Kidnapped

Chapter 11

Chapter 11! 11 is an unlucky number.... :(

Chaper 11: 

We were sitting a few feet away from the van, the door still open and Dave holding me in his arms as I cried, people rushing around and trying to ask us questions, flashing lights and paramedics trying to help Jake.

"He's gone." I said.

"I'm so sorry, Erica." Dave said.

"Its not your fault." I replied. But I cried onto his shirt anyways. I probably would've died along with Jake if Dave hadn't been holding me.

"I thought we'd found him. I thought he was safe." I said. Dave didn't reply. There wasn't really anything else he could do to help me, to calm me down, to make things better. Jake was dead. Nothing could stop the tears.

We sat there for a few more minutes, not speaking, ignoring anyone who tried to ask us questions, crying. My mind wandered, thinking of everything that had happened. Then a thought hit me, out of the blue.

I was thinking of the note. The first one, where it said "I can kill your brother with one click of a button."

Click of a button...

Then I thought of Jake's face when I saw him in the hospital. He looked sad. Scared. Like he knew something we didn't.

Something we didn't...

Then I thought of the man with the gun. Jake's kidnapper. His face. His evil voice. He ran away as soon as he heard the gunshot. He got out of there.

Got out of there...

Jake was locked inside the van. He was left alone, nobody was with him.

Nobody was with him...

And the van- it was parked far away from the alley.

Away from the alley...

Click of a button. What button could they click that would kill him?

Something we didn't. What did Jake know? Was it that there were more kids? Or was there something worse than that?

Got out of there. Why did he get out of there so fast? Why didn't he shoot us all first? It took a while for the police and everyone to get here anyways.

Nobody was with him. Why did they leave him in there? He was able to get up and move around. Did they want him to escape?

Away from the alley. Why wasn't the van parked near the alley? It was a way down the street, why park it that far?

My mind swirled as I started piecing the puzzle together. I tried to block out the thought that came to mind. It couldn't be true. But it all made sense. It was as clear as day, as obvious as the flashing lights blinking into my eyes.

Then I heard it.

A beeping noise.

My eyes widened.

I grabbed Dave's hand and turned away from the van, pushing myself forward, ready to spring into a sprint.

"It's a bomb!" I shouted, then rushed forward, away from the van, pulling Dave with me. "It's a bomb!" I shouted again, at the officers, the paramedics, the firemen. And I ran.

"Hey! Wait!" One officer said, noticing us running. "You can't leave!" He rushed forward and grabbed my arm to stop me.

"There's a bomb in the van!" I shouted at him desperately.

"Hey, everything's fine. Just stay calm, okay?" The officer said. He said something into a walkie talkie then turned back to us. Was he just going to stand here? Waiting for someone to go check if there really was a bomb? It could go off any second! What if we all died, and it was his fault?!

"Sir, we have to leave now! It's going to go off!" I said, trying to free myself of his grasp as he held my arms. He ignored me, so I turned to Dave.

"Dave! There's a bomb in the van! We have to leave!" I said. He stared at me for a second, searching my face.

He didn't believe me either.

"Dave!" I said desperately, tears streaming down my face. He turned around to look at the van. I could see in his eyes the moment he saw the bomb. His mouth formed a frown and his eyes turned dark.

"Thirty seconds." He said when he turned back to me. Then he grabbed the officers arms and twisted them until he let go of me. The officer shouted in pain but all Dave said was "Run."

And so we ran. Away from the van, the bomb, the flashing lights. And as we ran, I counted.

One, two, three...

There were shouts and people pointed as they noticed us running away.

Nine, ten, eleven...

I heard someone from near the van shout "Bomb!" Then people shouting in fear and panic.

Seventeen, eighteen, nineteen...

Footsteps started forming behind us as people ran. It was too late. We weren't going to make it. I willed my legs to move faster.

Twenty-two, twenty-three...

My foot hit something and pain shot up my leg. No!

Twenty-four...

I hit the ground with a thump.

Twenty-five...

Dave turned around. "Under the car!" He said, then helped me roll under the car.

Twenty-six...

"Get down!" Someone shouted.

Twenty-seven...

Dave laid down and rolled under the car with me.

Twenty-eight...

I shut my eyes and braced myself for the explosion. The impact. Death.

Twenty-nine...

Silence.

Thirty.

A loud noise, like a gunshot or a crack of lightning but ten times louder, filled the silence. It was deafening. The air around me turned hot as a wave of heat rushed past us.

I don't know how long I laid under the car, waiting, holding my breath with my eyes closed. It felt like forever to me, but it could've been only minutes for all I know. Eventually, Dave's voice called to me, bringing me back up from the dark world I'd buried myself in, trying to hide from the explosion.

"Erica." My name coming from his mouth sounded like music. Simple. Soft. Lovely. Beautiful.

"Dave." I replied, trying to capture the same music-like tone in my voice. "Am I dead?"

"I sure hope not. I've never heard a dead person talking before." He replied.

"I'm afraid to open my eyes." I told him. "I'm afraid you won't be there and I'll be in heaven all alone." I said. "Or hell."

I felt Dave's fingers curl around mine. "I'm here." He said. I finally opened my eyes. He was there, laying under the car next to me, holding my hand. I let out a long breath.

"Good."

We rolled out from under the car, but I didn't stand up, I just looked up at the dark night sky, the stars twinkling.

"Erica," Dave said, standing over me and looking down. He held out his hand and I took it. Once I was standing up again, Dave threw his arms around me.

"You saved us." He said.

"What? How?" I asked, returning the hug but not quite understanding.

"If you hadn't noticed the bomb, and we sat there for another minute, we would've been blown to bits." He said.

"Oh."

"Thank you." He said, hugging me a little tighter. We stood there for a second, holding each other. Afraid to let go.

"I thought you didn't believe me." I said.

"What?"

"Back when the officer wouldn't let us run. I thought you didn't believe me about the bomb."

"Of course I believed you." Dave said. His voice was still music in my ears. It calmed me, helped me breathe right.

"Dave?" I said, pulling my head back to look at him.

"Yeah?" He asked.

"Jake told me something." I said, trying to hold back my tears as I suddenly remembered what he said. "He told me that there's more. Kids, I mean. That have been kidnapped too."

"More?"

"Yeah." I sucked in a breath. "He asked me to save them."

"Erica, you could-"

"I'm going to try." I cut him off. He stared down into my eyes. There was a long pause before he spoke again.

"I know." He told me. Then he leaned in and pressed his lips to mine. I couldn't describe all the feelings I felt in that moment even if I tried. When he pulled away, he looked down at me and smiled. My heart seemed to melt inside.

"And I'm going to help." He told me. It wasn't even a question.

Dave was going to help. We were going to save them. All if them.

Either that or die.

Dave must have read my mind. "We can do it, and I promise nothing's going to happen to either of us." He said.

"I hope so." I said.

"We'll be heros when we find them and save them all." He told me.

Except Jake. For Jake, it was too late. I felt my eyes getting watery.

Dave leaned in and kissed me again, trying to comfort me. And it worked, too, because all I could think of at that moment was his lips on mine, his face so close, his arms around me. Him. There was nothing else in the world but him.

When he pulled away, tears stopped threatening to spill over as a new thought came to mind. Sure, Jake was gone. Yes, I was sad. But I thought of all the other families that would be happy to have their children back once we saved them all. Of all the other children that it wasn't too late to save. I could help them. All of them.

"For Jake." I whispered.

"For Jake." Dave whispered back before closing the distance between us and kissing me a third time.