Storm

Chapter Ten

It was hours before anything else happened.

January and I had fallen into silence, not having much to say. Personally, I was anxious. Each second that passed allowed another horrible scenario to play out in my head. I felt like if I did try to talk, I'd simply heave up whatever little was in my stomach.

Because the more I thought about the possibility that we'd just been captured by a gang, the more I believed it.

It was the most likely option. Trying to deny it was like trying to pretend the apocalypse hadn't happened.

So when the door slammed open, I nearly peed myself.

In walked the same raven-haired girl as before. She wore a smug expression. I didn't understand why until Sean stepped into the room behind her.

He looked surprisingly unharmed. He had his muscular arms crossed at the chest and there was an undecipherable look in his brown eyes. It was harder to read him than usual. A spark of hope ignited in my chest, though, at the fact that he was here. It had to be a good thing, right? He was on our side, maybe he made a deal with their leader or something? Maybe everything would actually be all right.

God, all I wanted to do was get back into camp and to my lovely mat and sleep. I wanted to forget all this had happened at all. And then, I wanted to never accept an invitation to throw myself into danger ever again. It hadn't turned out that well this time.

The two stood there for a few minutes, as if they were figuring out what to say. The raven-haired girl was just looking at Sean, as if expecting him to speak. Sean just continued staring, a couple seconds on January, then a few on me, back and forth. Each time his gaze hit me, I felt my small hope begin to diminish. Why wouldn't he just talk already?

The raven-haired girl let out a frustrated sigh and finally turned to us. "You know what if he's not going to say it-"

Sean cut her off. "I've talked to the people here. They're letting our group go."

By the look on his face, I could tell that wasn't all there was to it. I was scared to ask, but knew I had to. "But...?"

"We're leaving you two behind. It's the only deal they could agree on." He said it so quickly, I almost didn't catch it. And when I did, I was on my feet before I could even comprehend what I was doing. Then, my fist was slamming into Sean's face, so quickly that I don't think anyone realized what had happened until Sean was on the ground, a trickle of blood leaking from his nose. I would have punched him again if the raven-haired girl hadn't grabbed me and thrown me backwards. My back slammed into the wooden wall, and I let out a cry. I crumpled to the ground just as I heard the door slam. I didn't need to look up to know both of them were gone.

"Are you okay??" January asked, as I pushed myself back up into a sitting position.

"I'm fine...but we can't stay here." She nodded frantically, eyes wide. Underneath the fear, though, was a strong determination. "We need to get out."

"I might know a way..."

_______________________

We were still in the same spots in the room, but know there was a difference. One, we'd managed to smash the camera in. Two, January was curled up in a ball on the ground, Sean's blood on her face. Three, raven-haired girl, who I was opting to simply call Raven, was about to join this odd party.

Essentially, January's plan worked like this:

All we had to do was make it look like I was trying to hurt her. Seeing how I'd already punched Sean in the face, it would be believable. Of course, we couldn't let them know about our plan, so January had moved over to the camera's blind spot along with me. Then, she helped me up high enough so I could break the camera from the wall.

After that, it was simple enough. January quickly explained that the girl would rush back in any minute to check on us, and that it would have to look like I'd hurt herself. She also mentioned that she'd done this before. And it'd worked. When she and Mace had been alone in the woods, there'd been a point where they'd been taken, too. I trusted the plan enough.

Just as January had predicted, the door slammed open again as Raven rushed into the room, a furious expression on her face. She had a gun in hand and her eyes immediately went to January who was on the ground. I sat still in the opposite corner, my hands already having drops of Sean's blood on them.

From my position, January almost looked like she could be dead. Her eyes were closed and she wasn't moving. Raven didn't seem to see her as a threat. Fortunately. She knelt down at January's side. I knew what would happen next.

January's arm shot out, ripping the gun from Raven's grasp. The girl was too shocked to immediately respond. It made it easy for January. She slammed the butt of the gun into Raven's head, and the girl fell to the ground, knocked out.

I stood up and smiled at January. Part one down. I reached a hand out to help her up. She took it. "Nice one," I commented.

"Like I said, I've done this before." She had a knowing smile on her face.

With that, the two of us sprinted out of the room.