Charlie's top lip pulled away from her teeth in a snarl. "Screw you, Jake," she said.
As soon as her fingertips touched the metal knob, they sparked. The strong jolt knocked her off her feet. Her hand burned all the way up to her elbow and her body vibrated as though she were a fully charged battery. The pipe had flown out of her hand and skidded across the dirty floor. She whimpered.
Cruel laughter poured from the speaker.
"You sick creep!" Charlie shouted.
He continued to rejoice merrily in her pain. It made her want to vomit. What kind of person is this? And where was Shay?
Charlie picked herself off the floor. One winter, she'd left her Barbie doll in front of their fireplace. By the time she remembered, the doll's arms and legs were so hot that they wobbled, warm and flimsy. That's how she felt now. Like melting rubber.
"You can try again if you like," the voice said. "It'll never get old. Or would you like for me to give you the rules?"
Charlie hated the voice so much, she didn't even want to listen. So she pretended she didn't hear. She retrieved the pipe and began to search for something that would help her open the door without getting shocked again....but then a scream stopped her.
The scream wasn't from the speakers, it was from somewhere in the building, and it was definitely Shay.
"Shay!" Charlie screamed at the filthy wall in the direction of Shay's voice. "Shay! I'm here!"
The scream was desperate and painful. The kind that makes goosebumps rise on your flesh.
"No, no," Charlie screamed. She looked at the speaker. "What are you doing to her? Stop!"
The screams stopped.
"I see I have your attention now," the speaker said. "I thought it would play out this way. That's why I took her too. I knew you'd need high stakes to play."
Charlie's concern for Shay was so strong, she was crying silently. "I'll play, whatever your stupid game is, just let her go. Leave her out of it."
The mocking laughter came back. "Oh, but she is in it. Because if you don't complete the tasks before time is up, she pays," he said.
"No!" Charlie screamed angrily, trying to loosen the pit of helplessness that had settled in her stomach.
Her mind reeled. What horrible things would she have to do to save Shay? Could she do it? Would it hurt?
"Yes," he said with humor still evident in his voice. "Your first task is to find the cards. You have five minutes."
"What cards?" she asked. Baseball cards? Yugioh cards? There were billions of types of cards...
No response.
"What freaking cards?"
"Time is ticking away, Charlie."
Fine, she thought. She was pretty sure where this card he was talking about was hidden anyway. The only thing in there that she hadn't already checked was the locked cabinet. She had no key, but she'd already torn away the sink faucet. She banged it against the lock. It sparked, but not much else happened. She banged again and again. Charlie gave it all she had and the lock did nothing, but bend a little bit.
She swore. Then remembered the hairpin in her hair.
People picked locks all the time on television. None of them, however, had been Charlie. She had only the faintest idea of what she was doing. She bent the little metal pin the way she'd seen on TV and, unsure, shoved it in the lock.
"Three minutes," the speaker said. "Hmm, what fun thing to do with your friend first. We have all kinds of toys here: knives, drills, saws..."
Charlie tried her best to ignore him, but the way he refered to those things as toys really unnerved her. The pin slipped out of her sweaty fingers and fell in the floor, almost disappearing in the grime.
"There are scissors. I could cut off her eyelids," he said. "I hear they grow back...only her eyelashes will be gone forever..."
"Shut up!" Charlie yelled. What a disgusting thing for him to say.
He had done what he intended to, which was to threaten just enough to speed her up, keep her heart pumping that wonderful fear. To keep that desperate look on her face. Good thing the camera was hidden well, or she might have busted it with that pipe and he wouldn't be able to see her right then. She was smarter than he expected. He hadn't even thought of taking that pipe off so she couldn't get ahold of it.
But that was just why he picked her. He knew there would be surprises this time. She wasn't like those other girls....especially not when a friend was in danger. She proved that to him once before. When they were younger, she would have died quietly, had it not been for that girl coming along and ignited a fire in her, a need to protect. A need to survive. That need that clashed fiercely against his own need to kill.
The lock popped open and his heart leaped as surely as her own. He was excited that she was speeding through the first task. She was proving herself, thus prolonging his game. He was also excited for her to see his little surprise inside. His anticipation built as they slithered toward her out of the darkness.