Trapped

Chapter 22

Erik

"Lily!" Screams resonate throughout the forest. The crunching of twigs and dried up leaves seem to be magnified with every silence given for a response everyone knows won't come.

It's been too long since any of us have seen her. Since I have had her in my arms, have gotten to hear her angelic laugh. A tear rolls down my cheek, but I quickly wipe it away. Over the past few months I have gotten extremely good at hiding those ever-present tears. Since Lilian was taken, a deep emptiness has taken residence in me. I've never felt more alone.

"Lily," I whisper, tears freely run down my cheeks now as I think of her beautiful smile that would light up any room she entered. I fall to a tree for support, not having the energy to hold myself up, and close my eyes in thought. She can't be gone. I shake my head, not willing to admit to myself that we may not get her back. The statistics are staggeringly against her still being alive, but I can't give up hope. None of us can. She's out there somewhere and we will find her.

I push myself back up, looking through the thick greenery, now blanketed with an evening darkness. Search parties are supposed to head back to the rendezvous spot around seven so no one is left in pitch blackness. I make my way through the eery forest, pushing back low hanging limbs and being careful not to trip over anything on the path back.

Crack!

I stop dead in my tracks, whipping around to survey my surroundings. Nothing. Just the empty forest.

I shake off my minor heart attack and continue walking down the frequently trodden path, imprints of many feet still pressed into the dirt. I take five more steps when another loud crunch sounds behind me. That can't be a coincidence. I turn around to once again check for others, but once again turn up empty.

"Hello?" I yell into the thicket of trees and shrubbery. "Lily?" I ask, hesitantly but still loud enough for anyone within a good 15 yards to hear me.

Receiving no reply and therefore deflating any and all hope, I continue my trek through the trees, occasionally getting my shoe caught in mud. After another couple of minutes of walking in almost complete silence, I hear a loud, resonating sound. This time, not of the crunching variety, but more along the lines of a slap, caused by a hand hitting another surface.

Before I can register the danger I might be in, I am pushed, face first, onto the forest floor. Immediately, I scream out.

"Help!" I manage to yell before a hand is placed over my mouth. Fortunately for me, I am able to bite down on my assailant's finger, hard enough to draw blood. A loud curse emits from the man before I elbow him in the side causing him to fall off of me, clutching his abdomen in pain.

I jump up and begin to run, but don't get very far before I am once again tackled to the ground, this time by a slightly larger, but definitely older, man.

"Help!" I scream, hoping for someone, anyone, to hear me. "Help!"

The man shoves a gag into my mouth and pulls out a gun, pressing it to my temple. "One more word and your a dead man. Understand?" He asks, eyebrows raised.

I nod, but know for a fact that I will not be giving up that easily. If he thinks so, he has another thing coming.

"What are you doing?" A voice erupts from behind me and I jump at the sound, not expecting it as I can still hear the groans of the boy I injured.