The Never List

with spray nozzles hung loosely from the ceiling, and small hooks were attached in four places to the back wall. A row of dim bulbs hanging from cords above barely lit up the space, casting bumping shadows as they swayed slightly overhead.
    Tracy was standing in one of the stalls, bent over the drain in the middle of the floor. She got down on her knees, staring at something very small. I crouched down next to her. She reached out her gloved hand, took the object between her fingers, and lifted it up into the faint light. I shrank from it in disgust: a human fingernail, in its entirety, with a tattered bit of dried-up flesh clinging to it. Tracy looked at it solemnly, and then carefully put it back down on the floor where she found it. We were both horrified, sitting back on our heels, trying to figure out what this bit of human detritus could possibly mean.
    My back was to the door, and that’s why Tracy saw the lights first. I saw the panic in her eyes before I realized what was happening. Too late, I heard the whirring of the car motor outside, then a door slam while the engine was left running. We were no longer alone.
    There was no time to turn off the lights. The front door lay in the same direction as the noise, so Tracy and I ran over to the garage door, each grabbing a handle to hoist it back up from where it had fallen. When it dropped, though, it had latched. This time it wouldn’t budge.
    I felt a sharp chill surge through my body. There was no other way out except through that main door. We heard steps approaching and, in a panic, ran over to the farthest stall. We flattened ourselves against the wall, hiding our feet behind a large plastic bucket that mercifully stood there in the corner.
    I was cursing myself for the lights. That was my fault. Tracy had turned them on to make it seem safe enough for me. If only we had used the flashlights we’d brought, we would have had a chance.
    Just as we ducked into the stall, we heard the footsteps of two or three approaching men. A voice boomed into the dimly lit room. “Relax, relax, we come in peace.” A burst of hoarse laughter from the other two.
    Tracy and I shifted farther into the corner, all the while knowing that hiding there was no solution. It was only a matter of time before they had us. I carefully pulled my cell phone off of my belt and held it down at my side. I could see my slightest move reflected in shadow, so if I so much as moved my hand, their attention would be drawn to us. Tracy noticed it too, and because she couldn’t motion to stop me and couldn’t speak, she looked at me with a pleading expression. I hadn’t seen one like it since the cellar.
    I was caught in a terrible bind. I couldn’t get the phone up to my ear without identifying our location, yet if I didn’t make a call, if I didn’t somehow reach out beyond the walls of this warehouse,anything could happen to us. I looked down as far as I could without moving, selected Jim’s name from my contacts, and started to text him with one hand. But what could I tell him? I’m in a warehouse, in Oregon, and I’m not exactly sure where? Useless. I had recognized the voice though, and so I typed slowly, hampered by my forced immobility. Two words: Noah Philben. He was the only trail.
    Almost as soon as I’d typed the last letter and hit send, the men, who must have signaled one another, started running directly over to our corner. Tracy let out a small scream. I couldn’t have made a sound at that moment, I was so paralyzed by fear.
    Before I could process what was happening, one of the men grabbed me, gripping both of my arms tightly behind me with one hand, while neatly removing my belt with the other. All my devices clattered to the floor. The other man held Tracy just as firmly, and Noah Philben calmly approached me, leaning over to gather up the cell phones as he did.
    “Welcome to the sacristy, Sarah—oh, I’m sorry, what did you say your name was before? I really can’t remember. But I remember Sarah .”
    He reached out for my chin, rubbing one finger slowly underneath it. My body pulled away from him almost involuntarily. Any human touch was repellent to me, but his in particular, slithery, suggestive, was more than I could bear. I could feel the cold sweat breaking out over my body. When I pulled back, the man holding me tightened his grip and pushed me even closer to Noah Philben.
    “Surprised I know your name, Sarah?” He laughed again and stopped to pull