The beeping was irritating. Not too fast, but not too slow, it never weakened nor strengthened – it just stayed that irritating tone and volume.
Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep.
Roanna opened her eyes groggily, and found herself blinded with no lights to see.
Stiffly, Roanna switched on a lamp near her bed.
“What the hell…” Roanna whispered in disorientation.
She recognized the room as her own at the Macapa house.
An array of hospital equipment was set up in around her bed, including an IV stuck in the crook of her arm.
Roanna pulled it out gently, ignoring the sting as flesh was tugged by metal.
Unsteady legs set beneath her as she slid out of the bed.
Her legs buckled beneath her, and Roanna gripped the bed with rigid arms to keep from falling.
After a moment, she trusted herself enough to lock her legs and walk.
Shakily, she made it to the railing outside her room, and locked her hands on the railing desperately.
“Jack!” she called out with a hoarse voice, her throat dry and raw.
Nothing responded, and Roanna felt worry ball up in her stomach.
“Erin!” she yelled.
Once again, her voice echoed throughout the voice, but no one answered.
Suspicious, Roanna went back to her room and slipped on a long shirt over her hospital gown, then tore the dreaded garment off before slipping into a pair of basketball shorts.
Just in case, she slipped her bottom drawer open, and hesitated.
It was empty.
She always kept weapons in the bottom drawer of every dresser in every house she’d lived in the eleven years.
Someone had removed them.
Her heart beat a little faster, and she straightened slowly and opened the first drawer.
She pulled it all the way open, the slid her hand inside and felt the top of the dresser.
Her hands met a knife with a strap and a gun taped to the top. She sighed in relief and pulled them out. The gun went on a thigh strap on her right leg while the knife strap went onto a strap on her waist, both weapons hidden by the baggy clothing.
Carefully, Roanna made her way down the stairs, cursing her decision to put in such an exorbitant number of stairs in the house.
Once down the stairs, Roanna took a step into the study, and froze.
Erin, Jack, Ninian and Brianna all sat on the floor in a kind of circle. Their hands were tied together behind their backs, then tied to each others; connecting them and restriction their movements.
Gags were stuffed into their mouths, with strips of fabric tied over them to keep the rags in.
Aidan, Mark and Nico lay on the floor, handcuffed to each other.
Nico, who looked how Roanna felt, had vomit dribbling out of his mouth and was breathing unevenly.
“I’m glad that you came down on your own. I wasn’t looking forward to waking you. Especially not with all the trouble I took to make sure that the good doctor took care of you before I took care of him.”
The voice, so cool and dripping with disdain, shocked Roanna into searching for the face that belonged with the voice.
“Diane,” she said calmly.
