My eyes snapped open when water doused my face. It took a few seconds before my eyes adjusted to the dim light. The first thing I saw was a man, I couldn't make out his face just yet but he was smiling, I realized instantly that I was tied, sitting on my knees. I glanced over at the sound of water being poured to see Preston, his hands tied behind his back, on his knees as well. He gasped as his eyes opened, quickly, his hair falling into his face. My eyes adjusted enough to see the man, I could see his face now, he was tall, probably early forties or late thirties, he had blonde hair and intense gray eyes. He looked me over, a strange smile on his face before glancing over Preston. Even in the dark, I could see the fear in Preston's eyes as he glanced around; his eyes met mine and he whimpered. There was a cold metal against my back and arms so I figured my hands were tied against some type of pole from the wall, as Preston's hands were tied over a pipe jutting out of the wall.
The man chuckled before leading the other guy, with the two buckets, out, they shut the door behind them. My hands started struggling, trying to pull them from the rope. It was nylon, "Preston, you okay. You took a hard fall" His jacket was thrown in the corner as well as mine, I could see thick, purple bruises going up the arm facing me, the one he fell on. Preston glanced at me, "What... What happened? I remember falling of my horse and that's it." I grimaced, there was a lot more to tell.
I sighed, "Just as I figured they backtracked, probably to sneak up behind us, your horse reared. You fell and there was a group of guys around us. One of them kicked you in the face..." I hesitated, I could see his nose from here. Blood was still smeared around his face but he nodded for me to continue; "Um... My own horse reared while I attempted to grab my rifle and I almost lost my grip. I hung on before the horse reared again, I grabbed the rifle but it was stuck on my back, I got one in the foot but the shot was so loud. My horse reared again, this time, I slid off; Twilight bolted with Dew and I was fighting two guys when I got hit over the head. I just now awoke" I recapped, vaguely. Preston's eyes fluttered for a second, what was wrong? "What's up?" I questioned, now slightly nervous.
The boy glanced at me, his pupils were huge... Weirdly dilated, "Ugh" he groaned, his eyes dropping to the floor, he looked weird... What was up? "I am so nauseous" He mumbled. Now I really was getting worried, these were concussion symptoms, "Anything blurry?" I questioned, he didn't move to acknowledge it but finally, after a couple of moments of silence, he looked up with a huge smile stretching across his face. It was creeping me out, what was wrong with the smile? It was strange. I could see a weird purple tint on his forehead, my heart started pounding. He didn't take any injuries there... What happened while I was out? Suddenly, Preston let out a strangled sound and started struggling against the rope. Thrashing wildly before letting out a slight groan, slumping in defeat, "Everything... Is, urgh... uh, spinning" He slurred, slightly.
Dilated pupils, nauseous, blurriness, bruising, mood swings, dizziness and slurring... This was for sure a concussion. I pulled gently at the rope, it was knotted tight but with some work, I could get out. I quickly started rubbing the rope against the pipe, as fast as I could. I gritted my teeth as my shoulder warned me that I was going to get a joint popped out of place with too much more. I kept at it though when my shoulder finally there was a loud pop as my shoulder came out of place. An agonizing pain left my lips as my left arm hung, useless. Preston glanced at me, his eyes dropping, "You 'kay, Ava?" He slurred slightly but seemed to be trying to stay alert. I gritted my teeth and nodded, ignoring the wrong name that rolled off his tongue.
I finally located what I was hoping for, a screw, loosely placed, near my head; but it would take some flexibility to raise my arms up. I moved my legs up, so I was squatting, and wiggled upwards, towards it. Finally, my arms were at the right level, I quickly started sawing at the screw with the rope, I could feel the rope thinning quite quickly. After what seemed like ages, it finally snapped apart, my left arm fell, my shoulder out of place. I groaned before going over to Preston and untied him as quickly as I could with one hand. When he was loose, I leaned against the wall, it was cold against my back; I gripped my left arm, gritted my teeth and pushed against it with a quick move. There was a pop as it snapped back into place but not without a blinding pain clouding my judgment, my mouth opened to scream out in pain but Preston muffled me, while I screamed into his hand, but hardly any noise left his hand.
