Today I am presenting you my readers with another fragment of my work in progress, which am hoping will become my fourth full novel. 

Enjoy!

‘Out! Out! Out!’

Disorientated and lost as she was, Nina immediately realised that the minibus had pulled to an abrupt stop and just as quickly there was the sound of a sliding door. Then, before she knew it, rough hands with calloused fingertips bit into her forearms just below the crook of her elbows and dragged her forcibly from her seat.

Fighting for balance, she screamed as her legs threatened to buckle from under her, but somehow she managed to save herself. That was of little comfort though because she was now even more terrified than she’d been thus far.

At least in the minibus she’d just sat there in the dark silence.

‘Shut up, unless you want to die,’ an accented voice whispered in her ear as a hand clamped over her mouth.

Half-guided and half-dragged she was pulled away from the van. Now standing firmly on both feet, her assailant let go of her. Elsewhere she could here other voices, men’s voices in harsh whispers were demanding silence; and was that the whimper of another girl?

Suddenly the blindfold was whipped off and everything was dark again apart from the blinding glare of the lights from the minibus. Disorientated and lost it took her a few seconds to get her bearings. Three men dressed in jeans and leather jackets were standing over them. Each had a baseball hat on and a snood pulled up over their faces. A pair of thick glasses completed their look. It would have almost been laughable had the situation not been so serious. She quickly looked around and saw six more girls, young, helpless and just as lost and frightened as she was.

As Nina’s eyes adjusted, she took in her surroundings. They were standing on the side of a dirt track in a wooded area. Light from the van bounced off a couple of trees making them look like pallid statues from an otherworldly reality.

‘Walk,’ one of the men growled and she was pushed harshly in her back.

Suddenly torchlight appeared in front of their legs to illuminate their way. Nina was somewhere in the middle and she just looked at the ground trying to pick her way through the undergrowth and followed the legs of the girl in front her as a guide. As they went, they half-stumbled and did their best to avoid the briers that were trying to ensnare their legs as they went. It was of no mercy to Nina that she was wearing jeans; they only offered limited protection to her legs from the thorns and stings of the undergrowth, but that was of no consolation.

There was no hope for escape and there was no place to go. She wasn’t naïve and she knew exactly what happened to girls who get kidnapped like this.

My life is over.

As always stay safe and well my friends.