Lost

Chapter 28: Rescued

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Asim's heart sank.

"She was supposed to be here," he cried, looking around. He was expecting her to leap out of the bush all of a sudden and it was making him jumpy.

"Spread around and take a look," Alex informed the people around them, "Alpha to base, we've reached neutral point A. I repeat, we have reached neutral point A."

While Alex passed orders and spoke into her ear piece, Asim was desperately trying to catch a glimpse of Salma's crème sweater through the trees. Alex stopped him when he tried to wander away in search of her. His skin crawled with fear. He did not know why but he kept thinking something was terribly wrong.

Ten minutes later, it was obvious Salma was not at the stream. Dread and panic started bubbling in the pit of his stomach. His mind ran over the possibilities of Salma having failed to reach the safety of the shelter the night before. His eyes pricked and throat constricted painfully. He almost threw up when he thought about the criminals getting a hold of her. Taking deep breaths, he dismissed the gruesome thought and kept searching around the rocks and trees. Where was she?

"I think we should head to the shelter," Alex pulled him out of his panicked thoughts, "She could still be there,"

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Asim nodded. Salma promised she would be waiting at the stream for them. She said she had only demarcated the rest of the way to the shelter on the map, just in case something went wrong with her and Zayn still needed rescuing. Asim tried to tell himself nothing was wrong and that she was okay, but no matter how hard he tried, he just knew she was not fine.

With a heavy weight pressing down against his chest, he followed the agents away from the stream.

Zayn's P.O.V.

Zayn snapped out of his painful misery when he heard voices approaching him. Gritting his teeth in agony, he quickly hopped off the rock on one leg and attempted to hide behind it. Zayn had been sitting on the cold, hard rock, shivering and freezing, waiting for one of the two things to happen. Either that Bee would return miraculously, or his leg would stop torturing him enough for him to see straight so he could go after her.

In any case, he had never expected this scenario where he would hear a number of voices nearing the shelter. Zayn's mouth went dry and his body immediately switched into fight and flight mode. As the adrenaline took control, he ran over the options in his mind. Given his leg and being outnumbered - judging from the commotion behind the bush - he chose to take flight. He was in no position to hold up a good fight and he could barely stand.

No sooner had Zayn stumbled into his room that a feminine voice shouted her orders.

"This is it!" she ordered. "This is the place. Ben, Sam, come with me to the shelter! As for the rest of you, spread around and guard the area."

The voice was oddly familiar, but Zayn was too messed up to think it through. He was barely breathing as he stayed hidden behind the damaged wall, holding on to his stick for dear life.

"Asim." Zayn heard her say from somewhere dangerously close. "You stay here till we make sure all is clear."

He heard hurried footsteps on the stairs. His heart was about to burst realizing there were multiple people. Zayn raised his arm, ready to strike. He was dead, he was sure of it, but he might as well put some bruises on their bodies as a parting gift.

"Zayn?" The woman called.

He froze.

"Salma?"