The connection - New beginnings

Chapter Twenty three - Darkness

Nate

It had been a week since Alex had been taken. A week we'd all lived in hope that some miracle would lead us to here or that Mike would maybe let her go. He'd gotten what he wanted. Chase was behind wrecked after having his worst nightmare confirmed with that video, we hadn't heard anything since then and the police were no closer to finding her either. We all just felt so helpless, so lost. Natalie blamed herself for her involvement with Mike which inadvertently made Alex a target. Mrs Morgan could barely bring herself to leave her room, Zac had decided it was best if he went home. There wasn't anything he could do to help and to be honest having him around caused more friction than it was worth. Chase was barely around, always off searching aimlessly hoping that if he got close enough that he might hear her, he didn't eat, he barely slept. He was a shell of his normal self and at this stage I was beyond worried about him. Jules had stayed by my side this entire time, she didn't really know Alex but she'd grown to like her I'm the small amount of time she'd spent with her and she understood how important she was to me, not in a threatening way but I care about her and she wanted to be there for me.

"I'm going to drive south of the creek again, see if I missed something" Chase announced as stood from the dining table where he had a map set up. He'd been marking off all the routes he'd searched.

"Let me come with you, it'll be dark soon and a second pair of eyes might help. Besides, I can drive whilst you hold the map" I offered whilst grabbing his keys up from the table.

"Fine, but we're leaving now" he huffed. He'd been used to going off on his own on his search missions but I knew the disappointment was eating away at him and he was so sleep deprived I was worried he'd run himself off the road.

"I'll just tell the girls where we are headed" I nodded over at him as I made my way into the kitchen where Natalie and Jules were sat at the breakfast bar drinking hot chocolates. I looked at their steaming mugs and instantly thought of Alex and her love for the sickly sweet hot drink.

"I'm going with Chase on a drive south of the creek, we shouldn't be too long" I kissed the side of Jules's head as she nodded her silent reply.

"We'll stay here, Luc will be here soon to keep us company. He doesn't trust me to be left alone" Natalie sighed. Her usually perfectly styled hair and makeup were long gone, she looked almost as bad as Chase. I offered them both a weak smile before heading out the door.

We'd been driving for around forty minutes and dusk had started to set in. Chase has dozed off about ten minutes ago which is part of what I hoped for with me driving. I slowed my speed slightly so I could take in my surroundings as we made our way down the long stretch of road. Nothings but trees lined the road on either side, not a single car had passed us in about fifteen minutes. This was the road Chase had insisted he take another look at, he'd started heading this way last week but hadn't come this far and he wouldn't rest until every inch of this town had been driven around. I guess he still thought that he would hear her thoughts or somehow sense her if we got close enough? God I hoped he was right.

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Chase

Darkness filled my senses as I gave into the sleep that took over my body. A sudden cold ran through my body making me shiver, I was cold, so cold. I tried to open my eyes to wake from sleep but I couldn't, everything remained black. My body ached from hunger and sleep deprivation, everything felt sore, I felt broken. All I felt was despair swallowing me up. I'd given up, I was helpless.

My eyes snapped open as I jumped forward in my seat 

"Stop the car" I shouted whilst an alarmed looking Nate looked over at me

"Jesus man what's up" he asked looking confused

"She's here, she's near. I can feel it" I panted desperately as I looked out the windows at our surroundings 

"What did you see? Or hear? Did she call out to you"

I shook my head "I felt her, what she feeling. I know it was her. Fuck Nate she's bad, she's really bad" I ran my hand through my hair in a panic.

"Okay okay, let's see if we can find an opening in any of these trees. Maybe they are out there somewhere in the woods" 

I nodded back at him as we began to drive at a snails pace so not to miss anything.

"Is that tyre tracks there? It looks like tracks to me?" I questioned as I looked at some smudges in the dirt up ahead

"I don't know man, that doesn't really look like a road, guess we could take a look and see if we can weave our way through the trees" Nate suggested 

"No, cut the engine, let's go on foot. If they're out there somewhere we don't want to spook him if he hears us coming" I declared as we pulled up on the side of the road.

We walked through the wooded area silently, the noise of the crunching leaves was the only sound to fill the air. I could still see the feint outline of tyre tracks which we followed.

"Holy shit Chase do you see that" Nate whispered from beside me as he pulled me down as if hiding from something. "Over there" he pointed to a dark mound that seemed to be surrounded by trees. As I let me eyes adjust to the darkness that had set in I could see it was in fact a car covered over with a dark tarp and some tree branches.

"I'm sending the girls our location and getting them to call the police" Nate announced as he frantically typed into his phone.

"I don't see a building around here, do you think he parked up and walked the rest of the way?" 

"Maybe, we should take a look around, maybe we'll find some foot prints or something" Nate tried to seem hopeful. This was the first lead we'd had since she'd gone missing. Since he took her.

We walked silently whilst trying to use the trees as cover just in case our position could be seen by any watchful eyes. We circled around the area for ten minutes without finding a single building. There must be one somewhere, she was definitely in what looked like a concrete room in the video. I took another step forward and a feint clanging sound sounded beneath my foot. I looked down puzzled until I realised I was stood on some sort of drain. I bent down and wiped the leaves away with my hand to reveal a metal hatch of sorts. 

"Nate come help me open this" I called over to him as he rushed over to see what I'd found.

We pulled open the hatch to reveal a dark tunnel below "she's down here, I can feel it. She's here Nate, she's here" I exclaimed with both joy and panic as I scrambled down into the tunnel with him swiftly behind me. I turned to him to halt him in his tracks 

"You stay, make sure the police are coming, that they know where to find us" part of me knew that I could very well be going in this tunnel not to come out again and I sure as hell was going to make sure my brother was safe and that help was on the way before I let him follow me down this path. He looked at me with a wary expression before nodding I'm return. He jumped up back out of the small hatch whilst I turned and disappeared into the darkness.