Chapter 5 - The Trap in the Dark
The heavy three-hundred-pound steel gurney crashed into Luke with the force of a battering ram.
BANG! CRASH!
The sharp metal edge hit his ribs, shattering the plastic monitor attached to the frame and sending Luke flying backward down the concrete stairs. He let out a sharp, breathless grunt as his body tumbled violently down seven steps, slamming hard against the brick landing below.
The crowbar clattered loudly down the iron treads, bouncing into the darkness.
"Nora!" Maya screamed from the landing above, holding Addie tightly in her arms.
"Keep going! Up to the fifth floor! Get the troopers!" I yelled, turning and sprinting down the stairs toward Luke before he could recover.
Luke was on his back, groaning, blood pouring from a cut above his left eye, but his hands were already reaching out to grab the fallen steel bar.
I didn't give him the chance.
I kicked him with my heavy winter boot straight in the side of his face.
THUD.
His head snapped back against the concrete wall, but the kick only seemed to infuriate him. With a wild, animalistic roar, he reached out and grabbed my ankle, twisting it violently until I lost my balance and crashed hard onto the cold landing beside him.
We thrashed in the dim yellow light.
Luke lunged over me, his heavy hands locking around my throat, his blood dripping onto my face as his knuckles went white with pressure.
"You... stupid... bitch..." Luke hissed through gritted teeth, pressing his thumb joints into my windpipe. "I... created... you!"
Air cut off instantly. Black spots exploded across my vision. My hands clawed frantically at his face, scratching deep bloody gouges down his cheeks, but his grip was like iron, born of pure, unadulterated madness.
I can't breathe...
Just like Addie...
He's making me choke... just like my baby...
My hand swept across the cold concrete floor, searching blindly through the dark, feeling the scattered plastic debris from the broken monitor, the metal screws, until my fingers closed around something heavy, sharp, and cold.
It was the heavy steel fire extinguisher bracket that had ripped off the wall when the gurney hit it.
With the last fading reserve of strength in my body, as the darkness threatened to pull me under forever, I swung the jagged piece of steel upward with everything I had.
STRIKE!
The sharp metal point drove deep into the side of Luke’s neck, right beneath his jawline.
Luke let out a wet, strangled gasp. His hands instantly released my throat as he staggered backward, clutching his neck, bright crimson arterial blood spurting through his gloved fingers.
"Aaargh!" he choked, stumbling back toward the iron handrail, his eyes wide with utter shock as he looked down at his own blood covering his hands.
I rolled over on my stomach, coughing violently, sucking sweet, glorious oxygen back into my burning lungs.
HAHHH... HAHHH...
Above us, the heavy fire doors thundered open.
"POLICE! DON'T MOVE! DROP TO THE GROUND!"
Flashlights pierced the darkness of the stairwell as six armed State Troopers and Detective Vance poured down the steps, their weapons drawn and lasers painted red across Luke’s chest.
Luke backed away, his heels dangling over the edge of the basement stairwell, bleeding heavily, looking up at the troopers like a trapped, rabid dog.
"It's over, Vance!" Detective Vance roared, his gun locked onto Luke's forehead. "Put your hands on your head! NOW!"
Luke looked at the troopers. He looked down at his blood-soaked hands. Then he looked at me as I slowly pushed myself up against the wall, holding my throat, staring at him without a single trace of fear left in my soul.
"I... I gave you a lesson..." Luke whispered, his voice raspy, wet, and failing as he smiled one last, sickening time.
He took a step backward into the empty air of the basement shaft.
"NO!" Detective Vance shouted, lunging forward.
THUD... CRASH... BANG...
The sound echoed up the five-story concrete shaft—a long, brutal series of impacts that finally ended in a heavy, terrible silence on the concrete floor of the sub-basement seventy feet below.
The troopers rushed to the railing, shining their heavy tactical lights down into the abyss.
Detective Vance looked down, then slowly lowered his weapon, clicking the safety switch back into place.
May you like
He turned toward me, pulling his trench coat off, and gently wrapped it around my shaking shoulders as I sat on the cold stairs.
"It's over, Nora," Detective Vance said softly, his voice trembling with profound relief. "He's gone. It's finally over."
