I leaned in close to the screen. Alice looked just as confused and terrified as someone who’s been kept in a small room for almost two weeks. “Do you really expect me to kill my girlfriend?”
“Oh, no. That’s what we have Toby here for. He’s big into wet-work. A real natural. All you have to do is watch.”
“That’s it, huh?”
“Either that or Toby kills you both. Though, spoiler alert… With him, rape and murder are sort of a package deal. You’re not Toby’s typical type but he seems to be fond of you.” Toby nodded and I was suddenly aware of the heavy muffled breathing emanating from behind his mask as it intensified and grew more labored.
“You sure those are my only options?” I said as I reached back to feel the gun still in my waistband. Amateurs…
I pulled out the firearm and Jay scoffed as he said “I already told you that thing is loaded with blanks.”
“Apparently you’re not familiar with former television actor Jon-Erik Hexum,” I said as I quickly pressed the barrel of the gun to Toby’s chin and fired before he could respond.
The explosion of compressed gasses and paper wadding slammed against Toby’s lower jaw like an uppercut from a sledgehammer. His plague mask went flying, along with a splatter of blood and several small bits of debris that I assumed were teeth, as Toby’s limp body toppled to the floor. “Or, you know, how blanks work.”
“DUDE!” I heard Jay scream through the laptop as I hurried out of the room.
I exited the break-room and found myself at the back of a dimly-lit warehouse full of porn DVDs and assorted sexual paraphernalia, just as I guessed I would after seeing the inventory on that hand-dolly. This was the large building behind the adult arcade, which meant I had a good idea where Alice was.
I hurried across the warehouse and then into a utility hallway lined with several doors. I found one that said “PEEP SHOW” on it and pulled it open to reveal a small room containing an open doorway to my right and three curtained-off sections to my left labeled: BOOTH 1, BOOTH 2, and BOOTH 3.
I yanked Booth 2’s curtain aside and entered a dark foul-smelling recess with yet another door at the other end. This one was steel and had a window set into it at eye-level.
“Alice?” I practically shouted as I hurried to the window and peered inside.
There she was! I let out a small cheer as I banged on the door, which got her attention. Alice threw a hesitant glance at the window before pulling a literal double-take and turning back to shout, “Clarence?”
“ALICE!”
“Oh my god…” She smiled as tears began to pour from her eyes. Alice jumped up and hurried to the door. “It’s really you! Clarence, how…”
I examined the padlock on the latch holding the door closed and then held a finger up to the window. “Give me a sec. This is gonna be loud.”
I pressed the barrel of my gun to the top of the padlock, shielding my eyes with my other hand and praying this would work as Alice shouted, “No, wait. There’s the key right there.”
She pointed to my left and sure enough there was a key right there, hanging from a small hook. “That’s convenient.”
I returned the gun to my waistband and unlocked the door. As I pulled it open, Alice pounced on me and gave me the tightest hug I have ever received. And then we kissed and it was like something out of a movie. Then she hugged me again, even tighter this time, and said “I’m sorry. I must smell terrible.”
“It’s okay. You’re squeezing me so tight that I can hardly breathe, let alone smell anything.”
“Always the smartass,” she said and sighed and hugged me even tighter. I rested my cheek on the top of Alice’s head as I held her in my arms and glanced inside the enclosed dance floor that had been her cell. And that’s when I finally noticed the pale figure huddled in one corner.
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