The Runaway

Chapter 24

Colton shot him a glare. "We can't hide in that dumpster again. They'll check that area."

"What are we supposed to do then?"

"Like I said, we should just walk out casually," Colton answered. "Agreed?"

It took a while before they responded but soon enough, all heads nodded. "Agreed," they whispered in sync. There was no other choice.

"Okay, just keep in mind that the whole town knows who the Silvers are, so try not to screw things up."

Almost like a pack of penguins, they packed together and walked out as calmly as possible. Right in front of them stood a woman spraying the air with a black bottle. She was dressed casually with a hint of elegance. The blonde head turned to meet the group in front of her as they kept walking, ignoring her existence.

"What were you guys doing in there?" she questioned them. They felt her scan them down individually, analyzing everything in sight.

"And who are you to ask?" Colton said with annoyance.

"You don't recognize me?" the woman spoke with suspicion. It was clear she expected them to know her. There was a period of silence. Colton gave them a look of panic at his mistake.

Luckily, Aiden was fast to fix things. "Shit dude, she's one of them," Aiden quickly whispered with a genuine shocked tone. He was good at acting.

"Oh." Colton stared at her worriedly. "Look, we were just back there smoking. It was nothing bad." Colton held his hands up. "I swear."

She crossed her arms, still holding the bottle. "There was nobody there last time I checked. How did you get here?" She was onto them like a hawk.

Colton sighed. "We were hiding in the dumpster because we heard someone. It was shitty, but we seriously couldn't have anyone walk in on us." He managed to make it sound  convincing. "Just let us go."

The woman squinted her eyes, showing no trace of belief. "Alright, but if I catch any of you one more time, there will be consequences."

They all nodded and began to walk away. They were almost near the exit to the van when the woman yelled, "Wait a second, come back!"

"Oh no, what does she want now?" Colette mumbled.

"Don't panic," whispered Colton. "Do as she says."

They slowly turned around and returned back to the woman. She pointed her finger at Colton abruptly. "You, what's your name?"

"I'm Jimmy." His voice shook.

"Last name?"

That was a problem. They never decided on last names. Once again, panic spread across his face. "S-Sheldon."

"What about you?" She pointed to Violet. This time it was her turn to panic. 

"Haven...Adams."

"Haven Adams, huh? Is that so?" The lady raised her eyebrows. "Do you happen to know anyone named Violet Ledgerwood?"

Violet froze. The lady knew. "Uh no," she said quietly.

"Are you sure?" The lady gave them a smirk. "I've seen you on posters. You almost fooled me with that hair, but I know it's you."

Everyone stood there in silence. She knew. They were screwed. What were they going to do?

"Run!" Colton hollered. And so they ran.

She acted fast, dialing a number into her phone. "Hurry. They're near the front gates!" the woman yelled into her phone. She ran after them.

They were so close to the van. They were almost there, running because their lives were on the line. If they were caught, it was over. Violet was right beside them but she was also the only one who noticed something was off. Someone was missing from the group. She turned around and searched for Aiden. Where was he?

There on the floor about three yards away, two men were holding him down. Violet didn't know what to do. She had a choice to either jump in the van and escape or intervene and help Aiden, putting her life at risk. She could tell the others, but that would put all of their lives in danger. Time was running out and she had to choose quickly. She turned around to look at the others, but it was already too late. They shut the doors and drove off, not looking back. They were too focused on leaving; they didn't have time to check if anyone was missing.

"Shit," she whispered. She looked back at Aiden who was struggling to move. He was usually strong, so why wasn't he able to escape? She fingered the knife in her pocket. They brought weapons for self defense, but she didn't know how to attack without getting caught. Violet was in the middle of thinking before she plummeted to the floor.

"Looks like they left you." The woman from before chuckled. Violet spun around but fell to the ground after she was stabbed with a tranquilizer. Her vision got blurry and she couldn't focus on what was in front of her. There was a painful sensation on her right shoulder and she was pretty sure her head was bleeding. "I can't believe we finally got a hold of you." That was all she heard before everything went blank.

"Violet, wake up." She felt a nudge. "Violet!" Violet's eyes opened wide. The room was dark and she couldn't see a thing. "Violet, it's me, Aiden."

"W-Where are we?" She coughed. She tried to get up but her hands and feet were caught in thick chains that were attached to the cold floor. Her head was pounding and her shoulder was sore from the injection earlier.

"I don't know where we are. Hell, I don't even know if we're still in Vegas or how long it's been."

"Well, what do we do? Wait, where are you?"

"I'm right next to you, chained up just like you." He sighed. "They injected something into me earlier and I couldn't fight back. I don't think we have a chance."

"We have to try. I'm not dying like this."

He chuckled softly. "I don't care. If they kill me, they kill me. You should be worried about yourself."

"Bullshit. I didn't stay behind to save you for nothing," Violet said.

"You stayed behind just for that? Did you really think you could save me? You are such an idiot."

"I had to fucking try. I wasn't going to just leave you there!" Why was he acting like this? Couldn't he be thankful she tried?

"After all that I've done to you, you still wanted to save me? You could've saved yourself. Why risk your life for someone like me?" His words were harsh.  "I don't need to be saved by anyone. I'm fine by myself. You should've gone with them."

"You saved me that one time Riley tried to choke me. I owed you one."

He scoffed. "Did you think I saved you that day because I cared? I would've let you die. I didn't give a shit."

"Then why did you?"

Another sigh, but his tone softened. "Because Colton cares about you. If you died, he wouldn't know how to handle it. I did it for him not you."

There was silence now. Violet didn't know what to say.