Chapter 131
"Liliana!" I rushed over, but it was too late.
Liliana struggled twice, then her body went limp and collapsed.
I turned to run, but Patrick was already standing up. He twisted his neck and moved his legs.
"You're pretty smart. Almost got away from me."
"Too bad your friend is so stupid."
He kicked Liliana's body with the leg he'd just "injured": "A bleeding-heart idiot."
His leg wasn't hurt at all. That weak act earlier was all fake!
I kept backing up, turned to run, but I couldn't leave Liliana behind.
If both Liliana and I got caught, neither of us would survive.
I turned and ran.
"Think you can run?" He came at me with a twisted grin.
I ran as hard as I could, but worried about the baby in my belly, I didn't dare run too hard.
I'd barely taken a few steps when he grabbed me from behind.
The same handkerchief covered my nose and mouth. A sharp smell hit me, and my consciousness quickly faded.
My last memory was Patrick's twisted face and his low, strange laughter.
When I woke up again, I found myself in a completely unfamiliar place.
It was a rundown room with peeling walls, dust, and cobwebs everywhere.
The windows were boarded up with only thin cracks letting in weak light.
Liliana and I were tied back-to-back, our hands and feet bound tightly with rough iron chains.
Liliana was awake too, her eyes wide with terror: "Sophia, where is this? Who was that man?"
"I don't know either." I tried to calm myself down. "But we're in danger right now. We need to find a way out of here fast."
The room was filled with all kinds of junk. Looking closer, it was all half-finished dolls and puppets.
The skin used to sew the dolls looked very smooth - I couldn't tell what it was made of.
Some dolls only had half a head, some were missing arms or legs, looking especially creepy in the dim light.
"Is he... is he some kind of pervert?" Liliana's voice was shaking.
I felt a chill, too.
I remembered news stories I'd seen before about psychologically twisted people who would kidnap women and turn them into "human dolls."
Could these dolls have been...
Just then, the door was pushed open.
Patrick walked in. He'd changed clothes and was carrying a toolbox.
Seeing we were awake, he grinned - a smile that made my skin crawl.
"You're awake? Perfect." He set down the toolbox and pulled out needles, thread, scissors, and some tools I couldn't name. "Dolls that can move and feel fear are much more interesting."
"What do you want?" Liliana screamed.
"What do I want?" Patrick slowly picked up a pair of scissors. "To make you more perfect, of course. Look, you're both so pretty - you'll make beautiful dolls."
He walked toward us, the scissors gleaming coldly in the dim light.
My heart was pounding, my mind racing.
What do I do?
How can we escape?
"Wait!" I suddenly shouted.
Patrick stopped, looking at me with interest: "What does the little doll want to say?"
"You... why are you doing this?" I tried to buy time. "We've never done anything to you..."
"Why?" Patrick's expression twisted. "Because I like it! Turning living people into dolls that belong only to me, making them do whatever I want - that feeling is amazing!"
"You know what? You'll be my fifth and sixth works. I promise I'll make you even prettier than the ones before."
Fifth and sixth... meaning there had already been four victims.
Both Liliana and I went pale.
"But don't worry," the man smiled again, "I'll be gentle. As long as you cooperate, it won't hurt too much."
He approached again, raising the scissors.
Just then, there was a loud crash outside!
Patrick whipped around. Before he could react, the door was kicked open from the outside!
A tall figure rushed in, holding a club, and brought it down on the back of Patrick's head.
Patrick's eyes rolled back, and he passed out.
In the light from the doorway, I saw the face clearly—
It was James!
His eyes were sharp as knives.
Seeing the scene inside, his pupils contracted sharply.
"James, come save us!" Liliana shouted with joy.
James walked over, glanced at the iron chains on us, and felt around on the man's body, finding a key.
As he was unlocking us, Patrick, on the floor, came to and crawled up.
Patrick grabbed the scissors and lunged at James.
I shouted: "James, watch out behind you!"
James dodged to the side and punched Patrick hard in the face.
Patrick grunted and stumbled back, but quickly charged forward again, waving the scissors.
James and Patrick wrestled together.
James had clearly had training - his moves were clean and efficient, but Patrick was like a madman, completely reckless. The scissors in his hand nearly cut James several times.
"Be careful!" I shouted nervously.
James found an opening, kicked the scissors out of Patrick's hand, then threw him hard to the ground with a shoulder throw.
Patrick tried to get up, but James had already picked up an iron chain from the ground and whipped it at Patrick.
He beat Patrick bloody until he rolled on the ground and went still.
I didn't know if Patrick had passed out from pain or was dead.
James locked Patrick up with the iron chain before running back to us.
"Sophia, are you okay? Are you hurt?"
"I'm fine," I said, my voice shaking a bit. "How did you get here?"
"I..." James paused. "I knew Liliana asked you out today. I was worried about you, so I followed."
"When I saw you get kidnapped, I didn't dare alert him. I could only follow and wait for a chance to act."
James helped me stand up and checked me over, making sure I really wasn't hurt before breathing a sigh of relief.
Then he looked at Liliana, his face darkening: "Liliana! How many times have I told you not to trust strangers! Do you know how dangerous that was?!"
Liliana knew she was wrong and lowered her head: "I... I saw he was hurt and wanted to help..."
"Okay, now's not the time for this." I interrupted them. "We need to get out of here fast."
As soon as I finished speaking, thunder crashed outside.
Then the rain came pouring down.
The rain was too heavy, falling like a waterfall through the broken roof, quickly forming puddles on the floor.
"This rain won't stop anytime soon." James frowned. "The mountain road was already hard to walk on; it'll be even more dangerous now. We'll have to wait here until the rain stops."