Page 196 of Shhh…It’s A Killer Story

"They never come," she whispered between broken breaths. "Nobody knows where this place is."

I shook my head.

"You haven't met Elias."

My fingers unconsciously found the blue wool pooled around my shoulders, holding the fabric for only a second before letting it fall again.

"He'll notice."

Someone laughed bitterly. Another woman looked away. I didn't.

"He loves me."

The words settled into the container with surprising weight, not dramatic or desperate. Simply true.

Metal exploded against metal.

CLANG.

Every woman flinched. The sound echoed through the container so violently it seemed to vibrate inside my ribs.

Another bolt slid back.

Then another.

Steel screamed against steel as the enormous doors began opening inward, daylight slicing through the darkness in a blinding white line that grew wider by the second. Dust floated through the light like tiny insects.

Three silhouettes waited beyond it. The largest stepped inside first. He was immense. Not merely tall but dense.

The sort of man whose shoulders entered a room before the rest of him had made the decision. Grease stained his work clothes, and the sharp smell of diesel followed him across the floor. A pale scar disappeared beneath his left ear before vanishing into the collar of his shirt, twisting his jaw just enough to make his face look permanently irritated.

The container seemed to shrink around him.

Several women recoiled instinctively. One pressed herself so tightly against the steel wall I thought she might break her own spine. Another began sobbing openly.

I stayed exactly where I was. Fear is information. Displaying it simply tells the other person they've succeeded.

He stopped directly in front of me. His shadow swallowed almost my entire body. He waited. He expected panic. He expected pleading. He expected tears.

Instead, I tilted my head slightly, studying him with genuine curiosity.

"...How disappointing."

His brow furrowed.

"I assumed someone carrying that much muscle would have something equally impressive inside their skull."

The corner of my mouth lifted.

"It appears your body consumed all available resources before they reached the brain."

Inside my skull, the alarms went frantic.

"SERAPHINA!" Gerald shrieked, his tiny painted hands waving over his tunic.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"For once," Frank muttered.