Novel Excerpt

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Novel Excerpt

Survival Games

by J.E. Taylor

Chapter One

Jessica Connor woke chained to a chair in a dark room. Her heart thudded and she strained to look around, but her head refused to move. The lights slowly brightened revealing a video screen.

Hands descend on her shoulders and a low voice whispered, “Relax and enjoy, I think this is my finest work yet.”

A video remote appeared, and with a click of a button, the screen filled with a highway scene.

Her car passed by the video camera and cut in front of an eighteen wheeler, within a blink, the front tire burst and the little car swerved out of control. The truck driver had no time to react before he barreled into the little Scion XA sending it rolling down the highway where it skidded to a stop on its roof.

Jessica caught a glimpse of brown hair covered with blood against the driver’s side window. The scream of brakes filled the room and the truck hit the demolished car again. The little vehicle exploded and the truck pushed the flaming car another hundred yards before both came to a halt.

People swerved to the side to view the wreckage and sirens wailed in the distance. The car taping the accident passed by the excited crowd gathering on the highway and Jessica saw the charcoaled remains of the driver in the wreckage that was her car.

“Oh God,” she gasped, glancing down at her legs, fully expecting to see burnt skin. Her legs were bare and unmarked, no sign of harm from the fire, from the accident she had no recollection of. “I, I, I don’t understand.”

She twisted her wrists in the iron bands holding her to the hard chair. Straps held her head in place and when she tried to move her legs they were stopped by hard cold metal around her ankles. She stared at the screen in confusion. “I . . . I . . .,” she trailed off and the memory of being attacked at her car came flooding back. Jessica began to shake.

“Mmm, the death of Jessica Connor.” The smooth edge of his fingernails trailed down her bare arm. “They all believe you died in that crash. It was all over the news this evening.” The husky voice laughed and he came around the chair, standing in front of her. The man frightened her more than the video had. He squatted down from a height of a little over six feet to her level, and rested his arms on his knees. He was fit, like a quarterback, lean and powerful, with light chestnut hair slicked back away from his face. When he smiled, his perfectly straight teeth seemed unnaturally white in contrast with his eyes, which looked black in the dark room, black and devoid of any hint of humanity as they breezed over her. The left side of his face was broken by a hideous scar that ran from just below his eye to under the jaw bone. Under normal circumstances, she would have described him as handsome, even with the scar on his face, but the lack of emotion in his eyes made Jessica recoil farther into the chair.

“Unfortunately that’s not really how your life will end,” he said. “But until that time comes, we are going to have a world of fun!” He sat back on his haunches and smiled and their eyes finally met.

His eyes flashed revealing the striking blue irises for a brief moment, becoming almost iridescent in the dark room. Something clicked deep inside her and she couldn’t catch her breath. Her skin screamed as if she had been doused in flames and terror gripped her, along with something else much more frightening.

She yanked her mesmerized gaze away from his, bringing it back to the blank screen, understanding slowly seeped in and her fear turned to rage.

“You BASTARD!” She struggled to free herself.

He put his hand on her bare leg and slid it up her thigh. “You will be begging me for it before this is all over,” he said, his breath hot and foul.

“Never!” She squeezed her eyes shut.

The man laughed and pulled his hand away. He stood. “That’s what they usually say at first, but I always win.”

“Not in a million years.” She glared in defiance.

He stepped back and pressed a button on the remote.

Burning pain filled every cell and she screamed through a clenched jaw, her body rigid from the electricity passing through her. The buzz in her ears nearly drowned out a distant voice crying “No!” Her eyes rolled up to the ceiling and her body convulsed in the restraints.

“I always win,” he said and released the button. “Always.”

His declaration followed her into the darkness.