**10 months later**

“This is illegal, you know!” Emma yelled through the iron railing; her cheek pressed against the cold metal as she strained to see someone. “I haven’t done anything wrong. You can’t keep me in here!”

“Well, that’s the last of all the boxes,” Emma grunted as she pushed the box into the back of her jeep, “How are you looking for space?”

Emma felt so groggy. Her entire body felt heavy; weighted, as if held down by a thick sheet of cement. Her mouth was dry, her throat was parched, her eyelids felt like someone had pulled a blanket over her eyes. Her brain was also muddy, as if trying to emerge from a pit of quicksand. It was very clear that there were people around her, but it was hard for her to hang on to a thought that was longer than what is going on?

She passed in and out of consciousness, without her knowledge. She was aware that she was waking up and falling back into deep rounds of sleep, but every time she woke up, she was so tired that she had to fall back asleep again.

Emma couldn’t feel her skin. All she knew was that her lungs were burning, and her teeth were chattering. She didn’t know how much time had passed since she’d been taken but there was still some sun in the sky, albeit a streak of pink was starting to pierce through the clouds above. That meant it would be dark soon, and she would freeze to death if she was in the forest by nightfall. At least she had some sun now, warming up the snow. She was gracious for the lack of snow on parts of the ground beneath her feet. The extensive canopy of branches above her had captured a heavy portion of the snowfall, but fuck – it still hurt her soles.

Emma woke up a few hours later, or many hours later – she wasn’t quite sure, and had quite effectively lost track of time a long time ago. Her throat was caked dry, and her lips were beginning to sting from a lack of hydration.
            Her stomach was hurting from hunger pains, and the stress of the situation had begun to induce nausea.
            Clayton and Jackson hadn’t returned after their first appearance and it felt like it had been hours ago. They hadn’t left her with any water, food or blankets and the winter chill was beginning to seep through the stone floor and hardwood walls. She had fallen asleep out of pure weakness, but woke up to the sound of the wind whistling through the window.

She’d let her guard down – this was entirely her own fault. She shouldn’t have been so cocky, so confident. If she’d only just looked before stepping outside, she would have probably spotted something suspicious, out of the ordinary.
            Emma wondered how long it would take for Hunter to realise something was wrong. If he would even notice that she was missing. What if he thought she’d just skipped town? No, Sarah would alert him – but she didn’t know how long it would take until Sarah realised that she was missing. Sarah was always carefree, disappeared one day from the next to chase adventures and she offered the same liberties to her friends.
            She sat up, leaning against the hard wall. She hoped someone would realise she was missing – and realise fast. She didn’t know how long she had with this psycho.

Emma groggily opened her eyes, wincing as the blinding light struck her pupils. The light swimming around her only confused her further, and she shut her eyes immediately. Her head was spinning, and she could immediately feel bile pooling at the base of her throat. Ugh, she muttered either out loud or in her head, feeling as if her entire body weighed a hundred pounds heavier, weighing her down and pinning her to the ground.