Losing Eight Lives

14 | Escape

The car moved smoothly over the deserted road.

Where did all the cars go?

I looked down at my hands in my lap. My heart pounded and my head swarmed with unanswerable questions. I'm being kidnapped.

The man in black that we met drove the car while another movie-looking guy sat in the passenger seat. Jace and I sat in the two back seats, while Carter laid down in a row of seats behind us, still knocked out.

"Where are we going?" I asked for about the twentieth time. We had been driving for about ten minutes. I was starting to not know where we were.

If the ride is too long how will I remember how to get back?

I was already having trouble remembering.

Left, left, second left, right, left, third right, exit to a highway.

I kept repeating the sequence in my head. We have been on a highway for a while now.

"You'll see," the passenger told me for the twentieth time in return.

Either I get some answers or we are leaving Carter behind and escaping, I wanted to say.

I glanced at Jace. He looked just as nervous and on edge as I was.

At this point, I wished I was in the same state of unconsciousness as Carter was behind us.

Where are we going? Who are these people? What is going on?

I wanted to escape now. I didn't want to sit there any longer. But I wouldn't get very far in a moving car on the highway. I needed a plan. I couldn't just wing it. They were strong. And big. I was not strong. But I was fast.

I could work with that.

As I was devising the plan in my head, I looked out the window. The highway was empty. We were the only car on the road. We must have stuck out like a sore thumb.

The trees and ground were blanketed in snow and the sky was filled with gray clouds that fit the day perfectly.

I think it's safe to say, this was the worst day of my life, I thought bitterly.

-=-=-=-

The car finally came to a stop at a tall building. It looked like we were in the middle of nowhere. We were parked in a large field that was just as covered in snow as the rest of the town. The skyscraper was the only building in sight and it looked very out of place with the flat bare landscape.

I lost all hope of remembering where we were going a while ago.

Escape was the only thing on my mind as the two men got out of the front seats.

I looked at Jace. He looked at me. And as soon as the men were out of the cars, I quickly leaned in closer to him.

"We need to get out of here. The first chance you see I want you to run. Don't wait for me. I'll do the same." I said and sat up just as quickly so the men don't suspect anything.

"Why?"

I must have looked at him like he had three heads. "Because I don't especially love being kidnapped. If you do, then you can stay, but I'm leaving."

He nodded and we quickly went back to acting like nothing happened.

The man who talked to us opened my door and got out of the way to let me out of the vehicle. I slowly and casually stepped out of the car and onto the gravel beneath me. I had to hold myself back from taking off right then and there.

Wait for the right moment.

The passenger helped Jace get out of the car and then went off to work on Carter. The other man had his hands behind his back while he watched Jace and I carefully.

"I am Steve, and my friend over there is Marty." Steve stated.

"Hi Steve," I said, sounding a lot more bored than I thought I would.

"Hi, I'm Jace and this is-"

"Yeah we know who you are." Steve interrupted.

I stayed silent, but my head buzzed with questions. What? How?

Marty walked over to us with Carter slung over his shoulder. "Now," he glanced at each of us, "we can do this one of two ways. You get the same two options as you did to get in the car."

The easy way, or the fun way, I repeated in my head.

Jace and I exchanged a look.

"Easy way," he stated.

I said nothing.

"Super. Now follow my friend Steve here, and we should have no problems." Marty and Steve exchanged a nod and we walked toward the building in a line. Steve was leading, then Jace, then me, and Marty brought up the rear, still carrying Carter.

I'm trapped. I waited too long.

But I came to a desicion quickly. We were going to do this now.

I started walking a little faster to get closer to Jace. I came up behind him and whispered in his ear, "Now."

I turned around and kicked my foot as hard as I could into Marty's groin. I only had time to see part of his reaction before bolting away from him and into the landscape of snow. Marty had pure surprise in his expression when I did it. He knelt down and dropped Carter in pain.

However, it was only temporary.

I was only about ten feet away when I heard a whoosh of something flying passed my ear. A dart.

I kept running. I ran and didn't stop until I felt a good distance away from the scene to look behind me and see what's happening.

Jace failed to make it to the snow and he now laid on the gravel driveway unconscious. Marty ran towards me as Steve shot darts in my direction.

I jumped to the side to avoid a dart that would have hit my arm. The snow burned my hands but I did my best to ignore them.

The snow. It was deep and hard to walk in--let alone run.

I pushed the thought in the back of my mind and tried anyway. I trudged through the snow as fast as I could. My legs started to burn from the cold snow and exhaustion.

I can do this. I have to get out of here.

But as I said the words, I doubted them. I suddenly realized the darts stopped coming and I turned around briefly to see the situation. Marty just stood where he was, not chasing after me anymore, and Steve was in his spot just watching me too.

They both had defiant looks on their face.

Suddenly, hands grabbed me from behind and lifted me off the ground as if I weighed nothing.

An involuntary scream escaped me. "Let me go!" I shrieked at my attacker and struggled to get loose.

I noticed my opponent was a man that wore the same black uniform that Steve and Marty wore as he threw me over his shoulder. I wiggled my body and slammed my fists into his back. My feet kicked and I let out screams telling him to let me go. I quickly realized I was getting nowhere, but that didn't stop me.

The man walked in the exact opposite direction of where I wanted to go, so I was left looking at my desired destination.

I noticed a fence lining the entire yard. It was fenced in, I wouldn't have gotten very far. I was trapped, again.

The man stopped walking and I felt a sharp pain slice through my right leg for a moment. My mind got foggy and I could barely see straight. The pain was still there as I tried my best to hold on to consciousness.

But then it was gone.