The Fall (On Hiatus until otherwise stated)

The Fall: Chapter 17 - Serena

Isaac had gone off somewhere into the woods, leaving me tied up and alone. I only hoped Finn would get here soon, or if -by some miracle- I could escape by myself. The rope was beginning to chafe as I tried to wriggle my wrists and loosen it, but it didn't seem to be making any difference. If anything, it was tighter then when Isaac had first put the damn thing on.

I looked around and tried to listen, but Isaac was obviously too far away for me to be able to hear him - that, or he was just freakishly quiet - which would not surprise me in the slightest. I guessed it was almost nine o'clock by now. I should be sat in registration, getting ready for another day at school. Maybe some good gossip and some boy talk with Amy - not tied up by some alien.

If I hadn't have seen Finn's pod fall out of the sky with my own two eyes I wouldn't believe what was going on here and now. I wondered what I had done in a previous life to deserve such a fate. If aliens were real then I was beginning to think past lives and monsters a ghouls were real to. Only, out of all of those things aliens were always going to be the most likely to actually be real.

I sighed, I was getting nowhere thinking of all these ridiculous things. Isaac could be back any minute, and with whomever he seemed to be waiting for, and they might not be as nice as he had been. Not that Isaac had been particularly nice, but at least I was still alive.

I tried a few more times to wriggle my wrists, but it wasn't going to budge. I looked around to see if there was anything sharp left near me, though I couldn't remember seeing any knives last night or this morning. This whole camp was probably a lure to begin with. If it wasn't in the middle of the woods I would expect a green screen to show up and for the camp to deflate as if it were some cheap soap set.

I heard a twig snap in the distance, the sound reverberating off of the trees and reaching me. My heart skipped a beat. Was it Isaac, or was it Finn? The snapping twig was accompanied by voices, voices that were getting closer and closer. I panicked. There was no way Finn would have allowed Amy - or any one else - come along with him to get me, which meant it was Isaac and who ever he had been waiting for.

I turned my head over my shoulder, trying to see who was coming with him, but all I could see was the top of Isaac's head over the tarpaulin, and being tied to the tent peg, I wasn't even able to kneel or stand to see over it. So instead I stayed quiet and lowered myself to the ground, trying to gather as much information from whomever had turned up, I listened.

"How is Skeron coping with two leaders now gone?" I heard Isaac say, recognising his voice. I guessed he was referring to Finn and his Father.

"It's almost at breaking point. More people are coming into the city seeking food and shelter but there is none to give, but this..." he said, pausing. "Could be the answer to all of our problems." I tensed. "If we make our move within the next few days we could secure the whole planet." The voice said.

"It would have to be sooner, Prince Finn will try and derail the plans." Isaac said.

"He won't have a choice, the council will take a vote of no-confidence. We can overturn his rule, it shouldn't be too hard, considering he isn't officially King yet."

"You don't know him like I do, Titus. He won't stop until he gets what he wants. He can't see past finding his Father. He'll put it before his people and his planet. It'll be the end of us if we let him know what we have planned. It's a hiccup he landed here on Earth, but a hiccup we can handle." The voices grew quiet, and I guessed they were both contemplating what each other had said.

I recognised the name 'Titus' though. I remembered Finn telling me it was his uncle. I wondered if his brother Jacob was back on Skeron or on his way here? I listened to see if they spoke some more, but they either didn't speak out loud or they spoke telepathically - if they could even do that.

I tried again to look over the tarpaulin and see if anyone else was with them, a guard maybe? Or if it was just Titus and Isaac. I knew I hadn't fared well against Isaac, but I thought maybe if he was busy with Titus it would give me more of a chance to escape, if I could get these damn ropes off of my wrist.

"Pssst." I heard a hissing sound not far off from my right. I whipped my head around and tried to look through the tree trunks to spot a person, but I couldn't quite see anyone. "Pssst" I heard again, this time, to my left. I wondered what was going on. Was this another trick concocted by Isaac to torment me? Or had Finn got here, and if he had, had he brought someone with him. I hoped Amy wasn't here.

"Psssst" I head one more time, now dead ahead of me. I thought I spotted movement off in the distance, and I saw a white trainer that I knew could only belong to one person - Hambell. What was he doing here? As I tried to process what he was doing here, Isaac stepped in front of me and blocked my view.

"Time to go, Princess." he said, as he cut the rope from the peg in the ground and hauled me up by my arms.

"Where are we going?" I asked, knowing I wouldn't get an answer, but I couldn't help but have the words spill out.

"On a little trip." he said, and my blood ran cold.