A Silent Victim || ONC 2022

Chapter One

My eyes widened in fear at the sight in front of me. I had to be dreaming. There's no way I could actually be witnessing something this twisted and sadistic. I moved my right foot slowly behind me, trying to be as quiet as possible, but with me, I should've known that it wouldn't be that easy. Right when my foot made contact with the ground again, I heard a light cracking sound of a twig snapping under my foot.

Normally you probably wouldn't even hear the twig breaking, but as quiet as the woods were right now, I might as well have just set off a bomb, because it didn't take long for every set of eyes to turn my way. Six burly men stood there, staring at me. I stood frozen in my spot, scared that if a single strand of my hair moved, they'd kill me.

Six men in total, two of which were acting as guards, while the other four, well the other four men were currently dumping a body wrapped in a black tarp into an already dug grave. I released a shaky breath as me and the six men continued our little staring contest. Well that was until one of them slowly reached behind him and pulled out a gun.

That was all the reasoning I needed. I quickly turned on my heels and hightailed my happy little ass out of there.

"Get her!" One of the men screamed out as the sound of heavy footsteps followed.

Shit, shit, shit. This couldn't be happening. There's no way this could be happening to me. A panicked whimper passed my lips as I could hear a gun being fired before tree bark went flying in different directions.

Oh fuck, I thought as I quickened my pace. I really did it this time. I really fucked up this time. I could hear them grow closer to me, and like an idiot, I turned my head just enough to look behind me. I wish my dumb ass had never done that because they were a lot closer to me than I had thought they were.

I turned my head back around, taking a left as I tried to increase my speed. At times like this is where I curse myself for not being more athletic. I could feel myself slowing down despite my efforts. My lungs were burning, my legs were starting to feel like jelly. I kept telling myself that I had to push past this, but those thoughts were short-lived as an intense burning sensation spread throughout my right calve.

A blood-curdling scream escaped my now scratchy feeling throat, as I crumbled to the ground. I looked behind me to see blood oozing from the gaping wound on my leg.

When the hell did they fire their gun? I never heard the gun go off. I could hear the crunching of leaves grow closer to me, causing me to panic even more. I couldn't let them get their hands on me. If they did, that was it. I would probably be dumped in the same grave that that poor body was just dumped in.

I gritted my teeth as I pushed myself into a standing position. I whimpered out with each step I took. I don't think I've ever been in so much pain before. Every step I took, I could feel blood gush out of the wound. My leg was starting to go numb, but at the same time, I could feel everything.

I was able to stumble over to a big oak tree. I leaned against it, trying to catch my breath, even if it was just for a second or two. I pushed myself away from the tree only to hit the ground, as I screamed out in pain.

Again, but how? The back of my left thigh was burning just like how my calve had done. I reached back, feeling the back of my thigh only to confirm that I had been shot once more.

The bastards took out both my legs, making it to where I couldn't go anywhere. Fuck, this is bad. I have to get out of here even if I have to crawl my way out of here. I reached my arms out in front of me as I began to drag myself forward.

"Oh, I don't think so, sweetheart," a deep, sickening voice said from behind me.

I could feel someone grab hold of my hoodie before roughly yanking me to where I was lying on my back. Looking around, I saw four of the men standing around me, two of them holding guns. I breathed in an uneven breath as my vision blurred, my eyes stinging from the tears that fell down my cheeks.

I didn't want to die, not yet. I still had so many things that I wanted to do. All I wanted to do today was take a walk in the woods to try to make myself feel better. But no, what do I do? I wind up making myself a fucking witness to murder or whatever and now I'm going to die.

"What all did you see?" One of them asked.

I quickly shook my head, hoping he understood.

"Not going to talk huh?" He said as he moved closer to me, pulling out a long serrated hunting knife.

I swear my heart just stopped. What was he going to do with that? Oh god please tell me he wasn't going to use that on me.

He placed one leg on either side of me, before squatting down. He reached forward, roughly grabbing a hold of my face. He firmly pressed the knife against my throat right where my jugular was at, my body shook uncontrollably as his brown, almost black-looking eyes peered down at me.

"I'm only going to ask one more time, and you better fucking answer me because I'm in a foul mood today. What did you see?"

I slowly brought my shaking hands up as he watched my every movement. My trembling hands begin to sign out my answer as his eyes slightly widened.

"What's taking so long?" One of them asked from behind us.

The guy above me let go of my face as I sobbed out.

"Are you deaf or mute?" He asked me.

"Mute," I signed.

He sighed out in frustration before standing up and walking over to the other three guys. I could hear them going back and forth before one of them pulled out a phone. The one on the phone walked away from the group. The other men turned their attention towards me.

My body froze at their intense gaze. What were they going to do to me? The guy walked back over to the group, whispering something before he walked over to me, pulling his gun out. I tried to drag myself away from him, but he grabbed a hold of me before I could get too far. He flipped the gun to where he was holding the barrel of the gun, before swinging the handle of the gun at me, causing everything to go black after it made contact with my head.