Zara slowly drifted back into consciousness, her eyelids fluttering open as a dull ache throbbed through her body. Her back was stiff, her jaw sore, and her head pounded with every breath. She winced, lifting a trembling hand to her forehead, her eyes shutting again, overwhelmed by the pain.
As the fog in her mind began to clear, the memories hit her like a wave—the abduction, the violence, the chair she had been tied to, the blood seeping between her legs.
Panic surged through her as her eyes flew open. She scanned her surroundings. All she could see were the sterile white walls and an IV line in her arm. This was a hospital. She was no longer in that grimy, suffocating room.
'Who brought me here?' she wondered in her mind.
She remembered the faint sound of sirens right before she blacked out. 'The police... they must've rescued me.'
But how? How did they even know where she was?
Her thoughts jumped to Nathaniel.
'Did he call them?'