hypothermia was setting in. At one point, I swore the shadows whispered my name called to me like some sick chorus of death.