He jerked up on Katie's belt-leash, dragging her to her feet, and the three of them descended the stairs to the basement. Katie trembled a bit when she saw the concrete hallway lined with steel doors again; the memory of being locked behind one of them, getting "fitted" by a relentless machine, was still very fresh in her mind.
She barely even thought about the two girls who must be locked behind another one of the doors. She couldn't help them until she figured out a way to help herself.
Katie didn't say a word as he pushed open the heavy door and pulled her inside. The machine was still there, exactly as she remembered it, a hideous contraption of steel, leather and rubber that had held her trembling and desperate until she passed out from sensory overload the night before. The black r
