Blood Red Blindfold

Chapter 4

I bolt upright in my bed as a crashing sound comes from downstairs. Had Josh accidentally ran into something? I clamber out of bed, still in my jeans and rumpled T-shirt. I feel a chill down my back and grab a thin jacket. The autumn was getting a little chillier.

I pad to the stairs, looking down. The front door lays wide open. I start down the stairs, taking one at a time. What on earth is Josh doing?

A yell stops me in my tracks, along with muffled grunts. I crawl to the banister and look through the wooden bars. The guest bedroom door is wide open. I see three figures wrestling. One gets knocked to the ground and starts to be dragged out. My eyes open wide. I am frozen in shock.

Josh looks up at me, a second before the two men do. "Run, Hailey! RUN!" He screams.

I scramble up the steps and turn right, booking it to the house's tower. I slam the door and sprint as fast as I can up the winding, old wooden stairs. Feet pound after me. I fly through the window and land on my slanted roof. My bare feet slip on the tiles, but I pick myself up and scatter over the roof. I come to the edge and having nowhere else to go, I turn back. Two different men are quickly picking across the roof after me. I jump off of my two story roof, landing hard on my ankle.

The fallen leaves didn't take any of the blow. I pick myself up, screaming from the pain in my ankle. I hobble into the trees, limping as fast as I can go.

I hear crashing and snapping behind me. I wasn't going to outrun them. So I'd have to turn and fight. I swing around a tree and pick up a nice club sized branch. I hit one in the head as they run by, then jump out at the next. I slap him in the gut and he doubles over. I take off hobbling again.

The two men stumble after me. I turn and face them again. As I raise my branch, something rams me from the side. The wind is knocked out of me as I hit the ground hard. My vision becomes dizzy.

Three men stand over me. One clutching his head, the other his stomach, and one sneering over top of me. I try desperately to catch my breath.

The man who slammed into me grabs me by my shirt and drags me up, putting a firm arm around my neck. He drags me back towards the house, my ankle bouncing on divets in the ground. I gasp each time it smacks onto the dirt.

I am thrown to the ground in front of a guy holding Josh. A big bruise has already formed on Josh's head. I can tell he's woozy.

"Got a fighter here," says the man who I socked in the gut.

I scramble to my feet, just to be forced back on my knees. I struggle against the man who I hit in the head's grip. But he's too strong. The two hits I got were pure luck.

The man with Josh stares at me, squinting his eyes. He lets Josh drop to the ground. I can tell he's the leader.

"Who are you?" he questions, his words menacing.

I just stare at him, sizing him up. His trim, buzz-cut hairstyle fits his military style of movement. His grey eyes pierce mine and his lips pull into a tight sneer. He looks like a marine general.

I chance a glance at my gut-knocking victim. His brown hair was longer, more shaggier. His long nose made him remind me of Shaggy off of Scooby-Doo. Although I knew he was way more dangerous.

My eyes switch to the man who had tackled me. Shock must appear in my eyes as my brain registers that this was a kid my age, only nineteen. His buzz-cut was orangey, and caught fire in the sunlight. His facial features were soft, but his body was ripped with muscles that I would never want to fight against.

I look up at my restrainer. A bump already has sprouted on his forehead. He wears a normal spiked brown haircut. His nose looks like it was broken forever ago but never set. He stares down at me, seething.

I decide it best to look away, so I turn my attention back to the leader. I can tell he's waiting for my answer, and he wasn't going to ask again.

Staring daggers at him, I respond, but not as easily as he would have liked. "Considering I'm the one being forced on the ground, I feel that I should know your names first."

He sneers at me, clearly not liking my approach.

"But of course," I push further, "I could call you Marine, him Shaggy, the kid on my right Ginger, and this goof Bumpy. But whatever you like." I receive a growl from Bumpy, and Shaggy looks around confused, touching his face.

"Forget it!" Marine growls. "We'll find out soon enough." He nods to the all black work van behind him, the model with no windows.

I notice Josh just laying on the ground. The bruise had turned into a knot, and he was knocked out cold. I gasp. The Marine just steps over him.

"Put 'em in. The boy can just be tied once we're on our way. But tie her up tightly and blind her. She ain't gettin' away now," the Marine demands.

Shaggy throws Josh onto the floor of the van. Bumpy pulls me to my feet and drags me to the van. I struggle the entire way. No way I was making this easy on them. He hands me off to Ginger, who's already waiting in the van. He grips me hard and I can't even manage to squirm.

A rail runs across the ceiling on the left side of the van. Quickly my hands are tied to it, and my ankles are bound together. I hang from the rail, spitting venomous comments at all four of them.

"Shut her up," calls Marine, who sits in the passenger seat. Shaggy sits in the driver seat.

Bumpy obeys and gags me. I scream through the rolled up cloth, but I only end up choking. Ginger folds over a deep red cloth and gently covers my eyes, tying it around my head.

As the van starts to move, my body swings violently around. My vision only contains the deep red, causing me to have a headache. I close my eyes, relying on my only sense left. Sound.