Linked

Chapter 10

"Casey?  Casey, wake up."

"Huh?"  I gasped and jolted awake.

"You looked like you were having a nightmare.  Are you okay, Casey?"  Emily's big beautiful eyes stared back at me inside the tiny cell.

"Oh,"  I breathed a sigh of relief, "Yeah, I'm okay Emily.  Thanks for waking me up though,"  The dream I'd had consisted of me reliving when I was taken, only this time there were forty guys and Liam had been shot.  I screamed out for him while being dragged away in a sea of guards as he fell to the ground.  It felt so real... the tears still stung on my face.

"Alright guys, no time for 'thank you's,' it's the day they leave, and two guards are headed towards our cell with stickers,"  Jordan was pressed against the cement door looking through the pocket-sized window.

"Okay.  You guys ready?"  I asked remembering the plan we had discussed the night before.

"Ready,"  They all replied in unison.  We assumed our assigned positions:  Dustin by the door ready to jump the guards, Jordan huddled in the dark corner preparing to catch a glimpse of the outside world, Emily on the other side of the door to distract the guards, and me cracking my knuckles by Jordan.  This is gonna be one good fight, I grinned with anticipation and crouched at the ready.

"Here they come,"  Dustin whispered.  He began to count down on his hands.  3... The door began to open...  2... I could see their legs stepping through the doorway...  1... Their whole bodies cam into view... Now!

We rushed the looming figures with brilliant speed and surprise!  Emily jumped onto one of the guard's back and began clawing at his face.  Dustin slammed into the other guard and kicked him straight in the- well, you know.  Both tactics seemed to be extremely painful as the two captors yelped in torment.  As soon as the guards were immobilized, I snatched their stickers and threw them to the other side of the room.  I could see Jordan working hard at attaining our surrounding's image and rejoined him to protect him until things got rough.

That's when things got rough.

The first guard managed to throw Emily off his back and knock her head against the wall.  Unconscious, I realized and attacked the man she had been fighting.  I wrapped my arms around his neck and pushed my limbs against the sides of his throat to cut off the circulation.  He writhed about, trying to get free.  Eventually he was able to reach back and give me my own punch to the throat.  "Oof!"  I gasped and fell to the ground.  He was heading towards Dustin and his accomplice.  I sucked in a gulp of air and struggled up as fast as I could.  Dustin.  I have to help him.

Regaining my strength, I bolted towards them and shoved both the jailers to the ground.  One of them smacked his head hard and was knocked out, but the other just looked dazed.  He shook his head and used his fallen partner to stand.  What kind of driven monsters are these people?  He looked dead-on at Dustin and I and suddenly I took in how big this guy was.  His looming shadow consumed both mine and Dustin's.  Yikes.  Yet, even with our current situation, I glanced at Dustin and we gave each other a nod.  We're not going down without a fight.

The man charged us but we dodged the attack and scrambled to face him again.  Anger engrossed his face and both of ours went as white as paper.  Still, we charged again and this time I managed to punch him firm in the stomach while Dustin climbed atop his back.  He held on tight and gave heavy blows to his body and head while I kicked his shins to knock him down.

Jordan was still huddled in the corner trying to capture our location; his eyes were shut tight.  As I gave more jabs to the guard's stomach I suddenly gathered that mine and Dustin's strikes were affecting him less and less.  Could he really be this strong?  All of a sudden, the jailer struck Dustin in the face.  He fell immediately to the ground.  Oh crap.  I backed away instinctively and laid a few more punches to him, but they were useless.  He grabbed me by the neck and cut off my breath.  I gasped once more, don't kill me.  Struggling to look for another way out, my captor provided one.  He had somehow seized the sticker again and jabbed me right in the gut.

I felt a consuming shock, and darkness overcame my vision.