CAPTURED

Chapter 3: Captured

Charlie jolted awake from her deep slumber and stared at her dark ceiling. Her entire body felt colder than usual. She looked over at the other side of the bed and saw that Max was missing.
She quickly sat up with wide eyes and whispered, "Max?"
There was no reply.
She ripped the blankets off of her and pulled herself out of bed, trying not to trip on anything in front of her.
She carefully stepped out of her room calling Max's name again, "Max?"
Still no reply.
Charlie softly bit her lip as she walked down her hallway, peeking around the dark corner. There was nothing there so she slowly continued. At least, she thought there was nothing. Perhaps something was waiting for her in the darkness. She pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind and walked into her kitchen.
She looked over to her left and saw her empty living room. She looked over at her right and saw her empty dining room...and the front door to her house wide open. Her heart was racing and her breathing hitched as she slowly approached the open door. She gasped when she saw dark droplets on the porch and door outside. It was blood.
"Oh shit, Max!" She covered her mouth and her eyes grew double their size. She knew Max was in danger.
Charlie ran back into her kitchen and grabbed her phone that was charging on the counter. She dialed Max's number and yanked the phone up to her ear, hoping he would pick up.
"Charlie?" A familiar voice answered.
"Max, what the hell?! Where are you?" Charlie was relieved that he answered, but was still worried that he was in danger.
"I'm behind the coffee shop in a dark alley. Find me there and we can talk about what happened."
"Wait wha—"
Max hung up before Charlie could finish her question.
Charlie sighed as a small tear rolled down her cheek. She knew she had to save him, so she got dressed and ran out to her car. She jumped in not caring about her knee slamming into the side of the car.
"Alright, I'm coming for you, Max."
5 MINUTES LATER
Charlie pulled up to the closed coffee shop and slowly stepped out of her car. She looked at the dark alley that was sitting between the coffee shop and another vacant building.
In the distance, Charlie heard cars roaring by and she heard a quiet siren blaring somewhere far away. She continued down the alley and saw nothing except for darkness.
When she reached the end of the alley, she was greeted by a small light hanging above a metal door. Sitting up against the door was Max's bloody, motionless body.
Charlie felt tears form in the corners of her eyes. She ran over to him and knelt next to him. She shook his body and said, "Max! Are you ok?! Answer me!" She pleaded as she continued to shake his body.
His eyes slowly fluttered open and he lifted his heavy head to look Charlie straight in the eyes.
"You screwed up big time," he said in a slightly robotic voice while giving her a toothy grin.
Charlie's eyes widened as Max's body disappeared into thin air.
"It was a...fake?" She asked with a shaky voice.
Numerous dark figures appeared at the front of the alley, blocking Charlie's only way out. They slowly approached her, their gear rattling and clacking against their bodies.
Out of the darkness came four, armored SWAT members with their rifles pointed at numerous parts of Charlie's body. She cowered against the wall like a helpless puppy and stared at the officers who were slowly approaching her.
"Put your hands up!" One of the officers yelled through their masks.
Charlie put her shaky arms up and waited for their next command.
From behind the officers, another man pushed his way through. He stared down at Charlie with a serious face like he was waiting for her to say something.
Charlie gasped when she saw who it was. "Ben...what the hell are you doing?!" She yelled through clenched teeth.
"Take her down," he pointed down at her while patting one of the soldier's shoulders.
Two soldiers ran towards her. One slammed his rifle against the back of her knee, causing her to tumble to the ground in pain. The other soldier climbed on her back and forcefully pinned her arms against her sides. The other continued to hold her legs down.
The other two soldiers and Ben moved closer to Charlie. He squatted down in front of her and gave her a devilish smirk.
"What's going on? Where's Max?" She yelled, trying to keep her heavy head up.
The soldier who was sitting on her back slammed her head down against the concrete and held it there, keeping her from moving it.
Ben just stared down at her like a lion who just trapped its prey. Charlie strained her eyes up at him and waited for an answer.
"Your questions will be answered later. Right now, we need to take care of you," he replied sternly.
"No, I want answers no—"
"The game's up, my friend," he interrupted her as he stood up and kicked her hard in the face, knocking her out cold.
2 HOURS LATER
Charlie woke up and found herself in a cold, brightly lit room. She craned her neck up, but slammed it back down when she felt a jolt of pain shoot through her body. Luckily, the table she was on was pretty soft.
She stared up at the empty gray ceiling and wondered where she was.
When Charlie finally gained enough strength, she slowly sat up and looked around the room. It was pretty empty, the only thing in there was the hospital bed she was laying on and a dusty metal table in the corner. The room looked like a prison cell.
Charlie hopped off of the bed and walked to the metal door that was sitting at the front of the room. She approached it and peeked out of the small square window that was in the center of the door. She leaned against the door, accidentally pushing it open and tumbling to the smooth cement floor. She was surprised that the door was unlocked.
However, her freedom only lasted a few seconds. More soldiers ran down the bright hallway and charged towards her. Charlie tried to back up into her cell, but a soldier grabbed the color of her prison suit and slammed her against the rough wall. Charlie tried to kick the soldier, but his armor was too thick.
From the other side of the hallway, Ben was slowly making his way towards her. His back was straightened and both of his arms were behind his back, giving him that villainous stride.
"Now, now, I will take it from here. Hand her over," he said with a smirk.
The masked soldier threw Charlie against Ben who quickly caught her in his arms. He led her back into her cell and closed the door behind him, two soldiers standing in front of the door like they were guarding the gateway to another world.
Ben pulled a small chair out from the dusty wooden desk and sat down. He gestured towards the bed and said, "Sit, sit."
Charlie angrily sat down, holding a scowl on her face. She crossed her arms and legs while still giving Ben a death stare.
"Better wipe that look off of your face. It'll only make things worse," Ben said while giving her a small chuckle, but still managing to sound serious.
Charlie sighed and relaxed her face muscles. She gave Ben a relaxed look and replied, "Better?"
"Much."
"Where's Max?" She immediately asked afterwards.
"Ah, Ah, Ah, no questions yet. You have to answer my questions first," he replied devilishly.
The way he was talking reminded Charlie of a person she really hated. For some reason, however, she couldn't think of their name. She balled her hands into fists until her knuckles turned white. She was desperately trying to think of their name.
"Now then," Ben's voice broke Charlie out of her thoughts, "first question, did you or your friend leak any evidence of the Red Hills Incident?"
"Asshole," she replied through clenched teeth.
He chuckled. "Hey, I just asked a simple question. Answer it." The last part of his sentence was said in a more serious tone that frightened Charlie.
"No evidence was leaked. Not yet," she whispered the last part under her breath so Ben wouldn't hear.
Ben stared deep into her eyes like he was scanning for a lie. But she really wasn't lying.
A sudden knock at the metal door broke the awkward silence in the room.
"Your boss wants you. The machine is ready," the person said in a low voice.
There was that voice. A super familiar voice from a super familiar person who she really hated. They had a slight Italian accent. She was close to finally figuring out their name.
"Ah, perfect. We'll be right there, Mr. Florentini," Ben replied while staring at Charlie with an evil smirk on his face.
Suddenly, Charlie's mind finally connected. It was him. Agostino. He was supposed to be dead, though.
Multiple soldiers then flooded into the small room. They circled Charlie who was still sitting on the bed.
Ben stood up and reached for the girl who was awfully quiet. He gasped and drew his hand back when it phased straight through her. Her body flickered and then disappeared into thin air, leaving Ben and the soldiers confused.
Charlie, who secretly stole a hologram device, was peeking into the cell. She quickly turned around and quietly sprinted down the bright hallway.
Charlie slipped through a glass, sliding door, but quickly stopped in her tracks when she saw a security guard sitting at a desk typing up a storm on a black computer. She turned around to walk back down the hallway, but was greeted by a large group of soldiers blocking the way. Ben and Agostino towered above her in the front.
"So, you thought you could outsmart two of the highest employees working for the highest company in the world, huh? Well, I gotta admit, you had me confused there for second, but you made a big mistake, girl," Ben spat at her. He then grabbed both of her wrists and tossed her into the other room, startling the guard who was still sitting at the desk.
Charlie flopped onto the floor like a helpless animal as the group of villains marched over to her. She backed against the cold, hard wall and stared up at the group, her breath hitching.
Agostino was the first to speak, "Welcome back," he paused with a smirk on his face, "old friend." He squatted down and stared into Charlie's eyes. She had nothing to say.
"I think you know what's about to happen next," he said in a low voice. A second later, he slid his giant knife out of his pocket, holding it up to her face in a taunting way. One of the soldiers came over and pushed Charlie to the floor, holding her arms behind her back with one hand, and holding her head down with the other.
She groaned in pain and began to scream, "No! Wait!"
Agostino lifted the knife into the air, getting ready to bring it down to her skull to deliver the final blow.
She closed her eyes and waited.
It never came.
She slowly opened her eyes and saw Ben firmly holding Agostino's arm back.
"The boss wants her alive," Ben said in a low voice.
Agostino stared at him before sighing and looking back at Charlie. "You got lucky," he stood up and smirked, holding an arm out while finishing his sentence, "but your luck will run out soon enough!"
Ben rolled his eyes and gently pushed Agostino out of the way. He approached Charlie and crouched down like what Agostino did. The soldier still had her pinned down.
"So, Charlie, ready for your treatment?" He asked while smirking.
Charlie tried to speak, but she couldn't find the words.
Ben then motioned for the soldier to let her go. After the soldier got off of her, Ben yanked her up and pulled her face close to his. "You know, the penalty for leaking illegal evidence is death. However, Korbitron was nice enough to let you slip away from that penalty. Instead, they've decided to experiment on you," Ben paused for a second, his face turning dark, "just like them..." His whispering voice was dripping with evil.
Ben pushed her back down, her back slamming against the wall.
"Soldier," he announced while turning around to the soldier behind him, "why don't you provide a little anesthetic for good old Charlie here. We can't have her awake for the experiment," he said while pushing the armored soldier in front of him.
"Gladly," the soldier's voice was muffled by the black mask resting on the lower half of his face.
He slowly approached Charlie and raised a fist. He brought it down on her cheek, sending her flying to the floor. The soldier then slammed the butt of his gun against the back of her head, easily knocking her unconscious.