Intervention | NaNoWriMo 2018

Chapter 28

Lincoln was pushed through the door of the cell and hit the opposite wall before he collapsed on the floor with a groan. The door was slammed shut, the echo lingering a few seconds before silence descended on the cell. A single, dirty light bulb swung from the ceiling, struggling to penetrate the dark corners of the cell. Lincoln winced when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Lincoln?" a familiar voice said. "Is that you? Are you ok?"

Lincoln groaned as he turned to look over his shoulders. He felt tears in the corners of his eyes as Marie looked at him with concern in her eyes. He grinned and nodded.

"I'm ok, just a bit beat up, that's all. But, more importantly, how are you? Are you ok?"

Marie grinned. "Well, like you, I'm alive. I'm a little sore and my memory is a bit foggy about what happened. By the looks of it, someone captured me."

"Pretty much," Lincoln said and nodded. "I didn't know whether you had actually made it or not. You have no idea how excited I am to see you alive."

Marie looked down and if the light had been better, Lincoln easily would have been able to see her blush.

"So what is this place?"

"No idea," Marie said with a shrug as she stood up and offered Lincoln her hand. He accepted and she led him over to the cot in the corner of the cell. "I woke up in here so I have no idea where we are, or what they want."

"Same here. We're at some sort of compound but I don't recognize any of the men that captured me. Their leader seemed to know me but I'm not sure what that means."

"So what do we do now?"

"We've got get out of here," Lincoln said and ran his hand through his hair. "Our mission is still the same. We've got to get you back to your timeline."

"But how?" Marie said and spread her hands out. "We're stuck in this hole."

"I'll figure something out," Lincoln said slowly as his eyes scanned the dark corners of the cell. The cot they were sitting on was the only one in the room. Besides the cot and a rickety old metal chair in the center of the room, there was no other furniture in the room.

Lincoln opened his mouth to ask Marie a question when there was a buzzing sound from the door into the cell. It burst open with force, bouncing off of the wall behind it as the man that had captured them entered, a shotgun in his hands. Two other men followed.

"Get up and turn around," the man barked. "Come on, move it, move it."

Lincoln glanced at Marie and nodded. They stood and face away from the trio. He heard Marie gasp as black hoods were thrown over their heads. "It's ok, Marie, just do what they say," he whispered. He felt a hand grab his arm and pull him backwards out of the cell, turn him and then push him forward. "Walk," a voice behind him hissed. "Get moving."

With the hood over his head, he took a few tentative steps forward only to receive a forceful push in the back. He stumbled forward, his hands outstretched for balance and protection while the two men behind him laughed. Lincoln was fortunate that there wasn't a wall directly in his path. As soon as his forward momentum slowed, he stopped and waited for the others to catch up.

"Keep it moving," a voice behind him said, this time grabbing his arm with a strong grip, dragging him along. Despite his best efforts, Lincoln wasn't able to keep up with all the turns they took and soon, he had completely lost track of the direction they were going in. The stronger lighting around them told him they were no longer in the dungeon but besides that, he was totally lost.

Moments later, he was pushed forward and the hood was pulled off. Marie bumped into him as the process was repeated with her.

"Sit," the voice of one of the main grunted before the door was slammed shut. Lincoln and Marie looked at each other and then slowly made their way around the wooden table in the middle of the room and sat down.