Trapped

chapter 10

Chapter 10

                        I jolted upright and scrambled backwards until I hit the wall behind me. It took me a second to realize that it was just a dream. It had felt so real. I swore I could still hear the hissing of the white gas as it seeped into the room. Thank god it was just a dream, even if it was totally bizarre. I couldn’t help but wonder who the woman was.

                      Everyone was still fast asleep but when I looked at the place where Sam had lied down the night before all that was there was his wadded up hoody. I started to panic as I scanned all the sleeping figures on the floor and none were Sam. I was about to get up and go look in the kitchen when I spotted his familiar silhouette outlined my moonlight sitting at the top of the pyramid staring out the window.

                   I stood up and moved as quietly as I could to the large structure and started up it. It wobbled a few times and each time I almost had a heart attack, I really didn’t like this thing, but I eventually made it to the top. I sat down on the window sill next to Sam and followed his example by dangling my legs over the edge. I imagined how painful it would be to plummet to the ground from this height so I opted for tucking my legs beneath my body instead.

                  I looked over at Sam and noticed he was still looking out the window as if I wasn’t even there so I followed his gaze to see what was so interesting. It was the stars. They were so beautiful sparkling away up there. I paused in my star gazing a moment and looked down at the city. There were a few lights but they were flickering more than regular lights so I assumed they were fires. Looking down at the city made me think of the seven people we lost. I couldn’t help but picture their dead eyes and slit throats. I felt myself shudder and not because of the cold air.

                  “Are you cold?” Sam asked.

                  I shook my head no because I didn’t trust my voice. I felt Sam’s arm slip around my waist and pull me closer to him. I had to admit, he was warming me up with his body heat. I closed my eyes and rested my head on his shoulder. I don’t know how long we sat like that but I enjoyed every second of listening to his slow even breathing and feeling his calming presence beside me, making me feel safe.

                 I suddenly heard Sam’s breath hitch and feel his body tense. I opened my eyes as I lifted my head from his shoulder and looked at the side of his face. His jaw was clenched and his gaze was focused on something in the distance. I followed his gaze but saw nothing.

                “What is it?” I asked, curious about whatever had him so worked up.

                He lifted his arm up and pointed toward the city. That’s when I saw it. There was a group of people moving slowly across the empty plain that separated our sanctuary from the rest of the city.

                I scrambled to my feet in a panic. “It has to be that gang.” I said, “They must have followed us.”

                I looked down at Sam and he was still just sitting quietly on the ledge of the window. “What are you doing?” I said becoming frantic, “We have to warn the others!”

                    He lifted his head up slowly to look at me. “Where would we go?” he questioned in a defeated voice. “Back to the city? There are bound to be more gangs out there that’ll try to kill us.”

                   Was he giving up? My mouth opened and closed like a fish. I didn’t know what to say. I’d never seen this side of Sam before.

                   “W-we can fight.” I stammered.

                    He looked at me like I was crazy. “Are you kidding me?” he asked incredulously.

                   “Fine then.” I said, coming to a resolve, “You can just sit back and watch us all get slaughtered. But I’m going to warn the others. And we’re going to fight for what’s ours.”

                   I turned my back on him then and started scrambling down the rickety pyramid as fast as I dared. I jumped the last couple feet down to the ground trying to warn everyone as quickly as possible. I ran to the kitchen and grabbed the large pot and the metal spoon I had used to get everyone’s attention a few days before. It felt like forever ago that I had banged on this pot and handed out apples. But I didn’t have time to think about the good old days now. It was time to fight.

                  When I returned to the main room Sam had already made it back down the pyramid and was standing at the base of it, watching me. I tried not to look at him as I walked into the middle of the room, banging the pot loudly as I went. By the time I made it to my destination almost everyone was awake. They all looked at me in confusion as the wiped the remaining fragments of sleep from their eyes.

             “Ok everyone that gang we had a run in with in the city is coming here. They followed us and now they’re coming.” I waited while everyone processed what I had said.

              “So what are we going to do?” a girl with light brown hair said. I thought her name was Sara.

              “Well we can either run. Or fight. I personally think we should fight. This is our safe house. Our sanctuary. And they can’t take it all away from us!” after my little pep talk almost everyone was nodding their heads but there were still some that were hesitant.

              “They’ve already killed seven of our people! I say we repay the favor!” a boy in a blue hoody yelled passionately.

              “Exactly!” A girl named Rachel argued, “They’ve already killed some of us already! So we know that they’re stronger than us! I don’t think we’d be able to beat them!”

               The room was in an uproar. Everyone wanted to voice their opinions and they were all willing to talk over each other to be heard. I tried to get their attention but to no avail. Eventually I walked over to where I set my pot down earlier, swiped it up and began mercifully beating on it. That got their attention.

                  “I don’t care what any of you do.” I said, losing my patience, “But I’m going to stand up and fight. If you want to join me then come and stand by me.” Most of our little group came and stood by my side, including Ari and Seth. After a moment even Sam came and stood by my side. I stared at him in shock but all he did was smile and slide his hand into mine. The four petite fourteen and fifteen year old girls that were left standing alone looked at each other as if asking what the others wanted to do. After a moment’s hesitation they came to stand with the rest of us. We were a force united.

                  And anyone that tried to mess with us would be sorry. I could feel it in my bones.

                 Sam sat on top of the pyramid and kept watch while I took over in the weapons department. Everyone got knives we had found in the kitchen. We were kind of low on actual weapons so that would have to do. I was secretly hoping that my freaky blow-peoples-heads-off-power would decide to make an appearance but I wasn’t counting on it.

                 A few minutes later Sam picked his way back down the pyramid and informed us that they were almost there. Everyone spread out into one long line facing the window. I stood in the middle with Sam on my right, Ari on my left, and Seth next to her. The minutes ticked by slowly. Eventually I spotted something fly through the window. It must have been an anchor of some sort because someone tugged on the rope from the ground and it held firm. We waited as whoever was at the other end of that roped climbed up.

               Time seemed to slow to a crawl as we all waited in scared anticipation for our intruder to show his face. A head peaked over the window sill. The man that had just invaded our sanctuary had greasy, dirty looking hair, brown leathery skin and a face that looked like it was permanently stuck in a terrifying sneer.

                I couldn’t help but wonder if this was the very man that had slit our friends’ throats.