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up,
heaving against the rough fabric of her soaked shirt. Water dripped from her heavy eyelashes, blurring the dim outlines of t
Nothing came. Her brain felt like a wiped hard drive. Only two w
hich were bound tightly behind a rusted iron chair. She instinctively contracted h
the shattered skylight, she saw a small boy, no older than five. He was strapped to a similar iron chair ten feet away. Thick sil
ted her weight, trying to slide the chair closer to the boy. The rusted le
nd of the warehouse kicked opend off him in waves. He dragged a bloodstained aluminum baseball bat along the conc
explosive clang echoed through the cavernous space. The bo
ace, and pinched her chin with thick, greasy fingers. "Look at this," he sneered.
y. But as Vince leaned closer, his foul breath and derogatory words hitting her face, a strange shift occurred. The external stimulus of his aggression triggered something buried deep within her subcons
nce. His face twisted in rage. He cursed, raising his massiv
ijacked Serena's body. She twisted her right arm at an angle that defied human a
ntly lost its tension and
in shock. His raised
iron chair with both legs, launching her body upward. She
air. Blood exploded from his nostrils. Vince scr
wlessly. She swept her right leg out in a textbook CQC
rashed onto the dust-covered concrete with a he
seball bat from his loose grip. She jammed the thick aluminum barrel horizontally a
p for air. His thick hands flailed blindly, trying to claw at her fac
your neck," she whispe
pe. The fight drained out of him. He stopped thras
n like a piston into his temple. Vince's head
into place. Then she took a slow, deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart. Adr
ed over, her footsteps silent on the concrete
lted away. She reached out and peeled the duct tape from
avily, staring at her with wide, reverent
ngers brushed against a cold metal object on his wrist. A h
a single, unlocked emergency contact number.
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