The next thing I knew the hand helping me with my key suddenly jerked backward, twisting my arm up behind my back, as his other hand covered my mouth to keep my screams muffled.
"Shut up!" The man growled roughly, pulling me away from the car and towards a white van parked nearby. I kicked and struggled and tried to cry for help, but his powerful grip was absolute. "Stop fighting and *maybe* you'll live."
His words echoed in my horrified mind and I felt myself go limp. Oh God! Was he going to rape me? Or murder me? Was I being kidnapped? Why didn't anybody help me!
As it turned out, nobody even saw. My captor had me thrown through the side door of his van in moments. I scrambled to my knees, desperate for escape, just as a thick cloud of noxious green gas filled my vision. I sputtered and coughed, my fading vision catching the man closing the door with an insidious grin, holding some kind of spray bottle.
Then my world went black.
* * *
A soft beeping woke me to consciousness. Groggy, I listened to the sound for a moment uncomprehending... it sounded like a heart monitor. My eyes shot open as memory flooded back. Was I in the hospital? What had happened?
I was naked.
I screamed in response and began struggling anew, only to find I was strapped most securely to a cool metal table with a series of leather bindings across my shoulders, waist, arms, legs, and head. Indeed, my eyes caught the diodes stuck to my chest and arm, hooked up to what was a heart monitor.
The room was dimly lit, only the glare from electronic equipment filling the room. I could only sit and wait. With heavy breaths, I somehow managed to calm myself down, my heart hammering in my ears.
I could panic once I knew what the hell was going on!