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I get my jumpsuit zipped up correctly and rub my eyes from the strain, feeling around to get to the door between the flashes of light.
“Is there another way out of here?” I ask.
I can’t tell, but I feel him give me an irritated look. “Like another door I failed to mention before?”
“No, not another door,” I grumble. “A way to break down the door.”
I find my way to the bed and feel the metal frame around the edges. “Are these screwed on or welded?”
“I don’t know,” he says, his voice exasperated. I can almost feel him pulling out his hair from frustration.
Alex crosses the room in a few large steps, his body flashing in red across the floor. I tug at the bed frame, trying to find something, anything, that will break down the door. I hear a crash from inside the bathroom, and stop, covering my ears from the scratch of metal on metal as Alex comes back with the pole he tore out from somewhere in there.
“Hold the tablet up for light,” he orders. “To the door.”
“You are hell-bent on destroying that bathroom,” I mock, a failed attempt at a joke. Alex holds the metal pipe in both hands, and I see his jaw twitch in the blinking light.
I grab the tablet, flipping the flashing red screen toward the door handle. “Are you sure—”
Whack!
Alex’s swing slams the pole onto the handle, and I jump back, almost dropping the tablet.
“Little close,” I exhale. “But I’m good. Again.”
“Hold it steady so I can see,” he orders, rearing back with the pole.
Alex readies his swing, like a batter on the plate.
Whack!
The handle hangs forward, releasing at the top.
“Did it hit the lock?” Alex asks.
“Yes. Again,” I order, eager to break free, worried some timer on our lives is perilously ticking faster and faster.
Whack!
The handle falls to the floor, and I drop the tablet, reaching my hand inside the gaping hole and yank.
“It won’t open!” I say.
Alex pushes me to the side and puts his hand into the opening, feeling the mechanism inside.
“Do you have it?” I beg.
“Don’t you think when I have it, you’ll know? Get the tablet for the fucking light, Row.”
I pick up the tablet, hearing Alex announce he’s got it, but when I turn, he’s stumbling back, reaching for the pole.
Men stand at our entryway and start through the open door. Alex’s lifting the pole, aiming at the men before I can say a word.
“Stop,” Sam yells, but Alex is already mid-swing.
Chapter Twenty-Two
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