EDITED BY THE GREAT AND WONDERFUL THEREALMAXIMUMRIDE! SHE ROCKS!
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"You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have"
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"Yes, Dylan. Everything's packed for tomorrow. I know you promised you'd make this the best summer vacation ever but a road trip? Of all things. I know I've told you a million times already but I'm going to Vermont for college in July and I don't think wasting precious time on some lame road trip is the smartest idea." I said as I made my way down the empty and dark street. I simply rolled my eyes as Dylan once again explained to me how this is going to be our last chance to be all together before we all separate ways for college, through the phone. I knew he was right but I was still hesitant on the plan.
"I know, Dylan. I really do want to end our time together with a bang but you know where I'm coming from. Lissa doesn't count. You know how she could truly not care less about her studies. I, on the other hand am desperate and diligent enough to actually try." I argued into the phone. I let out a shaky breath. Despite the fact that summer was practically upon us, it was a chilly night tonight and my simple graphic tee and black shorts just weren't cutting it for me.
I began to slowly block out my best friend, Dylan, as I looked around at my surroundings. It was late, almost midnight in fact, but I had gotten the night shift at the local coffee shop and had to stay later to clean and close up.
I knew my mother was going to let me have it as soon as I got home and I was secretly hoping she'd prohibit me from attending the road trip tomorrow but I knew my mother wouldn't do that. She believed that since I'm now an official adult, I am capable of making my own choices and suffering the consequences for it. Which also explains my lack of a vehicle. She simply told me if I wanted a car, I had to save enough to buy one. Which I was exactly aiming for now by working at that coffee shop. I don't even like coffee.
I wasn't one to get paranoid or anything really but even I had to admit walking down the street all alone in the dead of night was a bit unsettling. The far hooting of an owl seemed intensified as it echoed. The shadows casted by the moonlight and the intermittent light posts. It all gave off an eerie vibe that was hard to shake off.
"Max? Max, still there?" Dylan's voice suddenly brought me back. I shook my head and took a deep breath. I'm almost home anyways. Nothing to worry about.
"Uh yeah. Sorry, got distracted." I assured after I got a hold of my wits.
"You alright? You sound a little shaken up" Dylan, concerned evident in his tone. I nodded though I knew he couldn't see me.
"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just a bit unsettling being outside at this hour." I admitted. I expected him to tease or jeer me about it but instead he did the opposite.
"You're not home yet then. Careful Max. I don't want to frighten you even more but you've seen the news lately. Lots of kidnapping and deaths lately and it seems to be moving west towards this part of the country."
Who hasn't heard about what's been going on? Either from the news, a gossiping friend, or heard the whispering scares of possibly being next. There's been four serial killers lately that have been slowly making their way through America. It appears they capture a large amount of victims, all being children or young adolescents, and weeks or months later their corpses are found in various abandoned buildings of some sort. It was just awful and revolting what these people do. Heck, they leave signs and morbid notes on who they exactly took and what they're planning on doing to them. They take their victims phones, ID's, or something they could've been wearing and placed it all in a box and somehow manage to place it right under some police station's nose without getting caught or leaving any leads.
The last attack was about a month ago and if the pattern continued, another was due around this time. It all started in Connecticut and within a year they had done twelve mass murders, one each month. There has only been one survivor. A sixteen year old who had been found sitting the middle of a dirt road in the middle of nowhere with his body caked in blood and scratches, two states away from where he had been abducted. He had been found in shock and traumatized enough that his memory had gone blank and the last thing he truly remembered before getting rescued was two days prior from his kidnapping.
Supposedly police forces everywhere were putting their guard up even more, especially the central part of the U.S. since it is predicted that that's where the next attack will take place. Unfortunately for me, I live in Colorado, the center part of the U.S.
"I'm almost home anyways. Just passed Mr. Lanes house." I huffed as my pace quickened into a speed walk.
"That's good. I was about to go but I think I'd feel better for myself at least if we still talked until you get home. I care about you, Maxi Pad." I rolled my eyes at his nickname for me.
"Don't call me that." I demanded him. "Anyways-" I instantly stopped talking all together as I finally took notice of the shadow my body produced. There was no longer one but two shadows casted on the tarred road. My blood ran cold as I swallowed but continued walking, acting as natural as possible.
"Max, are you okay?" Dylan's once concerned voice asked. Before I could answer I heard footsteps behind me before I was pulled back into something, well someone, hard.
"Dylan. Call 911." Was the last thing I managed before the phone was snatched out of my hand and smashed beside me as the person grabbed my arms and single handily held them behind my back as the other placed a cool metal in which I assumed was a knife against my throat.
"Don't do anything stupid and your pretty little throat won't get slashed open." I deep and gruff voice smoke against my ear which caused a shiver to run down my back as the hairs on the back of my neck stood.
"Wh-what do you want from me?" I shakily asked, hating the feeling of the knife moving against my throat as I spoke. I was too scared to do anything, really.
"You and your pretty little body, sweetheart." He chuckled. "Grim, hand me the sack"
I heard more footsteps near us behind me. I hadn't even realized there was more than one. My messenger bag was ripped off of me as he felt my pockets for anything else. When he felt none a dark sack was suddenly placed around me as I felt someone tie my hands together with what felt like rope. The sack went down to the base of my shoulders as the tied it which made it suffocating to breath.
"Kenny is on his way over. Said they caught a good one." The other man who I assumed was Grim spoke up as my body was raised and held over the other man's shoulder. By then I had silent tears streaming down my face as I fought hard not to sob and remain as calm as possible.
"This her phone, Jinks?" Grim spoke up again.
"Yes. She was talking on it when I got her. Better hurry. Her friend might've done something by now." The man, Jinks, said, sounding disappointed in himself for being so careless.
Suddenly I heard the motor of a vehicle speed up somewhere around us. By that point I was shaking as I fought hard not to hyperventilate.
"Seems like they're here. We need one more from here and then we can move on to Kansas or Nebraska. We skipped right over it"
"This one good?" A new voice spoke as I heard the shut of a car door as new ones opened.
"Blonde, tall, and perfect body. My personal favorite to hunt." Jinks said and I couldn't help but let out a whimper at his words.
"Alright then. We need one more from here. I'd say go over to Sterling a couple towns over to find anyone. We'll go to Nebraska from there and continue. Throw her in with the other."
As my body moved up and down as Jinks walked, I was then thrown hard into what would be correct to assume a van. As I landed head first onto the metallic surface I couldn't stop myself from blacking out.
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When I finally did wake up I was greeted with a gruesome headache. My first reaction was to stretch and get up but when I realized I couldn't that's when I recalled the event that occurred earlier. I closed my eyes tightly as I took deep even breaths. I couldn't afford to panic. Not in a situation like this at least.
"FML." I cursed under my breath as I wiggled to find a more comfortable position but found out it was a hard task. Especially with the constant bumping the van did.
"Are you awake?" A quiet and high voice whispered suddenly.
"Uh, yes. There's more people? Do you know how many?" I was quick to ask.
"Three of us so far. The other boy had been chloroformed because he kept screaming. I'm Angel by the way." She sounded really young. She didn't deserve this.
"I'm Max. How long have they been driving?" I decided to distract myself by asking questions.
"I can't really tell. I was caught not long before you. I'd say a few hours more or less. They came to check up on us about fifteen minutes ago though. They said something about looking at a town called Sterling which we should be arriving soon." Angel explained.
"How are you so calm about this?" I couldn't help but ask.
"Believe me. I'm freaking out in the inside but I was raised to never really show true emotion. Especially fear." She nonchalantly said.
"How old are you?"
"I'm turning thirteen in a week. How about you?" She sounded younger than her actual age at least.
"Eighteen" I answered.
The van came to a sudden halt and I slid across the van and hit my head once again on a wall or the doors. I grimaced in pain.
"What the hell? Let me go!" I heard someone shout from outside. I heard shuffling and cursing. Whoever the next victim was, wasn't going down without a fight.
"Grim, check his pockets. Listen here pretty boy. This is how it's going to work. Either you cooperate and I won't slice your throat open with this knife or you don't cooperate and I'd enjoy the sight of seeing you bleed to death." I very faintly heard someone, most likely Jinks, threaten.
"Go to hell." The person bit back, his voice straining, obvious that he was struggling.
The doors were then opened and a very heavy weight was suddenly on me. I groaned in pain as I wiggled my body to push the alien weight off. The van instantly shot off.
"Can you get off of me?" I huffed out.
"Crap, sorry. They've caught more people then." The deep masculine voice said as he managed to roll of me but most likely landed on Angel who let out a squeak.
"Ah, sorry." The fact that there were now more people here, I ended up being pressed flat up against the cool wall in an even more uncomfortable position.
"How many are here?" The guy asked.
"Four. Me, Angel, some chloroformed kid, and now you. If what they say is true, they should be going to Nebraska."
"Nebraska? And can you specify your name Me? I'm Nick but call me Fang."
"Yeah, Nebraska and I'm Max. Freak this sucks" I said.
"Are they going to kill us?" A new voice suddenly joined in. The voice sounded of a little boy, timid and somewhat fragile like.
"We can't think like that at the moment. We just have to think positive. Panicking isn't going to solve anything let alone make it easier." Fang said in a determined and even tone.
"I just want my mom" The boy sobbed. "I should've listened to her! I should've stayed by the swings like she told me to."
"It's okay. I bet your mom is out there doing everything she can to find you. What's your name?" I said, feeling sorry for the little boy.
"I'm Omega but everyone calls me Ome." The boy said as he fought back another sob.
"You sound really young. How old are you?" Angel asked curiously.
"I'm ten now. Yesterday was my birthday." What a present then. I sighed. That was just messed up. This entire thing was messed up.
"Uh, Max." Angel whimpered. "I really have to pee."
Fang and I cursed under our breath in unison. We really didn't want urine everywhere but what exactly were we to do?
Fang suddenly shouted out towards our captures, calling them a not so nice name, to give them at least some sort of bathroom break. I loud bang was heard before the van once again came to a sudden halt though since I was tightly wedged, this time I didn't go sliding across the floor and probably saved myself from getting a concussion from all the head trauma I've been getting.
The doors suddenly opened and cold air came rushing in which caused me to shiver.
"Fine. One at a time. Try to even attempt to run away and we won't hesitate to shoot. Capiche?" I was surprised by the new voice. It belonged to a female and if it weren't for the harsh words, her tone sounded gentle and kind which only made it even more sickening.
When no one answered I felt a sudden blow to my leg causing me to yelp out in pain, but luckily, I didn't feel any blood leave my leg.
"I said, capiche?" She asked innocently.
"Capiche" We all answered.
"I suggest you all go while you can. Won't get another break for hours." Suddenly I was being pulled out of the van and dropped on the hard floor which only intensified the pain in my leg even more. As I was being pulled up, the sack over my head was discarded and my pants began to be pulled down.
"What are you doing?" I yelped.
"Either I do it or you don't go at all." She said behind me. I turned around to see her and was shocked to see how neat and prim she looked. She had red hair that was neatly put up in a bun, not a hair out of place as well as some sort of business looking clothes yet her eyes, they were so cold and full of disgust and mischief.
"Can I do it? Please. You don't have to untie my hands." She narrowed her eyes at me but pushed me beside the van and into a ditch to do my business. That's when I noticed we were in the middle of nowhere with nothing but fields and fields for miles. I knew we must be in Kansas. I was so far away from home.
After much struggle I had finally did my business and had the sack once again placed on my head. I was once again thrown into the van and ended up landing on Fang. I apologized as I had rolled off of him.
After everyone had gone, Fang not being afraid to let her know his hate for her, we were on the move again. Farther and farther from home and closer and closer to possible death.
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Four nights later and there were sixteen of us in the van. We were all stacked on one another but we wiggled and moved so the smaller ones were on top and the bigger ones on the bottom. I was on the bottom.
We got fed twice a day. It was always poorly made old sandwiches and a gulp of water. We quickly learned each other's name and where we were all from. We found out there were eight boys and eight girls. And that the last girl which made a total of sixteen was the last one. Which meant the next stop was the one we all feared.
I wondered if people were out there looking for us. If they knew we had been captured by those four ruthless killers. I was curious to know if they had already left their oh so famous kidnapping mark by leaving our purses or wallets or some other person item on some police officers door step or mailbox.
What I thought about the most though was about what was yet to come. What exactly they were planning on doing to us. How all those kids ended up dead yet one managed to escape. Do they just take us somewhere and kill us? If so, why go through all the struggle of capturing so many at once. Or did they torture and play with their food before attacking? Either way I knew that awful things were in store for me. For all of us.
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Two days later, six days after my capturing, we were at our final stop.
We had all been thrown out of the van, our legs being the only thing untied, and pushed in an anonymous direction. I knew we were outside, somewhere with lots of dead leaves as they crunched beneath my feet. When I ended up stumbling someone pulled me back up by my hair and I did my best not to let anything out more than a whimper.
As we were walked up some wooden steps and porch that eerily creaked, we were then pushed into a building of some sorts. The steps we made echoed and groaned below us.
We were pushed and guided like a herd of cows as we blindly walked inside the, what must be an enormous building.
"Sit them down" The female voice said. I was pushed backwards until my calves hit something hard and I was pushed down into a chair. From the various "humph's" and "uh's" I knew everyone else was too.
"Show time boys. Remove the sacks and untie them." She spoke. I had a feeling she was the leader amongst them. The brain. "And as a fair warning, if you even shift you get a bullet through the head."
Various whimpers were heard as they made their way, untying everyone. I froze as soon as I felt one come up behind me. I haven't seen any of my captures except for the woman but I knew the Jinks guy was big and buff.
The sack was removed from my head and I was finally able to see the rest of the victims. We hadn't had the chance before since our sacks were only off our heads one at a time whenever we ate or went to the bathroom. As the person, not daring to look behind me, working on untying my hands, I looked around the room.
We were seated in a large circle. Sure enough eight girls and eight boys, totaling a number of sixteen. Some looked as young as ten, others as old as eighteen or so. We seemed to be in what seemed like those cliché haunted mansion type places. There were cob and spider webs everywhere and dust was thick on the floor and old furniture. We seemed to be in a rather large guest room with the windows blocked with iron bars. A large painting of a soldier hung on the wall, barely visible due to all the dust piled on top of it.
I fought back a sneeze, knowing very well it wouldn't end well if I didn't.
I looked around for Fang or Angel considering they were the ones I had talked to the most. But since I didn't know how they looked I could only narrow it down. I should've asked for physical features.
The red headed lady stood in the center of the circle. A knife in either hand.
"Congratulations! You have all been chosen to take part in a very interesting game" The lady beamed as if this was the best news ever.
"The rules are quite simple. Make it out of this manor alive and you're free to go. But these good fellas and I are going to be tracking you all down ready to hear your pleads and gut you all. There's also traps set up all around this manor. Such as gas rooms, trip wires that cause certain things to collapse, yada, yada, yada." She waved off. "Though we want to kill you all ourselves, we want to make it somewhat fair. We placed clocks all around the manor and every day when the clock strikes two, you will all get a free hour. We won't be hunting you though if you happen to come across us that is your own fault. You can either use that free hour to perhaps catch up on sleep or eat. Find the kitchen that will be stocked with food and water. Run out of either of them, well you should have been more conservative. As you may all know only one has escaped. You can either see it that it's possible to escape or that you're dead already. Questions? Only time this is okay to talk."
"Why are you doing this?" A boy that looked around my age with reddish hair spoke up. He looked pretty pissed actually. The lady smiled.
"Because I love seeing the life seep from children's eyes as they scream and plead me to stop as their warm blood cover my hands." She said with a grin which caused several to whimper. She sickened me. All four of them did.
"How can we escape? Are there several exits or just one" I found myself asking. Everyone turned to me and I swallowed down the lump in my throat. She cocked her head and once again smiled.
"Great question!" She praised me. "There's only one. The front doors. You will find that all the windows are blocked with steel bars and I wouldn't suggest trying the back door or any other so called exit. Wouldn't want the game to end so soon! Anymore questions?"
When no one asked she chuckled and clapped her hands, metal of the knives clinging together.
"Wonderful. You all have thirty minutes to find some hiding spot. Let the games begin!"
We all ran.
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Another story! I'm so excited for this one.
I hope this story gets as much support as my last one did and hopefully you all enjoy the plot!
The Eggy story should be coming soon by the way.
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Question of the Chapter: Do you think Fang, Max, and Angel will all survive?
My Response: I don't know. Will they?
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HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!