Wrong move. And for a minute, Audrey was worried. That she had made a mistake, that they would get away, that she’d have to leave everything behind, including the love of her life.
Except, it ended up being the perfect move.
Audrey retrieved her gun then followed them silently through the fields. They were crying, telling each other to be quiet, breathing heavily, slowing down as they fought the increasing wind. Audrey stayed fifty feet behind, the moon only a tiny crescent obscured by clouds. It was going to rain tonight. It was all she could do to not laugh out loud. They thought they were getting away!
Maybe she’d shoot them and dump them in the creek. Except... if someone found them, they’d find her farmhouse and the factory and Audrey wouldn’t be able to use her new prison again.
Audrey watched from the edge of the overgrown field while Emily and Josh stood outside the door and debated what to do. They were both angry, upset, and Audrey knew their so-called love was fake as they argued. Emily wanted to hide. Josh wanted to find help. Finally, Audrey grew bored and fired her gun into the ground. “Time’s up,” she said.
They ran into the factory and Audrey came in behind them, just in time to watch as Josh ran into a pile of junk and impaled himself. Emily screamed, but didn’t even try to help him as hisbody jerked and blood poured out of both his mouth and the hole the rebar made in his chest.
The bitch. Typical.
Instead she ran farther into the factory. As Audrey pursued her, she realized this factory had so much potential! It would be far more fun to play here than in her farmhouse prison.
Emily ran blindly, falling, splashing through the water, trying to push herself up, wearing herself out.
Adrenaline could only take you so far, Audrey mused.
Thunder roared in the distance, and Emily screamed, tripped, collapsing in the shallow water that had flooded the factory. Audrey came up from behind, shined her flashlight. Emily was sobbing, gasping, falling into the water and pushing herself up. She was bleeding, too, her face all cut up. Emily reached out for her, begging for help, calling her by a name no longer hers.
“Clara... please...”
Audrey just smiled. And watched.
Watched her fade.
Then she handcuffed her to a piece of machinery and Emily didn’t even fight her.
The next twelve hours were intoxicating. Audrey wandered the factory’s maze of metal and rot, every corner a potential trap, every hallway a perfect dead end. She could see it all so clearly now.
This wasn’t just a hiding place.
It was an arena. A stage.
With Garrett’s help, they would build the most exquisite escape house the world had ever seen. It would be a masterpiece.
It would be so much fun.
And it had been fun until the stupid FBI ruined it.
Audrey stopped the van next to the hidden door around the side of the factory. She loved having this game room. She wasgoing to miss it. The two agents deserved to die slowly for what they did, but her gun was going to have to end them.
It really wasn’t fun to shoot people. She’d only done it once, and that bitch hadn’t even had the good sense to fall over and die and make Audrey’s life easier. No. She had to run, creating untold problems until Audrey finally caught up with her.
That was then. Now Audrey was smarter.
She pulled up her phone and checked the cameras to make sure her prey were still on the factory floor.
Frowned. The cameras weren’t working. Those fucking asshole feds! What had they done?
Then she realized she didn’t hear the generator.
Gun in hand, she walked around the side of the factory and stared at the broken window.
No.
No!
