After: The Shock by Nicholson Scott

Author:Nicholson, Scott [Nicholson, Scott]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, mobi
Publisher: Haunted Computer Books
Published: 2012-12-15T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Two of The Captain’s goons shoved Rachel into a dark room and slammed the door.

They weren’t gentle about it, either, and she burned her elbow on the carpeting. She guessed she was in a bedroom, although there was no gray square that would suggest a window. She crawled forward cautiously, feeling in front of her with an outstretched hand.

She met something spongy and drew back, horrified that it might be a corpse.

“Took you long enough,” DeVontay said.

She sat up on her knees, peering in the direction of his voice but unable to see him. “Hey, you’re the one playing hero. Are you okay?”

“Yeah. They roughed me up a little, but I think they’re just playing. Got some kind of skinhead thing going on, from what I can tell.”

“Their leader, The Captain—”

“Captain? What the hell? You think this is a Batman movie or something?”

“I had to nickname him,” she said. “Psychologically, that makes him less of a threat. A kind of gallows humor.”

“Yeah, well, gallows humor is all well and good until the noose tightens. Speaking of which, why don’t you untie me?”

She scooted forward until she found the thick wooden bedpost and fumbled around the thick lump of knots against his skin. “These are like the ones they used on me. Might take me a minute to get them loose.”

“I ain’t going anywhere. Did they…hurt you?” he said in a low voice as she tugged.

Rachel guessed from the pause that he meant, “Did they rape you?” but she brushed past it. “The Captain threw a Zaphead at me as some sort of screwed-up test. The guy’s a little brain-fried himself, I think.”

“When I heard that gun go off—”

One of her fingernails split to the quick as it snagged on a knot. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily. Not until we get you and Stephen to Mi’sippi.”

“Where’s he at?”

“I left him in a hiding place, but The Captain’s goons found him and turned him loose out there with the Zapheads. I guess these guys think everybody has to pass some sort of survival game to prove they are worthy.”

“Shit. Is the boy okay?”

“Put it this way. I haven’t heard him screaming yet.”

Rachel didn’t want to think the worst. Faith required hope, and hope required action. Starting with these godforsaken knots. “I wish I could see,” she said. “Maybe I could find a tool.”

“The lighter,” DeVontay said. “In my pocket.”

“They didn’t search you?”

“Nah. They don’t give a damn about me. I’m a one-eyed black jack.”

That made no sense, but she didn’t question him. She felt along his hip until she found his belt, and then slipped her hand along the fabric of his pants. She found the hem of the pocket and hesitated.

“Go on, girl,” he said. “Nothing in there will bite you.”

“It’s just…”

“I ain’t telling nobody if you ain’t.”

That made her smile despite the gravity of the situation. She shoved her hand inside the opening, pushing past what felt like a rumpled wad of bills, some flexible, rubbery things she suspected were Slim Jims, and a keychain.

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