Fort Oakley | Part One

15 | Letters From The Missing

26 February 2022 - Saturday

Distant mumbling reaches my ears when I regain consciousness, my head, shoulder, and ribs hurting on the side I landed on when Elvin struck me my chair tipped over. I was still in the same position on the floor, still bound to the chair. 

Everything was still the same as when I passed out, except for now, there was banging against what sounded like a metal door, then a loud crash. Probably someone bursting through the door to finish me off like in the woods. 

I really wasn't planning on dying today. I was planning to help Kamala - I still needed to figure out where she fit into all of this if I lived to see another day - with her car and hanging out with her, but instead, I got kidnapped, and now I was getting killed.

''Charly? Charly!'' Someone yells, voice filled with worry, and then the person is running towards me, footfalls heavy on the floor I was lying on. 

Then all of a sudden, Vance is crouching in front of me. ''Are you okay?'' He asks, voice panicked, his eyes frantically scanning over me. 

''Well,'' I croak, wincing at the pain that shoots through my body from what feels like everywhere. ''Except for a concussion and a possible broken rib and some damage to the piece of art that is my face, I'd say I'm perfect. Never been better, actually.''

Vance ignores my joke, picking up the chair with me in it, and I wince at the pain that shoots through my body. Something definitely felt broken.

''I'm sorry, Charly,'' Vance says, mumbling something to himself about how he shouldn't have made that promise to my parents while making quick work of the bindings around my arms and legs.

''How did you find me?'' I ask, not wanting to broach the subject of my parents now.

''They got Kamala Ruiz. Forced her to call you. She panicked once they let her go, so she headed to the police. She passed Jacey Andino's house on the way. He saw her and knew something was wrong. She explained to him what happened and he called me. There's a tracker in the phone I gave you in case of something like this ever happening. But don't worry, we only activate it when we need it. I'm not tracking your every move.''

''Wait,'' I say, frowning as Vance lifts me out of the chair, carefully not to put too much pressure on the areas where I was injured. ''How does Jacey know you?''

''Apparently, he got an anonymous letter a while back. It had some of my information in it and a note saying that I was here to help you.'' Vance lifts me into his arms effortlessly, carrying me out of the room onto a darkened street I didn't recognize.

An SUV was parked nearby and Vance headed towards it. When he pulled open the back door, little lights lit up the inside of the car and Vance gently put me down on the seats, closing the door again. A moment later, he climbed into the driver's seat. 

A wave of dizziness hits me and I drop my head onto the seat, groaning softly. It felt like I was on the verge of passing out again. ''Hey Vance?''

''Yeah, kid?''

''Thanks for coming to get me.''

And not leaving me to fend for myself like Claire did.

''Anytime and anyplace, kid.''

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27 February 2022 - Sunday

''You know I'm pretty sure Claire doesn't pay you to sit in my room and stare at me,'' I tell Kamala when I wake up, groaning. She was sitting on my desk chair next to my bed, a worried look on her face as she watched me.