Escape Route (Decode Sequel)

Chapter Seven - Orange Juice and Vodka.

Lennon.

“You’re really gonna kill your own daughter?” His fingers wound they way tighter around my neck, his nails digging into the surface. “It won’t make you a man, only a coward.” I spat viciously with the little air I had left to give. I tried to pull his hands away but he was adamant on not moving. His eyes glared straight into mine, the colour darkening and deeming gradually. If it wasn’t for the fact I could barely breathe anyway, I would have been holding my breath from fear. His pupils expanded so big it made half his eye look black, and then I understood why everyone feared the look. It felt like I was looking at death, at everything I feared and it would be the last thing I saw before I died. But it wasn’t.

His arms swung low and flung me to the floor with an impeccable force. My hands reached out just in time to stop my head colliding with the concrete road. I could see the pistol feet away but it was like he could read my mind, he stamped on my hand causing me to let out a blood curdling scream. Zayn was still lying on the floor, his efforts of fighting back were dwindling. 

“Get up.” His steel toed boot hit my ribcage creating an unbearable pain. I grunted in response and continued to stare angrily at the ground, ignoring his inhumane commands. I shielded my face with my arms and hands, scared he would attempt to kick me there. It was dead for a second, no one spoke or moved and I was tempted to look up. However, I didn’t have a choice when my head was yanked upwards by sheer force of my hair being pulled. I screamed in agony but he didn’t let go. 

“Get up, or I’ll kill him.” Axel had a gun resting on Zayn’s temple, I could see the sweat dripping down his face, the pleading look in his eyes. I scrambled to my feet without a second thought. 

“I’m up.” I stated. “Now take the gun away from his head,” I sneered through my gritted teeth, looking right up into his eyes which had returned to a semi-normal state. 

“Empty your pockets.”

“What?” Zayn asked as the gun was drawn away from his forehead. 

Axel growled at him and pointed the barrel of the pistol straight between his eyes. I held my breath as watched as if time slowed down significantly. Zayn gulped visibly and tore everything out of his pockets, throwing his belongings on the ground. Axel turned to me, the gun still pointed at Zayn, as if he didn’t feel like he needed to threaten me to do as he wanted. I saw Zayn subtly nod and I proceeded to throw my things away from my body. My phone hit the floor with such a force I hoped it cracked and damaged the screen as well as the insides. If I couldn’t have my phone, then neither could they. Axel sighed assuming I was doing it as a tantrum but he should know not to underestimate someone who has the same blood. 

On the dirty tarmac lay several sets of keys, cracked phones and pocket rubbish. One of Axel’s men quickly swept up everything and disappeared with it in his dirty hands. Axel held a gun to the back of Zayn’s head and forced us both to walk towards one of the cars that had been trailing us. It made my skin crawl knowing he had been watching, they had been stalking us. I tried to look back around, praying that through some miracle Calum would jump up full of life and save the day, but he didn’t. I could make out the silhouette of his lifeless body in the front of our car, hunched over the steering wheel. I didn’t have the energy to cry anymore. 

Zayn and I were forced into the back of a black van, the doors slammed behind us. But we weren’t left alone, one of Axel’s men sat on the cold, metal floor with us. However, he had a gun loaded in his hand and neither me nor Zayn did. We hadn’t been handcuffed thankfully so we were able to balance ourselves as the van steered sharply around corners and unforgivingly over speed bumps.