Silent Knight

Chapter Three

The van slows to a stop. Someone drags me by my arms and throws me into a dark room. I manage to get the hood off my head and stand up, run to the door, and pound on it. I am screaming, crying, trying to get anyone to come to help me. I am yelling for mom and dad for hours until my voice is raspy, desperate for someone, anyone to take me home.

But no one comes to my rescue.

The door to the darkroom opens, and light blindingly floods in. Someone grabs me up off the floor and drags me back down long hallways, ignoring my wails. They bring me into a dimly lit room where I see my parents. They are tied down to chairs, both of them covered in blood and bruises. My mother sees the men dragging me into the room,

"No!" she cries, "Not them! Please!" she pleads, tears running down her face. I am trembling, what were they going to do? Why were they doing this? I look over to dad, who has a steel look on his face, hiding his emotions. I am thrown onto the floor and look up to see the other person in the room. The face is one I had seen on T.V. Zane Crimson, a powerful C.E.O. of Crimson Inc, a humanitarian company that had been providing relief for The War. I let out the breath I am holding and take another deep one, this whole thing was just a misunderstanding, he would never do anything wrong. On the T.V., he is always smiling. I look up at his face again, and the smile he has is no longer kind and reassuring; instead, it looks dark and nasty.

"Then tell me where the research is." Mr. Crimson says calmly. My dad shakes his head,

"We'll never tell you!" he says firmly.

"Then you leave me no choice."

Mr. Crimson walks up to me and grabs me by the arm. I try to resist, but the man is a lot stronger than I. He walks me over to the other side of the room where there sits an old barbecue. I can see the fear in my parents' eyes as he turns it on to full heat. The flame rises above the grill, and it lights up the rest of the room, the shadows of the flames dancing on the walls.

"Don't!" my mother yells, her voice breaking. I am being held very close to the open flame; it is hot against my face. I want to go home. I can feel tears rolling down my face,

"Mom?" I ask, scared. "What's going on?" The man tells me to shut up and grabs a bundle of my hair. He uses it to force my head down into the flames. I scream out in pain as the fire begins to devour my skin. Mr. Crimson turns my head so that I am facing my parents, "MOM! DAD!" I scream, "HELP! PLEASE!" The more I scream and cry, the more smoke enters my lungs. I close my eyes, but that only makes the pain worse. It feels like it is never going to end.

I woke up shaking and sweating. But it wasn't the dream that woke me. The lights in my house were flashing red, I could hear the siren going off. Someone was here. The alarm rarely went off, mostly tripped by drunk people who think a midnight swim in the ocean is a good idea. But I had a feeling in my gut this wasn't the drunken college students. I quickly got up off the couch I had fallen asleep on and threw on my suit before going to look at the security cameras. My mouth fell open. Outside my garage, trying to figure out how to open the door stood a squad of men in dark uniforms, each carrying high powered weapons.

I'd been compromised.

"How did you find me?" I mumbled, cursing under my breath as I made my way to the secret door in the back. It was built for moments like these, though I never thought it would happen. I grabbed what little things I needed and fled to the back door. I knew that I could easily take on these people, but if they knew where I was, it would only lead to more trouble, it meant more people knew as well. One person knocking on my door was enough. Before I left, I took one good look at the house and sighed. I was going to miss this place. But then again, it was foolish of me to think it would last forever.