Taken by Chris Jordan

Author:Chris Jordan
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: MIRA
Published: 2006-04-02T22:00:00+00:00

Tomas has been waiting for what seems like days and days. He’s managed to upend the chest of drawers and position it to one side of the door. Standing on the chest makes him over six feet tall. In a movie he’d have an iron pipe or something. As it is, the best he can manage is one of the wooden drawers to swing as a weapon. Started out fairly light, now it weighs a ton.

With no way to measure the passage of time, he has no clear idea of how frequently they check on him, but it seems like some sort of regular interval. They’ll come eventually.

Waiting is hard work.

He’s heard the phrase “sleep standing up” but never really believed it until now. Like he’s zoned out or hypnotized. Eyes open but not really seeing anything, like when you freeze-frame a DVD.

The click of the hasp unlocking is so soft he almost misses it. Then he hears a voice, a man mumbling to himself, and Tomas is fully awake, adrenaline pumping.

When the door opens, the boy swings the wooden drawer with all his might, aiming for head level.

Whacks the man full in the face. The man falls, stunned and groaning, and Tomas flies from his perch. He’s in a dim corridor, running like he’s stealing home, hands outstretched to the plate.

What he finds is another door. He grabs the handle, yanks, and discovers another padlock sealing the heavy door. Trapped. He’s kicking at the door in frustration, in a panic to keep running, to get away, when he hears the voice behind him.

The man hobbling, holding his face with one bloody hand. Reaching out for Tomas with the other. The growl of a maddened animal in his throat.

“You’re dead, you little shit,” the animal promises. “I’ll kill you with my bare hands. First thing, I’ll snap your neck.”

And then the angry hands are yanking him up, lifting him into the air, and he’s flying into darkness.

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