Unravel

Chapter 9

The voice that called behind her, startled her. It was a deep, male voice. She slowly turned around, seeing a man standing a few feet from her. She hadn't seen him before, he had a military attire and his posture was rigid. His hair was dark and his eyes were a deep shade of blue. His voice seemed familiar. There was a weapon on his hand, but he wasn't aiming at her.

"What do you want?" Cassandra retorted, her frustration rising. She didn't know what game that was. Was he supposed to kill her now? Her hand went instinctively behind her, reaching for the gun she had been hiding there.

"You're coming with us," the man spoke, his voice solemn and chilling. Us? It seemed like he was the only one here.

Or not so. From behind him, barged other men, that seemed to have been hiding behind the woods before. Their weapons were aiming at Cassandra and she felt a shiver of fear.

"Stay away from me," she warned, drawing out her gun. The man that seemed to be their leader chuckled lowly, as if he was amused by it. She knew she had heard his voice but was having a hard time recalling it.

"I should've killed you now," he said, his expression unreadable, "but you're lucky. You're gonna be alive for a while. Seize the girl and bring her to the facility," he ordered the other men. Cassandra's heart pounded as they approached, their weapons gleaming in the sun.

"I have to meet with Bella. I don't know what is your problem but she's the reason why I broke into that place," Cassandra said, trying to reason. She knew she was at stake here and that her words didn't really matter. But she had to try.

"You're gonna meet with her," the leader replied, "and then you're gonna die." His voice was cold and he motioned for other men to aproach. Their faces were like angry bulls. They encircled her. She was outnumbered now. Her gun wouldn't do much.

"Drop the gun," the leader ordered. "And drop whatever else weapon you have, unless you want to be looted. And your phone too."

Cassandra felt a shiver of disgust spread over her. She loathed the idea of being looted, but she couldn't drop the gun or the phone either. And then, when a cold metallic surface pressed on her head, she was forced to drop the gun and give her phone. The men took her satchel forcefully and gave it and the phone to their leader. His expression was unreadable as he started walking forward.

Cassandra cursed under her breath, they had taken her bag forcefully. She couldn't believe it. Gladly, she had the pocket knife under her sleeve.

The leader began to lead them forward. Cassandra had no idea how this desert was going to lead back to the forest. And it was weird, why did they chose this place? It was strange.

But soon, she got it. The facility that the man mentioned wasn't at the previous forest. It was there, in the desert. The sun was boiling at her skin and she was sweating terribly, adding to her discomfort. There, on the distance, she could see a tall fence, made of hard chain link. Behind it, was a building, plain in grey and washed out walls. There were military trucks inside and outside. The fence itself was tall, like 10 feet.

She tried to look for a way to escape, but the guards were everywhere, their rifles aiming at her. She wanted to meet Bella, yes. But she wasn't sure how it'll go. The leader previously mentioned that she was going to die and it scared her, wanted she or not.

Finally, they approached the fence and the leader unlocked the chain gate with a key. She remembered she had photos of herself in her phone and wondered if the man saw them. How embarrassing, she thought.

They forced Cassandra to walk faster and she saw a truck's engine turning on. As it drove off, the whole dust and sand hit her face, she started coughing uncontrollably.