Thanks for the reviews lovely people.
Skins isn't mine...yada yada yada
A droning sound reverberated around her, echoing and breaking through the fog but not clearing it. She felt confused and disoriented slightly nauseous even, like when you've spent the day at a theme park as a kid and as you lay in bed at night you feel yourself being flip turned upside down on rides still even though you know you're laying comfortable in your bed, except she wasn't comfortable in her bed and she wasn't on a roller coaster, nor had she been on one.
She felt a heavy thud and groaned inwardly as the bump caused her head to jolt and hit whatever she was laying on, it wasn't a pleasant experience, did nothing except make her want to wish she was unconscious again as the throbbing in her head increased. Cracking her eyes open she was met with blackness, complete and total darkness which was probably a relief as anything that resembled a bright light right now would definitely be unwelcome.
Naomi took hold of her situation, she was laying on her side, her arms tied behind her back, the ties biting hard into her flesh, her feet were also bound it seemed. She tried to remember how she got here but everything was a little foggy, hazy around the edges. Another thud and this time Naomi verbalised the pain it caused without conscious effort.
"Naoms" she heard whispered in a husky voice, she recognised it immediately. It took her by surprise, she still wasn't exactly with it but she knew it belonged to Emily.
"What happened?" Naomi asked, a slight slur to her words.
"You don't remember?" Emily asked to which Naomi just grunted as an especially violent movement of her surroundings shook her body.
"Some guys, they attacked me" Naomi interrupted her "Nox, they're called Nox" she informed Emily "Right...and then you were there...and then it was...things were crazy but we were winning, but then there was this other guy and he had a gun to your head and...well..." Emily trailed off, Naomi didn't need her to fill in the blanks the pain in her skull did that just fine on its own. "Anyway, then they dragged you out, threw you in here, shoved me in and then here we are, you've been out for ages I was starting to worry."
A car, of course, they were in a boot and suddenly the roller coaster motion made sense now along with the droning sound which must be tyres on tarmac drifting through the wheel arch.
Naomi laid silently, her eyes staring straight ahead into the darkness whilst she regained her senses, tried to get her body back under her control used the time to allow her foggy brain to try and remember, piece together the information Emily had told her with what she vaguely remembered herself.
It was there again though, that husky voice cutting through her senses "How did you find me?" Emily asked. Naomi hadn't given a great deal of thought to how she would deal with this question up until now, she had been more focused on getting there on time, getting out alive and unscathed than spend time considering how she would answer that question, but apparently that plan had all gone to shit and she didn't have enough of her faculties about her to lie well so instead opted with a slightly adapted version of the truth. "One of the guys from yesterday, I tracked him down and he told me where you were, about the trap they set."
"Right..." Emily replied her mind obviously processing what Naomi had said, whilst Naomi did the same. She pulled the information together, recalled their little interrogation of the Nox captive, what he had said about them steeling something.
"What did you take?" Naomi asked absent minded as she thought.
"What?" was the confused reply to meet her ears, Emily of course not following Naomi's train of thought, probably not sure who Nox were or why they wanted her, though she must have had some clue as they called her by her alias.
Naomi continued allowing her thoughts to naturally guide her conversation "The guy from yesterday said you had taken something, from that Russian, Karlakov and he wanted it back, what did you take?"
Silence met Naomi's for a while before she heard the response, barely audible over the drone of the tyres. "Doesn't matter now, it's gone I got rid of it" Emily replied distantly.
They stayed like that lying there, neither able to really move but just allow their bodies to be shifted slightly with each turn, brake and acceleration of the car until everything started to slow down before finally coming to an abrupt halt. Naomi felt her body slide backwards till her back was pressed against the back seats, before a warm body slid into her front. She felt the puff of Emily's breath on her skin, heard it hitch slightly as the slamming of car doors reached their ears. Her own heart was hammering by now, which achieved nothing but increased the pounding in the back of her head but she couldn't control it.
Light flooded the boot of the car and Naomi clamped her eyes shut as the brightness overwhelmed her senses, she didn't see what happened but she felt the warmth from Emily's body disappear before rough hands were grabbing at her own limbs, dragging her body forwards and hauling it from the boot dropping her unceremoniously on the cold concrete below. Naomi landed with a heavy thud, the air rushing from her lungs as she was unable to break her fall.
Opening her eyes Naomi allowed them a second to adjust properly to the light, it wasn't so bright now the courtesy light from the boot no longer shined right in her face. She was in what looked to be an underground car park, could see Emily in front of her tied exactly as she was, hands and feet bound with thick ties that left no room for movement.
Rough hands were back instantly picking her up by her elbows one on each side, her face towards the floor before they started marching forwards, her bound feet dragging behind her, Emily being dragged in the same position in front of her. Their journey continued for which all Naomi could really see was the floor beneath her and the occasional view ahead of her that didn't help one iota. She could hear the guys carrying her talking fluently in Russian, the Slavic language spoken too quickly and not quite loud enough for her to really grasp their conversation but at least managing to pick out the odd words or phrases.
They stopped and began to turn to the left and Naomi felt herself being lifted before being shoved quite forcefully into a chair, she struggled and wiggled as much as she could to resist but her current predicament didn't exactly give her much to work with and the slap she received in return was a harsh reminder of her situation. It rocked her, sending her mind dizzy again at the sharp jolt that caused her vision to swim for a second. Though still conscious it stripped away enough of her strength to allow them to unclip the ties behind her back and replace them around a chair arm each. Emily it seemed was seated in the same position facing her, a trickle of blood running from her lip that was split as well as a few scratches that must have happened in the fight earlier.
The situation looked bleak, they were well and truly outnumber plus unable to break free from the binds, she had no weapons that she could feel, no phone in her pocket that had been there earlier and her body ached from her earlier antics, not that it would matter soon enough if the guys staring at them gave any indication as to their future.
Naomi stared at Emily who returned her gaze, it was different, her eyes no longer that soft and warm chocolate brown, but rather harder, colder more like her own and Naomi realised this must be her alias, Emily was gone and Lux Speed had taken residence.
She watched as Emily shifted her gaze slightly over Naomi's shoulder and if she could have followed her line of sight she would have, but it turns out she didn't need to as she felt hands rest on her shoulders from behind her and instantly her body stiffened.
A scowl broke over Emily's face and Naomi could only presume that this guy was someone that she knew and apparently he wasn't someone she liked.
"So Lux I see you and your friend here have been causing a bit of trouble yes?" he stated his English heavily laced with a Russian accent, it was different to the others she had heard, much stronger. "Yes, quite the maker of trouble you've been, stealing and killing, then running away you and your sister." Naomi kept her eyes trained on Emily thought the entire conversation, her jaw was tight but she gave little away except for the slightest hint of anger when her sister was mentioned.
"Stella she should be here with us, but she seems to have evaded capture with a little help" he squeezed Naomi's shoulders hard applying pressure through both thumbs at the sound of the word 'help.' Relief flashed in Emily's eyes upon hearing that Katie was safe, and Naomi was equally glad that she appeared to have escaped and spared a moments thought to consider if Effy, Cook and Anthea all evaded capture or injury too, hoped they had, as they were all the hope she really had left.
"It matters not, she just misses out on all the fun. You see Lux you are going to tell us where you hide it." He continued his English not quite perfect before her was interrupted by a snort from Emily.
"You think you will die before you tell me? I haven't forgotten what you do to me Lux" Naomi watched Emily's features morph into one of smugness "I am more than aware of the lengths you will go, of the things you can take before you tell me, but you see I have something you won't want to risk. I learned long ago you Westerners weakness, your own pain is ok but other peoples pain, peoples you know is your weakness."
Naomi kept her gaze at Emily strong, defiant, she would not be the reason behind Emily's weakness. But she couldn't help but think this could be it, Emily said she didn't have it anymore whatever it was, she had destroyed it and unless she was lying (and her gut said she wasn't) they were pretty screwed. Naomi felt the hands on her shoulders leave her and watched him move in front of her to a table his back to her before he turned around with a syringe in his hands.
"So do you tell me where it is Lux or do we get started?"
Emily's jaw tightened further if at all possible as she looked at Naomi in front of her, begging for forgiveness because she couldn't help her and Naomi knew it. All the while this conversation had been going on Naomi had spent her time trying to free herself subtly from her binds, tensing her wrists and tugging trying to get enough movement to slip free or break them but it was fruitless.
Emily's silence was enough of an answer so he walked towards Naomi with the syringe, she struggled against her binds harder, instinctively, hoping to find some way out of them. She felt arms appear from nowhere, hold her head over to the side grabbing her chin roughly, stretching her neck on one side she struggled on still, grunts of frustration and curses of fury but they were too strong and she didn't have a hope in stopping them, she felt the sharp sting of the needle in her neck before she felt the cold liquid flow into her system.
"This little cocktail it is one of my favourites, enhances pain which means I can do very little to make her scream, there are a few other effects, some hallucination, disorientation all help to increase the fear and the pain. It takes a small while to really take effect I'll leave you to think, whilst your friend here gets ready."
He gave Naomi a little pat on the cheek before he left and already she could feel the heat on her skin left behind from the slightest touch, she could feel her pulse racing which only helped to speed the toxin through her system quicker, she was already on her way to the edge.
She couldn't hold Emily's gaze couldn't cope with the concern there instead let her head fall forward and her eyes closed as she concentrated on anything but the situation she was in, doing her best to calm her racing heart beat and stay in control.
"Blondie" she heard the strained voice call her, ignored it at first until Emily was repeating it a little more desperately each time.
She kept her eyes closed downcast as she replied, could feel anger replacing the calm at the situation she found herself in, anger that Emily had unknowingly used Cooks nickname for her and she still didn't know if he was alive. "That's not my name Lux."
"No, but its close enough, feels fitting" Emily replied rather feebly. Naomi nodded her head still dipped forwards careful not to shift her body too much, not to break her control.
"How you doing? Still with me." Emily asked hesitantly.
Naomi just laughed she couldn't help it, it was irrational, just like her anger had been at Emily calling her, she was losing her grasp on reality as each second ticked by. "How do you think I'm fucking feeling?" The irrational side of her took over as she felt her grip slip a little more. "I feel fucking wired like the worst trip you've ever had multiplied tenfold. That's how I'm fucking feeling!"
Her head was on fire each beat of her heart echoing in her mind stoking the fire, her whole body quite literally felt like it was smouldering, it had started slow at first like flames licking at her skin randomly at all the areas that were already a little tender, uncoordinated in its path but it had built to a smouldering heat steadier but still fluctuating in intensity though always at a constant level that never eased off.
She felt as though she was there teetering on the edge of a cliff held over an inferno, her arms spread wide the fear, the rush all ready to hit her at once, overwhelm and consume her but she still stood there rocking back and forth from the ball to the heel of her foot.
Taking a deep breath she lifted her head and stared into the concerned face before her as she struggled to pull back from the edge, regain a semblance of control amid the chaos inside her mind and body. "Sorry" she offered and received a strained half smile from the smaller woman in front of her.
"It's okay" Emily replied "Try and concentrate on something, anything to focus on it'll help."
"You sound like you know about this stuff" Naomi asked as she looked around the room, trying to find something to focus on.
Emily didn't reply just shrugged, apparently not really willing to give much else away and Naomi didn't see the benefit of pushing the issue.
"Well I'll take your word for it" She replied her breaking laboured, "I'll concentrate on staying calm and you work on getting us out of here, deal?" Naomi asked.
"Give me the easy job why don't you" Emily joked causing Naomi to smile before she relaxed her body and closed her eyes focusing on keeping calm, on keeping in control as the chaos drew closer, pulling and tugging at her. "Good job I've already got a plan really."
It was unheard of for Naomi to place herself, her life into someone else's hands so freely she was a control freak at heart and although she was more than capable following orders, she more often than not would overrule them with her own if she didn't agree. Anarchy was the key to her success.
But right now she had little choice, she had her own challenges to battle and she couldn't get them out because it looked like they were going to have to fight their way out, right now she was useless physically, one prod and she knew the agony would be there, plus already she could feel the other effects kicking in as she burned. She hadn't wanted to tell Emily but she felt them all around her, faces of the lives she had taken over time good and bad and nobodies, circling her just staring and watching her, waiting for the pain to come for her and then they were going to dance to the beat of her screams, her frantic heart beat providing the rhythm for their art.
She was no good to Emily, she was losing it now tipping over the edge and beginning her decent into the abyss all she could do was hold it together as long as she could. She heard a crash of a chair hitting the ground and opened her eyes to see Emily's chair tipped over and her body rolling backwards until she was on her knees, before rising to her feet, hopping thanks to them still being bound together. She held the chair in front of her, it looked awkward and uncomfortable but she had somehow turned it into a weapon.
Naomi watched as Emily hopped towards the door, but they were there, her ghosts, hallucinations or whatever they were stalking Emily and she wanted to scream, to call out and tell them to get away to not hurt her, to help them. Except it would draw attention and she couldn't so she bit her cheek clamping her eyes closed as the pain ripped through her body. Such a simple action excruciating, this cocktail really was something.
Emily was calling her she could hear it dimly muffled but it was there she opened her eyes and focused solely on the brown eyes in front of her, phased the ghosts from her vision "I need you to make a distraction to get that guard in here, can you do that?"
Naomi nodded, she could do that, all she had to do was open herself up to her surroundings and she would scream and shout, tell them to get away but she was worried that once she started she wouldn't be able to stop. She had to do this though, Emily wanted his attention on her so she closed her eyes and let rip rambling incoherent thoughts, apologies, begging for help, for relief.
She didn't hear the door open, she didn't see the attack, didn't hear the attack even she just heard herself rambling and whimpering, begging almost as she felt her body tremble until warm hands were on her face and they hurt touching the wounds from the day before but she pushed that aside, instead found her focus on those warm brown eyes.
"Shhhh, shhh its okay now alright, focus on me, right here on me okay." Emily ordered her as she cut the ties on her wrists and ankles, physically she may be free but her mind it was trapped, trapped with her ghosts beating on her screaming at her she grabbed hold of the arms in front of her, her eyes flashing to the left and right frantically fear consuming her, gone was hard arse Naomi Campbell and left in her place was something akin to a small frightened girl. "Right here, with me okay Naoms, right here" Emily reassured her "We need to move okay" she grabbed her hand and Naomi flinched at the contact as a ripple of pain flew through her nervous system but she gripped back and let the smaller woman guide her.
They were running, feet pounding through corridors, turning in what felt like circles. The pain travelled through her body but it was enough, the adrenaline enough to push the other effects away, leave her ghosts back in that room captured and trapped there. It seemed to take forever or maybe her perception of time and distance was all skewif thanks to the toxin she didn't know, all she knew was that she was tired, her body ragged, aching all over and she hurt, properly hurt.
They were back in the car park and Emily was smashing a window and forcing Naomi in the passenger seat giving her a gun and showing her where to shoot whilst she hotwired the car. Naomi didn't aim, not properly she just held the gun in the general direction and fired, didn't even know if the people she shot at were real or not, didn't care at all because they were all going to die, or die again, whatever. Her body shook from each kickback and soon the mag was spent, the chamber empty but she continued to fire an empty click echoing until the roar of the engine and the peel of tyres replaced it.
Dropping the gun she wrapped her arms around her knees as the world flashed before her. It was confusing full of bright fast moving and flashing lights drawing closer and moving away, quite frankly scary as shit. Naomi found herself shaking uncontrollably her whole body wracked with tremors despite the fact that nothing had really happened to her. Emily was talking to her, reassuring her but she couldn't focus on it anymore everything was moving too quickly around her for that. Everything was a whirlwind, disjointed, random and disoriented nothing flowed in a natural course of time and movement anymore.
It felt like forever but they seemed to be slowing pulling off somewhere, distantly she recognised it to be a service station and Emily was talking to her again, telling her where they were what they were doing but it didn't matter, she was spent. Hands were soon coaxing her from her protective position, gentle this time but still painful as they guided her towards a bright light before her, a warmth against her body keeping her steady and preventing her from sinking any further into chaos than she already had, helping to do the job she had been struggling with.
More talking and walking and then finally she felt herself being guided onto something soft the warmth still there and as it threatened to leave her she held it tighter not wanting that sole responsibility again, not strong enough to do it now. She held tight to the warmth until it wrapped itself around her, until finally she felt safe, properly safe for the first time today, for the first time in ages.
She let go and sank completely letting the chaos consume her.
So I will say I'm not sure the end of this chapter would work, I made the fatal mistake of writing myself into a corner and hadnt really considered the challenge of writing an escape from the perspective of Naomi who's well off her tits to be frank. Anyway I hope its okay made sense in a whacked out way, sorry if it didn't but you know, you've read it now and I dont have mind erasing powers sadly.