No Escape

Chapter 7

Darkness. Where the hell am I? What is on my face? Why does everything hurt? What's happening with me?
Ellie Maisie felt many unanswered questions racing through her mind. When she stopped, she could feel a painful, burning sensation in her arm. She tried to shake her arm, but came to the realization that her hands were tied together behind what she could assume was a wooden chair. She then felt that feeling in her forehead, her legs, her arm. She felt a stream of thick liquid dripping from her knee onto her foot. She was bleeding.

Was I kidnapped? But why? This never happens. This is the kind of thing from movies. Oh God, where am I? Why don't I remember anything? Why does everything hurt? Say something. Say something.
She began sweating and breathing heavily in between tear-filled gasps. She didn't know how to react to this. She wasn't exactly sure how to begin crying for help. She just needed to be loud and heard. She opened her mouth widely and let out the most blaring scream in her life. It was high-pitched and deafening. You could hear the desperation in her voice.
"Who's there!?" yelled Ariana Weeks' voice.
"Ariana?" Ellie Maisie gasped.

"Ellie Maisie? Where are you?"
"I have no idea."
"Ariana, Ellie Maisie. Are you guys there?" Mo Cristofaro yelled.
"Mo! What are you doing here?" Nanette's voice inquired.
"Nanette!" Ariana yelled.
"Well," Ellie Maisie sighed awkwardly, "This is certainly an inconvenient meeting point."
"It is quite weird," Nanette agreed.
"Alright, so I don't really know who took us here, but I'm assuming it was the same guys who went to my house yesterday and smacked me on the head with a forty-five," Mo explained.

"That's quite the story Mo, do you think they're going to kill us?" Ellie Maisie gulped.
"Depends what they're asking for."
"That's not helpful," Ariana said sternly.
"I don't think they'll kill us, they want us for a reason, and the assassination of a president is something they probably wouldn't dare to do," Nanette said reassuringly.
"That's idiotic!" Ariana exclaimed.
"Yeah I know, I was trying to stay optimistic!" Nanette cried.
There was a loud slam in front of and the sound of a door being opened was heard clear as day.

"Looks like our guests have awoken," the calm, professional voice of a man spoke, "Why so silent?"
Mo angrily yelled.
"Let us go! What is wrong with you? You're a psychopath"
"Calm down sweetheart," the man patronized, "Haven't you heard that overemotional girls tend to be barren?"
What? Ellie Maisie thought, What does that mean? I've never heard that before. Who does he think he is?
"Who are you?" Ariana yelled.
"Gosh, look at that," the man laughed, "Ariana Weeks in the flesh. The president of the United States of America. Just what the world

needed, more women in government. What a waste!"
Who is this man? Ellie Maisie thought, Why is he talking like this to us?
"Take their blindfolds off," the man ordered.
Ellie Maisie felt someone approaching and violently ripping the cloth from her face. She could now see everything. They were in a small room with white, tiled walls, showered with drops of dry blood and a rocky floor. On the ceiling there was a single broken light, loosely hanging from a minuscule hole in the roof. Ellie Maisie's arms and legs were bleeding, her clothes were dirty and drenched from her sweat. Nanette, Mo, and Ariana were no different. Her hands were indeed

tied together behind a wooden chair at the center of the room by a similar cloth to that that had been covering her eyes. There were five men in that room with them. Four of them were wearing identical, casual black clothing and were taking their blindfolds off. She stared at the diverse group of men who had removed their blindfolds, all standing in. In front of her was the man who had been speaking in such uncommon language and patronizing tongues. This man was tall, he wore a black and white tuxedo and wielded a 12- inch handgun. His face was bearded, he had short gray-brown hair, blue eyes and a diagonal, and a 4-inch scar that began at his right eyebrow and ended on his left cheek. He looked threatening, something Ellie Maisie had never felt before. She

had never felt threatened by anyone in her life, except this man. He seemed familiar but she couldn't place her finger on it.
"Now will you tell us who you are?" Nanette asked seriously.
"Patience women," the man laughed, "You know, if I were tied up in a dark room against my will, I would think twice about how I spoke to the man who was keeping me there."
He stepped forward, raising his gun and placing the barrel against Nanette's forehead.
"Be careful what you do," Nanette warned sternly, "Do you really think life would be easy for you if you assassinate a politician? Don't do something stupid."

The man removed his gun and placed it in his pocket smugly.
"Alright then, I wasn't planning on killing you," he explained, "I guess I owe you, women, an answer. My name is Keres."
"Croatian?" Ariana asked.
"Greek actually, but I'm American," he said, "My entire life I've been fascinated by earlier civilizations. Earlier ways of life. Do you know what I noticed? There is a hierarchy. Someone is always above everyone else. Someone is always richer, more valuable than everyone else. Nowadays we have resorted to a way of life that is completely abhorrent. Women presidents. Women can't lead. You know what I saw when I looked at you people from across the ballroom yesterday. I saw a

threat to society, a menace to normalcy."
"That was you!" Ellie Maisie exclaimed, "You were looking at us."
"Of course. My philosophy is that power and strength are the man's birthright, and the woman is the help. Women are unqualified to be presidents, lawyers, governors, or pilots, women don't behave like women anymore. I'm not the only man who thinks like this. For the past twenty years, I have dedicated my life to connecting with other smart men across the globe and creating an organization, planning a coup d'etat larger than anything you have ever seen or heard of. The operation was executed perfectly. We brought powerful women from all over the world. They will stay with us in

this facility and we will train you to become women, then we shall release you back to society behaving properly. You wouldn't believe the sort of people I was able to get on my side, Miss Weeks."
"So, you're a psychopath," Ariana said calmly.
"No, I'm a realist! Society was never going to survive with this idiotic equal togetherness, what it needs is to function under the command of man. A man who grows richer and richer by the second. Even you must admit that equality never works Miss Weeks."
"My life's work is dedicated to equality," Ariana replied.

"Is that why you live in a giant white house with fifty maids?" Keres asked.
"It's why I use my power to help the less fortunate, why I negotiate with other leaders to bring more wealth and equality to my people, it's why I invest in completely renewable energy so that future generations can live to see another day, it's why I defend the constitution of the United States of America!"
"Is it why you were able to hire the best defense attorney in the country to defend your son?"
"How could you possibly know that?"
"Because Adrian Weeks is on my staff!" Keres yelled.

"What?" Ariana gasped, "That's impossible. My son would never do that!"
"That's what you think," Keres smirked, he looked at his watch, and then he said, "I think it's time we show you to your quarters, don't you? Release them and follow me."