Trapped

chapter 7

Chapter 7

           The human net gave a little under my weight as I hit it. Elbows dug into my ribs and back. I scooted to the edge of the net and hopped off as my boots hit the ground with a thud.

          “Ok. Do we want to go straight into the city?” I asked Sam who had just walked up in front of me.

          “Yeah. I guess so. It’s not like there’s anywhere else for us to go.” He replied with a shrug.

          I nodded then motioned toward the city, “After you.”

          He rolled his eyes, took the lead and we started walking towards the city, staying in a tight group while keeping an eye on our surroundings. After a while Ari and Sam came to walk on either side of me, Sam on my right, Ari on my left. The only sounds were footsteps and the slightly labored breaths of the people around me.

         Before I could get even one word out to Sam or Ari a girl with jet black hair and olive skin pushed her way between me and Sam.

         “So.” She said motioning to me and Sam, “Are you two the leaders now?”

         Sam glanced at me from over the other girls head and said, “I don’t know. Is that what we are Tessa?”

         The way he said my name made my heart skip a beat and it took me a second to realize he had asked me a question.

        “Um… I don’t see anyone else stepping up to take the job.” I said sincerely.

        The girl turned around and started to walk backwards, I assumed it was so she could see both me and Sam, and said, “Well, I’m Diana.” She stuck her hand out to Sam with a big flirty smile plastered on her face. I had to admit she was pretty gorgeous and the way she was looking at Sam made a pang of jealousy shoot through me. I had no right to feel jealous though, I had no claim over Sam so why did I care if some girl was flirting with him?

       But I did care so I looked over at Sam to see what his reaction was to the gorgeous girl flirting with him. He shot her a (forced) polite smile but nothing more. I had to bite the inside of my cheek to hide my grin at Diana’s obvious disappointment.

        “And you’re Tessa?” She asked me while sizing me up.

         I nodded while saying, “That’s me.”

         I guess she decided I wasn’t a threat because she flipped her dark hair over her shoulder and sauntered away while throwing the words, “Nice to meet you” over her shoulder at me. For some reason I don’t think she meant it.

       After our little confrontation with Diana we walked in silence for a few more minutes. I was just about to open my mouth and say something when a scream from up ahead shattered the silence. Sam and I looked at each other and then ran full out in the direction of the scream. While we had been walking our little group had spread out some and we had to shove our way to the front.

         As soon as we broke through to the front of the group I stopped dead in my tracks. There was large man wearing ratty clothes standing a few feet ahead of us. He was holding a knife to the throat of a petite girl with fiery red hair that I recognized as one of us. She couldn’t have been more that about fourteen years old.

        The man spoke in a deep gravelly voice, “You two the ones in charge here?” 

        I held my hands up and took a few careful steps closer while saying, “Yeah. We’re the ones in charge. Now how about you put the knife down?”

         “Don’t come any closer or I’ll slit her throat!” the man screamed and pushed the knife harder against the girls’ throat as she let out a whimper.

          I stopped. There was only one of him; surely we could take him, right? Wrong.

          The man yelled in a slightly crazed voice, “And don’t even think about rushin’ me and savin’ your pretty little friend here ‘cause my buddies will be on all of ya’ll before you even get close!”      

       I looked around and sure enough there were people wearing the same ratty clothes as the man with the knife poking their heads out from around the backs of the small buildings that surrounded us. I turned in a circle and confirmed my suspicion, we were surrounded. I glanced at Sam and let some of my panic show on my face to let him know I didn’t know what to do. He held up one finger and started to inch forward as I turned back to the man with the knife. My hands became sweaty and my heart began to hammer against my ribs as if it were trying to escape.

       “Ok.” I said in a calm voice, “What exactly do you want from us?”

       “We want whatever’s in those sacks of yours.” He said with a toothy grin that made my stomach churn.

        Sam had come up beside me and I relaxed a little, hoping he had a plan. As soon as Crazy Man spotted Sam he yelled, “I said don’t come any closer!” Spit flew from his mouth as he pushed the knife harder against the girls’ throat earing another whimper as the knife broke the skin. Blood trickled out of the wound looking incredibly red against her pale skin.

       “Ok. I’ll just stay right here then.” Sam said in a calm reasonable voice. I couldn’t help but wonder how he could be so calm in this situation. I was far from calm; I could feel myself shaking in anger, fear and frustration. I just wanted these people to leave us alone! I couldn’t take my eyes off of the blood still slithering down the neck of the girl.

       I knew Sam was talking but I couldn’t hear what he was saying over the blood rushing in my ears. My vision seemed to narrow. All I could see was the man with the knife to a girl’s throat. My hands curled into fists and my body vibrated faster and faster until I felt like a plucked guitar string. I felt power building up inside of me. This power was taking over my body to the point where I felt like I was going to explode if I didn’t get it out. On pure instinct I moved the power to my hands and focused on the man’s ugly face. My hands began heating up so I threw them straight out in front of my body pointing at the man’s head and a scream ripped from my throat as the power I had felt building inside of me burst from my hands in a brilliant beam of white hot light. My beam of power connected with the man’s head. The beam of light winked out after a moment and his headless body falling to the ground in a lifeless heap was the last thing I saw before I felt my own body crumple to the ground as I slipped into oblivion.