Chapter three
MaKenzie woke up when her mother started screaming.
She didn't know why, but something inside of her told her to wake up, that her mother was in trouble. And no one fucked with MaKenzie's mother. No one.
She regained her consciousness in steps. First, she could move again. Then, she could see again. She was tied down to a chair; her legs tied to the legs of the chair and her hands tied behind her back. MaKenzie then realized she was outside, somewhere in the middle of her family orchard. There was a giant clearing about 50 feet away from here and she knew that was for the helicopter.
None of that shocked her, or even angered her, really. MaKenzie knew that eventually The School would come for her and she would have had to be ready. No, what really shocked her was that her mom was about 15 feet to her right and being held back by an Eraser. A full fledged Eraser. His arms were wrapped around her mom's waist. She was kicking him and punching his arms. He saw her looked at him and he bared his teeth and laughed at her.
MaKenzie began kicking her legs, trying to free herself from the thick ropes wrapped around her thighs. She moved her arms, trying desperately to escape. Screw herself, her family needed her. Her mom screamed at the beast to let her go.
And then, she could speak again. Well, she could scream again, not coherently, but she could make noise come out of her mouth. That was a good start. Her mom looked up and MaKenzie saw her mother's eyes were like she had never seen them. Her mom looked desperate, crazed almost. She looked scared out of her mind, but happy to see here. Her eyes were wide, but her pupils were small. "Kenzie, Kenzie, you need to get out!" Her mom screamed at her. She looked like a mess. Her mascara was smeared down her face from her tears. Her dress was ripped up the side and her nice black heels were all scuffed up. MaKenzie thought that her mom might want some revenge for her recently destroyed clothing.
When MaKenzie found her voice again, she yelled "Let her go!" at the Eraser. He just laughed at her. She knew that yelling at him would do nothing but amuse him, but MaKenzie couldn't help it, she had to try at least.
MaKenzie forced herself to think. She could get out of this easily if she just thought. Even if she managed to get out of this chair, she couldn't fly away with her mom. She wouldn't be able to support her mom's weight. MaKenzie had to kill that Eraser before she could even think about anything else. The helicopter would be coming soon, so she had to act quick. She could only see one Eraser, but who knew how many could be hiding in the woods.
It was when she was searching her mind for a solution when she realized that something was missing. "Oh my God, Mom. Where's dad?!" The panic set in. Her dad was dead. They killed him.
"I don't know! They only took me!" Her mom screamed back. But something told MaKenzie that she was lying. She didn't know how, but she did. She pushed it to the back of her head. She was just scared. Her dad was safe, that's all that matters.
MaKenzie didn't have a plan. She really had no idea what to do. She never planned on what she would do if she was strapped to a chair in the middle of the country and they were using her mother as a hostage. She didn't know what to do, she just knew she couldn't do anything stuck in that chair.
MaKenzie had to be silent. She had to be quick and still. After taking a deep, calming breath, MaKenzie conjured a knife and started cutting at the rope behind her back. It was awkward and hard. The rope was thick and she feared that she wouldn't have enough time to cut through it or that she would drop it.
"So what are you planning on doing to me?" MaKenzie yelled at the Eraser. "I broke out once, what do you think will stop me from doing it again?" He didn't respond, he just kept smiling. It wasn't like he was ignoring her, it was just like didn't know how to respond. The rope was getting easier to cut. "Huh, big guy? I bet you probably don't even know what they're planning on."
He stopped smiling. The rope was almost completely cut though.
"You're just the errand boy, right? Hoping to improve your status? Well, guess what?" Her hands were free. Without even thinking about it, her hands were wrapped around a gun, aimed at his head. "You're dead."
The recoil surprised MaKenzie. She almost forgot how hard firing a gun was on her shoulders. The sound almost hurt her ears because it was so loud. Almost. She grew up with that sound. She was too use to it.
The bullet went right through the Erasers head. He died with a surprised look on his face. He fell back, almost taking MaKenzie's mom with him.
Her mother had a terrified look on her face. But not because of what had just happened, but because of MaKenzie. Her mom had only heard stories of MaKenzie's days in The School. She just saw her daughter kill a man who wasn't really a man. She never thought that they would come for her. But now, they were after her, and her life would never be the same.
But that didn't stop her mother from running over to MaKenzie. She dropped to her knees and started untying the rope. MaKenzie handed her a knife and her mother took it with a shaking hand. MaKenzie conjured another knife and begun cutting the other rope.
Once she was free, the two hugged for a long moment. Here they were, in the middle of an orchard at night, shaking and crying. A few minutes ago, MaKenzie thought her entire life was over and accepted it. But now, she was going to fight until her last breath.
"Mom, you need to listen to me." MaKenzie pulled her mother away by her shoulders and shook her slightly. "We need to get out of here. Now. We're going to get the the road and run back to the house. When we get back, we're going to find dad and pack the car with whatever we need and drive until we get to the next state over." Her mom was sobbing and nodding. MaKenzie wanted to keep crying too, but she couldn't. She was back in School territory and she was going to follow the number one rule: show no emotion. "Mom, you need to stop crying. We need to be brave. Can you do that?"
Her mom sniffed and rubbed her tears away from her eyes, ruining her eye makeup even more. "Find the street, get home, leave the state, no crying. Got it." She tried smiling but then let out a huge sob. "I'm sorry sweetie. I, just, you, you just almost died. I thought I lost you, and then you killed that thing and, holy shit what the fucking hell was that thing?" Her eyes were red from crying, and her mom laughed as she sobbed again. MaKenzie couldn't help it, she laughed a little too. Her mom thought that cussing was bad for the soul, so she never did it. It almost seemed fitting, in a strange way.
"That was an Eraser, mom. And If I'm right, there's going to be a helicopter landing really soon. we need to get out of here." MaKenzie took her mom's hand, produced a flashlight from mid air and started walking East towards the street.
