Reckoning

Chapter Seven: Captured

Song for this chapter is
God's Gonna Cut You Down by Johnny Cash

"Lauren's gonna be pissed when we get back", Theo says as he drives us down the road away from the community. While Theo drives and I sit in the passenger seat, Cody sits in the middle of the back with Grace and Matt on both sides of him.

"She'll understand", I tell him, "Hopefully."
"Where would Nathaniel hang out anyway?", Theo asks in his British accent as he turns right. I pull out the map Theo nabbed from the armory and look it over. Lauren and DJ actually made this map themselves, I think. I look North of where Haven is on the map, and I see a location marked as Angels of Darkness.
"It's north of Haven", I tell Theo, "So turn right at the next street. That way if we keep heading North and turn right, we should be there in no time."

"How long is it gonna take?", Cody asks, "If it starts to rain, I wanna be back home. And let's not forget that my parents will be probably be worried."

"Almost an hour at least", Theo tells Cody, "And just because it's cloudy right now doesn't necessarily mean it's gonna rain."
"I guess", Cody says, looking out the car window.
"So...David", Matt awkwardly says, "How would you...I don't know how to say this but, how do you ask a girl out?"
"Why are you asking me?", I chuckle.

"Well, because you have a girlfriend and you have a little more experience than me", Matt says. Now Grace and Cody start to laugh. Matt's face goes red as he fixes his blonde hair. Theo turns the truck right onto another street, chuckling.
"Well", I start, "You just have to be yourself, basically."

"But myself is so...awkward", Matt complains, "and even though Fiona and I kinda talked at my birthday, it was a really short talk."

"You'll get there", I tell Matt.

I look out the car window, clutching my hawk necklace as we pass the trees and few walkers here and there. What if this is a big mistake? Heading into the wolf's cave. If I end up getting one of us hurt or worse, I'll never forgive myself.
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About thirty minutes pass, and Theo slows to a stop at the side of the road. "We should be close", Theo says as he puts the car keys in his pocket, "Let's go."
We climb out of the truck, and I put my pistol in my back pocket. I look over my knife, which is a switchblade. I press the button and the blade pops out. I push the blade back into the handle since it was just a test.

"Let's move", Theo says as he leads the way into the woods. A walker shuffles toward us not too far away, but we disappear into the trees before it can catch us.

In the forest, the trees tower above us, and the brown leaves of autumn are scattered around. Each step we take is a loud rustle. Matt has his gun raised cautiously, along with Theo.

The wind rushes against my hoodie, sending a chill down my neck.

Then...it was all downhill.

Since Theo, Matt, Cody, and I were kind of evenly apart, no one saw it coming. Theo and Cody both took a step, and suddenly two large nets made of rope which were spread under a pile of leaves trapped us inside. Theo and I in one net, Cody and Matt in the other. The nets were strung on large branches and they lifted us about six feet from the ground. Grace's mouth drops as we become ensnared in the traps.

We're all tightly trapped, so there's not much room for moving around. "Oh my god", Grace gasps loudly, "What do I do?"
Then I hear the sound of people coming straight for us.

"Just get out of here!", I shout to Grace, "Get to the truck! Back to Haven! Go!"

Grace, a frightened look on her face, flees the area. Hopefully she's safe. A large group of people then comes toward us, and I recognize some of them as Angels of Darkness. Especially Eli, the guy with the sword.

They stop and laugh at us as we dangle above the ground in nets. "Looks like you guys found our traps", some guy sneers. Then that guy turns and asks Eli, "What do we do with them?"

Eli, his sword in his grasp, announces, "Take them down. Nathaniel would want a word with them."