The McClane Apocalypse: Book One Read Online Free PDF Page A

room, then she isn’t coming out. Had he tied her up?
    “She’s cool, sweetness. Don’t worry about her. We need to go and have some fun now,” he answers as he quickly, painfully grabs her breast once before he flings her over one shoulder roughly as if she weighs fifteen pounds and not her true one hundred and fifteen.
    “Hey man, what about me? I found her,” Giant Pupils whines while refastening his stringy ponytail.
    “You’ll get your chance. Won’t take long at all,” Cold Eyes answers and chuckles.
    “Aw man,” his friend answers petulantly. “I’m going to find some food then. I’ll be back.”
    Cold Eyes snatches Reagan’s backpack and tosses it to his buddy. Giant Pupils then throws Reagan’s backpack to the ground and for some reason kicks it as if it has offended him.
    “Bring me something to drink. I think I’m gonna need it when we’re done here,” her captor replies with another sickening laugh.
    Reagan is suspended upside down, and at this vantage point she can tell that the man has a knife on his hip and a handgun in the back waistband of his tattered and holey khakis. From this angle she can almost reach his knife but isn’t sure if she can sneak it without him feeling her do it. It would also leave him in possession of the more threatening weapon. The door slams, and she assumes that Giant Pupils has gone looking for food. This leaves her alone with her attacker. He continues into Dr. Krue’s office and kicks the door shut with his booted foot, shaking it in its frame.
    Dropping her like a sack of potatoes, Reagan lands on her butt half on the burgundy, floral rug and half on the scarred, dark-wood floor with hundreds of scratches and divots from many years of use. She huffs as the breath leaves her again. She tries to scan the room, but her attacker is on her too quickly. He kneels beside her, his finger pointing in her face.
    “Now, you be a good girl, and we’ll have some fun. You go and be a bitch, and I’ll cut you up real nice, ya’ hear?” he questions but not wanting or needing a response. Reagan simply nods. He takes the knife from its sheath on his hip and stabs it purposefully into Dr. Krue’s mahogany desk top. It’s an intimidation tactic, and it is very effective.
    The room is too dark to see clearly since there are no windows. Plus the overhead lighting is not turned on. The darkly stained, cherry paneling isn’t helping, and she realizes that she hasn’t seen any lights on anywhere for a while. The electricity must have gone completely out everywhere at the university, and perhaps back-up generators aren’t firing. This realization frightens her.
    Her assailant yanks her to a standing position by her wrist, nearly dislocating her arm. He’s too strong to fight, Reagan realizes. Keep him talking.
    “Where is my friend?” she asks quietly as she tries to keep her tone calm and soothing.
    “She’s just fine. Don’t you go worrying ‘bout the Muslim, ya’ hear?” he says with a grin, his silvery eyes making contact with hers directly.
    Reagan knows he’s lying. She knows Uma isn’t ok. She knows this man will rape and then kill her in this room. She knows if she ever wants to see her family again, then it’s gonna be him or her. But only one of them can ever leave this room alive again.
    “D... don’t hurt me, ok?” she asks in her best childish voice. She wants him to think her weak. She’s small. She’s always been small. But she’s never been weak. Her grandpa would’ve never permitted that from her.
    “No problem, baby. We’re just gonna have us some fun,” he lies smoothly as he reaches out to run a hand down her arm.
    Her eyes dart to the door a few feet away, and it’s all the motivation she needs. But he grabs her as she lunges toward it, picking her up with one arm from behind. Then Cold Eyes swings her around and slams her face first upon Dr. Krue’s desk. Her head takes the brunt of the hit, and she’s momentarily stunned.