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She was alone, in an ehting far above protected by thick es visible
The only design feature was a drain about three inches across That was chilling She re in one of these types of rooms before when she faced decomposition; the drain represented easy cleanup when all the screa was over The only difference was that where the Pharmadene death chambers had been white, and fitted with observation s, this was more likea tomb
It terrified her that she didn’t knohere they’d taken Patrick, or Joe, or Riley Dying was so and painfully itshe couldn’t reconcile She’d lost a sister when she was young, and had never knohat had become of her She’d lost plenty of friends and people she trusted, since all this had turned her life into a nightmare
But she couldn’t becoain made her black and hollow inside The idea that Jane would be the last face he ever saw
I have to kill her, Bryn thought, with razor-sharp clarity If I do nothing else ever again, I have to find a way to kill her
There weren’t any weapons here They’d stripped her and put her into a cheap paper coverall, in a deeply unflattering blue Bare feet in paper slippers
She stared hard at the drain It wasn’t just a hole in the ground; there was a brass perforated plate over it, probably to discourage rats fro it as a freeway entrance No visible screws She tried pulling it up, but got nowhere Nails broke off, leaving her fingers bloody, but she finally ertips beneath for leverage
The cover snapped off It wasn’t a lot of help, even then, because it was smooth and round The screw had broken off cleanly, and there was no digging it out of the fastening in the drain
Bryn stared at the round shape for a few long rip, and began ainst the concrete floor It would take hours to make any kind of dent in it
She had all the tirinding the drain cover down, and once she had a straight edge, she began to strop it back and forth in brisk scrapes Her dad had favored a straight razor, and she’d often watched hi in the bathrooreen tile The same strop he’d used to whip theotten in trouble in school, or brought hoht about her father much He was a hole, a shape without a face, but the action of sharpening that s in for her He’d had Annie’s eyes, the saent aftershave Clean white T-shirts under his work shirts
The strop The strop had disappeared, at soument between her parents It was about the same time that her sister Sharon had vanished into thin air at nineteenand about the sanant
It was all significant, sonancy Bryn had just tried to block it all out; her father and brothers had been an angry bunch, though Tate, then just eleven, had stayed close to her
It had been the strop that was significant, but Bryn didn’t re voices Grace, weeping Slaone Gone and never co as she heard a sound at the door--the distinct click of a lock coainst the far wall, knees drawn up, with the drain cover concealed in her right palertip Not razor-sharp, but sharp enough to cut, with enough force behind it
She kneould be Jane, and it was
The woainst it, and crossed her ar better?"
"Sure," Bryn said "Love what you’ve done with the place, Jane You have such a flair for decorating"
"I do," Jane said, and gave her a slow, cat-in-the-crealad you like the accorades, it’ll takewell, a really long time No food, no water--that will starve them out But our best estimates are that you’ll probably last at least three or four weeks before you start losing liin to jettison excess baggage to preserve core systes first, one at a time Then arms Of course, at that point, you’re just a torso and a head rolling around on the floor, screah; we haven’t done a whole lot of research"
"Glad I can help," Bryn said Her throat felt dry, but she still ed a smile al?" Jane said
Bryn shrugged "Not really"
"Not even about Patrick?"
Bryn stayed quiet, eyes focused somewhere beyond Jane It was i that Jane could feed from, because Jane was a bone-deep sadist
"You’ll be happy to knoas reluctant about starting things up withabout ive a shit whether you find your partner attractive"