Dark Woods Academy

Chapter 25

Chapter 25
The stairs led down to an underground structure with different rooms. If I didn’t know I was underground I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference with the rooms and the lighting. What the hell was this place?
I saw security, not just any but campus security with walkie-talkies walking past us. Blaze led us down a hallway and then straight to another room that he swiped a key card to enter.
“Sir,” he said as he opened the door and we were ushered in.
Jason gasped in surprise at the sight of our principal, Webster but I knew he wasn’t a good guy from what I had gathered before. The gun in his desk and overhearing the shady men in the woods talking about him had convinced me before that he was a bad guy. However, Jason hadn’t been privy to this knowledge and hence he was genuinely shocked.
Someone shoved us inside the room and Jason and I both stumbled for a moment before regaining our footing and staring at Webster.
His cold beady eyes regarded us for a moment and it was only then I could see that he had an air of cruelty about him. It was the subtle hint of a creepy smile and the cold intensity of his gaze that showed his true intentions.
“Morgan, you couldn’t leave well alone, could you?” he asked but I could tell it was rhetoric and I wasn’t supposed to answer. Hell, I wanted to spit in his face.
“Where are my friends?” I demanded my muscles tensing as I fought the urge to jump at him, but these men had guns so I had to be smart else I would get Jason and myself killed immediately.
“You see Ace, if you had just followed the damn rules, none of this would have happened,” he said stepping closer to me.
His face morphed into a scowl as he stepped closer.
“You were like a pest, a bloodsucking tick sticking to this investigation, a thorn in my ass,” he said and I could hear rage in his words.
I realized then that I made it hard to cover up things by digging into my friends’ disappearance and the thought brought a smile to my face. Webster didn’t seem to like that.
He backhanded me as my cheek stung from the blow and I tasted blood. I caught my balance throwing a quick glance at Jason who was struggling against two of the guards. I met his eyes and hoped that he knew I would be okay, that he would get both of us killed if he attacked now.
He settled down after a moment and Webster nodded at the guards.
“Get rid of them,” he said.
“Make sure its both covered up,” he continued and then Jason and I was hauled away.
Shit, shit, shit, this wasn’t what I was expecting. I thought we would get time. If I could buy enough time, Elliott would find me somehow, he always did. But now, now they were going to “get rid of us.”
I struggled against the hold of the guard and another grabbed me, half dragging me ahead.
“People know we came here, they’ll come for us,” Jason shouted as he struggled against the hold of the guard. But I knew he was bluffing, no one knew we were out here, not even Elliott, but I knew he would find me, I hoped that it just wouldn’t be too late when he did.
We were half dragged to an area where there were… cells? What the hell was this place?
A quick glance around showed boxes of weapons. Not just small handguns, no heavy ammunition and automatic weapons. Webster was an arms dealer, the realization hit me just as they threw us into the cell and locked the door. It was barred around like a cage and I briefly wondered if this was some kind of cell where they kept people, trafficked people.
I glanced around even though there was little light in this area and saw a bloodied garment on the corner of the cell.
“Oh God,” I said rushing to it and snatching it up as I realized that it was a jacket, James’ jacket.
Jason wrapped his arms around me as I felt tears running down my cheeks. I was right all along, someone had kidnapped my friends, they had taken my friends. It hadn’t been a bear attack, like I knew all along.
“I’m going to get us out of here,” Jason said as he rubbed my back comfortingly. He said it with such determination that it snapped me out of the grief that was pouring over my heart as I clutched James’ jacket.
I swiped at my eyes and willed myself to stop taking a few deep breaths. I had to ground myself in the present moment, to allow myself to focus on our situation or we were going to be added to the list of missing people that were killed in a “bear attack”.
“They’re trading arms,” I said to Jason quietly. He nodded glancing around the dark cell. There was one solitary light in the small hallway that led to the cells that gave enough illumination to get by without bumping into anything. The cells beyond ours were empty and we could count six including ours, in columns of three with the hallway separating each side.
“Anything you saw that says they’re trafficking people?” I asked Jason wanting his input.
He glanced around and pointed to the cell directly opposite us, “those are female clothes,” he whispered.
I followed his gaze and saw a discarded red dress with red glitter shining as it caught a patch of light that fell through the spaces in the wire that caged the cell.
“There’s a pair of heels in the other one,” he said pointing to another cell and sure enough I saw it. The pair of heels were discarded, with one heel broken off and what appeared to be a dark smear on it.
“Shit,” I said swallowing bile that threatened to rise up my throat at the sight.
“If James’ jacket is here, then he must have been here, its possible he’s still alive,” I said softly wanting to believe it so badly.
“We need to get out of here,” Jason said gripping the metal bars as if he could rip it open.
“They won’t break, we’re stuck until someone comes to get us,” I said as he sighed, his jaw set. Anger and fright danced side by side in his eyes as I took a glance at what was reflected in mine.
“Maybe I can reach out to Blaze,” I said it softly feeling my heart squeeze at the words. He was the man I had trusted, the man I had fallen in love with. My heart was breaking and I couldn't even cry, couldn’t unleash the anguish because I was awaiting my death, my murder at the hands of that same man.
“Jason, I'm trained in karate, Krav Maga, just to name a few,” I said to him.
“My dad's a Major in the army, so I grew up learning things from him and his friends.”
“I have my knife!” I said trying to keep my voice low as I suddenly recalled that Blaze had told me to keep it with me at all times.
Was this why? Was there some part of him that wanted to help me? I pushed the question from my mind as it was distracting and a little too hopeful. The human mind tries its best to help us cope at times.
“I also have a map,” I said to Jason. I looked around and retrieved it from the pocket of my hoodie and showed it to Jason.
His eyes lit up at it and he half smiled.
“Not bad Ace,” he commended me and together we huddled in a corner trying to think of a way we could escape our imminent deaths.