Her eyes widened and before she could scream, he clasped his hand over her mouth. She clawed at his strong arms, her hands slipping helplessly off the fabric as she kicked her legs wildly. She tried jamming her finger in his eye but she was getting weaker, her limbs feeling sluggish and heavy, and he easily shrugged her hand away from his face like he was swatting an annoying fly. In a last-ditch effort she kicked her foot back against his knee. He grunted in pain and released her. She collapsed down to the floor, trying desperately to scream but all that came out were hoarse, weak pleas. Her eyes were still open, still seeing, still terrified, but her legs were no longer responding. The man crouched down and stared at her, his dark brown eyes boring into her own as if he were savoring her fear.

Ruby distantly registered the sound of the shower turning off and her tear-filled eyes darted to the hallway that led to the bathroom. She was getting drowsier and weaker with each passing second, darkness crawling in- to the corners of her vision as she struggled to stay conscious. The man swiftly darted away from the kitchen, ducking into an open room at the end of the hall. He flattened his body against the wall, another needle in his hand poised to strike from the shadows. Ruby tried again to yell a warning to Cathy but it came out as only a whisper. She heard Cathy open the bathroom door, heard her singing Hold On by Wilson Phillips as she walked down the hall to her bedroom: the room where the intruder lay in wait. Cathy came into view wearing her favorite fluffy pink bathrobe, rubbing her hair vigorously with a grey towel. When she caught sight of Ruby on the floor, she paused for a long second, confused. Before she could react, the man leaped forward and plunged the needle into her neck. She screamed but the man trapped her in his muscular arms and covered her mouth, muffling the sound just as he had with Ruby. Cathy thrashed, screaming through his fingers. Whatever he’d injected them with was taking longer on her. But finally her body relaxed and he watched with a smile as she slunk down to the floor. The two women looked at each other from the ground just ten feet apart. Tears were falling from Cathy’s eyes.

CHAPTER 5