Before Grace Ziegler can get a clear look at the man's face, her own face is viciously assaulted, one slap landing after another, as if enduring a violent storm.
Her face burning with pain, Grace can taste the metallic tang of blood spreading within her mouth.
The world spins dizzily around Grace. She feels lost, her sense of awareness sinking into a chaotic abyss.
Grace has no idea who these people are. To her, they're just as terrifying as the man in the wheelchair that night. Panic and fear fill her eyes, but she cannot even find the space to beg for mercy, her voice trapped in her throat.
After an indeterminable amount of slaps, her hearing in one ear is lost, the brutalizing finally comes to a halt.
Grace feels that no part of her face or mouth is left unscathed, blood seeping onto her clothes, a shocking sight.
Having been beaten down onto the back seat, it takes Grace a while to muster the strength to get up.
