The Masked Men

Chapter 8

I woke up to complete blackness. I tried to stand up but I was tied to a chair. the chair made a creaky noise when I tried to move, and it felt like it was never sanded down. My hands were tied to the chair which was giving me rope burn. I was wondering how I got knocked out to magically wake up here. As soon as I came to my senses, I realized that I didn't know where Ben was.

I tried to speak, but I quickly found that there was tape on my face. I mumbled as loud as I could until I heard someone mumbling back. All of a sudden, I see light, blinding light that rolled into my eyes like a window with the blinds now up. There were people on the other side, staring intently, as if we were specimens from another dimension. I looked over to where the mumbling came from, and to my surprise, there was a little boy stating straight at me, panicked.

The boy had dark hair and big brown eyes. He could not have been older than seven. He was recently crying apparently because of the stains on his cheeks. I wanted to do whatever I could to comfort him, but there was nothing that I could do.

A door swung open. It a silhouette of a tall, rather large man. He walked over, very calmly, picked up the boy, and headed back towards to the door. the boy screamed hysterically, streams of tears down his face. Then, the door then closed with a loud bang.

At this point I couldn't think. So many thoughts of where am I and what is this place and where are they taking the boy and what are they going to so to him scrambled my brain. Then I started to think more clearly. Where is Ben? What are going to do to him? What are they going to do to me?

Then I start to cry. The people who were looking through the window now seemed uninterested and started to pull the blinds back down.

Complete blackness once again. This time was different, though. I knew that I was alone. I could not get out of my chair or my rope for that matter. Then I got an idea. I tried to stand up with the chair and headed to the direction of the door. but the chair was so heavy that I fell with one step. I could tell almost immediately that my nose was probably broken, if not bleeding at least. I didn't care. I moved like a worm toward the door. After about two minutes, my head touched a wall. I moved my head against the wall until I felt a crack. I quickly got excited and tried to get up. Success! I smiled under my tape for a split second when the door opened in my face, making me fall backwards, breaking the chair. A piece of wood smacked my ribs which sent a flame of pain throughout my whole body.

I screamed as loud as I could through the duct tape.

"Rileigh, it's ok. I'm here."

"Mmmm!" that was all I could say. Ben was here, somehow, but I didn't care. Tears came down my cheeks of joy that I got to see Ben again.

"Let me get you out." he cut off my rope ties, and I ripped of the tape. That hurt.

Ben helped me up and looked at me with deep concern.

"What did they do to you?" He seemed infuriated.

"Oh, this? I broke my nose on my own. I was trying to escape." I gave him a weak smile because now everywhere hurt.

"Well, we gotta go now! We cannot get caught by those guards or all hell could brake loose!" I remembered the little boy. I got the chills.

"Ok. Let's go."

We ran out the door into a bright, white hallway. there was not enough time to take in my surroundings, but there were windows everywhere. Then I stopped. I grabbed Ben's knife and ran back.

"What are you doing!? We have to go now!!"

I had to do it. I opened the door on my left finding the little boy. As I cut him out of the rope, he stared at me with both relief and terror. He was glad that I was saving him, but he had no idea who I was. He was also freaked out by the blood on my face. As soon as I got him free, I ripped off his tape and grabbed his hand.

"Trust me. I will keep you safe. I promise." I felt the need to tell him that even though I had huge regrets right after. What if I couldn't keep my promise? We caught up to Ben and ran to a sign that said EXIT. We ran through the doors and sprinted out of the facility. An alarm flailed out and we all ran even faster. the boy was lagging behind. I had home jump on my back, and we ran into the forest. We ran probably for another half hour with the boy on my back until I fell on the ground.

The boy got off my back and hugged me. Ben also fell to the ground panting like me.

Ben looked me and said, "You...are...amazing." he gave me a smile.

I couldn't return the smile. I was still processing what just happened. We left with another human being. I started to feel dizzy.

"Hey, are you ok? Rileigh?" Ben started to panic, but I didn't. I didn't fully comprehend that I was blacking out. Right before I passed out, the little boy said, "Thank you."