Adrift by Paul Stephenson

Author:Paul Stephenson [Paul Stephenson]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Paul Stephenson
Published: 2021-11-11T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

‘What are you doing here?’ a man shouted.

Jules blinked as someone shone a torch into her eyes. It was disconcerting, especially the part where she was tied to a wooden chair with heavy ropes, her hands bound round the back.

‘I was trying to pee,’ she responded, but through the gag on her mouth it came out more like ‘mm…ff…tt…eee.’

‘Check her eyes for Oc’s, don’t want this bitch broadcasting our location over the feeds.’

Someone leaned forward, hands emerging in front of the light, and pulled at her face, trying to get a better look at her right eye.

‘Mffffff… (Motherfucker) …ffff…wwww…mmmmm…hhhhhmmmm…ffff...(if you want to ask me questions at least let me fucking answer)’

Someone got the idea and ripped off her gag — painfully. But at least she could talk.

‘Thank you,’ she said, rolling her tongue around her mouth to get the taste of musty rag out of it. ‘You know, you don’t have to tie me up, I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.’

‘Who are you?’

Ah. She didn’t want to give that truth up yet. ‘Cyndi.’

‘Okay, Cyndi, what the hell are you doing this far up the mountain?’

She couldn’t make out her captors. She should be terrified, but the events of the last week must have inured her to fear because she felt nothing. ‘Went for a walk.’

‘If you’re going to be a wiseass, we’re going to make this tougher.’ A different voice.

She tried to get a beat on how many were in the room, but with the light, it was impossible to say. ‘Hey, you mind shining that someplace else?’

The light didn’t move off her face. ‘I don’t like it. She’s here to spy on us, hiding out in the bushes by the perimeter.’

Jules squinted. ‘I was walking up the path when I heard voices coming up the road behind me. I got off the road in case you weren’t friendly. When I saw you were armed, I scoped out what was ahead, deciding whether to keep going. I was heading back down the mountain when you caught me.’

‘You see,’ another voice said. ‘She was going to report where we are.’

‘Sorry,’ Jules interjected. ‘I have absolutely no idea who you are. I don’t know where I am, either. I came up the mountain to get away from… something, and I stumbled across you. Let me go, and I’ll be on my merry way. You never have to hear from me again.’

Silence. The torchlight dipped out of her eyes for a second, revealing the room as a dingy little place with log walls and grimy windows. There was a sink in one corner, stacked high with dishes. The look didn’t tally with the facility she’d seen from the woods.

‘What do you think?’ one interrogator asked in a low voice.

‘I think she’s trouble,’ another replied.

‘I say we waste her.’

‘Seriously,’ Jules said. ‘I know nothing. I don’t want to know.’

‘What’s she got in her pack?’

‘Few clothes, some snacks. Nothing much. Not enough to live out here for long, anyway.’

‘She must have a base nearby.

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