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The young woman stepped out of the women's locker room and entered the deserted arena hallway. She slung her bag higher over her shoulder as she turned down an empty corridor, leaping with surprise, a startled yelp nearly escaping her as she almost ran smack into the burly man standing in her path.
Wordlessly, the man smiled at her, and the woman couldn't help but feel uneasy. Actually, that wasn't an accurate enough word for how she was suddenly feeling - scared was a better description for it.
"Excuse me..." She tried to pass around his right and her left, but he placed a muscular arm against the wall, preventing her from moving.
She raised her eyes to his, noting the cold, cruel gleam in his light brown orbs. A chill of terror creeped its way up her spine as his lips curled into a nasty, arrogant smirk.
"Just where do you think you're going?"
The woman opened her mouth to speak, dismayed to realize that her mouth had gone dry. She cleared her throat as she croaked out the words. "I-I...I'm leaving." She cursed the fact that she'd had to stay a little later, as she'd been talking with one of the bosses for awhile after the show had come to an end. Damn it... She should have caught a ride with the other woman when she'd offered it. But she had her own rental car, and she had no way of it getting back to the hotel without actually driving it.
"Oh, no..." the man said angrily as his smirk vanished and he was now glaring at her, moving his face closer to hers as he stared into her eyes. "...I don't think so, honey..."
Instinctively, she took a step backward. "W-What do you want from me?" And then she took another couple of steps back as he edged a little closer to her.
"I think you already know the answer to that one...You little bitch! You've fucked me over one too many times..."
The young woman ducked to her right, then broke into a run, moving swiftly around the muscular man, but he was fast enough to catch her. She let out a scream that was cut short as he clamped his meaty hand over her mouth.
The man pressed her tightly against him, moving his face closer to her ear as he whispered menacingly into it. "You belong to me...and you owe me for what you did. Don't you ever forget that..."
Her eyes widened in shock and fear, and she squirmed feebly in his grasp. God, he was so strong. How was she ever going to get out of this in one piece? This man was capable of anything, as he'd proven time and again during their past relationship.
The attacker seemed to derive pleasure out of her weak struggles, and she tried to bite his hand, but all she could manage was her teeth just brushing against his flesh. He laughed at that.
"You couldn't hurt me on your best day and my worst..." Slowly, he turned her around to face him, and he dared to remove his hand from her mouth. She instantly screamed, which angered him further.
"Shut up!" He used the hand that wasn't gripping her to slap her hard across the face, and again, her scream was cut short. The woman's head was rocked to the side quickly by the force of the blow.
She stared up into his face with shocked, widened, fear-filled eyes that quickly welled up with tears. He noticed his smack had left a large red handprint on her cheek.
"On second, thought - go ahead, scream all you want, you pathetic little bitch...no one's here...no one can hear you, and no one can save you..."
The woman squirmed again, this time a little more than she had previously. Somehow, she managed to shrug her large bag off her shoulder, and she swung it as best she could, hitting him with it. It had very little effect.
As the bag fell to the floor quietly, he grabbed her by both shoulders, shaking her a bit.
Her head rattled as she attempted to knee him in the groin. He managed to block the would-be blow, and followed that up by smashing her back-first against the wall.
The woman nearly blacked out, seeing stars as her spine was jarred. A sharp pain shrilled through her, and as he did it again, the back of her head also made contact with the wall. Oh, dear God... She'd thought this nightmare had come to an end. How very wrong she'd been...
The man grabbed her by the throat, lifting her up to his eye-level and glared murderously at her. "You can't get away from me...you can run, you can pretend you don't know me, but you do...and you will always belong to me!"
She struggled ineffectively in his iron grasp, her face beginning to redden as her air supply was cut off. Her feet flailed in the air as she grabbed at the man's wrist in an attempt to free herself. If he didn't let her go, and soon, she was going to suffocate...
He laughed sadistically, the sound echoing through the abandoned corridor and sounding shrill to her ears. He always did enjoy torturing her. It was a game to him, and he thrived on abuse.
Finally, the man released his grip on the woman's throat, and instead of falling to her feet, she dropped in a heap to the floor. Gripping her throat, she coughed and gasped for air, then fearfully glanced up at him, her eyes widened as she weakly tried to crawl away.
He grabbed her by the ankle, and she tried to pull away, crying out in pain as she attempted to twist around onto her back. His grip was so strong she was afraid her ankle might break.
The maniac snatched an object out of the back pocket of his jeans, and her eyes briefly caught a glimpse of a black leather case. She didn't pay much attention to it as she continued struggling and screaming weakly until she saw the flash of silver.
God, please, no! her mind cried as her eyes widened. The switchblade gleamed in the light of the hallway as he flicked it open. Weakly, the woman tried to kick him with her free leg, but she was still on her stomach. Her eyes widened further as she looked over her shoulder. He was bending over her, raising the back of her shirt, the knife in his hand...
Her screams increased in volume as she felt the blade bite into the small of her back. Oh, God, the pain! He wasn't merely stabbing her - with horror, she realized he was scrawling something onto her back.
The man laughed sadistically as he finished his work, examining it. He had finally released her ankle and stood over her, watching her writhe and cry. She had gotten what she deserved - and he had claimed his property.
All of a sudden, the man looked up and over his shoulder as he heard pounding footsteps heading their way. And then he heard a man's voice shouting, the guy just barely visible from way down the hall. He faced forward and ran the hell out of there, shoving his way out of the arena and rushing into the parking lot.
The newcomer continued running down the hall. He had suddenly heard a woman's screams - they'd been so faint he hadn't been sure they weren't just his imagination, but as he'd neared, he realized they were a reality.
"Oh, my God..." His eyes widened in horror as he took in the scene.
The woman was lying face-down on the floor, her back bloody as she cried, harsh sobs wracking through her body. He instantly saw the red hair and knew who she was...
"Amy..." He kneeled down in front of her, taking hold of one of her hands.
The woman's eyes widened in fear for a split second until she saw who he was.
"Rob...help me...help me!" she moaned.
But Rob Van Dam didn't need to be coaxed. He had run directly in the direction of her screams with that very intention.
"Don't worry, Amy..." he spoke softly. "I'm going to help you...I'm going to get you out of here..."