In the Midst

by Beth Martin

  Python looked at the open door from her chair and licked her lips. “If you really have to go, you’ll be able to. Otherwise, you need to hurry back here.”

  “I, um…” Leona stumbled on her words. “I want it to be a surprise!” She paused for a second, getting her thoughts in order. “If you watch me change, you’ll miss out on the big reveal.”

  Python bit her lip and took in a sharp breath. “All right. But don’t make me wait. I’m not feeling particularly patient.”

  Leona swallowed hard as she nodded. “I’ll be fast.”

  Python muttered something, and the door immediately slid shut. This was Leona’s chance. She carefully felt the inside the toilet bowl, mapping out the interior with her hands. No doubt it would be tight, but she was pretty sure she’d be able to fit through. She plopped one foot into the shallow water, but her boot proved to be too rigid to maneuver down. She slipped the boots off her feet, though she suspected she would need them in the waste system. Cramming down each boot as hard as she could, she was eventually able to get them to bend enough to fit through in a single flush. Clearly, it was going to be a really tight fit.

  Holding onto the sink next to her, she stuck both of her feet in the toilet bowl. The bottom trap which kept the bowl sealed from below was easy to push open, and she lowered herself down. She made it all the way down to her hips fairly easily. After some wiggling and pushing, she was able to slide in a little farther, but then got caught again at her shoulders. Her legs hung down, and her feet kicked freely around in the open area below her.

  She raised her hands high above her head and attempted to roll her shoulders back, hoping to find an angle that would allow her to fit the rest of the way through. She tried pushing her shoulders forward, but that only got her more wedged in. As she continued to squirm, she kept thinking, this isn’t going to work, over and over. After a couple minutes of being stuck, she heard approaching footsteps. Oh, fuck.

  “Is everything all right in there?”

  “Yeah, um, I’m fine. Just having a little trouble getting this on.”

  “You need some help?” Python purred.

  She gagged at the thought. “No, I think I’ve almost got it. I’ll be out in a sec.” As soon as she heard her captor walk away, she flailed and squirmed, moving every which way in a panic, trying to get unstuck. She pulled one shoulder downward while pushing the other up, and finally slid the rest of the way through.

  However, she hadn’t been ready for the fall, so instead of landing on her feet, she slammed hard onto her butt, making a soft splash, then fell back. The ground was hard, slippery rock with a half inch of muck covering it. The overwhelming odor of her surroundings almost knocked her out. The sludge around her smelled strongly of urine, but she doubted a smell this strong could have originated from just one person living in the house above.

  She removed the bandana from around her hair and tied it around her face, covering her nose and mouth. It was exactly how Tina had worn it. But more importantly, it helped mitigate the smell.

  She had known the waste system would be dark, but the area she was in was completely devoid of light. It felt like the world was closing in on her, and she started to hyperventilate.

  This wasn’t the time to freak out. As soon as Python realized she was gone, it wouldn’t take too long to figure out where she was. Feeling the slimy ground around her, she managed to locate her boots. Both had fallen on their sides and gonnen filled with sewage. She dumped as much out as she could before putting them on and getting to her feet. Her steps were a bit shaky, but she was grateful that the bottoms of the boots were lined with textured rubber which gripped the floor well.

  Without any light, she had no idea which direction she should even go. Her racing heartbeat thumped in her ears, drowning out all other sounds. She tried her best to pay attention to what was going on around her and took a few deep breaths in an attempt to steady herself.

  There was another beat. It sounded like the blood rushing through her ears, but slightly off tempo. She slowly turned in a circle with her hand behind her ear, trying to find the source of the other beating sound. After making a few full revolutions, she had at least a vague idea of where it was coming from. She held her hands out in front of her to feel for anything in her path and took a few tentative steps before tripping and falling to her knees on the hard ground. She yelped in pain, then slapped a hand over her mouth. Python might be able to hear her down here; she needed to be quiet.

  She got back on her feet and tried to identify what had tripped her. The ground wasn’t even. Being extra cautious, she continued forward, slowly lowering each foot down with every step. After walking for a minute, the sound grew stronger, and eventually she saw the faintest pinpoint of light. It didn’t seem to illuminate anything around it, but it was something.

  Once she got closer, a voice echoed above her. “Initiating lighting sequence.” A gentle glow came on, giving her a first look of the area. She was in a box-shaped room with polished stone walls. Along the wall which had the homing signal she had followed was a long desk. Several control panels and interfaces lined the top of the glossy white desk, and the wall behind it held a number of displays. There was a screen showing the bedroom she had napped in, the entrance, the study, and even the sunroom.

  She watched the sunroom. Python was still there, fiddling with her tablet. Suddenly, she threw the device on the floor. Her mouth moved as she yelled something, but there wasn’t any audio, so Leona couldn’t tell what was being said. Her detainer jumped up and ran toward the hall. Then she saw it—a smaller screen below the first which showed a large desk and the back of a woman wearing all black. It was her.

  Jumping into action, she felt around the desk for anything useful. Her fingers grasped a small cylindrical object with a button on one end. She grabbed the flashlight—it would have to do.

  She held the light up as she left the office area going back in the same direction she had come. While a typical room would have a fourth wall, this office opened up into the area where she had fallen—an immense cavern. Looking around quickly, she saw it extended out to her right.

  The sound of metal sliding against metal and bolts turning came from the office behind her. Her best chance would be just to run. Clicking off the flashlight, she sprinted forward. She didn’t want the light beam to give away her location, but there wasn’t much she could do to quiet her pounding footsteps.

  “Stop right there, you fucking bitch!” Python bellowed from somewhere behind her. She didn’t look back and kept running, desperately hoping there weren’t any obstacles ahead. The other woman grunted and cursed as she chased after Leona. Since there weren’t any extra lights shining from behind her, Leona guessed that Python hadn’t grabbed a flashlight. Or perhaps the one in her hand was the only one.

  Her muscles were already screaming from the exertion, but she couldn’t quit now. She pushed herself further, but it sounded like Python was gaining on her. Before she could figure out her next move, something brushed against her cheek. It shocked her, and she let out a scream before she could stop herself. As her voice echoed endlessly, it was joined by a chorus of high-pitched squealing and flapping sounds. Suddenly, hundreds of animals were flying through the air, darting around her.

  These tiny creatures were living in a cave with an awful, noxious smell, which meant one thing—she had encountered a colony of bats.

  “God damn pests!” Python yelled.

  As awful as the cloud of bats around Leona was, she knew this was her chance. She started running again, holding her arms in front of her to keep the vermin from smacking into her face. Hopefully, the loud swarm would drown out any sounds she made. Python called out once more, saying, “Don’t think I’m not coming back for you! There’s no way out!”

  Leona didn’t stop racing through the cavern, even though she was past the activity and once again enveloped in darkness. As she ran, she kept her arm up in front of her in case she crashed into something.

/>   Now that she was down here, she had no idea what to do next. It wasn’t a septic tank like she had initially thought, and the only entrance was likely the door in the office, meaning that she was truly trapped down here.

  When the adrenaline wore off, she slowed down her pace until she was barely progressing forward. She was so tired, and her body didn’t seem to want to follow her brain’s instructions anymore. How had she been so affected when Python had drank at least twice as much? Then it dawned on her—she hadn’t seen Python eat. She could have been given an entirely different meal than whatever Python had eaten, one that had sedatives mixed in.

  The darkness seemed to spin around her as she stumbled down and threw up. She had traded in one hopeless situation for another. She knew she needed to somehow keep going. There was no way she’d let Python find her sleeping in the middle of the floor after having given up. She continued, now crawling, trying to get as far from the underground office as she could. Python would eventually find her, but she would not be going down without a fight.

  19

  ROEMELL HAD LOST track of how long he had been locked up. Python had only brought him water twice, but no more food. His wrists and ankles were sore, and the lack of movement made him feel weak. Although Python had promised that he was only being held until the end of the trial, he doubted his captor would willingly let him go.

  He twisted in place again, hoping that the constant assault on the ropes would eventually make them loose enough to escape. He wasn’t ready to give up, but there wasn’t much else he could do.

  Instead of wallowing in despair, he tried to focus on memories that made him happy—his sister’s smile, holding Ivan, that magical first kiss with Leona. His mind wandered through the various things he had done and times he wished he had acted differently but was jarred from his thoughts when a soft sound caught his attention. The recurring sounds of the cave had become familiar, and although what he heard was faint, it was different.

  It was some sort of scuffling sound, and over the next few minutes it grew a little louder. His first guess was that it was some sort of animal. It was probably wounded, judging by its gait. In his current position, there wasn’t much he could do to help, but chances were, if he tried to interact with a wild animal, it would get scared and possibly attack him.

  He remained still and tried not to make any noise. Slowly, the thing drew closer and closer. Once it was maybe twenty feet away, he heard a loud thwack followed by a voice yelping, “Ow!” It was a person, and they were definitely hurt.

  It didn’t sound like Python, and Roemell figured he had nothing to lose, so he called out, “Hey! Who’s there?”

  The shuffling stopped for a moment, and then was replaced by rubber soles slapping on the cave floor. A bright light turned on, blinding him. “Oh my God, Roemell?! I thought you were dead!” He immediately recognized Leona’s voice, and within an instant, he felt her arms wrap around him and her lips press against his. She cried between kisses. “I’m so glad you’re alive.”

  “I thought for sure Python was going to do something awful to you.” Tears spilled from his eyes as well—he was so thrilled to see her.

  “I didn’t give her a chance,” she said before letting out a brief chuckle. Her fingertips stroked through his scruffy beard as she buried her face in his hair.

  He desperately wanted to embrace her. “Can you get me untied from this chair?”

  The light beam flicked around as she examined his ropes. “Holy shit, your wrists are all torn up!” She crouched down to check out the restraints on his feet. She picked at them for a moment. “This isn’t normal rope. It… it feels kind of like Kevlar.”

  “What’s that mean?” he asked.

  “For starters, it can’t be cut through. And these knots are really tight. It’s not going to be as simple as just untying them. Wait…” He looked around, trying to see what had caught her attention. “It’s a lock!”

  “Do you have another hairpin? Do you think you can pick it open?”

  “No, it looks too sophisticated. Hold on, let me check something.” He had no choice but to sit there patiently as she poked around behind him, looking for a way to free him. “There,” she said. “A key is just hanging on the wall right here.” She dashed behind him, then returned a moment later. After a quick grinding of metal against metal, he could feel some slack in his binds. Another second later, she pulled loops of rope off of his limbs, then unwound the piece circling his chest.

  He stood up, wobbly on his feet after days of sitting, and wrapped his arms around her, holding her against him. All of his frustration flooded out of him in a torrent of tears. With his face tucked against the base of her neck, he took a moment to let his feelings loose before trying to collect himself.

  “I want to see you,” he said softly. She tucked the flashlight in his hand, and he raised it enough to illuminate her face. She looked tired with dark bags under her eyes. He doubted Python had taken good care of her. Other than that, she was in one piece, but something was still off. “What the hell are you wearing?”

  She sighed. “This was the only clothing Python gave me. I suspect she was working with Tina.”

  “Oh, they were definitely working together.”

  “We need to hurry,” she said. “She knows I’m down here. She’s going to come back looking for me.”

  Before he could ask her which way they should go, she started to lean and almost fell over. He wrapped an arm around her waist, helping to support her. “Are you all right?”

  “The food,” she said between increasingly shallow breaths. “It had sedatives. I’m so tired.”

  “Hey, try to stay with me. Which way is out?”

  She tilted her head to the side a bit. “That way, back in her office. But she’ll definitely be guarding it, and it’s locked.”

  Roemell searched around the cavern with the light. It seemed to continue endlessly both forward and behind them in the direction Leona had indicated. “Then we’ll just have to find another way out.”

  “There is no other way.”

  “Maybe. But we have to try.” He held onto her waist, leading her deeper into the cave. “You might have an easier time staying alert if you keep moving. Why don’t we try to pick up the pace?”

  She nodded, but her steps still dragged a bit. “I ran into a bunch of bats.”

  “I heard them.” The distant sound of animals flying in and out of the cave each day had been his only reliable marker of time. “That’s it!”

  “Huh?” She leaned against him, struggling to keep upright.

  He stopped and gripped her shoulders. “The bats get their food from outside the cave, which means they have some way of getting out of here! We just need to find the exit they use. Let’s turn around.”

  She trembled in his grasp. “But then we’ll be getting closer to her.”

  “We won’t be going all the way back. The bats have never gone past the place where I was tied up, so their exit has to be somewhere between here and the office.” He pulled her into an embrace as she continued to shake. “And now I’m with you. I’ll make sure nothing bad happens.”

  Her trembling subsided, and he gave her a firm squeeze. “Come on, let’s go.” But instead of turning and walking, she had gone limp, and her head lolled to the side. She had fallen asleep. He shook her gently, then a bit harder. “Wake up!” She groaned, but remained listless.

  He picked her up, hoisted her onto his shoulder, and started walking quickly in the direction they had come from. Since they hadn’t been going particularly fast, it only took a minute to reach the chair he had been strapped into. After a while the ground got slippery, forcing him to slow down so he wouldn’t fall over.

  The smell of bat shit became more and more pungent, but he had yet to come across a single one. Either they were really close, or the bats were currently outside of the cave. He really hoped it was the former.

  Python’s voice calling out stopped Roemell dead in his tracks. “You
can’t hide forever! I will find you!” Roemell quickly flicked off his light and shuffled to the side, then pressed his back against the damp cave wall. There wasn’t anywhere to hide, and he had no clue how to deal with Python. “I was looking forward to seeing you in your new outfit.” Roemell didn’t know what that meant, but he also didn’t want to find out.

  Suddenly, an idea hit him. He would have to blame Leona again, but this time he wasn’t going to let Python get to her. As quickly and quietly as he could, Roemell rushed deeper in the cave once again, only stopping when he got back to his restraints. “Please forgive me for what I’m about to do,” he whispered. He carefully lowered her onto the chair, then tied some of the rope around her torso to hold her up. Next, he went from limb to limb, securing her tightly to the chair. As much as he didn’t want to hurt her, he had to make this believable. After locking the mechanism that held all the restraints together, he tucked the key in his pocket while desperately hoping that it was the only copy.

  A beam of light illuminated the cave around him. He gave her a brief kiss on the forehead, said, “I’m sorry,” then dashed to the middle of the cavern. “I’ve found her!” he yelled.

  Although he had thought Python would be elated to have Leona tied up, his captor took her time walking the rest of the way to where he stood.

  It was the first time Roemell had actually gotten to see what Python looked like, and she appeared far different from what he expected. The woman was tall, but had slightly hunched posture and a worried expression on her face.

  “She’s right here,” Roemell said, gesturing at the chair. “I was able to convince her to let me free, and then I subdued her and tied her up.”

  Pythons eyes widened when she saw Leona. All the ropes had a dramatic visual effect, and Roemell realized that even though Python had gladly tied up Roemell, she might have reservations about locking up a woman. Although Python had several nasty things she had wanted to do to Leona, her reaction to seeing Leona tied up told a different story. He suspected that Python had developed feelings for her hostage. Perhaps she hadn’t ever meant to carry out the vile plans she had shared with Roemell. Yet again, he felt like he had utterly failed his friend.