Gone in an instant

Chapter 10: Friday, 4:35 AM

I woke to someone's head very close to mine, if I was more awake I'm sure I would have jumped up, but I was too tired and instead I just pulled my head backwards. I realized it was Charlotte. She was curled up next to me, her head was resting on my arm, which was wrapped around her. Her injured arm was draped over me. She was fast asleep. I didn't have any recollection of her moving last night. I guess I was really tired. I looked at her in her perfect state. She looked so peaceful and calm that I forgot all about our predicament. She looked so perfect. She wasn't scared, worried, or flustered in any way. She was just, content. Like a fallen angel. Just perfect. I went to glance down at my watch. It was then that I realized that my hand was interlocked with hers. I was holding her hand! I felt excited about that. I guess she had grabbed it last night. I still looked at my watch, it was only 4:37 AM and I decided I needed more sleep. I laid my head down again and dozed off.

I woke up again and noticed that Charlotte was no longer by my side. I looked around, she wasn't even in the room. Panic rose inside me. I got up groggily and walked out of the room. I glanced out of door into the huge main section of the warehouse. The room was at least 1,000 feet across and a good 50 or 60 feet tall. “Charlotte!?” I called out to her. “Up here!” I heard her shout back, but there was so much echo I couldn't tell where she was. I looked up and saw that there were several dangling pathways hanging from the ceiling. I looked for Charlotte but I still didn't see her. I saw a staircase nearby and began climbing. Once I got to the top I saw her. She was sitting on the edge of a large window looking at the sunrise over the city. It was spectacular!

I sat down next to her, my feet dangling out of the window as hers were. There was a small deck about 10 feet down so the drop wouldn't be too bad. “It's beautiful.” She said, her eyes glued to the sight. “Just like you.” I said, not even thinking about it. I glanced at her and saw that she was blushing. She laughed a little bit and she was smiling her amazing smile. I think the whole world brightened every time she did that. We just sat there for an hour. Watching the sunrise. Nobody said a word. We just enjoyed each others presence.

The sun had now risen. Unfortunately for me. It was now that I remembered my current predicament. The weight of all seemed to be crushing me. “We need to leave here. It's not safe.” I said to her, “I wish we could stay but we can't.” She nodded and got up, I did the same and we walked back across the room. I didn't look down because we were still dangling 50 feet in the air. We reached the steps and began to descend. “How's you arm?” I asked her. “It, it feels a bit better. It still hurts but I think I can walk now.” , she answered, “Thank you for carrying me last night.” She added. “You're welcome. You needed the rest anyways.” I replied. She laughed and said, “Why can you never take a compliment? You always throw in something to deflect it or explain your reasoning.” She said, smiling and giggling a bit. “I don't know. I guess I just don't like to be the center of attention.” I honestly didn't know why I did that.

We reached the bottom of the stairs and I began to pack up all of our things. Once that was finished I put on my backpack. I would have told Charlotte I thought she should stay. But I knew even if I got her to stay she would sneak out and follow after me.

“I think we're ready. We need to find warehouse 88.” I told her, I had seen the number yesterday when we were there. That was the one my Dad had ran into. I walked outside, followed closely by Charlotte. I looked up to see which warehouse we were at. 10. I saw the one across the street was 11. So it was just like houses, odds numbers on the left, even on the right. The next warehouse on our side of the street was 12. I began walking down the street. Charlotte still following closely. Half an hour later the street ended at warehouse number 80 right in the middle of the street. Dead end. We walked back to the last street, every ten warehouses there was an intersection. We turned right and sure enough the next street ended with warehouse 160. So we began walking the other way down it. When we got to warehouse 99 we began sneaking along the sides of the buildings and hiding behind dumpsters and what not. I pulled out a Glock. Charlotte couldn't use a gun because of her arm though. We were at warehouse 89 looking across the street at warehouse number 88.

I checked out the building and I saw no signs of people outside. We crept across the street and pressed tightly against the wall. “You ready?” I whispered. No reply. I looked at Charlotte and I could see she had nodded. I was expecting to see a fearful look on her face, but instead I saw determination. We crept along the wall until we were behind the warehouse. Then we opened a heavy metal door that looked like the last time someone used this door George Washington was still president.

There was a small dark room with some tools in it and a lot of dust. Charlotte coughed and we both froze. Listening for a minute before we opened another door. This time we were peering into a much larger room. Probably about 50x50 and 20 or so feet tall. It had tables and chairs and the lights were on. Some one had been here recently. There was a staircase on the side of the room that led to a deck-like area that peered over the room. I began moving towards the stairs and then I started climbing them. I could hear Charlotte close behind. We reached the top and saw an open door across the deck area, it was overlooking the main room of the warehouse, from what I could see the other side of that room was a at least 200 feet away!

We began heading to the door. Charlotte was holding onto my arm. We reached the door and I peered inside. The room was huge! It was at least 2,500 feet long by more like 500 feet wide! I was wrong when I thought 200, that was just another one of those deck areas. In the middle of the room several cars were parked. On the other side of the building there were at least 20 or so people with assault rifles standing on a deck that overlooked the cars. These were the people that shot at my Dad. I jumped back so as not to be seen by them and I accidentally hit Charlotte's arm. She cried out and grabbed it. “I'm so sorry Charlie, are you okay?” I asked, but I could hear her yelp echoing in the room. I heard some shouting from the men and then I heard footsteps echoing. They had heard us. She nodded but a tear squeezed out of her eye.

“Charlie I'm sorry but we have to run. I'm really sorry.” I said to her and I lightly grabbed her good arm, guiding her into a doorway my right. There was a long hallway with several doors but I kept going down the hallway. The hallway turned left and so did I. Then it came to a T. I turned left again. There was a door at the end of the hallway. I paused before opening it. Immediately there were shouts, “Over there!” A voice yelled and a bullet hit the wall next to the door. I ducked back inside, this time being careful to hit Charlotte. I fired a few shots from the Glock in the men's general direction but I don't think I hit anyone. Then I heard footsteps coming down the hallway behind us. I turned to face it and aimed the Glock ready to fire at anyone who came around the corner. “Charlotte, look away and cover you ears. I might have to shoot someone.” I said to her. She hugged me and did as told. Crouching in the corner away from everything.

A few seconds later a man appeared around the corner. The next few seconds were a blur. I heard a gunshot. I felt a jolt. Then I heard a thud as a body the ground. It took me a few seconds to realize what had just happened. I had just killed a man. Another man came around the corner. This time I just pointed the gun at him and he froze. He was holding an AK47 but it was lowered and so he didn't have to aim and he knew full well what would happen if he tried to raise it. “Drop the gun.” I told him, trying to sound as calm as possible. He lowered it slowly to the floor. But he glanced down the hallway. I heard a shuffle of feet, there were more down that hallway. A gun peered around the corner and pointed in my general direction. “Okay. Don't shoot!” I called to him. The man I was aiming at nodded to his companion, then said to me, “Put your gun down and we won't.” I did so, but slowly and sadly. This was it. I was getting captured by the same men who took my family. “Slide your gun to me.” The man said. I kicked it across the room to him. Now his friend stepped out around the corner, the gun trained at my chest. I tapped Charlotte and she looked at me and slowly stood, holding my arm tightly. She looked at me and then at the body on the ground and back. I knew what she was asking. I nodded, Gulping. She hugged me. Right then and there. Standing in front of two men who were pointing death at us. And I hugged her back.

The man approached us. “Follow me.” He said, and began walking back down the corridor. His friend walked behind us, pointing his gun at our backs. Charlotte was squeezing my hand so hard it hurt. But it was okay. We followed them all the way to where the twenty men were standing before. Then he led us down a corridor that was directly behind them. Five or so men joined our group. All of them armed with an assortment of assault rifles. At the end of the hallway the doors began to look newer, one was even open and a lavish office was inside. We were led to the door at the very center of the end of the hallway. The men opened the door that led to a large and beautiful office, but all I could focus on was the man seated behind the expensive-looking oak desk. It was a man I knew all too well. It was my Grandfather.