Chapter 44: Rescued by the Enemy
The banging grew louder and Katrina took a few steps back.
"We know you're in here," a male cried. "It's okay. We won't hurt you."
She heard mumbling, as if they were arguing about something.
"But what if she's . . ." a female whispered.
"Then why's she locked in?" the male asked. "If she's with them? And you saw how they . . ."
"I know!" the female whispered roughly. "All right!"
"My name's Nick," the male shout. "I'm here with my sister, Carly. We'll get you out, don't worry. We won't hurt you, all right? I'm going to go find something to break down the door."
Katrina scurried backward to press herself against the wall behind her, as far away from the door as possible. "My God," she whispered, over and over again. "Where are they?" Her gaze was torn between the door and the flickering light out the window. "Vincent, Bo, Lester . . . please help me."
"Stand back, I've got an axe!" Nick called to her, and her hand moved automatically to where her knife should have been.
"I should kill them . . ." Katrina whispered. "I should kill them. Why did you do it, Vincent? Why did you leave me here, lock me up, take my knife? You left me helpless." Tears trickled down her cheeks, and she began to pray under her breath.
The door split in two and she got her first up-close look at the siblings. She recognized them from the video camera: the reddish-haired girl and the boy that had broken Bo's truck light. As her eyes flicked frantically from one to the other, the siblings scrutinized Katrina warily. When she made no movement, Nick came forward, stepping cautiously towards her.
"I knew it!" Carly cried. "I knew I saw someone up here! It's her, Nick. The girl we saw when we were at the church!" She flew at Katrina, arms outstretched. "It was you, wasn't it? What have you done to all those people here?" Her voice rose into a shriek.
Her brother put a steadying arm out to keep her from attacking Katrina. "She's a victim as much as us, Carly! Can't you see that? Look at what they've done to her!"
As the two began to argue, Katrina shuddered in fright and dropped to the floor, feeling faint. Nick hurried to her and helped her up, while Carly eyed her warily.
"My God!" Nick exclaimed.
Katrina looked down. The robe she had been wearing had slipped off her shoulders to reveal the bite marks Vincent had given her earlier.
"I told you she's a victim!" Nick said.
Carly nodded, pressing her fingers to her lips in horror.
The look that passed between the siblings wasn't lost on Katrina, and for some reason it was that, more than anything else, that made her realize her danger.
"They think I'm a prisoner . . ." she thought. "They can't find out the truth, not yet at least. I need a plan . . ."
She tried to think as Nick and Carly began to pull her towards the door, but her hold on sanity was slipping away rapidly.
"We have to get out of here," Carly said as she helped drag Katrina out of the room.
Katrina's distraught mind could center on only one thing. "My lily," she mumbled, grabbing the necklace from the nightstand.
"Come on!" Nick insisted, tugging her hand. "You can come out. They're gone. Dead. They can't hurt you again."
She was too shocked to do anything else but follow him.
"What's your name?" he asked quietly as he pulled her down the stairs.
Her terrified eyes met his for a brief second. "The black lily . . ." she began, her voice a hoarse whisper.
"What?" Nick asked. "Lily?"
Katrina began to stammer, looking like she was going to lose it at any second.
"It's okay," Nick insisted, touching her cheek gently. "You're safe now, Lily. I'm going to get you out of here. They'll never hurt you again."
"Vincent . . ."
"He's gone. He can't do anything to you anymore. Carly killed him. She killed them both."
Nick took the strangled gasp she emitted from her pale lips as one of shock, not heartbreak. Her frantic blue eyes and delicate condition made him feel protective of her, as he was for Carly.
"She could be Carly," he thought. "If Bo was able to kill me, if no one would have rescued her, Carly could be in Lily's position."
Carly's gaze met his and he could tell she knew what he was thinking. His sister made the shape of a pregnant belly over her stomach and pointed at Katrina.
"Do you think she was pregnant before they captured her?" she mouthed.
Nick closed his eyes and tightened his grip around Katrina's shoulders. "How should I know?" he mouthed back.
Carly shrugged worriedly as they made their way down into the living room.
"Dead?" Katrina croaked, out of nowhere.
"Yes, they're dead. I'm positive. They were dead before the wax melted on them," Carly answered in a slow, careful tone, as if she were talking to a child.
"He knew. He knew it would be through wax . . ."
Katrina saw everything through a haze of pain . . . the blurred pictures of the Sinclair family on the walls, Bo's filthy work boots kicked recklessly into a corner, Trudy's old rooster and hen salt and pepper shakers on the kitchen table, Vincent's sketch book on the couch, Lester's bag of laundry beside the front door. All the things that were her life, all the little pieces of the puzzle that made her existence whole . . . all were being taken from her. It was hard when she realized . . . slowly . . . that she would never look upon the pictures again, never hear Bo stomp through the house in those boots any longer, never feel the chipped wing on the hen pepper shaker press against her fingertip. She would never see Vincent sketch in that book ever again, never complain about how hard Lester was on his clothes.
She burst into wild sobbing, tearing at Nick's shirt as he grabbed her and pulled her tightly against his chest. He held down her arms, an easy feat since she was so weak from exhaustion and shock.
"Lily, everything will be okay."
"No," Katrina sobbed as they walked into Ambrose, "it will never be okay again."