Blood Games

    Cora, backing away, pressed her shoulder against the side of the doorway to keep the doors open. Abilene, Vivian and Finley stepped out. Helen stayed at the rear of the elevator. She folded her arms across her chest. She shook her head. ‘It isn’t right,’ she said.

    ‘Damn it, Helen.’

    ‘I’m not budging.’

    ‘Come on.’

    Wayne turned his eyes to Helen. He slipped his arm across her shoulders, and she looked at him. ‘I’m afraid your friends aren’t going to give in on this. You’d better go with them, now. But thanks for trusting me.’ He squeezed her shoulder, then withdrew his arm.

    Helen, nodding, walked toward the opening. ‘I think it stinks,’ she muttered. As she approached, Cora moved out of the way. The doors slowly began to roll shut. Helen stepped out of the elevator. She looked back at Wayne.

    ‘So long,’ he said.

    And she leaped through the gap between the doors.

    ‘No! ’ Abilene gasped.

    Cora rushed forward, but she wasn’t quick enough. ‘Shit!’

    Abilene punched a finger against the call button. The plastic disk lit up, but the doors remained shut.

    The lights above the elevator blinked from 23 to 22 to 21, marking the descent of Helen and Wayne. Below the twentieth floor, the elevator was an express to the lobby.

    Abilene felt as if her stomach were dropping along with it.

    ‘What’re we gonna doT Vivian asked.

    ‘She’ll be all right,’ Finley said. From the look on her face, she didn’t believe it.

    ‘We should’ve let him use the john,’ Abilene muttered.

    ‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ Cora said. ‘If we’d let him into the rooms, there’s no telling what he might have done.’

    ‘Maybe we ought to go down to the lobby,’ Vivian suggested. As she spoke, an elevator arrived. Its doors opened for those who had called it to this floor.

    They all glanced over at it.

    ‘We wouldn’t get there in time,’ Cora said, returning her gaze to the numbers above Helen’s elevator. ‘Whatever he’s doing to her, he’ll be finished by the time they reach the lobby.’

    Abilene groaned.

    ‘She wouldn’t leave the hotel with him, would she?’ Vivian asked.

    ‘She’s not that stupid,’ Cora said.

    Above the doors, the letter L lit up.

    ‘What if he forces her to go with him?’ Vivian asked.

    ‘No way,’ Cora said. ‘All she’d have to do is yell, security’d take care of him.’

    ‘I sure hope you’re right,’ Abilene said.

    The L remained bright.

    ‘What the hell’s…?’

    It went dark.

    They waited. They didn’t talk.

    Please, Abilene thought. Please, Helen’s gotta be on it. She’s gotta be all right. Please.

    Finally, 20 blinked on and off, followed by 21, 22, 23. Then the 24 lit up.

    The doors slid apart.

    Helen, crouched in a corner, looked at them with tears in her eyes. Her face was red and wet. Her hands were clutching her upraised knees. The back of her skirt shrouded the floor, baring the undersides of her thick, pale thighs.

    Cora blocked the doors open and the others rushed inside.

    Though they asked if she was okay, asked what Wayne had done to her, Helen only shook her head and sobbed. They lifted her, and she staggered with them out of the elevator.

    ‘Let’s get her to the rooms,’ Cora said, leading the way. ‘I’ll call security.’

    ‘No,’ Helen gasped. ‘Don’t.’

    ‘Do you need a doctor?’ Abilene asked, hugging Helen against her side as they rushed her along.

    ‘No. No!’

    ‘Did he rape you?’ Finley asked.

    ‘Jesus, you people'.’

    ‘What the hell did he do to you?’ Cora demanded.

    ‘He… he kissed me,’ Helen choked out through her sobs. ‘He kissed me. He was so sweet and… and you were all so mean to him.’

CHAPTER THIRTY

    Lashing the anchor rope to an upright of the raft’s ladder, Abilene shouted, ‘The gun!’

    Cora let go of the oars. They were lifted out of their locks and carried away on the waves as she knelt in the sinking boat. She dragged the shotgun out of the water and swung it by the barrels.

    Abilene caught hold of the shoulder stock. Clamping it against her side, she scooted on her rump to the highest corner of the platform. She grabbed the edge and braced herself with her feet flat against the slippery boards.

    Cora came up the ladder. On hands and knees, she scurried over the lurching raft and flopped beside Abilene. She hooked an arm over the side to hold herself in place.

    Moments later, Vivian sprawled beside her.

    Finley climbed the ladder. Smiling, she called out, ‘No sweat!’ She sat down, her back to the others, and wrapped her legs around one of the uprights.

    Abilene slumped forward against her knees.

    We made it! Thank God. We’re all safe. Not quite ashore, but not in any real danger.

    Peering through the heavy shroud of rain, she could make out the end of the dock.

    Nice to be there instead of here.

    But the span of lake separating them from the dock was a gray, flinging turmoil.

    Better not to risk it if we don’t have to.

    No risk, no fun. She wondered if any of them would ever express that notion again.

    That’s the idea that got us into this mess. We could’ve all drowned.

    And she remembered, suddenly, that Helen was dead.

    Still in the shower room.