Prisoner of Cell 554

Chapter Twenty-One

                 I was jarred awake the next morning by crazy shaking, the cabin around me lurching wildly. It took me a moment to realize that it wasn't the cabin that was shaking, but Riff that was shaking me. I opened my mouth, ready to spit fire at him for waking me up. I wasn't able to get to sleep until very late last night, too restless with thoughts and half formed plans to rest. But he slapped his hand over my mouth before I could say a word. Silently, he put his finger to his lips. I nodded slowly, senses on high alert, and he lifted his hand. I sat up slowly, eyes darting around the cabin, looking for what had alerted him.
         There was nothing there.
         Glaring at Riff and wondering if I would be able to go back to sleep for a few hours or if my senses were too alerted, I started to lay back down. That's when I heard the noise Riff had woken me for.
         Across the cabin from us was a door. It was the same rust color as the metal walls around us, blending weirdly seamlessly into the rest of the space. That was the only reason I could think of about why we had missed this vital detail the first time we scanned the cabin. Cursing my stupidity, I scrambled backwards as the noise sounded again, a sort of rattling sound from right behind the door.
         We were trapped.
         "Shit!" Riff hissed beneath his breath. "Shit, shit, shit! Storage cars aren't supposed to have doors leading to the rest of the train! Right?"
His glance at me meant he expected an answer, but I only shrugged. I didn't have experience with trains and couldn't give a honest answer. Even old me seemed unsure, which could be laughable (the know-it-all not knowing something) at any other time. Either way, the answer didn't really matter, because there was still a door there and we were still utterly screwed.
         Actually, now that I really think about it, we had scanned the entire cabin last night before going to bed, and there most definitely hadn't been a door there before.
         The noise sounded again, closer this time, mixing with the other rattling from the train itself. Frantically, I scanned our surroundings. We could hide behind the crates, but that would leave us utterly vulnerable if they decided to move the crates. Not to mention, the completely obvious pile of unbound, scattered hay which we had made our beds from last night. It didn't leave many opinions.
         Except one.
         My eyes caught on the sliding door leading outside of the cabin. No. That was crazy, impossible even. Who knew how fast we were going, or even, for that matter, where we were.
         I wasn't the only one looking at the door though. Before I could move or suggest otherwise, Riff sprang into motion. Grasping the handle, he yanked the cabin door open. Immediately, high speed wind buffeted into the once warm cabin, giving me chills and twirling my hair into a crazy wirlpool. Riff turned back to me, his hair fluffed angrily and his eyes insane, silhouetted against the newly rising sun. For a second, I couldn't help but imagine him as an avenging angel, his hand outstretched to steal my soul, heavenly light filtering through his hair. Only, his eyes were more demon then angel, their dark depths ready to swallow me whole and leave me swimming in their mischief.
         Gulping, I shook my head, taking a step back. I had jumped from a lot of places recently, but somehow, this really made me falter. Maybe it was the idea of jumping from a high speed train on to who knows what.
         Exasperated, he started to speak, but a high pitched squeal interrupted him. The door that hadn't been there before started to slowly swing open. Panicked, I sprang for it, but Riff beat me to it. Using all his strength, he bashed into the door, pushing it back closed. A string of angry male words exploded from behind the door, and the hinges started to strain as the two males battled each other. Quickly, I grabbed the board off of the fruit crate we had opened yesterday and shoved it through the handle of the door and a crack in the wall beside the door.
         Temporarily relieved, Riff and I backed up. The door continued shaking as the angry man continued to ram into it. That wouldn't hold for long. Small spiderweb cracks had already started to form on the wood.
         Wasting no time, Riff grabbed my hand and started to drag me to the open doorway. I yanked my hand from his, my body refusing to get closer though my mind tells me I have too. Riffs head spins back around, his eyes narrowed. "Come on!" He yells, his voice hardly audible over the whistling wind. "We have to jump!" When I still hesitate, he adds, "Now!"
         He holds out his hand to me, but I just stare at it, eyes wide and heart pounding, my short hair whipping around my face. Suddenly, Riff smiles, wild and daring. "Come on! For once in your life just take a chance!"
         Chest swelling in indignation, I readied myself to yell at him, to tell him I had taken plenty of chances, especially with him, including actually trusting him enough to run away with him, even if it was from the compound holding me hostage. From the only family that I knew. But when I looked in his eyes, my words dried up. I saw the challenge plainly written in his pupils as well as the doubt. He really believed that I wouldn't do it. Pursing my lips, I narrowed my eyes at him and slapped my hand down in his offered palm. Ignoring the way his lips quirked up at the corners, I tightened my fingers around his and turned to the door.
         "Ready?" He asked. I nodded stubbornly, even though my heart threatened to beat out of my chest. We both back up a step, and with an exchanged glance, we ran towards the door.
         I hardly heard the splintering of the wood behind me as the man finally broke the plank holding the door closed. My feet left the floor, and for a second, I was soaring.
         And then a hard grabbed my hoodie from behind. I yelled out as Riffs hand slipped from mine, and then I was back in the cabin, landing with a hard thud on the wooden floor, the air whooshing from my lungs. A searing pain went through my shoulder, blinding me for a second, and I had to blink a couple times for my vision to return to normal. Someone was standing over me, yelling harsh words that my dazed brain refused to understand. For a second all I could do was lay there, gasping for breath, unable to understand what just happened. And then the panic set in.
         I scrambled to my feet, the searing pain in my shoulder completely forgotten, and leapt for the door again. The guy blocked me, roughly grabbing my arms and violently shaking me, until I felt like my brain was spinning in my head, all the while still screaming at me. I made out a few words, such as stowaway, criminal, and justice, but for the most part, I blocked him out. I was getting another of those headaches, and, judging from my past actions when this happened, I knew I had to get away before I snapped.
         Unfortunately, I didn't have time.
         The headache hit hard and fast, blinding me, and then, just as suddenly, my vision cleared, leaving me in total sensual high. Abruptly calm, I yanked back out of the man's grasp. Without allowing him to think further, I grasped the front of his weathered t-shirt and flipped him over my head as easily as if I ever throwing a stuffed animal instead of a fully grown man. He slammed into the wall on the opposite side of the car, landing in what looked like a painful position on the ground.
         Devoid of any emotion, I turned away from his crumpled form and jumped through the cabin door, out into open space.