Chapter 4; Gone

Max woke up sometime later and was very sore, lying by a campfire. She tried to sit up, noticing all of the bruises and wounds on her body.

What happened to me?!

PAIN!

In the course of sitting up she had caught her leg in the fire and now couldn't get it out.

A string of colorful words went through her head as she removed her leg from the fire by hand, expecting her burning hand to come out holding nothing but a charcoaled chunk of meat. She dared to look down at her leg, relieved yet horrified to see that it was still very fleshy and bubbly.

Suddenly, the image of her family calling her name flashed through her head and she broke down crying but she stopped herself as she heard heavy footsteps approaching.

She tried to stand up but cried out when she put pressure on her left leg. Her capture grabbed her by the hair, picking her up and throwing her to the ground and kicking her three times in the side. She stifled a cry; for every blow sent a shock wave of pain throughout her battered and bruised body.

He cursed at her and walked away, and for some reason never showing his face or even said any other word to her.

Max was really tired. But she knew better, if she relaxed and stopped moving, she would slip into shock. She got up and tried to jog in place, not caring how stupid she felt only being able to hop on one leg.

Max?!

Angel!

Hi sweetie!

Are you ok, Max?

I don't really know, Ange. Her voice was shaky and she felt like she was about to collapse from relief.

Tell us where you are! Or at least try to. We miss you soooo much!

Max looked around for a moment, studying the area around her and trying to have some recollection.

Uh…I-I don't k-know.

Max, are you okay? You're stuttering.

I-I'm just really happy to finally hear from someone… W-Where are the others? I don't hear any noise in the b-background.

Well, first of all, it's midnight and second, Aaron and Fang just flew out the door to come look for you! They're gonna do their best to find you and bring you home!

The-they're coming to get me?

Yeah Max, they're coming.