He had only one goal.

And it was to find his partner.

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Olivia wasn't sure how long she had been in the dark room. When her tears had dried up, her headache had eased a bit and given her rational thoughts space. So, instead of panicking that she couldn't see anything at all, she forced herself to focus on her other senses.

The room smelled like an old, damp basement, but since she had no idea what kind of building she was in, she couldn't be sure that she was really in a basement. But in addition to the musty smell, there was a suffocatingly recognizable smell of death in the room, and while her cop instincts tried to get her to investigate further, they also made her painfully aware that it was a really, really bad sign.

Because the smell was so strong, she had a strong suspicion that she wasn't alone in the room. And it didn't exactly please her, because even though she had seen dead bodies countless times before, alone in a pitch-dark room, being the prisoner of a clearly dangerous, unknown man made the situation different. Also, the more she let her thoughts wander, the more certain she was that the body or bodies were not in the building by chance. Her years of police experience presented her with more and more distressing scenarios, and she had to force her thoughts elsewhere, lest panic start to choke her throat again.

Luckily, a low rumble brought a welcome break to her spiraling thoughts, and she concentrated on listening. The sound had sounded like thunder, but she couldn't be sure. However, the rumble had sounded so clear that the wall of the building couldn't be very thick.

A sudden gust of wind caused the walls of the building to whistle, and a faint beam of light reflected from a crack in the wall. But the more closely she listened, the more nervous she found her mood changing, and suddenly she was sure she heard someone breathing next to her.

"H-hello?"

There was no answer, however, and she drew her legs closer to her chest. The sound of breathing was heard again, and Olivia couldn't be sure if she was imagining it all, if it was the wind blowing outside and the approaching thunder, or if someone was actually breathing next to her.

But she couldn't see anything in the dark, and she didn't dare start exploring her surroundings blindly. She was terribly thirsty, hunger was rumbling in her stomach, and she really needed to go to the bathroom. However, there was no relief available for any of these, and all she could do was wait.

Wait for someone to pick her up from here.

And that someone would hopefully be her partner, and not that unknown man who was keeping the bodies in the building.

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The thunder was rumbling deafeningly as Elliot tied yet another one of his socks to a tree branch. When he had realized that he had no map or compass, and that his phone had died either from the rain or a dead battery, he had had to stop his aimless wandering. Otherwise, he was sure he would soon get lost himself. The rain was so heavy that the whole landscape had turned grey and lightnings were flashing above him as he got his route marked again.

After the others had left, he had forced himself to gather his thoughts, and instead of thinking like a panicked friend, he had begun to think like a detective. He had returned to the spot where their tent had been, sat down on the wet ground, and turned his thoughts to her.

Okay, Liv. Tell me.

Why did you leave the tent at night?

"Maybe you had clung to her like a baby again, and she woke up and needed oxygen," the evil voice in his head had pointed out, but he had forced it to silence.

No.

If she didn't want it, she would have let you hear about it.

With few options, he had concluded that the only reasonable explanation was that she had gone to the bathroom.

But which way did you go?

He had tried to remember the location of the tents, and through that to figure out in which direction his partner had probably gone.

She didn't have a flashlight.

Our tent was at the edge of the campsite.

There were bear tracks outside the campsite.

And after concluding that her most likely route was to the left of the tent, outside the campsite, he had stood up and adjusted the position of his cap.

And then he had started walking with determined steps in the direction he had chosen, thunder roaring around him, not feeling a drop of fatigue in his body.

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Olivia hadn't realized she'd dozed off until a screeching sound jolted her awake, and she was ready to fight in a second. The thunder outside the building had risen, rumblings shook the ground, and for a moment she thought that the light that appeared in the room was caused by lightnings outside.

But then she realized that the door behind her had opened.

In a split second she was on her feet and turned around. A dark figure was standing in the doorway, and she expected him to move, speak, do something, but he just stood there.

When Olivia was sure she had at least a couple of seconds before the man would possibly attack her, she glanced around. The better she saw the surroundings, the more certain she was that she was indeed in some sort of basement. There wasn't many items in the basement, but there was a pile of some sort in the back corner, and though she couldn't see any clearer, a familiar smell wafted into her nose, and a horrible, horrible thought filled her mind.

She couldn't be sure.

But it was possible that there was more than just one body in the basement.

"Do you like my little collection?" A voice from the doorway made her immediately turn her gaze back to the man.

"What do you want from me?" Her voice was small, weak and hoarse from thirst, crying and suffocating intense fear. And then she noticed something that for some reason she hadn't noticed before.

The man had an axe in his hand.

He was examining it in concentration, apparently thinking of what to say next.

"Have you ever heard of a woman's loyalty to a man?"

The question confused her. "What?"

"Have you ever heard the saying "the good old days"? Have you ever thought about what that means?"

Olivia felt that maybe she should have realized by now what the man, who started approaching her, was talking about. If the situation had been different, maybe she would have, but now her brain seemed to defy her ability to think rationally, and instead acted entirely on its own will.

"You know, in the good old days there was no talk of equality. In the good old days, women stayed in the kitchen, took care of the family and kept their husbands content and satisfied," he continued to approach her, causing Olivia to take slow, imperceptible steps back. Thunder rumbled above them, making her flinch violently.

"The good old days were good because you women didn't mix things up and try to be clever, you respected and obeyed men," his voice had become low, anger was hissing in her voice, and then she realized.

"So, you live and hide here, kidnap female hikers, rape them so they learn to respect men, and then kill them?" Her voice sounded foreign, distant, but it made him stop.

"Good girl. You're smarter than those others," he nodded towards the pile in the corner, making Olivia swallow hard. The thunder made the ground shake, but she didn't distinguish it from the shaking of her feet.

"So, um…" She tried, tried for her life to come up with something to buy more time. "So, if I agree to have sex with you, you don't have to kill me?"

In the dim light, she saw a grin spread across the man's face.

"Oh, sweetheart, I don't "have sex". I teach respect."

Okay, Olivia. Think think think…

This man is clearly mentally deranged.

So maybe…

"Okay, I get it," she sighed, pretending to surrender. "You can teach me. But…" She continued before the man could answer or move. "There is one weakness in your plan. If you kill all the women after teaching, it won't help you. I think…" She took a huge risk as she stepped closer to her axe-wielding captor. "If you teach me really well, I can spread your ideas further. Then your teachings really matter, and you make more and more people understand what you mean. If instead you just sit in your cabin, you kill your chance to make an impact on society at the same time."

And then she fell silent, waited, waited, hoped he would take the bait. But then he nodded, very slightly, but she noticed it, and grabbed her wrist.

Olivia's whole body was shaking as if in a fever, and she hoped it wouldn't reveal her. But instead, the man grinned, touched her chin and lifted it up a little.

"You're scared. Good, it's a good start."

And then they stepped back into the brighter cabin, and the man closed the basement door behind them before swinging the axe towards the bed. Olivia swallowed, but slowly began to approach it, and eventually sat down onto its edge.

"Take off your shirt," the man commanded, and she did as she was told, even though every cell of her was screaming against her. For a moment he just watched her, licked his lips, and she had to fight back tears with all her might.

But then the man put the axe down, opened his hoodie and started pulling his t-shirt over his head.

"Okay then."

And Olivia was ready. She took advantage of the one second she had when he lowered his shield and broke the line of sight, and she jumped off the bed, grabbed him by the neck and kicked him in the stomach. As he automatically doubled over as the air escaped his lungs, she elbowed him in the head, sending him staggering forward. And then she picked up the axe from the ground, just managed to straighten her back before the man could attack and hit him on the head with the blunt side of the axe.

And when the man fell to his knees and unconscious to the ground, she didn't wait or check to see if he was even still alive. She also didn't retrieve her shirt or go check the bodies in the basement, no. Instead, she turned on her heel, the axe in hand, opened the front door, and then she ran.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Thunder was roaring around Olivia as she stumbled forward through the soaked terrain. She didn't have the slightest idea in which direction she was running, but her legs were carrying her forward like a hurricane, her heart felt like it was going to explode in her chest, and the raindrops were pouring down her face and almost bare upper body. She felt no cold, no pain, only the survival instinct was driving her forward.

And then she saw something in the corner of her eye. At first, she thought it was just a distortion from the downpour or raindrops in her eyes, but it made her turn her head and slow down. Her heart skipped a beat when she realized it was human.

As the downpour made the entire landscape blurry, she could only see the outline of the person. He was standing a little further away from her, apparently with his back to her, and for a moment she was about to start running again, but then the person turned towards her.

Shit.

Certain that the unknown serial killer had found her made her raise her axe, and every muscle of her tensed, ready to fight for her life. But then a call split the air:

"Liv!"

All it took was one word and a voice she would have recognized anywhere, and tears started pouring down her cheeks as if someone had opened a dam inside her.

Elliot.

And then her legs began to carry her towards him, a sob escaping her lips, and the axe slipped from her hand as she stumbled the last few meters to her partner, literally falling into his arms as her legs failed her.

And she clung to him as if her life depended on it, felt her partner's strong arms around her, and as the cry began to erupt from deep within her, all strength fled her body at once.