Duskwood: Unrecognisable

Part 18

A/N: TRIGGER WARNING - violence, blood and death

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The pounding on the van door was nearly as loud as my own heart clamouring to escape my chest. Sitting on the floor in the back of the van, I tried every deep breathing exercise I could think of as a heavily armed agent snatched our documents out of Jake's hand through the front passenger window. I couldn't quite make out what was being said over the sound of the engine, but Jake was still relatively relaxed so I was hopeful that he had successfully fooled them.

Jake gestured to me so I could tell he was going through our cover story about getting me to the hospital. I poised myself to behave as if my fake bandages were the only things keeping my leg together. The agent stuck his head slightly and looked at me sitting in the back. I had sweat rolling down the sides of my face from the anxiety and panic, which probably helped in selling the story.

The agent disappeared, but I could feel him slamming his fist on the side of the van. Our driver unlocked the doors while Jake glanced over his shoulder. The back doors burst open and rifles were pointed at me. I winced and lowered my head, but to my surprise, the agents were more interested in checking the rest of the van for anyone hiding in the back with me. One of the agents radioed to his superiors that we were clear and walked away. The other agent tossed our documents at me, then closed the doors and slammed one more time to tell the driver we were good to go.

To say I sighed with relief was the biggest understatement of my life. Our van took off cautiously through the checkpoint then got back up to highway speed. Meanwhile Jake rejoined me in the back and put his arm around me.

"How?" I asked speechlessly.

"Those were rookies, we got lucky," Jake sighed. "They couldn't identify shit from my police sketch and, as I thought, cutting and dyeing your hair was needed. It won't be that easy though when they start dispersing their footage from the train." Jake kissed my head, "You did well, MC."

Suddenly the van pulled over and came to a halt. Jake quickly reached to pull out his gun from the back of his pants, but our driver had his shotgun aimed squarely at us before Jake could get it out.

"You don't want to do this," I warned him nervously.

Jake slowly shifted his position to being crouched in front of me, effectively shielding me from the shotgun's line of fire.

"Aww, that's sweet. You worried about me, love?" our driver mocked as he got up out of his seat. "I'd be more worried about you right now, but if you're that concerned, why don't you be a good girl and tie up that boyfriend of yours for me? Then I don't have to shoot him."

"I mean it!" I stressed. "Please put the gun down! We can talk about this!"

"He's not interested in making a deal," Jake gritted his teeth.

"Hey, now I can be a reasonable man," he argued. "If you make it worth my while, I will let you live."

"You think we have money?" Jake sneered.

"Well if you can't make it worth my while, then I see no reason in letting you go. You don't need to be alive for them to reward me, right?" the man snickered. "I'll tell you what, surrender nice and easy and I promise to only rape her once."

Faster than either one of us could react, Jake pounced forwards. With one hand, he pushed the shotgun to the side, then other grabbed the shaft higher up and twisted the gun in the guy's hands, forcing him to relinquish it. It happened so fast that the guy just stood in disbelief that he was disarmed that quickly as Jake slammed the stock into the man's face with so much force, the man fell backwards against the dashboard of the van. With him disoriented, Jake bashed into the man's face over and over until it was completely caved in.

"Jake," I trembled and put my hand on his back. "Stop, it's over."

Jake stood over the body, observing his work while avoiding eye contact with me, "Give me a few minutes, ok?"

I nodded and shuffled back to get out of his way. Jake got up and grabbed the man's feet to drag his body to the back of the van. I reached up and opened the door for him. He nodded and pushed the door open with his shoulder. After quickly checking outside, he pulled the body out. I looked away so I didn't have to see the dead man's face as his body went past me. Jake dragged him deep into the forest and out of sight. Feeling useless, I got up and shuffled dirt around with my feet to cover the bloody track and keep it from being too obvious. When I heard Jake yelling, I went to check on him and found him kicking and stomping on the dead body.

"Jake!" I called out to him.

Jake stopped and tried to act composed. "He got off easy," he hissed.

"Come on, let's go back to the van and get out of here," I reached my hand out to him.

Jake was about to take my hand, but then he saw how bloodied his hands were and pulled away. "He had a water bottle. I'll use that," he mumbled as he walked past me.

I took one more look at the body that we left to decompose in the forest. I wanted to feel something, but I felt nothing. I couldn't even say I was surprised anymore. Taking a deep breath, I went back to the van where I found Jake had removed his shirt and was trying to clean up the blood around the dashboard.

"If we hit another checkpoint before we can ditch the van, we're screwed," he stressed.

"I think I saw a towel in the back," I offered as I walked around to the rear of the van.

I dug through the random contents in the back. Sure enough there was a towel sticking out of the plastic crate, but I also found a pair of bolt cutters amongst the tools. Those would be handy later, so I placed them in the side pouch of Jake's backpack.

Taking the towel, I moved up to the front and started to mop up the blood on the floor. Jake grunted at me and pushed me away to do it himself.

"I can help you," I insisted.

"You will not clean up my mess," he rolled his eyes.

"Jake, we're in this together!" I protested.

"No! Your hands are clean and they will stay that way!" he yelled.

"I am not some fragile princess!" I shouted.

"You are my hostage! My prisoner! I am nothing but a monster! A monster that has enslaved you! A monster that can do nothing but corrupt and ruin you!" he roared at me.

I slammed my hand down on his and leaned over the front passenger seat to kiss him forcefully. He resisted at first, but then started kissing back hungrily. His free hand grabbed the back of my neck and pulled me off.

"Stop before I can't stop," his voice was hushed, but threatening.

"You needed reminding that I chose to be with you," I narrowed my eyes at him. "Monster or not, I could have left you at the train station."

"MC, I have killed seven already today," he sighed. "How many more before the day is out? 'Hacker's nightmare killing streak continues. Hacker kills unsuspecting driver in hijacking gone wrong.' The legend writes itself."

"You didn't get any sleep last night, did you?" I frowned. "I'll drive. You try to get some rest."

He shook his head, "No rest until you're safe."

"Well I'll still drive ok?" I sat down in the driver's seat behind me. "Come on! Get in!"

Jake reluctantly got in and sat down. He reached behind and grabbed his hoodie to put on over his bare skin. The keys had been left in the ignition the entire time so I I started up the van and drove off. Neither one of us said another word.