She had seen bits and pieces of it all before, when he brought her here—when he dragged her through the barn doors, when he tied her hands and feet so tight with rope that she had lost feeling of her extremities. She was disoriented then, swaying between the here and the confines of her mind until her exhaustion beat her into unconsciousness. But now she had awoken and she could see so clearly—the bloodstained floor and the bodies piled on top of each other like slaughtered pigs.

It had shaken her then, but she had been in such a haze that it didn’t pierce through her body like it did now as if she were seeing it for the first time. She was staring at her fate, that much she knew. Her shoulder was wrapped carefully with gauze. He had attended to her wounds, he had even given her water—pouring it into her mouth as her mind swirled into a haze of confusion. He had kept her alive, and she knew it was only to have more time to do what he did to them.

Next to her, a gasp of air bubbled to the surface of the room, and her attention was drawn to the source. Her sister lay next to her, her body vibrating as it tried to find warmth from a chill. Her wound too had been bandaged up but she knew it was much more serious than her own. The gauze wrapped around her leg was now the color of red rust as it continued to bleed.

“Kelsey,” she suddenly whispered.

She wanted to wake her. The man who brought them there was now nowhere in sight, and she knew that time was limited. But, as she said her sister’s name, it only affirmed that she was in no state to move. Her eyes fluttered open for just a moment, but her body didn’t even have the energy to hold them there and they quickly closed.

“Kelsey,” she said again, this time a bit louder.

She wanted to nudge her, but she couldn’t find a way to do so with her limbs tied together. All she was left with were her words, and as she said her sister’s name again, her eyes only fluttered once more—but this time weaker—and she knew she was only wasting precious time.

She was on her own, and it was up to her to save them both. She needed to get help. But how? She scanned the barn. If she could just find something to cut the rope around her wrists, that was all she needed. But as she looked around her, it became evident that he was too clever to leave something behind that could possibly assist an escape. The barn was barren of anything except vacant bodies and her and her sister. Her mind suddenly grew dizzy as it wandered to the thought that if she didn’t act quick enough, she and her sister would soon also lie in that pile lifeless.