At All Costs

Arrival

'Drop your gun.'

A male voice made the girl freeze, making her even more rigid than she had been when she heard the branch break. Her eyes swelled with fear for what could be about to happen.

'What do you want?' she quizzed, still facing away from him. She was incredibly nervous, but tried not to show it.

'Like I said, your gun. Then you and your friend are both coming with me,' came the blunt reply.

'Ugh, really? Can't we just go? I mean we only just escaped that group of bandits with our lives and now you're robbing us and taking us as hostages.'

She heard the gun click behind her.

'No alternatives. This is how it's going to be whether you want it to or not.'

'Fine,' she sighed.

She threw her pistol on the ground and kicked it roughly towards her new captor as she turned to face him. From his accent and slightly darkened skin tone, she could tell he was of hispanic descent. He bent down and collected the pistol, examining it closely.

'Nice pistol,' he complimented, whilst keeping his own firmly trained on her.

The girl did not reply, and as he stood back up to full height, he beckoned for her to move, wafting his gun in the desired direction. She did as he requested, but with great reluctance.

'I've got a van with me. I'll take you back to our camp for now, then figure out what to do with you and your friend. Don't get too comfortable.'

Again, the teenager did not respond. She was too busy tending to AJ as he gazed around the unfamiliar territory, somehow apparently oblivious to what was happening. After a few minutes of walking in silence, they arrived at an old, battered van. All three clambered in and the vehicle pulled slowly away.

Before too long, they arrived at a small campsite. The van was brought to a halt, indicating that their journey was at an end.

'Javi!'

A womans' voice came from the campfire and its' owner ran up to the man, sweeping him up in an embrace whilst another man showed AJ and his mother - figure to a blanket on the ground, well away from where the other tents had been pitched. They had not creature - comforts. No remnants of a fireplace, nothing to build a fire with, nothing that could be used as food, nothing.

'You'll stay here.'

The girl pulled a face as he walked away, not uttering another word until he was back with the others.

'Looks like we're not going to be comfortable, Goofball. Hopefully we won't be here for too long,' she quietly said to AJ, who just whimpered a little. He was still hungry. She saw a small log a couple of metres away and dragged it over, hoping to use it as some kind of seat. Thankfully for them both, this was a successful venture.

Time dragged slowly on, until she heard raised voices coming from the other side of the camp. Listening carefully, she overhead the entire debate. Two voices were the main contributers to the argument, one noticeably younger than the other. The latter was one she recognised to be the man who brought her to the camp in the first place. The former she did not know.

'You're keeping a girl and a toddler hostage - what the hell is wrong with you?'