Gus

Fredrick County

The next year, I rented a used car with my paycheck from work and put it in the garage I never really used.
Carol had been diagnosed with breast cancer and was forced to quit her job and begin chemotherapy. She gave us all chocolates on her last day, because her aunt told her chocolate makes you look younger. We just ate the chocolate for the good of it; except our co-worker Harry Becker, who's allergic to chocolate.

In the frosty last days of January, I packed a bunch of sandwiches, blankets, pillows, and money for the trip. If Lina had given me the right information, Kelly had moved all the way to Richmond. Since I lived in Philadelphia, I decided to take a car there rather than waste a bunch of money on an airplane when I'm only going through two or three states. Besides, I wouldn't have to share the ride with anyone but myself.
It took me 40 minutes before I crossed out of Pennsylvania and into Maryland. There surprisingly was little traffic. Unfortunately, my GPS stopped working in the Fredrick County area, so I became lost.
I got out of the car and a random group of people approached me. One of them asked if I lived here, to which I responded 'no.' That man then tackled me to the ground, pinning me down. I had no time to react, so I couldn't get myself off him.
"Is this your car," the man yelled into my face, "is it?"
"Please, just let me go," I pleaded.
"Tell us if it's your car, dumbass," another one of the group shouted.
I coughed. "Yeah," I winced out.
The leader then picked me up by the shirt and gave a sly smile at me. "You're gonna take a little trip with us," he said, then led me and his gang to the car.
Covering my mouth the entire way, we got to the car when the leader asked for the keys. With no choice, I handed them to him and the gang all squeezed inside the car. I got shoved and squished into the backseat.
"You got something to tie him up?" the leader asked a girl in the gang.
"Uh.. yeah," she replied, and pulled out some wires and duct tape from her purse.
"Good. Hold him still," the leader instructed, and two of the gang held me by the arms and legs as he duck taped my mouth and tied the wires around my body.
"Why do you have wires and duct tape in your purse?" one of the gang asked the girl.
"None of your fucking business," she spat back.
I squirmed and screamed in my seat, but the two members of the gang who held me down stopped me. "Shut up, already!" one of them shouted. "This won't take long."

We drove into a forested area that I couldn't recognize. In an empty highway near the woods, the leader stopped the car and got out. He opened the trunk and found all the stuff I packed in there.
"Oh-ho-ho, boys and girls! We've hit the jackpot!" he laughed and closed the trunk.
"Great, so what do with do with him?" the girl asked, pointing to me. I began squirming and screaming again. I didn't want to know the answer to that question.
"Ehh... Jack, Luke, take him and put him in the woods somewhere. Make sure it's far from the highway. Don't take any of those wires off."
"K, boss," they said, then lifted me up like a feather out of the car. I tried to fight them off, but they were stronger.

They carried me to what seemed like the middle of the woods and dropped me into the soil ground.
"See ya, loser," one of them said to me, then the two of them began to leave. I squirmed back and forth vigorously, trying to free myself of the wires, but they were too tight to just shake off. I heard the boys talking to each other about which way they need to go before their voices trailed out completely.

I laid there motionless for hours. I didn't know what to do. I eventually fell asleep. When I woke up, it may have been about 7:00 in the morning.
Bored with no other ideas, I began rolling myself in the direction the boys had taken me from. A tree hit my legs, but I managed to push myself away from it and continue rolling in that direction. It eventually became fun to just roll through the woods; I felt like a barrel.
By some miracle, I managed to roll myself back to the highway. I then remembered the boys were only walking in one direction before they dropped me off. I rolled myself onto the curb next to the highway and started screaming for help through the tape. A minivan saw me and pulled up. A couple stepped out and approached me, taking the duct tape off my mouth.
"Please help me!" I cried. "Someone stole my car... they took it and left me in these woods! Please... just take me to a police station."
"Oh dear," said the woman, "we'll help you. Harold, you know how to get this boy's wires off, right?"
"Yeah." The man proceeded to take off the wires and helped me up into their car. They drove me to the station and I thanked them. They helped me into the station and I explained to the police my situation. They let me stay in the station
until they found anything about my car (this is the second time I've stayed in a police station, haha), and the couple left.

Twelve hours later, the police found the gang who stole my car and sent a team of officers to find and arrest them. By the end of the next day, my car was returned to me---the station even offered to replace the GPS in it, which I gladly accepted.
With my updated car and all my stuff back in place, I continued on my way to Richmond.