His Seventh Shot

Chapter 8

I awoke to the smell of rotting wood and dirt. I was lying flat on my back on a hard mattress. Darkness surrounded me. I felt around hoping to find something as a source of light. To no avail, there was nothing. All I picked up was handfuls of dirt. Groaning in pain, I felt a sharp pain in my head. I felt something wet on my hand. I tried to push myself up but fell back onto my back. Voices came through the ground above me. I felt panic begin to run through me. My breath caught in my throat.

I was unsure of what to do. All I knew is they wanted to kill me. I heard a padlock shift from the other side. My breath hitched in my throat. A sliver of light shone down on me as the door kept moving.

"Remember not to hurt him." A voice snapped from above.

"I know, Asher." A voice grumbled.

I quickly tried to stand up once I heard the padlock unlock. I pinned myself to the wall and gripped on to a pole for support. A ladder was set down. The men started climbing down. I had no weapon. My knife was gone. So, I was helpless. When one of the guys made it to the dirt floor, I ran and tackled him. The ladder was knocked down as well. I heard a scream and a thud. The ladder clattered to ground. I was on the man's back when he picked himself up and threw me off him. I screamed in pain and rolled onto my stomach.

The man I tackled picked up the ladder and climbed out of the cellar. I got up painfully and went over there as they closed the door. I heard the padlock shift from the other side. "You bastards!" I screamed and cried at the same time. My voice cracked as my body felt defeated. The coppery taste of blood filled my mouth. I spat it out and climbed off the ladder. The blood in my mouth mixed with the saltiness of my tears. I felt my way back to the mattress and collapsed. I curled myself up into a ball. Was anyone even looking for me? That's all that stayed in my mind. It hurt knowing Skylar was alone. As I cried more, it eventually put me into a deep sleep. And that was only thing I could do at this moment.

"Wake up." I heard a deep voice in my sleep. I groaned from my sleep. "I said wake up."

I shot up and pushed myself to the wall. The man towering over me threw some disgusting mush in front of me. He also hung up a light over my head. I nearly was going to throw up looking what he just put in front of me. It looked like dog shit. And no one wanted that. "Check to make sure he's not hurt." A voice called from above.

The man in front of me sighed and rolled his eyes. He scanned me up and down, clearly noticing the scrapes from the asphalt. "He's fine." He called back.

My eyes opened wide. "If I don't do anything about these scrapes, they're gonna get infected."

"Does it look like I care?" The man spat at me.

He turned his back and walked away. "Damn it! Please!" I cried. "Just help me clean these up!"

"No." The man said sternly with no emotion.

He climbed up the ladder. I groaned. The padlock locked, and I was left with this tiny amount of light. I screamed at the top of my lungs. I screamed until my throat began to hurt. Tears fell down my face yet again. I felt around for my wallet. It was nowhere to be found. But I did feel something in my pocket. It was a picture. The picture from my wallet. It was of Skylar and me. Suddenly, I calmed down. But my heart still raced. I thought about the hell she must be going through. I wanted to be there to hold her. Be there with her on our graduation night. But I can feel my life slowly starting to slip away. Maybe I was never gonna see her ever again. She and my mother must be looking for me. I looked at the picture again and ran my thumb over her cheek. I must stay alive. I must see Skylar again. And I don't care if I die trying. But I will make it out of here.