Southern Bouquet

Abandoned

"Son of a bitch!" Jake screamed as he punched a hole in Daisy's kitchen wall.

"Jake," Wade started.

"No, Wade. No. Just don't. " Jake yelled waving his hand to stop him from talking.

Wade sighed, "Look, I'm worried, too, but panicking and punching holes in walls isn't going to get us anywhere. We need to know more about this guy. Where would he take them? We need to stay calm."

"Calm? I am calm!" Jake screamed furiously.

Wade crossed his arms, arched his eyebrow, and shook his head.

"This isn't helping us get the girls back, Jake."

Jake rubbed the back of his neck in frustration while he paced the kitchen.

"We need to see if there are any abandoned places around here. Buildings. Homes. Businesses. Anything that would have been vacant or abandoned for a while." He finally said.

Wade pulled his phone out tapping quickly over the screen. Before showing Jake the screen, he created a Google search and began scanning through links.

"Here, it looks as if there are six places in the city and one just outside of the city. The ones within the city are offices that closed down. The one outside city's limit is an old abandoned farm." Wade handed Jake his phone and turned to close the sliding glass door.

He peered out into the back yard one more time to check for anything they may have missed. As he scanned the bushes off to the right, he noticed what seemed to be broken branches and brush in what otherwise would have been a perfectly groomed yard border of shrubs.

"Jake," he looked to Jake and signaled towards the shrubbery.

Jake immediately handed Wade his phone back and headed towards the bushes. He walked through the beaten-down area searching for a sign. Anything to show they were there.

Something yellow was on the ground stuck into the mulch. Jake kneeled down plucking it from its hiding spot. It was May's diner name tag, spotted with drops of blood. He closed his eyes and he closed his fist around the tag. He turned towards Wade holding it up.

"Damn it, Wade. Can we panic now?!" He demanded.

Wade's stomach sank. He knew time was running out and if they didn't find the girls, Jake would never forgive himself.

****

"Do you honestly think he'd do this in the city where there's a lot of people that could see something?" Jake asked impatiently as they were making their way back through Daisy's house, to Wade's truck.

"We have to exhaust all of our options and these are the closest ones to us right now. We'll hit them from closest to furthest and then head out of the city if it comes to that." Wade explained as he was furiously texting. Just before Jake glanced over, he quickly closed the messaging app and pulled up the address to the first abandoned building.

"Okay, the first one is just two streets over. I have a handgun in my glove box and a shotgun behind the seat." He stated as they climbed into his truck.

He reached under his seat and pulled out a tin box filled with ammo for each gun. Just as he turned the key and brought the engine to life, Jake's phone rang. Jake looked over at Wade as he pulled the phone out of his pocket. The screen read May.

"May?" Jake swallowed thickly.

"Guess again." Anthony sneered on the other end.

Jake's blood boiled. He put the phone on speaker so Wade could listen in.

"I swear to God if you as much as,"

"Can it, son. This is what you're going to do if you want your precious Daisy back." Anthony interrupted.

"You're going to stop looking for me. You'll pick Daisy up at an address I give you and go about your business. We'll never have to see each other again."

"Where's May?" Wade demanded.

"Ah, Wade, is it? Funny, I thought I knew about all of May's friends. She hid you quite well. Never mind May, she comes with me."

"No, I don't think it works that way." Wade replied.

"Stop wasting my time, boy. Come get Daisy before I slit her throat. The address has been sent to Jake." the call was ended.

Jake opened his text messages and seen an address to a building a few blocks away. He read the address out loud as Wade put the truck into gear and sped off.

"He's taking May. I told her I would protect her and I failed." Jake sulked.

"Stop. There isn't time for you to beat yourself up right now, I need you focused. We're going into this blind. The only thing we know right now is that they are at an abandoned warehouse on a farm. What was this farm?"

Jake's eyes widened in horror as the realization hit him.

"Wade, faster, we have to get there now!"

He began to load bullets into each of the guns as fast as he could. He grabbed extra bullets for the handgun and shoved them in his pocket. Wade's phone dinged, indicating a message came through. Jake noticed him glance over out of the corner of his eye and ignore the text.

"We're going to get them, Jake. Don't lose it on me now." Wade stated as he slid around a corner, down a dirt road.