Getting Out

4

Mandy had been sitting on her sofa, contemplating her headache and the strange military truck that had disappeared, when two men had kicked down her back door.

They must have climbed up the fire escape.

Mandy had screamed as loud as she could.

But they rushed over to her and the big one pointed a pistol right into her mouth, jamming the cold steel muzzle of the gun into her.

“Say another word and you’re dead,” he mumbled at her. He sounded drunk or high. He was big, built like a bodybuilder.

Her thoughts were racing, but they weren’t clear. Everything seemed to be happening too fast. Her body felt cold, freezing cold with the fear of death.

The other man was overweight, with a huge belly and something like an overly exaggerated bad posture. He had a pistol in his hand too.

Neither wore masks.

Mandy couldn’t help it. She screamed once more.

“Screw you,” growled the man with the pistol, hitting her hard in the head with his other hand, formed into a fist.

The blow hurt, but didn’t knock her out. Her vision went blurry, but she managed to fix her eyes right on him. She had a strange thought circling her head—she wanted to memorize his face. Whatever he was going to do to her, she wanted to know who he was, and she wanted him to know that she knew.

She couldn’t believe the audacity of these men, coming in without masks. She’d be able to identify them to the police later for sure. Unless they killed her. Maybe that was what they planned to do. Maybe the gun wasn’t a meaningless threat. Maybe they were going to rape her and kill her.

Mandy’s heart was beating like it was about to explode out of her chest.

“Ready for some fun?” muttered the bodybuilding type guy to his friend.

The friend walked closer and leered at Mandy. His face was a blur to Mandy, but she saw that he had a fat face and a small nose. She couldn’t make out the rest of it. The man with the gun in her mouth had sharp features and a long nose, and short, military-style hair.

“You go first, man,” growled the bodybuilder. “I want to watch.”

“You’re a sick man,” said the other.

Mandy made a noise, which was hard to do with the gun in her mouth.

“Don’t worry, honey, we’ll take care of you. And don’t worry about the cops, they’re busy…”

The other chuckled. “Everything’s turned off. And who knows when it’s going to be back on. We’re going to have some fun while we can.”

The fat one started undoing his belt. To do so, he put his gun down on the coffee table.

“Trust me, you’re going to like it. We’ve been watching your stuck up ass every day when you come home from work…”

They’d been watching her? They knew where she lived? This wasn’t just a random attack?

And they were doing all this just because the power was out? None of this made any sense to Mandy. If they had been watching her, that must mean that they were local. Surely they would know that Mandy would turn them over to the cops at the first opportunity.

She tried to calm herself down. She didn’t want to be raped, but she didn’t want to die more.

Suddenly, there was a noise at the door, as if someone was kicking it.

“Shit,” said one of the men.

“Don’t worry about it. Just some noisy neighbor.”

“Don’t you make a damn sound,” said the one with the gun in her mouth. “Don’t worry, this’ll be more fun if you’re alive. But it’s not strictly necessary.”

Who were these sick monsters?

Another sound at the door. Then another.

Was someone coming to rescue her?

She didn’t know who it could possibly be. Surely it wouldn’t be Mrs. Kerns, trying to kick down her door, having placed her cane carefully against the wall in the hallway.

The door burst open. She saw the flash of a foot wearing a boot. But no one stepped through the door.

The man who had unbuckled his belt and undone his fly reached slowly for his gun on the coffee table.