Where's Daddy?

Carry On

"Jerry!" I screamed as I crawled over to his lifeless body, "What's going on?" I placed my right hand over his chest to feel his heart still beating. I looked down to see a dark red spot beginning to form on the right side of his abdomen. "Sweetheart!" I heard Cline call my nickname, awakening me from my brain deadness. I looked up to see Cline also crouched down behind a car shooting in the direction of Jerry's assaulter. "Where's Nixon?" I yelled to Cline. Not thinking, I began to stand up and walk over to Cline, but a bullet whizzed past my head, and I fell back to the ground.

"Grab Jerry's gun and run!" Cline yelled back, but I hesitated, "Now!" I hurriedly ripped the gun from Jerry's lifeless hand and turned to crawl in the other direction. "Conseguir la chica!" I heard a guy yell after I finished crawling past the first car we were hiding behind and another behind it. I don't know much Spanish, but I know that "chica" is girl. I'm guessing that they didn't know I was here, then when I made the stupid mistake of standing up, they realized there was a girl. I stood up after the second car, and ran as fast as I could. Wait, where am I going? "Just like the movies. Act like you know where you're going." I said out loud. "But this heroine might not live." I had my after thought. Oh well, I kept running in the parking lot to see how far I could run. Should I look behind me to see if I'm being chased? No. I can't see them. But of course, I turned my head to see a Hispanic man chasing me. I had a feeling that I wouldn't make. The man was about six foot, one hundred seventy pounds. He was running fairly fast, and he looked as if he could keep that pace for a long time. I was already losing my speed, not eating for a long time didn't help me. I had reached the end of the parking lot and realized that there was a collection of trees a few yards away. I looked behind me to see the man still following me, catching up. A tear fell down my cheek as I realized I might not live. I then looked down to see Jerry's gun still in my hand. "You idiot!" I screamed out loud. I looked at the gun for a few seconds, then turned around and shot the man following me. I heard him scream out, but I had no idea if I had shot him in a good spot. I turned around again to see him laying on the ground, but still moving. "Mi pie!" I heard him cry out. "The foot. That's okay." I replied out loud.

I finally reached the trees and climbed up the first one I found. I climbed up to the highest, stable branch I could find and wrapped my arms around the trunk. "Breathe, Ashlyn. Breathe." I said to myself. As I sat up in the tree, I couldn't hear anymore screaming or gun shots. I looked down to see that I still had Jerry's gun sitting in my lap, with my legs wrapped around the branch. "Jerry. Don't you die on me Jerry!" I screamed out loud, "And Cline! You better protect Nixon! If he gets hurt, I will personally kill you with my own hands! Nixon. Sweetheart. I love you! Don't leave me!" I looked down again to see my chest falling and rising, and I hurriedly threw my gaze up to the sky again. It was maybe three in the afternoon. I didn't know if I would even be able to go back to the hotel. I think I will sit in the tree for an hour or so, or until someone comes to get me. "Miguel! Ella tiene un arma. Ella es peligrosa. ¿Dónde fue ella?" I heard a male voice yell.

"Oh Spanish class don't fail me now." I whispered to myself.

"Vi la camisa naranja hacia los árboles." I heard another man yell back.

"Orange shirt. Dang it." I whispered. I looked around to find something to disguise my shirt, just to see mud on the ground ten feet down.

"¡Jose! ¡Aléjese de los árboles! Comprobaremos allí mañana. Ella no puede ponerse en ninguna parte." Another male voice yelled.

"How many of you are there?" I whispered again. I didn't understand any of what he said because I had dropped out of my last semester of high school, so I didn't finish my Spanish classes. But I did know that mañana meant tomorrow, so hopefully I can get down from the tree and go to the hotel tonight. I stayed in the tree after the men had passed and my dark thoughts crept up on me. "Maybe I should just jump down now. Even if they shoot me, I won't have to sit up in this awful tree. And if they kidnap me I can just starve to death. It will end my misery. Or if they shoot me it can just kill me then. But what if they are really gone? Maybe i should just shoot myself now." I rambled on and on all these dark thoughts about how I could easily end this. But I realized the real reason why I have kept myself alive this long. "It's for Dalilah. I'm doing this to protect Dalilah." I reached for the gun in my lap and slowly tried to hook it onto my belt loop on my shorts. After I got the gun secured on my shorts I slowly made my way down the tree. It took about two minutes to get halfway down the tree when I took a break and sat on a secure branch. I wrapped my arms around the trunk and began to catch my breath.

"Oh that's where you went. We've been looking for you." I looked down to see a sly, evil grin spread across his face.