Gate 24

Chapter Three

Even though I cannot see my watch, I'm pretty sure I've been in here for less than five minutes. That second hand, audible where my shaky, uneven breaths don't fill the silence inside of the boot, ticks away as I smash against the sides of the boot trunk. Counting the seconds away seems to be the only way to keep myself from screaming or losing control the moment the boot to this car flies open.

From my counting, I think I've been here for about three and a half minutes, reaching two hundred and three seconds in my counting. I missed the first fifteen seconds or so, trying to reposition myself into some pose that wouldn't give me cramp. Honestly, it isn't comfortable to have your ankles up by your shoulder blades.

My body jolts as the car abruptly stops; I fly into the side of the car once again. Grunting, I lift my head and try to see through the minute gap just exactly what's going on in the front of this car. Once something stops with such a force, you can't help but wonder what exactly is going on. Unless you know how to keep yourself out of other people's business - something a top ranked security guard isn't very good at doing.

Despite only being trapped from civilisation for almost four minutes, the light is painfully blinding as the trunk of the boot flies open. The world is - once again - revealed to me as it opens; all I see is the dunes surrounding half collapsed buildings and rickety street decor. This is Sarigerme at its worst - arid, scarce, the world that lies behind the fun holiday villages that you read about in travel magazines, hear about from the staff in the travel guide places.

"Up, out, now," Scorpio barks, violently tugging at my wrists in an attempt to get me to move. The force isn't needed; I get out of that boot faster than Olympic runners take off from their starting blocks. My legs threaten to buckle as I place my weight on them, my head spins at the sudden movement of my body, causing flickering - black - at the edge of my vision.

No words are spoken between me and Scorpio as he shoves me to the side, letting Kyle close the boot as he does so. Not that I care - these guys are forcing me to live a life of torture, poverty, waiting for me to give in to my surroundings and crumble, become nothing but a pulp of pure depression. They want me to die, but they wanna watch me burn slowly, as if it's their only source of entertainment, using me as the main actor for the performance they crave.

"Good luck," Scorpio spits, climbing into the back seat next to a smirking Walker. Thomas, some guy I'd never talked to alone, and Taegan sit in the front, puffing on their cigarettes - as per usual -and Kyle climbs in next to Sebby, one of the scrawniest men I'd ever seen apply for such a job, where the two of them sit and block out the world around them, oblivious to everything but their dream worlds inside of their heads.

"Wait," I cry, trying not to choke on the fumes currently entering my respiratory system. "Can you at least untie my hands? I can't-"

The harsh voice of Taegan breaks out from the half-rolled down window. "This is supposed to be a challenge, Ray," he snarls, drawing a puff from his magic stick. "Good luck with all of this. And remember, you have until the last day of August to reach the UK."

That leaves me with four and a half weeks to make my way to the top again, allow me to retrieve the money I need to buy a plane ticket. That leaves me with another obstacle: where do I get the money from? I speak English and basic Spanish and French and I only know one word in Turkish: dur. Even then, I'm unfamiliar with pronunciation, so in reality, I know how to spell one Turkish word - the word for stop - and nothing more.

This is gonna be extremely tough.

The engine revs, the tires of the seven seated car screech as they barely move the vehicle; all it does is create a dusty haze around me, leaving my body starved of oxygen, my lungs screaming at my body as I hold my breath. As I clamp my mouth shut, squeeze my eyes tightly to match my lips, and fall onto the floor, I hear the tires finally leave the grooves they'd created. Leaving me isolated, away from salvation.