Mind Games

Chapter 18

"Cole, wake up. It's time to go." Damien said shaking me awake. I squinted my eyes as Damien shined a flashlight in my face. It was still dark. "We got to go. They've found us. It won't be long until they get here." Damien said. He scrambled around the room packing up a few things in a bag. "What do you mean they found us? I thought you said that we were safe here for a few days?" I asked, getting out of bed and scrambling to put my clothes back on. "Someone tipped them off. That's the only thing I can think of. How else would they know where we were hiding out?" Damien zippered up the bag and flung it over his shoulder. "Xavier made some sandwiches for us. We don't have time to waste." Damien said. He grabbed my shoulder and looked at me; I could sense that he was scared. It was obvious that he hadn't been on the run for years, and all this seemed like my fault. I was the reason why they were after us. "We have to go. Where is Katrina?" I asked. Suddenly I paused. I got a sharp pain in my head and I crouched down on my knees. I closed my eyes, and I could see images. There were four men and a woman in a van. One of the men looked familiar but I couldn't play my finger on it. They were looking for someone, they were looking for us. That's when I noticed it, the sign about a half a mile up the road. They were so close I could feel it. We had to get out of there now. "They're here." I said looking up at Damien.

"Okay you two go out the back door. Xavier will stall and I'll make sure you two get to the woods safe. Whatever you do don't stop running." Damien said quickly as he walked us to the back door. "What about you? What are you going to do? They're going to catch you, Damien." Katrina said as a tear rolled down her face. "I'll be fine. They can't get to me. Don't worry about me." Damien smiled giving Katrina a hug. Then he looked at me. "If I don't find you by the time you make it to the portal. Keep Katrina safe, she's like family to me and I can't bear to see anything happen to her. Remember what I taught you." Damien said giving me a pat on the back. Suddenly there was a loud banging on the door. They were here. I looked out the backdoor before running out giving Damien one last smirk. Katrina followed me and we ran into the woods. I could hear from a distance the men raiding the house. I didn't look back though. We entered the woods and kept running, emotions running through me hitting me like a ton of bricks. All I felt like doing was crying right now, but I knew I had to stay calm for Katrina. Why was this happening? Almost a week ago my life was so simple, I was a kid. I just broke up with my first girlfriend, I was getting ready for college, and I had my best friend by my side. Now I was on the run with people I didn't know, running from people who were trying to kill me. "I think we're safe now." Katrina said looking back and then slowing down. I stopped to take a deep breath. I placed my hands on my knees and inhaled deep breaths. I closed my eyes and tried relaxing myself. I fought back tears, anger, and fear all at the same time. This was too much, I couldn't take it anymore. That's when I felt it. Katrina placed her hand on my back. "Hey. We should get running again. We don't want them catching up to us." Katrina said. I was silent. "Everything is going to be okay, Cole. We got each other." Katrina said trying to cheer me up. "What about Damien?" I said looking up at her. "Damien will be okay. He's always okay." Katrina said, trying to assure me. But I didn't move. I couldn't move. Damien was back there and they were doing god knows what to him. I couldn't take it anymore; this was all just too much. I wanted my old life back. I wanted to go home, I wanted my family, I wanted James, and most of all I wanted Lexi. I missed the sound of her voice, the way she smiled at me. The way she laughed. I was sick of running, I was sick of hiding. That's when I broke down. The anger rushed through my body like a thousand volts. I started banging my fist up against the tree. I yelled out and let my anger get the best of me. "Cole." Katrina tried to calm me down. "No Katrina. You don't understand what it's like." I kicked the tree. "I don't understand what it's like? Is that so Cole?" I could hear the tension in her voice. "I didn't mean it like that Katrina." I stopped and looked at her. I tried to catch my breath. "You're not the only one who lost something Cole. We all did, so quit your whining and crying and suck it up like the rest of us." Katrina said getting up onto her feet. "We better get going before they find us. We have a long way ahead of us before we're safe." Katrina said. I stood up and took a deep breath. She was right. Everyone had lost something or someone; we were all here for the same reason.