RECAP:
Liam took Gwen’s hand again, and Gwen felt that accusing stare of Jazz on her back. Wincing, she let the guilt overtake her and, sitting sullenly in the leaf bed, fell restlessly asleep before Liam could interrogate her. She needed peace right now.
Escape: Ch. 9:
Liam rustled through the underbrush, wincing at every snap of a twig, imagining the man's ugly, sadastic face peering at him around every bend.
"C'mon, Jazz, hurry up, we need to get back," muttered Liam. Suddenly, a branch snapped to his right, behind a tree. Liam frowned and stalked forward slowly, poking his face around the tree rapidly.
"Oh my gosh!" Jazz gasped, and Liam let out a relieved chuckle.
"Sorry I had to scare you," he grinned wryly, "I wanted to make sure it was you, making all this noise."
"Well then, you shoulda heard yourself. I thought a pack of elephants had been imported from... where do elephants come from again?"
Liam laughed then sobered. "Come on, we need to get back and stay together. You shouldn't be walking around with your knee, it needs to heal quickly."
"I'm fine, Mom," Jazz joked then frowned as she thought of Mel, her mother. Is she looking for me? She wondered.
Liam noticed her change in mood. "It's okay, they'll find us." He paused, and Jazz saw a strange glint in his bright green eyes as they began to water. Was he... crying? Oh, gosh, she did not know how to deal with sobbing men.
"Oh, it's okay," Jazz whispered, stopping and hugging Liam. He began to shake.
"Sorry, it's just that, I just realized I don't have... anyone to go home to. You all have parents or whatever, no matter how messed up they are, but I don't have anyone to come home to. No one's gonna come to rescue me," he muttered the last part sullenly, and Jazz felt hot tears prickling in her eyes from compassion and sadness for Liam.
"I'm so sorry, Liam. You can come with me until you find somewhere to live, if you want," she murmured, boldly making this suggestion.
Suddenly her face grew hot as she realized they were still wrapped up in each other's arms and staring at each other, only a few inches separating their lips. She swallowed hard and took in all of Liam's face, feeling surprisingly comfortable. Even the dull ache in her knee couldn't distract her.
Liam's dark hair was touseled and messy, falling all over the place and into his piercing green eyes-- which were staring right at her.
Oh. My. Gosh.
Liam stared at Jazz and felt something flutter in his heart. Her purple and black hair was messy, but it still flowed, wavy, over her shoulders and framed her small, heart-shaped face perfectly. Her big green eyes were framed by a thin line of black eyeliner and long lashes. A small sprinle of freckles brushed her nose, which sparkled with piercings. Her lips were bright pink naturally and he felt amazing, with her hands wrapped around his shoulders.
Without thinking, he leaned down and kissed her, slowly and sweetly.
The moment was ruined.
James grimaced, staring at the computer screen even though his eyes were so dry that he had resorted to not blinking at all.
Black dots appeared before his vision for the fourth time in a minute, and James growled in frustration, popping another Lifesaver into his mouth. Those things were, well, lifesavers.
“Got it done yet, James?” Drew’s viciously cold voice boomed from his kitchen.
“A-almost, sir. I’m viewing the men in the forest now. They’re approaching the sides and closing in the highly congested middle.”
“It sounds like you’re talking about a sinus infection, James. Loosen up, will you?”
James gulped, sighing at the irony. How could he loosen up when he was in a house with a madman killer?
“Y-yes, sir. The guards are approaching the kids,” he stammered.
Suddenly a red light flashed in the corner of his screen, and a high-pitched beep! emitted from the computer’s speakers.
“What’s that, James?”
James turned to face Drew. His voice was filled with excitement that he could take a break, finally.
“It means that our men have found them.”
Gwen and Rebecca sat in awkward silence, the occasional grumble of Gwen’s stomach interrupting the tension in the air. Liam still hadn’t returned with Jazz, and it was doing wonders on Gwen’s patience, hunger, and annoyance.
“Why can’t he find her?!” Rebecca grumbled, inserting multiple curse words that Gwen winced at.
“I don’t know.”
Suddenly, Gwen sat up. “Wait, I hear something…” Rebecca stood cautiously, dusting her backside off. She still refused to let dirt touch her for more than a certain amount of time.
Liam burst out of some bushes a few yards in front of them, scaring Gwen so bad that she let out an embarrassing squawk.
“Run!” he yelled, his arm around Jazz, pulling her along. Gwen watched in stunned silence as five men trailed after them, high-tech looking guns and clothing armed.
They had shiny black masks that looked like they could take multiple bullets before shattering. Padded black vests contrasted against their translucent white hands, the only visible skin. Stretchy black fabric covered their arms, as well as their legs. A strange device was clipped to their arms, like an ultra-thin, bendable computer screen. On their feet were plain lace-up boots, silver tipped. Their guns were black with hints of silver, and super sleek.
Gwen and Rebecca glanced at each other and took off running with Jazz and Liam in one second.
The actual chase lasted about five seconds. The four madly dashed, dodging (or trying to dodge) tree branches and foliage.
Suddenly, a sharp pain found its way zipping up Gwen’s back, and she tried to scream. Instead, she felt her arms and legs slump, and she literally crumpled to the ground. Paralyzing guns. She opened her mouth again, intent on warning the others, but instead felt her head hit the ground and the world grew black.
Liam woke up with a headache the size of Texas pulsing in his right temple. Opening his eyes, he frowned. It was pitch black. He groaned and tried to move, but a tingly feeling in his arms and legs stopped him. Ropes. He was tied up.
The events of—he didn’t know when they had happened—came back to him, and he moaned again. Somebody shuffled beside him and whimpered. Jazz.
“Jazz… you okay? Where’s everyone else?” He whispered.
“I’m fine… Rebecca! Gwen! Where are you guys?”
“Ugh, I’m here. Can you believe that those men had the nerve to put us in a cage with a dirt floor? I swear when that man comes back I will—”
“You’ll what, princess?” A hard, angry-sounding voice interrupted Rebecca’s rant.
“Oh my goodness,” Liam heard Gwen murmur.
“Um—um…” Rebecca muttered. Liam could feel her hands sweating, an inch away from his. To comfort her, he shifted to awkwardly to brush her skin, a movement not going unnoticed by Jazz. She tensed up, and he shifted to she could lean on him.
He grinned at this and remembered their kiss. Her soft lips and the taste of cherry cola… he had absolutely no idea how she got that taste. Lip gloss?
A small light switched on, showing just the man’s face and a view of the girls to Liam.
“You all know why you’re here, right?” At the silence, the man made a face. “You don’t. I’ll enlighten you, then.”
“The man that originally… kept you went slightly insane after he, um, accidentally killed his best friend. So, he paid me a sum of money to take you ignorant little kids, torture you, then kill you. Win-win for us; I get the pleasure of seeing you all in pain, and… well, you lose your lives. By the way, I’m Drew. Nice to meet you this way,” Drew said gallantly, his sadistic smile drawing a shiver in Liam.
Jazz winced, staring at Drew. He was pure evil, no doubt.
Clapping his hands together after a period of silence, making everyone jump, Drew grinned.
“Ready to begin your first day with me, children? I’ll need each of you in a separate room, and I’ll come to you once a day. Come, come.”
Lifting them all to their feet, Drew then dragged them all out into a large stone hallway, where multiple doors lined the halls and two guards stood at each door.
“You all go to a separate room. The walls are thin, so don’t be surprised if you hear screams or things of the sort.”
When no one moved, Drew frowned.
“Chop, chop! The guards have shockers, you know,” Drew announced.
Jazz, with a deep breath, murmured, “We can’t walk dumbo. WE’RE FREAKING TIED UP.”
Drew’s slightly maniacal smile made her shudder.
“So I see. I’ll visit you first, you feisty midget, you.” He proceeded to drag Jazz to one room, throwing her in. Sending a glare to the petrified three, he whispered “don’t move”.
Jazz landed face-first, spitting out blood as she tried to wiggle over. Drew placed his boot on the small of her back, cutting off most of her air supply. She choked, her eyes widening.
“Can’t breathe now, huh?” Drew chuckled, taking his foot off. Jazz gasped, coughing, and sucked in air greedily, glancing around the room. It was all stone. No wonder a steady stream of blood was emitting from her nose.
“Come on, you little guppy, get up,” Drew said, forcing her to stand up by pulling her hair. Jazz refused to grimace, instead glaring at Drew.
He laughed. “You hate me, don’t you?” She didn’t say anything, just continued glowering. “That hate will grow, young one.”
What exactly was he going to do? Jazz wondered. What could he do that forced them to die slowly and painfully?
“Stand still,” he commanded, pulling a knife out of his jacket. She stared at him like he was crazy. Who, in their right mind, would stand still if a crazy man approached them carrying a knife?!
Jazz tried to hop back, taking two bunny hops every one step that Drew took. He grinned and continued following her at a snail's pace, seeming to enjoy the sweat and blood dripping down her face and her erratic panting as this continued on for a few more minutes. The pain in her knee went from throbbing to sharp fire every time she hopped back. She couldn't keep this going much longer- blood was already beginning to drip down her leg.
“My, my, I got a smart one! You must not be a natural blonde, hmm?” Drew muttered, his lips still pulled up in a chilling smile, his teeth looking like fangs. Jazz tried not to shudder. It was all happening so fast… why did this horrible man have to kidnap them?
Feeling a bought of self-pity, Jazz’s hops faltered, and Drew took advantage of that. He lunged at her, slamming the back of her head into the stone wall right behind her.
Jazz groaned, black spots dancing before her vision. A sharp pain shot up her arm, and when her vision cleared, she saw that Drew had left a shallow gash with his knife on her upper arm.
Drew ran his rough hand on her neck, grinning as he felt her pulse speed up with fear.
“You’re very amusing.”
Drew’s POV
Drew smiled as the girl glared at him, blood still trickling from her nose. When he first began abusing children, he had been surprised at how easy and simple it was. You kidnap the child, beat them, wait for them to slowly grow weary, abuse them, they die. It was as if he was sucking the energy from each and every child, storing it up in his own heart. In short, it was the best feeling.
While he was busy reminiscing his “career”, he had accidentally loosened his grip. The annoying colorful haired girl had snuck out of his grip and bit him!
Drew turned his gaze to her face, smirking when she flinched. He was going to make this young one’s life miserable.
{A/N I want to thank WingsOfFantasy and Gymnastxx for noticing a logic error in this story :). So sorry about that, I changed it right away. Thanks guys! :D
PS my uploads are going to be slower from now on... I'm still trying to figure out how to balance updating between HTR, Escape, reading my summer book, doing school packets, four hours of dance a week, horseback, my social life, a sewing class I'll be taking next week, and relaxing lol. Plus I had prewritten up to now then posted it on wattpad, much like I did w HTR. So I'll be actually writing the rest of the story then posting, instead of waiting, editing, and posting. So please be patient, and comment to motivate me lol. I'm not like authors who say "I won't upload until you give me xxx votes or xxx comments" but if I see votes/comments, I'm likely to upload faster ;). Thanks for reading this loooong A/N. ~ridingrl}