"Suck Her Dry"

It had barely been three hours since I moved from the freezing floor where my strength gave out. My limbs and my once vibrant spirit now hung by a thread. I managed to find a hidden spot in the neighbourhood where I would usually come to feed the stray cats. Sadly, tonight, I was the stray. 

With my arms wrapped tightly around my body, I cuddled myself, praying no one would notice me and make me the talk of the town. I hadn’t eaten in two days. My head ached from exhaustion, my throat was dry from dehydration, and my skin was pale from cold and fatigue. Amidst my thoughts, I slipped into a restless, dreamless sleep.

But the moment of escape was short-lived.

The sound of footsteps jolted me awake, snapping through the silence like a whip. Before I could make out the faces that hurried towards me, I was hit across the face, the blinding pain shooting through me. Stars burst across my vision, and I could feel my body lifted from where I lay, rough hands gripping my wrists like shackles.

But the perfume, I knew this scent, Armani, the one he always wore. Even through the chaos, I could never forget that smell. It was Zane! 

“Zane?” I whispered faintly, my voice barely more than a breath, eyes blinking rapidly to adjust to the shining light from a vehicle close by.

“Where are you taking me to?”.I asked loudly as I began to regain my consciousness, but he didn’t answer. None of the men with him said anything. The silence was more terrifying than the grip.

Panic seized my throat.

“Zane, let me go!” I screamed weakly,  but it was no use. They forcefully dragged me across asphalt, shoving me into what resembled a white Mercedes-Benz. 

“Where are you taking me to at this ungodly hour”? I sought answers, but he remained defiant.

He drove off. I was sandwiched between two men in black suits, each of them strangely calm, their eyes looking forward. I felt caged, like prey among predators.

“You’re scaring me,” I said softly, my voice trembling.

“Why are you doing this?”

No reply. Just a soft hum of the engine.

My words seemed to have landed on deaf ears as Zane kept driving, with the other men seated at the back with me. The man I was once comfortable with now made me shiver in terror. I was scared I could be landed a punch in the face if I questioned him one more time. 

Then the car swerved sharply off the main road and into a sandy path surrounded by towering warehouses, long abandoned and covered in fading paint. I stiffened. My heart plummeted.

My eyes widened when the car abruptly stopped. “Why are we at an abandoned warehouse?”. “What are you planning to do to me?” My voice cracked under the weight of fear.

“Stop talking!” Zane growled at me, breaking his silence

Like a cow to the slaughterhouse, I was dragged out of the car by four men in black. My legs buckled beneath me, barely holding up. Then I saw them, people in white. A doctor, waiting outside with two nurses. Their uniforms stood out like ghosts in the dark. Then I noticed the nurses were carrying blood bags. Could this be what I thought it was? I felt my stomach churn.

My eyes widened as I screamed. “Zane… what is this?” I cried, desperate to meet his eyes,  but he wouldn’t even look at me. 

“Wait, are you trying to–” My voice was cut short by two nurses who seized my hands and strapped me to a cold metal table covered in transparent plastic. Like one a butcher would use to cut meat into pieces. I thrashed wildly, but the nurses overpowered me. 

“Zane… Zane!”. “What are they trying to do to me?”. “You can’t just stand and watch!” I screamed, struggling to remove myself from the bounds placed over me.

No answer.

I looked around, trying to catch the face of any saviour I could find. There was no one. I was completely helpless. One of the nurses seemed to look at me with pity, but also an expression that said she couldn’t help me out of my situation.

“You, Zara, would save a life once again”. “This time around, my fiancée,” Zane said flatly, finally meeting my gaze.

“She has a pregnancy complication, and she needs a blood transfusion immediately. You were the only match I could think of. Knowing how much of a bitch you are, it had to be this way”. He scoffed after saying the most horrifying thing I had ever heard him say. 

It was almost like I started to choke on the air I was breathing. How could this be the man I spent every night with for the past two years?

“I— would do what?”, “Save whose life?” I screeched, trying to make sense of all he had said. 

“I don’t consent to this... Let me go!” I yelled once more as I struggled to be free.

The doctor came closer to me with his hands in gloves, lifted, and started tapping the syringe with robotic precision. It was then my fear of syringes kicked in. The glint of the needle sent my mind spiraling.

“Stop-stop-stop, please!”. I shook my head in denial, hoping this was all a dream and I would wake up soon.

My heart started to pound loudly in my chest as the doctor leaned in to inject the syringe into me while the two nurses rallied around him with the blood bags ready to receive my blood.

“Don’t please!”. “Zane– you can’t just stand there and watch!”.

But he stood there, cold and unflinching. He didn’t even blink. Unmoved like a statue of wickedness with flaming eyes, I never once saw.

“Suck her dry!”. He thundered at the doctor and nurses. 

The doctor pierced into my veins, my body almost going into a seizure at the entrance of the fear and pain that seeped into me. The prick of the needle penetrating and sharp with every draw of blood. The last thing I saw was the doctor’s face turn blurry, and then everything went black.

Then a loud sound. The sound echoed like thunder.

I managed to open my eyes, weakly scanning through the warehouse.

A bang echoed through the building, this time really loud.

“What the hell is that?” Zane growled, reaching out for his belt like a soldier ready for defence.

Before anyone could adequately prepare for what was coming, the gate to the warehouse burst open, revealing a vehicle- a matte-black off-roader, entering with so much speed that the men scattered, flying sideways, shielding themselves to avoid being hit. 

Then, it suddenly stopped.

The door opened, and a towering figure came down from it. Like an avenging shadow, the tall and huge figure walked away from the vehicle towards us. 

As he moved closer, I was only able to see the dark blue eyes of this masked figure. They were fierce, wild, and blazing. 

“Let her go!”. The mystery man thundered.

A stick shattered against the floor as he disarmed one of them with his feet.

Zane and his men immediately flew into defence, lifting logs of wood littered around the warehouse. They engage in a fight, landing blows here and there. 

Still weak, I just lay there strapped to the table, watching all that unfolded before my eyes as though I were in a movie. 

Zane and his men moved fast, but this figure moved faster, like he had been training for a moment like this. 

“I said let her go!”. He screamed once more. I wondered who it could be. No one from my past could have possibly risked their lives to come save me. The only people who knew me closely were the models and officials who worked with me at the agency, but none of them could be this built and brave. His voice did not sound familiar in any way. 

Zane lunged, grabbing the surgical blade from the doctor’s tray near to him and wielding it at the man. But the man caught his wrist mid-way, twisted, threw the weapon out of Zane’s hand, and pinned him to the ground, breathing hard. 

At this point, the other men began to run away from the scene, fearing for their lives. 

Zane dragged himself up, grabbed the filled blood bags, and skedaddled away.

The man turned to me, panting, eyes softening.

“Are you okay?” He asked calmly, his dark blue eyes darting into mine.

“I—I—don’t think so”. I replied faintly as he unstrapped me from the table. My hands were bruised and numb, but I was free.

“We don’t have time, they might return soon”. He gently helped me down from the table, steadying me on my feet.

I released myself into his arms as I couldn’t stand on my own. The cold, the terror, the pain—they slowly started to fade away.

And for the first time in weeks, I felt comfort.