Hia! =D
Here is Chapter 9 as promised! Thanks to everyone who as commented on my story and also the ones who have added it to their story alert, I really appresiate it! Also, I would like it if you guys tell me what part of the story you liked the best and maybe give me futere ideas I can use in this story. Believe me, I havn't the whole script done yet, so any ideas you guys could give me would be awesome!
Peace out!
Chapter 9: Captured
Tired eyelids slowly opened, eyesight slightly blurry as blue eyes tried to get used to the surroundings. It was a bit dark and only a small light cast from a lantern made it possible to see. The first thing Cornelia noticed as her senses returned to her was that she was lying on a dirt covered ground. Her hands had been tied together in front of her with a small rope that hung tightly around her wrists.
She blinked a few times to get used to the light cast down at her from above, the lantern burning brightly. Cornelia tried moving her hands slightly, and found that the numbness had faded and then decided to sit up. It wasn't until she sat up that the girl took more notice of her surroundings. Old wooden walls stood tall around her in a small room, a bunch of boxes in wood stood stocked in a corner as well as a table and a chair a bit further away. There was a door in the other end of the room as well as some kind of window that was actually a plank that hung in front of the opening with a small stick holding it open. The darkness outside told her that it was night time. All in all it looked like an old abandoned cottage.
Cornelia turned to explore more of her surroundings, which was when she noticed that she was actually not alone in the room. Sitting in a corner sat a light skinned man with a bandana tied around his head, and over his crossed legs rested a rifle. His hair kind of resembled Miles', but the thought soon left her as he lifted his head to look at her. Cold, blue eyes stared back at her, making a chill run down her spine.
His left hand took a hold of his rifle as he lifted it and placed the thick end of the weapon to the ground as he used it to support his weight as he stood up to a full height of 6'1 feet. Cornelia stared wide-eyed up at the man. She now remembered what had happened before she had fallen unconscious, and she quickly realized that if these people were working for the bearded man, then she was in trouble.
Fear was starting to kick in, but the young girl refused to look scared in front of the bad guys. Instead she put up an angry scowl at the man that was staring down at her. "Untie me!" the seven-year-old demanded as she lifted both her arms to show him the rope. There was a long pause as the man continued to stare down at her, and she was starting to wonder if he would actually do as she said.
He proved her wrong as the man strode right past her and out the door, but he didn't seem to have walked too far, as he came back less than a minute later. Cornelia drew her arms closer to her chest and put on a brave face as the door opened once more and a familiar face of Carl Cartridge appeared together with the man from before and a dark skinned man she recognized as one of the men that had captured her.
She pulled away from the trio as they came inside and closed the door behind them. Carl was wearing a fake smile as he took a step ahead of his followers. All eyes stared down at the small child before them. An uncertain expression filled Cornelia's face as the fear factor was taking over, and Carl's creepy smile sure didn't make it any better.
"Well, well… we meet again, don't we, little miss?" Carl greeted, slightly tilting his head as he studied the girl before him. Cornelia kept her mouth in a thin line as she stared back up at the round man, refusing to reply. The man took another step, causing the girl to try to back up even more, but found it impossible as she suddenly had the wall against her back.
"Don't be frightened, I promise not to hurt you… as long as you answer my questions, that is", Carl added as he crouched down only two feet away from her. Cornelia twitched slightly at his tone; she knew he would go through with her if she didn't do as he said.
The man took off his safari hat, before sending the girl another forced smile. It wasn't before now that the girl noticed all the rings that were present on his fingers; they were all in gold with different colored stones fastened on them. It didn't take a genius to figure out that they must have been extremely expensive.
"What was it that your group found out in the jungle?" Cornelia stared up at him with her mouth slightly opened, "D-different kinds of plants…" Cartridge gave a displeased scowl and his voice clearly marked his impatience as he spoke next. "I already know that, but you found something special, didn't you? Let's say… a flower?" The girl noticeably stiffened in front of him but quickly collected herself. "No, just some roots and leaves!"
All of a sudden Carl grabbed her hands and dragged her up to face him, all patience lost as he gritted his teeth in anger, trying not to lose his temper any more. "DON'T! -lie to me little girl. I heard you tell your other so-called 'friends' about this flower, and let me get this clear: if you try to lie to my face once more I will not hesitate to hurt you!" Cornelia looked wide eyed at him, desperately trying to fight the tears that were building up in her eyes.
This was unfair! She didn't want to give the rare flower to this man, and now she was threatened to give it up for her own safety. Neither was an option she wanted to pick… a third option started to form in her head as she steadily collected herself and got some of her confidence back. "That wouldn't be such a good idea…" Cornelia's voice spoke up inside the small room.
There was a long silence after the words had been said. None of the three men had predicted this small comment. In all honesty, they had expected her to start weeping and spill out everything she knew. Clearly they had mistaken. The blonde and the black man behind the redhead sent each other a glance, silently telling each other that they had expected the same scenario. Carl was the one who spoke next, his curiosity getting the best of him, "And why is that?"
Sitting up a bit straighter and looking up with a straight face expression she told him the answer with a hint of pride in her voice. "Because if you did, Catcher would get mad at you." There was another short pause before Carl let out an amused laugh, "Hah, Who is that? One of your friends that defended you back at your camp? Unfortunately for you, they don't know where you are, and even if they did, I really doubt that they could do anything about it."
"Catcher didn't show himself at the camp", Cornelia pointed out before she continued in her correction. "And Catcher is really good at finding people. He found my mom when I had gotten lost, and he has some cool weapons too! I bet he could cut all your guns into pieces!" the girl explained with a lot of enthusiasm, almost forgetting where she was in the first place. "I don't think he likes adults since he always turns invisible around them, but he likes me, so he would get mad if-"
Cornelia's explanation took an abrupt stop as something suddenly hit her left cheek with a force strong enough to knock her over. She hit the ground with a surprised yelp. It took her a few seconds to realize what had just happened. Cornelia turned her head slightly to look up through a few hair straws that had fallen in front of her face. Carl's face had turned into a bright shade of red, giving his angry expression more impact. His right hand still hung in the air with the open palm that he had used to hit her.
The big man panted heavily trying to calm his nerves; finally he stood up and turned around to stare at his men who hadn't even twitched after witnessing the abuse. "You!" Cartridge shouted as he pointed an accusing finger towards the dark skinned man, "You watch her while I'm gone, and Smith!-" he then called, turning to the other blonde man that stood slightly to his left. "-You are coming with me", the fired up redhead ordered as he stormed past him and out the door. The blonde followed after, closing the door behind him.
Cornelia lay motionless on the floor for about a minute. Her left cheek stung and now she was beginning to feel something tickling down the same side. The young girl slowly lifted her bound hands to feel the cheek. Her closed eyes shut once her hands made contact, as the stinging increased slightly. After returning her hands back to the ground in front of her face, she opened her eyes again and noticed that there was some blood on the part of her hand that had touched her hurt cheek. Carl must have cut it with one of his rings.
Tears escaped her eyes as Cornelia stared at the red substance on her hands. She didn't know why, but she had never liked the sight of blood. It was probably because it meant that someone was hurt. Turning her whole body around to face the wall, she also turned her back on the other man in the room that had been told to watch her. Sniffing slightly, Cornelia closed her now sore eyes to block out her bloody hand.
Silently Cornelia lay there, hoping Catcher would come and rescue her soon.
Tiredly, Cornelia opened her eyes as she heard a door open and close. She didn't know how or when she had fallen asleep on the dirty floor: it was probably due to exhaustion. Turning her body over to face the door, she found no one. The room was empty. It took the child a couple of seconds to figure out that it was probably her appointed guard that had walked out the door a minute ago. She didn't know why, but she really hoped it wasn't to go get Cartridge.
Her cheek still throbbed from before, but the bleeding had stopped. Casting a glance around her surroundings, her eyes landed on the slightly opened window. Staring at it for a few seconds before casting another look across the room, Cornelia's eyes landed on a pile of boxes in the corner. A wicked grin slowly spread across the girl's face as an escape plan came to mind. She would teach these bad guys not to underestimate the infamous escape artist Cornelia Campbell.
It hadn't been pure luck that she had managed to sneak past the guards the nights that she had went to see Catcher. Back home she was known for her ability to move about without being detected, to be cunning and sneaky if she only wanted to be. Standing up on her own two feet for the first time since she got taken, Cornelia tiptoed over to the boxes in the corner. She didn't know if there was anyone nearby, therefore she had to be extra quiet in case somebody was within hearing range.
Because of her tied hands, Cornelia had trouble lifting the box. After about two minutes Cornelia gave up the lifting idea and instead started shoving it across the ground with her feet. Placing the container one inch from the wall below the window, Cornelia gave a satisfied nod to herself. She had wanted Catcher to come save her, but why create too much trouble for him? Besides, she always found it kind of weird why the princesses in the fairy tales her mother read to her, never tried to escape on their own, instead of waiting for some prince or knight to come save them.
The seven-year-old froze for a split second as the thought crossed her mind. Catcher wore some kind of armor… did that maybe mean that he was a knight? Blushing slightly at the image of the almost eight foot tall humanoid coming to her rescue, Cornelia got a slight understanding to why the princesses waited to be rescued. It would have been kind of cool.
Shaking her head at the idea, Cornelia turned back to her own escape plan with a grin. She bet Catcher could be more impressed with her if she could get out on her own, rather than to do nothing. Maybe he would praise her? Simply the thought of that happening made Cornelia blush again; that could possibly be as cool as being rescued by him.
Getting her focus back on to the present, the blonde girl stepped up on the wooden box, steadying herself against the wall. Reaching up to look out the small opening, she scanned the outside to find a possible escape route.
The area was a little familiar to her mother's camping site. A few tents were set up in a small opening with thick jungle vegetation all around. A noticeably difference were the patrolling guards. There was four that she could see, all carrying weapons and on guard. Cornelia's expression tightened a bit; it would be a bit hard to get by them unnoticed, but luckily not impossible. There would only be one chance to get past them.
The girl took a deep breath before she analyzed the situation like she always did when she wanted to get past someone. Her tied hands rested on the edge of the opening, and once one of the guards turned to another direction, Cornelia acted. She put pressure on to her hands as she lifted her body weight on to the window frame, placing one of her bare feet against the wall as she used for support before pushing herself up. Once she was high enough, Cornelia threw one of her feet over the edge, followed by the other. Lowering herself to the ground outside, small feet touched the cool earth and her hands let go of the window frame.
Quickly moving out of the open and around the back of the cabin she had been in, she pressed her tiny body tightly onto the wall. Sidestepping to each corner, Cornelia looked around the edge to check if everything was as it should be. The guards continued their patrolling to Cornelia's relief. Returning to watch her surroundings, she spotted the best route to the jungle.
Waiting until the coast was clear, Cornelia quickly ran over to the cover of one of the tents. Carefully to not touch the fabric, in case there was someone inside, she moved past it while keeping an eye on the people walking about. One of the guards slowly started to turn to Cornelia's direction, making the girls heart skip a beat before she threw herself down to the ground in the cover of a small set of plants.
Peeking worriedly through the openings in the vegetation in front of herself, she let out a sigh of relief as the guard showed no indication that he had seen her. Once he turned again, Cornelia was back on her feet and sprinted the last few feet into the green leaves of the jungle, covering herself from being seen. She took a few heavy breaths to calm her beating heart before turning to look back at the enemy camp once more. Her heart almost stopped as she saw who had just left one of the tents.
Carl Cartridge was walking across the land with the blonde Smith behind him, heading for the cottage she had been in only minutes before. The man who had been set to watch her stood right outside the door and was trying to put out his cigarette as he stomped on it twice, before greeting the pair.
Cornelia wasted no more time observing as she quickly turned on her heel and darted away from the lair as fast as she could while trying not to step on something sharp with her bare feet. Once they opened the door and found it empty they would start searching for her, meaning that the girl needed to put as much distance between them as she could and find a good hiding place. After all, they were adults and ran faster than her.
It hadn't been more than a minute before she could hear the distant shout of an outraged Carl. Speeding up a bit, Cornelia hurriedly avoided a sharp rock she was about to step on. It was difficult to focus on so many things. First she had to watch where she was headed, then she had to watch out for sharp objects on the ground and then she had to search for a place to hide.
In all the distractions, Cornelia missed to notice the wine whip that lay on the ground ahead of her. Two seconds later, the small girl suddenly stumbled facedown into the ground. "Ouch!" Cornelia exclaimed as she pushed her face off the floor. Maybe God had this plan to let Catcher rescue her after all, the blonde wondered, until she turned her dirt covered face and stared right into a small opening under one of the roots of an old tree. It was just the right size for her to squeeze in and a great hiding place.
Crawling closer to the tree before turning her body to have her feet face the opening, she pushed herself in while muttering something to herself along the lines of "Thank you, God…"
It was a tight space, but big enough to create a distance to the opening if she pushed herself up against the opposite wall of earth. With her back against the wall and her feet tucked close to her body, Cornelia faced the opening, waiting for any sounds and movements. It didn't take too long before she heard the sound of fast approaching footsteps. She held her breath as the sound came closer and closer and… went right past her.
Letting out the breath she was holding and relaxing her body, Cornelia smiled to herself. "Wait!" a dark male voice suddenly called, making the hiding girl tense up again. She stayed completely still as she listened to the steps that was heading back towards her location. Keeping absolutely quiet, Cornelia waited as the two footsteps stopped outside her hiding place.
Now she was confused. This was the perfect place to hide; even she hadn't noticed it until she had practically stumbled right next to it, so how had they? The answer came sooner than she had expected, "Isn't this the hat that the kid was wearing?"
Automatically, Cornelia reached her hands up to the top of her head and came in contact with her now messy hair. Realization dawned upon her as she figured that her hat must have fell off without her noticing when she tripped earlier. All thoughts in the girl's head disappeared as a shadow fell on the ground in front of the opening. Two sets of boots could also be seen as they turned in her direction. "Hey, check that hole, perhaps she's in there", one of the voices spoke, making Cornelia forget how to breathe as the words registered in her brain.
"You do it. I don't want to crawl in dirt", a new voice with a bad accent replied to the first voice. "Hmph, Whatever…" One set of boots took a step closer before the man kneeled and bent over to check the opening.
Cold blue eyes scanned the inside for a second before a sadistic grin spread across the blonde's features. "Well, well, look who we have here." Smith straightened back up as he turned to the black man behind him. Lifting up his right hand that held a gun, the blonde gestured for his partner to take it, "Hold this for a moment while I drag the kid out."
After his gun had been released from the man's hand, he turned back to the opening in the ground and realized that he wouldn't fit through. Still, he lay down flat on his stomach with his face in the opening, gazing in at the scared kid who stared back at him with watery eyes. "Now, stop being such a trouble maker and come here!" Smith threatened, but his request only made the child back up even more.
Reaching out his hand, the man tried to reach in and grab the girl, but was one inch too short. He reached a bit more, but took a few seconds break as he heard his gun drop to the floor behind him. "Hey! Don't mess with my firearm! Pick it up and don't drop it again!" Smith shouted back as he turned his head slightly to the side. He gave an agitated sigh before he turned back to the task he had at hand.
Reaching forward once more, he almost managed to grab a hold of her leg, but missed. Stretching his arm a bit more, he let out a victorious; "Hah!" as his hand closed around Cornelia's leg. The girl let out a frightened cry before she started struggling to make him let go of her, but she didn't manage to get a hit. Grinning once more, Smith started dragging the fighting girl closer to the opening.
What the blonde wasn't paying much attention to was that as the girl came closer to him, her kicks also came closer to his face. That's why he was so surprised that his grip loosened when he suddenly got a foot forced into his face. The blonde recoiled and gripped his nose with his hand. Blood was dripping from it, and it hurt like hell. Anger boiled in his eyes as he looked back up on the girl who was now back in the corner.
"You're going to regret doing that, kid…" he deadly whispered before moving his free hand back out the opening. "Give me my gun! I'm going to shoot both her legs so that she won't be able to run off anymore!" Smith roared back to his partner, but was met with silence and no action to do as he had requested. Turning his head to the side with an expression that couldn't be described as nothing else but pissed off, he angrily shouted "HEY! Do as I say, you damn idiot!"
He was met with silence once more, but all of a sudden the blonde could feel a strong hand close around his ankle with a firm grip. "What the he-!" Without warning the man was jerked back with a strong force and away from the opening.
Cornelia continued to stare at the place where the scary man had been only moments earlier. She could hear him shout and curse from outside, but the sound became more distant as it seemed like he was dragged away from her current position.
Suddenly, a horrifying scream filled the jungle around her, and then... absolute silence.
To be continued…
Muahah! Another cliffhanger, just to screw with my dear readers~ ^-^
... meh, this chapter turned out more dramatic than i had pictured ,
