How much do you really know?

six

    My breath caught in my throat and Walker cursed. I could tell that Walker did not have anything to say and as he stood there with a stupid look on his face, a hushed conversation was happening on the other end of the walkie talkie. I felt like a whole new man was standing over me; he used to be a fearless guard, but when faced with danger, he was a whole different man. A coward, even.
    I tried to focus on the conversation on the other side of the walkie talkie instead of letting Walker's mood rain down on me.
    "DUDE! SHUT UP! You're gonna get us all killed. Drop the walkie talkie and let's get outta here." A deep male voice yelled at the boy who first spoke to Walker. My heart stopped.
    "Relax Bry-" The other guy said.
    "SHUT UP! Dude, notice how I haven't said your name so we don't get killed. For the last time, drop the walkie talkie and let's get out of here." The deep voiced guy sounded a bit fearful.
    "Ok. Relax. One last thing. Hey, Walker!" Walker's face went pale.
    "Why don't you back off of that girl. That's right, we know you have that girl. We will hunt you down and get her. We've got a lot of built up pubescent rage, so you should be scared."
    I tried to hold in a laugh but failed. I found myself actually wanting to meet these boys. They had made me laugh for the first time in as long as I could remember. Walker glared at me as I laughed, but he didn't do anything else.
    Then, static came from the walkie talkie as it lost signal. I figured that the boy with the deep voice destroyed it because he told the other boy to drop it. Walker was staring straight ahead into the forest, focusing on one spot. He still had that defeated look in his eyes, but as they came back into focus and he saw me looking at him, he quickly put back on his 'in charge' face. He stared at me.
    "What are you looking at? Don't think that those silly boys are going to make me let you go. This is what our security is for." He grabbed my wrist and pulled me up with such a force that he almost lifted my feet off the ground.
    "Now let's get going."

    I felt defeated as all hope left my body. How could two boys sneak up on this guard who was practically dragging me through the forest and attack him? Assuming they even got to Walker without him noticing, Walker would be able to take them down in a heartbeat. With these thoughts floating around in my head, I allowed the guard to pull me closer and closer to the base. I didn't even struggle. Right when we had started walking, he clasped a pair of handcuffs to my wrists. He made them too tight and I knew he did it on purpose.
    Walker hadn't spoken since we left, but I sort of wished he would. I wouldn't have cared if he talked about how much he hated me, anything to get my mind off of the pain of the handcuffs on my wrists and my memories. That was the main thing I wished for my whole life, someone to talk to. Someone to laugh with, to cry with, to reminisce with, someone to help me get my mind off everything, but I was the shy one who never talked to anybody, and nobody ever talked to me.
I had been staring straight forward and, as a particularly big step over a fallen branch rubbed the cool metal of the handcuffs on my wrist, sending a jolt of pain up my arm, I glanced down to my hands. My eyes widened at the sight.
    The metal had chaffed my wrists raw. They were more red than the worst sunburn I'd ever had. When I was seven, we took a family trip to the beach for the day. My mom told me to go around the corner to spray sunscreen so I didn't spray it in people's eyes, but I only pretended to spray it. I hated sunscreen. Five hours later, I ran back to my mom, crying. She told me I looked like a tomato.
    That reminder of the past brought memories to my brain that were better left forgotten and I could feel my eyes begin to water. Instead of showing the guard a weakness, I decided to take a risk.
    "Hey Walker, are we almost there?" He quickly turned his head towards me, but did not slow his pace. He had a surprised look on his face, that quickly turned amused.
    "You ready to be back at the base, huh?" I almost told him the truth, that really I just hated the silence and wanted to talk, but I continued with my plan of not showing a weakness to Walker.
    "You were right," A grin spread across his face. "I would never be able to survive out here on my own. I have a better chance of surviving in the base." I tried my best to sculpt my face into a disappointed look. Right then, I had more hope of surviving out there then when I decided to escape. If I could find the two boys, we could help each other, but I decided to pucker up to Walker. Maybe he would treat me better when we arrived back at the base.
    He shot me a confused glance. "Yeah, I know I was right. Maybe if you would have admitted that to yourself sooner, you would be better off."
    My instincts made me want to yell at him or fight and try to get away, but I forced that feeling away.
    Walker smirked and glanced down at his walkie talkie. He had been doing that the whole time we were walking, and I figured it was because nobody was speaking through it. He had checked if he had silenced it, multiple times, but it always ended in a sigh and him putting it back in its place on his belt. Not a single sound had come through the speaker since the voices of the two boys.
    My head jolted up when a sudden crack sounded through the forest. Walker immediately stopped and looked around, but he did not loosen his grip on my arm.
"What was that?" I whispered as quietly as I could. He just put a finger up to his mouth and tightened his grip on my arm, as if warning me not to speak.
My heart was racing, rushing blood through my veins. I spoke again, more of an attempt to calm my nerves than to annoy the guard.
    "It was probably just an animal or something." He gave me a sharp glare. Pain rushed down my arm as he squeezed even tighter. I closed my eyes tightly and clamped my lips together. I could already feel my fingers getting cold. He was slowing the blood flow to my left hand. I bet he didn't even realize how tight his grip was.
    He was still anxiously looking at our surroundings, trying to find the source of the noise. The setting sun cast an eerie orange glow over everything.
I was also anxiously trying to find out what made that noise, but spotted nothing. Whatever it was, it must have been small and already ran away. But how could something small have made that loud of a crack? Anyway, we hadn't heard it in a couple minutes, so I figured it was nothing. Walker, however, was still tense.
As I looked behind me, I caught a glimpse of movement. Something that resembled a circle had quickly gone behind a tree. I gasped and Walker turned to me.
    "What?!" he demanded. I was still staring at that tree and quickly looked down at the ground.
    "I... um nothing. I just realized I left something in my room." It was the first thing that came to my mind, but I had actually just realized something. The circle share I had seen was a tan color, with dark brown hair on top. My eyes had gone wide when I realized it was a head.
    Walker narrowed his eyes at me. "Yeah, okay." He didn't believe me but didn't have the patience to argue, or maybe he was just too scared.
    I wondered if the person was one of the two guys who had contacted Walker through the walkie talkie.
    Or it could be a guard trying to find me, but why would he be hiding behind a tree?
    The guard was slowly loosening his grip on my arm, but did not let go.
    "I need to go investigate this noise."
    I gave a small laugh. "It was one twig snapping. In the forest. What could it possibly be? Whatever it was has probably already run off by now. All you've been doing for the past three minutes is standing. " He did not look amused; his face was pure concentration.
    "It's protocol. I need to find it, or determine it was nothing, for our safety." I sighed. I knew it was a person and I was trying to do everything I could to make it so Walker would not investigate without sounding like I was trying too hard.
    "I can't bring you with me while I look." He pulled me toward a tree that was relatively thinner than all the surrounding trees.
    "What are you doing!" I screamed at him. I tried to pull my arm out of his large hand, but he was too strong. "Leaving me here is less safe than bringing me with you!"
    "I will be within earshot. You will only mess up my search." Sweat was pooling up on my forehead, starting to drip down my face. What if the people got Walker, then left me here, all alone in the forest, handcuffed to a tree?
    I continued to pull away from him to no avail. When we arrived in front of the tree, he pushed me down to my knees. My face was close enough to the trunk to catch a whiff of the smell of pine. Walker kneeled next to me and grabbed both my hands in one of his. I was staring straight forward as Walker reached into his pocket to retrieve the key to the handcuffs. I was still trying to pull my hands away.
    I caught a glimpse of motion directly in front of me. I immediately stiffened and stopped fighting as a figure appeared from behind a large tree.
It was a buff guy with dark skin, hair, and eyes. He looked to be about 18 or 19, as he was already growing a beard.
    His dark eyes were full of anger.
    Walker looked up as I stopped struggling and his eyes grew wide.
    The boy smiled.
    "Hiya Walker."

Walker took a sharp breath and glared at the boy. He immediately stood up to try and intimidate him.
"What do you want?" Walker said in a stern voice. The boy laughed as if Walker was only a small child.
    "Oh, you know. Just one simple thing. I want the girl."
    The guard shook his head. "Who do you think you are? I am a guard of GORG. Do you dare stand against me?"
    "Oh I do," The boy replied, the smirk never leaving his face.
    Walker tried to seem cool and collected, but the hand on my shoulder was stern. His voice seemed a little shaky, but then again, I was barely able to see straight now. What if this boy was kidnapping me?
    My heart was beating as fast as a train and I never took my eyes off the boy.
    "Give me the girl or you will regret it."
    Walker let out a small chuckle. "I'll regret it huh? Yeah, okay."
    The boy's smile widened.
    "Are you giving up your chance?" the boy asked.
    "I think I'll take a risk." The boy smiled and his eyes flitted to a spot right behind us. Walker spun around and I twisted my head to see what the boy had looked at.
    Directly behind us was a group of guys, all in their teens, all with a smirk on their faces. I forced down a scream as they all advanced on us, enclosing us in a circle. I again tried to pull away from Walker, but he slapped me along the face with his free hand. I refused to show any pain, even though I felt my face go red, then become tingly. The boys scowled.
    Then, he let go of me for the first time in who knows how long, and got into a fighting stance.
    "I have had top notch training, the best of the best. Do you boys really think you can defeat me?"
    A boy with jet black hair chuckled. I embraced the sound; I hadn't heard laughter in a long time.
    "Good thing we've had lots of free time to prepare."
    Walker narrowed his eyes.
    The boys had formed a full circle around us. They were getting so close that I could smell the soap that we were forced to use at the base. It was a fresh scent, with a hint of chemicals. It was obvious that they weren't trying to make us smell the best. From that smell, I figured that these boys were from the base.
In total, there were ten boys. I had only thought there were two from what I had heard through the walkie talkie, but apparently I was wrong, unless it was a different group, but that was very unlikely.
    One boy caught my eyes and he smiled at me as if to say "you'll be fine." He had soft eyes, and I untensed a little bit. He ran his hand through his soft, blond hair and turned back to Walker. As soon as his eyes were on Walker, they hardened.
    I kept my eyes on the boy we saw first. He authoritative figure made it seem as if he was the leader. Maybe he was.
    When I saw his hand twitch slightly, I shrugged it off.
    Then the boys were on Walker as fast as lightning.
    I was frozen in fear and surprise as they sped past me.
    "I am a guard of GORG! We will find you and you will be punished for this! Stop immediately or I will contact the authority!"
    The boy that had smiled at me earlier came up from behind me and pulled me to my feet. He was stronger than he looked. He stared at Walker.
    "Yeah, how are you gonna do that?"
    Walker's eyes narrowed and he didn't speak. The black haired boy snorted and said, "Ha! We got you there, huh Walker?"
    Five buff boys held the guard still, and Walker wasn't even struggling against them. The supposed leader of this group of boys stood right in front of Walker. My eyes grew wide. What was he going to do? The boy lifted up a fist and punched Walker in the nose.
    I gasped, but neither the boys nor the guard reacted. Walker stood still with a grin on his face as blood dripped into his mouth.
    But, as the boy lifted his hand up for another punch and swung, Walker ducked down. With the boys holding him distracted by the sudden movement, he ripped his arms free of their grip. He quickly swung around and punched a boy with closely-cropped hair.
    The boy holding my shoulder tensed and I heard him mutter under his breath.
    "Damn, I thought I wasn't going to have to get into this."
    Him and two other boys, including the one with the jet black hair ran, in to help out. I jumped to my feet and watched as a boy with freckles scattered across his face threw a punch.
    I noticed another boy standing nearby. He had big, brown eyes hidden behind black glasses. His dark brown hair looked incredibly soft. He was leaning against a tree and was watching the fight nervously.
    When his eyes caught mine, they quickly flicked to the leaf-covered dirt at his feet.
    I focused back on the fight and realised that the nine boys who were fighting had overpowered the guard and Walker was now unconscious on the ground. Some of the boys were yelling and high fiving, while others were wiping blood off their knuckles and faces.
    A smile formed on my face. I felt like their energy was transferring to me and I had the sudden urge to join in on their celebration, but the dark skinned boy came out from the group and yelled at them to shut up.
    "Good job everyone, but we need to leave now."
    Yeah, he was definitely the leader.
    Everyone grumbled but started following the boy. I stood awkwardly until one boy waved his hand to me and I followed in the back of the group.