Gone [Zouis]

Chapter 5

Zayn's POV

The kidnapper couldn't see me. Nobody could me. It was like I was invisible. As I lay on the backseat of the car, hidden under the blanket, I allowed myself to cry without making any sound. In the last three years, I had gotten good at it.

After the accident, my dad had fallen apart. Every night in the hospital, he slept in my room. My mum would have done the same, but she was gone. My dad traveled so much on business so much that it was my mum who knew me best, who knew everything about me. Who else would remember that I love mint chocolate chip ice cream and was scared of water. In the hospital, my dad sometimes woke me up because he was crying in his sleep. I realized it was my job to be strong for him, so I had hid my real feelings, my real self, so that he wouldn't guess how bad it was.

Now, hidden under the blanket, I felt my chest ache. I didn't know how much of it was from holding the sobs in and how much was from the pneumonia. Madeline had already guessed pneumonia by listening with her stethoscope to the crackle in my lungs, as well as the dead area where there should have been breath sounds but weren't. Even though I had never seen anything but a blurry slice of Madeline, I still had a clear mental picture of her. Blonde, shoulder-length, straight hair and a slender body, looking something like one of a million actresses on TV, although Madeline was smarter than any two or three of them put together.

The visit to the doctor's office had just been a formality, a way to get a prescription that a nurse wasn't allowed to write. The doctor had tapped the X-ray, making a hollow plastic sound and told them that it showed a shadow over the bottom of my right lung. "With antibiotics, we can knock this thing out in a few days. It will take you some time to regain your stamina, but you'll be well on your way to recovery by the time school starts after Christmas break."

I took a long, shuddering breath. My head felt like it was stuffed with cotton. Everything seemed unreal. This couldn't be happening to me.

I took another deep breath. Think. Concentrate. I had to use whatever advantages I have. Except I didn't have any. If only Boris were here! More than anything, I miss him. I wish I hadn't left him at home, but Madeline had thought it would be easier since all they were doing was walking from the car to the doctor's office and back, and I didn't need a guide dog for that. But if I had Boris with me, the creepy guy wouldn't even have gotten in the car.

Now here I was blind, kidnapped, tied up, and going who knows where with a criminal. My cell phone was gone. And I was very sick.

No! I have to stay on track. Think. I'm blind. That is my greatest weakness. But could I somehow use it to my advantage?

There were a few advantages to being blind--not many, certainly not enough. But a few. For one thing, I know how to use all my other senses in a way most sighted people never could.

How could I use senses to my advantage? I sniffed, but all I could smell was the stale residue of the cigarette smoke on the guy's clothes. Until we stop and he opens the door, I wouldn't have any clues from my nose. My ears told me just as little. All I know is that it had been at least twenty minutes since a car has passed us. And I had long ago lost track of the direction we were headed.

I forced my mind back to the things might be able to control. Like the guy who had kidnapped me. What could I do to get advantage over him?

When we get to wherever we are going, I could talk him into freeing my hands. And if it seemed like he was going to do something bad, I wouldn't go quietly. I would give him the fight of his life.

It seemed impossible, but I must have fallen asleep. The next thing I knew, the car was lurching down a gravel road so bumpy I almost rolled off the seat. Over the noise in the car, I heard a dog barking. Judging by how deep the sound was, it was a big dog. And not very well trained.

Another noise was layered over the barking, a high pitched metallic whine. A saw. The sound, which wad coming from someplace in front of the car, abruptly ceased. The window whirred as it glided down. Cold seemed in and pressed against me, even under the blanket. The smell of wood smoke and pine needles filled the car.

The dog stopped barking and started to whine. Foot steps crunched on gravel. My problem had just gotten twice as complicated. Now there were two people, not one. But maybe this new person would see how ridiculous it was that I was a prisoner. Maybe he or she would insist that I was to be freed immediately.

But it was a man who spoke, in a rough voice that mingled interest and suspicion. "God damn, Louis, what's this?" I filed the name away.Louis. If I ever get free I would make this Louis pay. "Where'd you get it?"

"At the mall. Somebody left the keys in it."

"God damn!" The same words, only this time filled with respect. "But what happened to your face?" Good, I had hurt Louis. The other man must have realized what was under the blanket, because his tone changed. "What the hell is that in the back seat?"

"It's a boy."

"You killed a boy!" Disbelief.

"No, no," Louis said hastily. "He's just tied up. He was in the car. Lying down in the back seat. I didn't see him at first. And by the time I did, it was too late. So I had to take him with me."

The smack of flesh meeting flesh. I realized the other man had just slapped Louis.

"So you brought him back here? That wasn't a real smart idea. Why am I not surprised it was you that thought of this?"

"What else did you want me to do?" Louis whined. "In five more minutes, the place would have been crawling with cops. I had to get away as fast as I could. I'll just wait until tonight, and go drop him off on a logging road. And then I'll hightail it out of there."

"You idiot! He knows what you look like. And know he's been here. I don't need to spell it out for you. He'll say who we are. He'll get the cops back here. Are you trying to back me into a corner?"

"But he's blind, Dad!"

Dad?