Dead Horizon

Held Hostage

     Adrenaline, rushing through Ember's body, awakening all of her senses. The sound of dull voices coming through the walkie-talkie next to her, mixed with the sight of being in the back of the man's car and seeing nothing but the gray sky and her short brown hair that tickled her nose everytime the car would turn or change speed. She was tied up, hands duct taped behind her back, not able to move, until she did. Still wet from the rain, Ember tried to move around the trunk and wiggled around for as long as she could. The trunk of the car was very spacious, surprising for such a shitty car.

     Ellie was still laid down next to Ember, but not close enough to touch. Ellie was not tied up, but had bruises from the repetitive punches, given by the man. Ember felt the soreness of her cheek and her temple when she tried to get up and she just bounced, her face hit the car very hard. She let out a soft cry of worrieness and managed to wiggle around enough to get her feet to her waist and crossed them to be in a stable position to stand up. She looked at the window next to her and saw a bunch of hills and mountains, which somehow reminded her of Ellie. Ember's head spun around as fast as the car was going and saw Ellie, sleeping. Ember was about to try and wake Eleanor up, but saw the bruise on her face and felt sorry just as she realized that there was no point in waking her up if they were just going to panic together.

     Mateo, still in the backseat, oblivious to everything and everyone around him because he was knocked out as well, was woken up by the sound of the tires screeching against the tar. The man driving let out a swear as Jackson looked surprised and excited to see Mateo awake. Jackson had cloth around his mouth, the same as Ember, but they could not see Ember or Ellie.

     The car stopped at a gas station on the highway. It looked run down and old. The sign that read, 'station run', was hanging by one nail and had a rusting pole against each gas pump.

"Don't you move, little boys. If the two girls wake up you tell me and don't try anything or I will shoot you." The man had a toothpick in his mouth and talked groggily and with a sharp New York accent. It scared Jackson but it scared Mateo even more. Mateo was the oldest besides Ember and it scared him because he would have to look out for them, protect them. But no one was protecting him. Jackson nodded as a response to the man and he walked off into the gas station with a handgun and knife.

"Ember? Ellie?" Mateo called out, he made sure to pull the window all the way up first so he wouldn't attract anyone or anything for that matter. His voice sounded tired and weak. Ember heard the voice and turned around and faced the window that was keeping the four separated. She wanted to speak but the gag cloth made it hard to even hear herself whisper.

"Mateo? Can you hear me? "

"Yeah, I can hear you. Are you and Ellie okay?" He asked, anxiously. He saw the man exiting the store and immediately turned around, facing Jackson.

Ember squeezed her hands together and pulled upwards out of the tape. It worked and she allowed her hands to release her mouth from the gag. Ember let out a sigh of relief and Mateo looked at her through the tiny spot in the glass window that wasn't covered and shouted a tiny, 

"Psst?" Ember was almost done taking the cloth off of her mouth when she heard Mateo's voice.

"Hello? "

"Oh, good thing your mouth isn't damaged by the punches, I thought your voice was a baby's voice for a second. "

"Hey, shut up," Ember joked as she looked at him back in the couple of inches that were visible. "this is no place to joke. Is Jackson awake? "

"Yes. Is Ellie? "

"Yeah, I hope they're okay. What is that guy doing? " She shifted her view over to the trunk window, still talking to Mateo.

"They're going to be okay. I just want to know where we are taking us. Last thing I heard was that the guy had a camp and then boom, we were out." He said, lightly answering Ember's question.

"If we never lost all of the adults this never would have happened. My mom, Evelynn and well I guess I am an adult now but I'm not goin' nowhere." Ember said, confidently.