Daughter of a Dixon ✔️

44: Kidnappers

When I was able to see and hear again, there were several things I noticed.

The first was that the tree-line was flying past me in green blurs, and I realized that I was riding in the bed of a truck. The second was that my hands were tightly knotted behind my back, prohibiting me from moving them at all. The third was that the sun was high in the sky, shining down brightly upon me.

And the final thing was that there were two, warm bodies on either side of my own. I didn't even have to look to know who they were.

"Alex, Lea? You guys awake?" I asked, lifting my head up slightly to look at them.

"I am," Alex said, and I turned my head to look at him. "She's not, though... the booze must've gotten to her more than me."

I nodded, and then asked quietly, "where's Judith?"

"One of the guys up front has her... they're not hurting her. I've been watching. They're just... driving us someplace."

I tried to lift my head up and see through the back window, but I couldn't due to the position I was in. So, I rolled over onto my back, and wiggled up the side of the truck to get myself sitting upright. I bent down so whoever was in the front couldn't see me, but I could see them.

There were three people, two men and one woman, sitting in the truck. A larger man with short, brown hair was driving, a mixed woman with frizzy, blonde hair was in the middle, and a black-haired man with a facial tattoo was on the passenger's side, holding Judith in his arms.

I silently averted my gaze from them to the roadside, and saw a sign approaching. I squinted to see it, and when I did, a quiet gasp escaped me.

The sign said that the road exit to Terminus was only two miles away.

Our only chance of survival was to get to Terminus; I couldn't let us be taken away by these unfamiliar people, I wouldn't.

"How heavy is Lea?" I asked Alex, raising an eyebrow.

"Um... not very."

"Could you run and carry her at the same time?"

"Yeah, probably. Not fast, but I could run," he said, narrowing his eyes at me. "Wh-.."

"We're gonna get out of here. Terminus is only two miles away, and that's our only chance of survival. On my signal, we're gonna make a bunch of noise back here, until they stop the truck and come check on us. When they do, we're gonna fight as hard as we can. After they're weakened, you're gonna take her and run as fast as you can to Terminus. I'll finish them off and get Judith, then I'll be right behind you."

"Sidney, I don't think that's-..."

"It's our only option, Alex... Now come on, we gotta get these ropes off."

He must've known I wasn't going to negotiate my plan, because he let out a sigh, and turned his back to me. Blindly, we began untying each other's bounded hands, and within a minute we had successfully freed each other.

I turned to him, and in the corner of my eye saw a few medium-sized rocks in the corner of the truck bed. I immediately grabbed two for myself, handing the other two to Alex. He nodded, and I gave a quick thumbs-up.

Then, we both began banging harshly on the truck bed with the rocks, and the truck screeched to a halt. We both dropped down, pretending to still be unconscious, as the truck doors opened and our kidnappers exited.

My breathing hitched as they brought down the tailgate, and one of the men started to say, "what the hell?" before Alex and I cut them off.

We sprung up from our positions and chucked rocks at them, hitting our targets. The black-haired man didn't have Judith in his arms, and I presumed he had left her in the truck.

They all stepped back, holding their faces, and Alex and I took the opportunity to jump down from the truck. I immediately kicked the mixed woman hard in her knees, sending her to the ground with a cry. I then used the one rock I hadn't thrown and chucked it at her head as hard as I could. When her body collapsed to the ground, unconscious, I breathed in relief.

"Sidney, come on!"

I turned around to see that Alex had already grabbed Lea and ran, and our other two kidnappers were on the ground, still conscious, but holding their faces in their hands, groaning in pain.

I ran around to the passenger's side of the truck and scooped up Judith, cradling her to my chest tightly before I started running.

I promptly made it to the other side of the truck before two, masculine hands had grabbed me. The man laid his arms across my neck tightly, and pressed my back to his chest.

"Alex, run! And don't stop until you get to Ter-..."

The man clamped a hand over my mouth to shush me.

"Take the kid!" he commanded to the black-haired man, who had stumbled into a standing position. Judith had begun wailing, and the black-haired man snatched her from my arms, despite my attempts to keep her.

Then, the fat man spun me around, and got directly in my face as he seethed, "what the hell was that, huh? What the hell was that?!"

I didn't respond to him. I simply narrowed my eyes, debating whether or not I should spit directly in his face.

"Should we go after the other two?" the black-haired man asked.

The fat man looked out to the woods, and smirked evilly. "Let 'em run, Diesel. They won't last fifteen minutes where they're going... they'll be butchered by the time we're back at the Sanctuary."

I tensed, but didn't let it show. The fat man looked back to me, the same evil grin still on his face. "Looks like you're the lucky one, Miss Priss. Your friends are gonna die at that place. They're gonna be beaten to death, and then-..."

I couldn't take it anymore. I reared my head back as far as I could, and slammed it into his with a pained cry. He groaned and clutched his head, and before he could attack me, I grabbed him by his hair and thrashed his head against the side of the truck.

His body fell to the ground in an unconscious heap, and I then turned to the black-haired man. To my surprise, he looked somewhat frightened.

"Give me her... now," I snarled, stepping closer to him.

He didn't put up a fight. He handed Judith to me with ease, and then stepped back.

"If you wanna go with the cannibals... it's your funeral," he told me, cocking an eyebrow.

I didn't waste my energy on trying to beat him up. I stared at him a moment longer, then turned and took off as fast as I could into the woods.

If what they were saying was actually true, then that meant I had just sent Alex and Lea into a place full of sadistic, killer cannibals.

I had to stop them before it was too late.