In Dying Light

Hurt and Sound - Jennifer

It was late at night. I heard a shattering noise coming from the living room. I quickly grabbed my rifle from my closet. Another noise came from down stairs. It almost sounded like a scream. I cocked the rifle and quietly opened my door. My boot creaked on the hard wood floor.

"Did you hear that?" A male voice asked.

"Yeah, it sounded like it was coming from up stairs."

I took in a deep breath and put my back to the wall. The sound of footsteps started coming up the steps. When I saw a shadowy figure walk next to me, I hit him in the face with the butt of the gun.

There was a crunch and then the man was clutching onto his nose. "Son of a -"

I heard multiple voices screaming from down stairs. The man was lying on the floor now. He kept screaming in pain. I sighed and pointed the barrel at his head. I shot without hesitation.

The voices were getting closer. I moved out of my hiding space and ran to my room. I locked the door and set the rifle down by my feet.

"Shit!" Someone yelled. "Who did this?"

"The girl! The girl did it!" My eyes opened wide.

I took in a deep breath and prayed I wouldn't die tonight. The door to my room broke open. I hid in the shadows. "Where are you girl?" A man asked.

Should I dare move? Well, I did. I ran and held the rifle to the back of the man's head.

"Oh, you shouldn't do that girl." As if on cue, I heard a gun cock behind me.

I dropped my rifle and the man in front of me lunged at me. I ducked down and made a run for it downstairs. My feet were pounding on the wooden floor as I made it to the front door.

Swinging the door open, I made it out to my truck. My heart suddenly dropped. My keys are back in my room. The men made it outside. I got out of the truck and I made my way to the woods. The moon was the only thing lighting my path. Voices were beginning to scatter.

My breathing soon turned into panting. I put my back to the tree. I took in a big breath of air. Sweat was slowly starting to drip down my face. Once I stopped hearing the voices, I decided to run back and grab my keys.

I checked and made sure no one was in the house. Everybody was gone. I made my way up to my room and grabbed my keys from my dresser and I grabbed my rifle from the floor. It was dead silent. I ran to my truck and stuck the keys in the ignition. Black shadows began racing towards the car. I turned the key and the truck stuttered to life.

As I was making my out of the driveway, gun shots exploded through the silent forest. All but one missed my car. One shot made the back window shatter. I ducked down and the truck began swerving.

Lifting my head up, the screams were becoming more distant and I gained control of the truck. I let out a shaky sigh. "This really can't be happening." I whispered to myself and ran a hand through my hair.

There was no one on the vacant highway. That started to get me worried. What if I die out here? No one will find my body for a while. I shook that thought from my head. The headlights were gone. I hit the brakes and the truck skidded to a stop. It was nearing two in the morning. A sudden bright light filled my vision. "Oh shit." I whispered and floored on the gas. The headlights were approaching quickly.

A guardrail was coming up on the next turn. I noticed one of the cars coming into the lane next to me. He pushed the truck and I swerved to the right. The next thing I remember was being pushed up against the guardrail. Sparks were flaring from the side. The guy moved his car to the side and then slammed back into the truck with full force. I began spinning the wheel which was a bad idea. The car next to me slammed me again with a bigger force than last time. The guardrail finally broke free. I wrapped my arms around the wheel as the truck began rolling. The airbag pushed me back before I hit the bottom of the steep hill. My head hit the headrest and then I slammed into the door and window. A faint crack! was heard and I began screaming.

The truck landed upside down I blacked out for a few moments. I let out a faint groan as I felt the ceiling under me. The sound of tires screeching was the only thing I heard. Someone was sliding down the hill. My seatbelt was jammed and I didn't have a knife to cut through the fabric.

"Hey!" Someone screamed. A light was shining in my eyes. "Are you okay?"

I squinted past the light. I shook my head as the man removed the light from my eyes. He was wearing what look like a police officer uniform. His hand came to touch me, but I flinched away.

"It's okay. I'm an officer." He said, grabbing something from his belt. "What is your name?"

"J - Jennifer," I whispered.

"Well, Jennifer, my name is Officer Reynolds. Okay? Now, I'm going to help you get out of here and take you back to town."

"Okay." I nodded as a couple stray tears roll down my face.

Officer Reynolds began cutting away at my seatbelt. And then he cut the lap belt. I felt him catch me before I fell back onto the seat. Officer Reynolds gently pulled me out of the truck window and helped me stand up. I winced in pain. My ankle felt like it was either sprained or broken. It felt more broken than anything. "This is Officer Reynolds. I have an accident out the outside of town on the Harris Highway. Send back up immediately."

Twigs snapped behind us. I noticed it was the men from the cabin.

"May I help you?" Officer Reynolds put his hand on the butt of his gun.

"I wouldn't do that officer." The main man said.

"Did you boys do this?" Officer Reynolds asked, removing his hand from his gun.

The main man shrugged. "Why do you won't to know?"

"The cops will be here soon. I suggest you leave right now."

"Oh," the main man made a pouty kind of face, "now, a man made a nice capture and a poor man has to ruin it. That's just a damn shame."

The men surrounding the main guy began nodding in agreement. More tears began to fall down my face. I sighed and collapsed against the beaten truck. Officer Reynolds began getting on his last nerve.

"I demanded you right now to get away from here and never to return."

One second, Officer Reynolds grabbed his gun and then the next second, he was lying on the ground unconscious. A rain of bullets fell over me. I struggled to my knees and crawled over to him. There was something flat under his jacket. I took off his jacket and noticed there was a bulletproof vest. The men's footsteps began approaching me. I went over to the broken window and tried to grab my rifle lying on the floor of the passenger side.

I felt someone grab my ankle. I kicked him away with my boot and tried grabbing the rifle again. He grabbed me faster this time before I had time to respond. The man rolled me over on my back. I whimpered in pain as the man main sat down on my lap.

"What's wrong, baby girl?" The man whispered as he removed a strand of hair from my face.

"Why can't you just leave me alone?" I whispered as some more tears rolled down my face.

"You where next on our list," the man sighed. "We didn't want to pick you. Honestly, we didn't. We wanted the guy first. It wasn't in our possession to chose who we get."

I looked away and the main guy got off of me. Two men helped me up and carried me over to the tree line. "We got sirens!" Someone warned.

"Damn." The main man said. He looked back at me. "Watch the girl; make sure she doesn't get away."

The two men nodded. I was too weak to keep fighting these guys. I've been fighting for what seems like eternity. I sighed and my head fell to the side.

"Is everyone alright?" A female voice asked.

"I don't know. The person was gone before I arrived."

The man and the officer's conversation went on for what seem like forever. I felt someone pick me up bridal style and carry me to some place. A mix of tiredness and weakness just consumed my body. I didn't care was I was going at this point. All I wanted was to sleep. If I couldn't sleep, then I'd just rather die.