Tania Mazona and I sprinted for the main exit as the footsteps of our pursuers thundered right behind us. Tania hit the door first and slammed into the latching bar, but unfortunately it was locked.
“The key! They’re coming!” Tania shouted.
My master key was already in hand and I struggled to steady my trembling fingers enough to get the tiny sliver of metal into the locking mechanism. I glanced over my shoulder and saw two men wearing dark suits and shades running towards us from the opposite side of the main lobby. I didn’t have much time. As I returned my attention to the lock I noticed that the mechanism was already rotating… and I had yet to insert the key! Someone was trying to enter the library from the outside. I had no way of knowing who or what was on the other side of that door, but it seemed far more likely that it would turn out to be a foe instead of a friend.
“We’re trapped! Run!”
I grabbed Tania’s arm and dragged her after me as I sprinted towards one of the side exits. I zigged and zagged between the bookshelves to take the shortest possible path. The library was dark, but I knew the arrangement of the shelves well enough to run through the maze of books blindfolded. I could only hope that my familiarity with the environment provided us with some small advantage.
We were no longer in the line of sight of our pursuers. Tania slowed her pace and tried to shake her arm loose from my grip. “Ms. Kent! Let me go! We need to separate!”
“What?!?!? Are you crazy? That’s a terrible idea! Follow me and I’ll lead us out!”
Tania planted her feet and stood her ground. “Trust me! There’s something I need to do now while we’re out of sight... Just go!”
I didn’t know what Tania was planning to do, but I couldn’t just leave her behind. Ms. Mazona was caught in the middle of a situation that she knew nothing about and getting her out of the library safely was my responsibility. I was fairly certain that those men were chasing us because I had tried to tell Tania about the Lost Diary of Astynome. Ms. Pryor had warned me not to mention the Lost Diary to anyone, and now here we were being chased by goons that had full access to the library.
That couldn’t be a coincidence. They had to be working for her. I had no idea what the men might do with us if they caught us, or what Ms. Pryor might do if the men took us to her… and I certainly didn’t want to find out.
I grabbed Tania’s arm and pointed up at the vaulted ceiling three stories above our heads. “I don’t think we are out of sight! Those cameras up there see everything!”
Tania looked up at the dozens of black domes spaced evenly across the ceiling. The realization that our every move was being observed and recorded shattered her confidence and seemed to fill her with dread.
“Hera help us, they’re everywhere… my secret will be exposed if I… I... oh, no...”
I didn’t know what she was talking about and we didn’t have time to discuss it. “Ms. Mazon, we have to keep moving! Our only chance is to make it to one of the side exits before they can cut us off again!”
We dashed between the shelves as our pursuers closed in around us. I could hear more heavy footsteps coming from at least three different directions and I charted a path through the books that kept us moving towards the exit while also keeping us angled away from the bad guys. Between the empty spaces on the shelves I caught occasional glimpses of the men in suits racing towards us. They were so close that I didn’t know if I’d have time to unlock the side exit when we reached it.
I heard the clacking of Tania’s heels suddenly stop and I turned back to see if she was ok. Tania was throwing all of her weight into a nearby bookcase. She planted her feet and she gave a tremendous and desperate yell as Tania extended her legs and shoved the heavy case over far enough to make it begin to topple. Tania took off running again and waved for me to do the same as the bookcase fell over behind her. I watched in horror as shelves started to fall like dominoes in a chain reaction of destruction and flying books. Our pursuers were momentarily cut off and they would have to find a new path to get to us. Tania had bought us some time and I could only hope that it would be enough.
We rounded a corner, ducked between another set of shelves, sprinted across a large aisle and raced for the side exit. We were almost there, but I could hear the footsteps of the men closing in once more. I practically crashed into the door as I scrambled for my master key, jammed it into the lock, twisted the mechanism and pulled open the handle.
The light from the setting sun streamed through the doorway and I could see the parking lot, the sky, the campus... We were out!
“Ms. Kent! Look out!”
I had only taken three or four steps outside when I saw a blur of motion coming towards me from my left. A very large man in a dark suit and shades was just about to tackle me when Tania threw herself into his path to intercept him. Both of them went down in a tangle of rolling limbs on the grass and I had no idea who might come out on top.
It was Tania!
Somehow she had managed to flip the man over onto his back and she straddled his chest. He was trying to punch her from below with one of his fists and it took the combined strength of both of her arms to block his flailing attacks. As the man kept Tania busy with one arm, he swiftly reached into his pocket with his free arm, yanked out a white cotton cloth and pressed it firmly over Tania’s mouth and nose.
“Oh, nooommmMMFFF!!!”
All of this occurred in a matter of moments, but as soon as I saw the white cloth appear I instinctively dove at the man’s arm. He was stronger than Tania, but he couldn’t overcome both of us. As I plowed into his elbow, the white cloth was knocked away from Tania’s face and I heard her gasping for fresh air. I could smell the faint chloroform fumes still lingering in the air, but Tania was still fighting furiously and seemed unaffected. She struggled to control his arms while I raked my fingernails across the man’s cheek.
“OW! You little bitches! I’m gonnaammmMMFFFFF!”
As he cursed at us, Tania reached for the chloroform-soaked cloth and jammed it into the man’s mouth. He went wild and began to buck his body violently in a frantic effort to shake us both off. Tania and I used our combined weight to keep him pinned. The smell of the fumes was getting even stronger and I hoped that the man would pass out quickly before it started to affect me as well. Within a matter of seconds I could tell that his thrashing was becoming more sluggish.
“That’s it, Tania! I think we’ve got himmmMMMMFFFFF!!!!!!!”
A white rag was clamped over my face from behind me. My attacker grabbed me by the back of my hair and yanked me to my feet. The pain and surprise caused me to gasp instinctively and I inhaled a dose of the anesthetic before I could remember to hold my breath.
Our pursuers from inside the building had finally caught up to us. One man stood behind me with one of his arms around my waist while his other hand held the white rag over my face. A second man grabbed my wrists to prevent me from fighting back. I began flailing my legs like a wildcat in an effort to knee the second man in the crotch or to stab him with my high heels. I was slowing him down and making him angry, but I couldn’t prevent the two men from dragging me back towards the door of the library.
As I struggled I could see two more men converge on Tania. One of them slapped yet another rag over her face and the other grabbed her wrists and pulled her off the man that we had chloroformed. The man on the ground didn’t get up. We had taken out one of them, but Ms. Mazona and I were severely outnumbered. I watched as Tania managed to elbow one of her assailants in the nose. He cursed and I could see a spray of blood. Tania seemed to be trying to cross her forearms together, perhaps in an effort to break the man’s grip on her wrists. Whatever she was trying to do, it didn’t seem to be working. Her fight continued, but then I found myself dragged back inside the library and I could no longer see what was happening outside.
Lack of oxygen was making my chest burn and I desperately wanted to take a breath. I was fighting my own instincts as well as the two men that were trying to keep me under control while the chloroform did its work. The fear, the running and the fighting had already taxed my endurance and I didn’t think I could hold my breath for much longer. Suddenly the man in front of me released one of my wrists. I immediately tried to claw the back of the hand of the man holding the rag over my face, hoping to get him to drop the cloth so that I could get some air.
A sudden blow to the stomach caught me completely by surprise. The man in front of me had released my wrist so that he would have an arm free so that he could punch me! What little air I had left whooshed from my lungs and when I tried to inhale my lungs were flooded with the anesthetic.
My ears began to ring, my eyes were watering and I could feel warmth and numbness spreading across my face. I knew I had to hold my breath, but I couldn’t stop myself from gasping desperately for air.
“You idiot! I can’t believe you just punched her! Do you have any idea what Ms. Pryor is going to do to you?!?!?
“Fuck, Ms. Pryor... Once this Kent bitch is out, her ass is mine.”
I glared at the man as he slipped his hand up my thigh and under my skirt. It was probably a waste of my strength but I put everything that I had into a defiant kick that drove the heel of my shoe directly into his testicles. He crumpled to the ground at my feet and I was about to kick him again when I felt the man behind me reach around and roughly squeeze one of my breasts. I squealed into the rag as the man on the ground tried to wrap his arms around my ankles.
Two figures suddenly came flying through the side door of the library and tumbled across the hardwood floor. Tania was grappling with one of the men from outside. The man was holding a white rag and Tania was doing her best to keep it away from her face, but I could tell that her movements had become slower and less coordinated. I waited for Tania’s other opponent to come crashing through the door, but he never did. Maybe Tania had managed to take him out. Unfortunately it didn’t look like it was going to matter. We were still outnumbered. I was slipping under quickly and Tania didn’t look like she could hold out much longer either. Tania had both of her hands locked around her opponent’s wrist that held the rag, but her enemy was overpowering her. Tania watched in horror as the rag seemed to creep towards her face in slow motion.
“No… no… not again...”
Tania whimpered as the white rag was shoved into her face. She was too exhausted and winded to keep herself from gasping and breathing in the fumes, but her body still had a bit of fight left in it. She released her grip on the man’s wrist and went directly for his eyes. The man screamed like an animal and I saw blood roll out from under his mirrored shades. I couldn’t see his injury, but I suspected that he would never forget this battle with Tania Mazona.
“MMMRRR MMMRFF MM FFFRRRMMM MMMRRF MMRRRFFFFFFF!!!!”
Tania was screaming into the rag as she fought desperately against the man that had her pinned to the floor. Finally the man could take no more and he rolled off of her. He scrambled off to the side and sobbed in pain while covering his wounded face with his hands.
Tania was free!
It was now two against two again. If Tania could get the man holding my legs to let go of me, I fantasized that we might have a chance to fight the two remaining men off.
Unfortunately my arms were now dangling uselessly at my sides. I realized that the man who was sedating me now had his hand under my blouse and that I should probably try to do something about it, but my body couldn’t be bothered to respond. My ears were ringing, my head throbbed and despite the chaos of the battle I found that the whole situation was oddly relaxing. Every squeeze of my breast sent a soothing wave of pleasure throughout my body that made me feel as if I were floating.
Holding my breath no longer felt necessary and I breathed steadily into the rag as my attacker whispered soothing things into my ear… telling me that it was ok to relax… ok to sleep… he was such a nice man…
Tania couldn’t stand. No one was chloroforming her at that moment, but the repeated doses had taken their toll. She was going out. I watched as Tania desperately used what little strength she had left to slowly… ever so slowly… cross her forearms in front of her chest. Her eyes closed peacefully and for a moment I thought that she might be saying a silent prayer.
There was a moment of silence…
When Tania finally opened her glassy eyes and looked up at me apologetically, I could tell from her defeated expression that her prayer had gone unanswered. The man that had been holding my legs released me and crawled over towards Tania as he pulled a white rag from one of his pockets.
“No use… toooo… dizzy… can’t… concennnnmmmmmfffff… mmmnnn… nn…”
This time there was no struggle.The man placed the white rag gently over her face and Tania was too weak to resist. She melted helplessly into his arms as the chloroform finally put her to sleep.
She looked so peaceful like that...
I couldn’t wait to sleep too...
…
Tania Mazona is the OC of
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