Disclaimer : South of nowhere isn't mine!
Previously :
From under the safety of the shelf,I saw a pair of long legs striding down a row of machines near me,then I saw him duck his head down to floor level.I didn't even think of sticking around to see his face,so I quickly slipped away from the shelf,and under a table in front of me curling up into my chest with the screwdriver tightly grasped in my hand.
I looked around from under the sheltered table seeing that there was nothing around.
"Goose..."
((AN:Okay...I just wanted to thank these kind people for a small second...SouthOfNowhere09,Hotcutii3,TCHS-SoP-chick, dttdemon,phoebejoss, and spashley16!!
Thanks so much guys for your reviews on chapter Twelve!I was so,so,so happy!No-overjoyed is a better word for it!Gosh I was so worried that people wouldn't understand it,or they'd have to read it over and over just to see what I meant!But nope,that very day I was already getting feedback!I'm so,so,so,so thankful for everyone that has ever reviewed on my stories!Thanks again guys,and I hope that this one is at least as better as the last one was...Well see ya!Mwah!))
Chapter Thirteen : Rage Against The Machine
(Jamie POV)
Forcing myself not to scream when I saw the shadow of two legs in front of the table,I summoned all of the agilness in my body for what I was about to do.The blood rushed from my hand as my grip on the screw driver tightened even more.
I clenched the muscles in my arm as I slowly swung it back above my shoulder.With all the strength left in my body,I focused in on my target,and my arm lunched forward puncturing his right leg.
Leaving the screwdriver still lodged into his thigh,I crawled as far away from him as possible desperately searching to find an exit hearing him let out a cry of pain as he tried to pull it.
My eyes land on the spiraling staircase leading to my father's office. In my head,I was quickly calculating the time it would take my to reach it,but another scream interupted my plan followed by a loud metal clank. I looked back seeing a bloody screwdriver rolling on the floor,and the two legs hobbling to where I was.
Without a second thought,I booked it straight for the stairs.
Ohio : (Spencer POV)
Ashley's hand slipped into mine when the officer played back the recorded message that Jamie had sent to her just an hour ago.Ashley's living room was filled with over fifteen police officers,and crime specialists who brought with them the latest technology guaranteed in the field of tracking the location of phone calls.
Ashley,and I were side by side on the couch with Aiden,and Kyla sitting together on the right side.Aiden had his arm protectively around Kyla as she sobbed silghtly into his chest.Ashley's mom,and my dad were talking to some detectives in the kitchen.Whle Clay,and Glen were standing arms-crossed against the wall beside us.
I slip my arm around her waist letting her head fall on my shoulder.
"This is all my fault...",she whispers and everyone of us listens in attention.
"Ashley,don't say-"
"N-no.It is,"Her head lifts up from my shoulder,and looks at me with wary bloodshot red eyes."I knew why she left...I knew."She looked down,and closed her eyes."It was a couple of weeks after she got out of the hospital...she was sleeping over."
: Flashback : Four Months Ago
(Ashley POV)
"Okay Jay-Jay..."I open the door holding up both arms.
"Twix,Snickers,or Butterfingers?I personally would take the twix because I had a really bad Butterfingers-caught-in-teeth accident when I was little.So I guess it's just Snick-"I stop seeing her quickly shoving something under the bed.She snaps up putting on fake grin."Oh!Hey Ash... Your home early?"
I eye her suspiciously tossing the bars onto the bed. "What are you doing?"
"N-nothing.Just...sprousing up a bit.That's all."She bends down to straighten the already made bed spread.
"Ri-ight..."I sat down where she was supposedly sprucing up making her stiffen a bit."Jamie.What ya hiding?"
"What do you mean?I-I'm not hiding anything,"she said glancing her eyes to where my feet were by the bed. I look down at my feet seeing that they were about an inch away from hitting the edge of a box.
"What's that?"
"Just a box...W-with pictures,pencils,necklaces...You know,what people would normally put in a box."
I ignore her lame attempt at lieing,leaning down to pick it up.
"No!D-don't-"She tried to grab it out of my hands,but the lid was already off.
Inside I could see several envelopes that each held only one picture,and other envelopes that were letters to someone.There were some old baby toys,and rattles.The last thing was a yellow package that hid over thirty or more picutures of us.Of everyone.Taken in the corners of windows,bushes, cars.But then there were others that looked like they were taken almost twenty years ago by the clothes,and the hair of the people in the pictures.
My hands come accross a picture of a little girl,and a man and woman.The little girl is smiling,and the man has his arm around her laughing with an X over his face.The woman was in the background looking serenely into the camera with two small X's over her eyes,and one on her stomach.
It's caption said 'Helen,James,and Jamie.'
Another picture of the same woman in a waitress uniform holding a little boys stubby hand with a different,older man in the background.This picture was different than the rest.I couldn't figure out what it was until I looked more closely at the picture.On the back was a small patch of writing on the bottom corner.My fingers traced over the etched letters of ink.
"Helen,Patrick,and Benji..."I said looking up to see her eyes furious."Who are they?"
My hands were just starting to shake when Jamie snatched the box away.
"Damn it!Ashley why can't you just listen to me!Mind your own business for once!"She screamed every word,every syllable with not one look in my direction as I stood there montionless,stunned.
I shrugged off all of the hurt she put into what she just said."I thought you didn't have any family?Who are those people Jamie?"
"That's none of your business.It's my problems,not yours,"she answered bitterly,but I saw a wave of regret in her eyes.
"Problems...why are they problems?"
"Please Ashley..."She whispered starting to cry."I begging you.Stay out of this.This one thing,you can't know...please?"
"No!I'm not!"I grab one of the pictures pointing it at her."...and your going to tell me why you have these things!"
"Some one sent them to me!I didn't actually have a choice in the matter!"
"Who?Who would send you pictures like this?People with X's on their faces?Baby toys?Who Jamie?"
"Don't..."She shakes her head forcefully."Don't ask me that!Don't get involved!Don't ask questions!"
"Why?What are you so scared of?!"
She sighed exasperated giving up."Him!"
"Him?"Jamie didn't answer,she just pointed to the pile of junk on the bed.
"The guy that attacked me in the park!The guy that's been taking pictures of all of us!The guy that tried to kill me!"She groans again throwing her hands up I the air."Twice!"
"What?"I breathed out confused,and she sighed kneeling down to mess with a board within her wooden floor.She pressed down on a random board,and one side tipped up to reaveal a dusty picture underneath.She brought it over to me.
The corners of the picture were worn,and the color faded,but I could still see,plain as day,what it was.
It was taken looking through a broken windshield of a car,blood ran over the shattered glass.There was a girl's battered face laying sideways against the steering wheel.Blood rolled down from her forehead making her hair stick to her face.
"Oh my god...Jamie.W-who would do..."
"I don't know,but whoever it is wants me dead,"she says crossing her arms.
"H-how long has this been going on?"I asked still looking intently at the picture.
"Since the car crash..."She whispered,and she breathed out heavy breathe sitting down.
"What are you going to do?"
"The only thing I can think of..."She sighed looking up at me."Leave.Before someone else gets hurt."
"What?No we-we can call the cops Jamie!That's what they're here for,right?T-they can watch the house.Surveillance?!"
"I came back here to spend time with you guys,before I left for good,"she said."I need to lay low for awhile,away from here.I'm going back to LA before Summer ends,and I'm going to stay there.I've already got my bags packed."She motions behind me where a two black duffel bags where lieing against the wall.
"When are you coming back?"I ask her with tears in my eyes that I was trying so hard to keep back.She walks up to give me a hug without saying anything.
"I don't know..."She whispers in my ear,before pulling away giving me a peck on the cheek."I love ya' Ash...take care of Aiden and Ky for me,will ya?They need all the supervision they can get now."
"I will."I wipe away a few traitor tears from my face."I'm going to miss you...Try and call me atleast,please?"
She nods leaning up to kiss my forehead."But if I don't...just know that I'm protecting you,okay?Don't tell anyone what I just told you.Only when you HAVE to,okay?I couldn't live with myself if you got hurt Ashley..."She broke our embrace to grab her bags,and opened the door.
"What about this?"I ask looking at the pile of stuff displayed on the bed,but she doesn't look back at me.
"Keep them hidden.They'll come on handy when you need 'em..."
"What am I going to tell everyone Jamie?I mean,it's not like I can tell them this."
"Tell them...what you need to tell them without saying too much.Tell them that I'm sorry."With another sigh she stepped through the door frame and disappeared down the hall. (Kyla POV)
: End Of Flashback :
"'They'll come in handy when you need them'..." Ashley whispered to herself biting ing her lip."She knew...she knew he'd find her again eventually.She knew what was going to happen to her."
"I can't believe she would keep this from us,"I say looking at Ashley wince for a second.
"I didn't think she could,"Aiden replied,"I mean,she must've been really-"
"Scared,"Spencer said finishing his sentence."So scared,so afraid that we would risk our own lives to save hers.She wouldn't allow that even if we begged her."
Just as Ashley was about to speak,one of the officers at the computers interrupted her.
"We've got it,"He said looking straight at Ashley.His voice was filled with accomplishment,and affirmation."We've found her.Her cellphone traced to a factory building South,Southwest of the 101-22B Bridge."
"A little more specific Arwan,"An older male addressed him coming out of the dining room.
"3124 Lawrence Street.Just Two blocks north of the Fuelea Bay Sir."
"That's like a mile form her apartment?Why would he take her there?"
"She's afraid of the water,"I remind them,and I could easily the panic in my voice."What is he's gonna drown her?!"
"No.That area's too populated,too many risks of witnesses.Up north there are mostly factories that no one care for anymore.Less people,more opportunities,"He says,then he whistled for the rest of the officer's attention.
"Listen up!The girl is well over nine hours away!If we take the F4 Stealth choppers,we'll be able to cut that in half to about four hours!I'll need Sargent Ca'all's Swat,Lieutenant Murry's,and Sargent Brey's whole East quadrant to report to the sky!I'll be giving you orders form the command stations!"He stops seeing that no one moved."Now!Today!"Every snaps to attention finally moving out.
Los Angeles : (Jamie POV)
It took alot of balance to keep my body up,as I ran through the building feeling very weak,and tired.When I reached the stairs,I took one look back to see him charging forward from about a few yards away.One hand was against his numb leg,the other fidgeting in his coat.
I flung onto the railing running up the stairs feeling my legs scream in agony pushing them farther,and farther up.
I was about a yard away from the top when,I heard a metallic sound followed by a large bang sending an extreme burning in my leg.I felt the bone crack sounding like a twig breaking,and sending me to my knees.
My throat heaved out one horrified yell,as I lost my balance falling backward.
My arms curled into my body as it flailed,and tumbled down the spiraling stairs until my distorted frame crumbled onto the flat surface below with one hard smack. I instinctively held out my hands to lessen the blow of my fall,but the friction instead,ended up pealing off skin on both of my hands,and the pieces of glass scraping into my forearms as I slid to a stop on my side.
Laying there,almost lifeless,I try to breathe but there's not a breath left that my worn out lungs could produce without leaving me coughing and choking from the agonizing interal bleeding stirring inside my body.
A few seconds later,through the incessant ringing and throbbing of my ears,I heard glass being stepped on making a crackling sound.
Painfully,I turned my head around to see the same two legs hobbling toward my body leaving a thin smearing line of blood as he dragged his right leg along.
The muscles in my arms were already weakening when I reached out trying to crawl away from him getting only a small distance before he grabbed onto my injured leg pulling me back.
"No...stay awhile,"he said giving my leg one good tug sending me back a few feet as my stomach slid across the glass encrusted floor."I'm not finished with you yet."
"No!"I screamed feeling the pain in my limbs growing."Let go of me!"
The tugging of my leg stopped.
"If that's what you want." He dropped my leg from his hand letting it fall to the ground,and I screamed again.
"Why are you doing this!"I yelled,as my face pressed hard against the floor leaving fragments of glass pressing into my cheek.
He sighed pressing his foot down hard onto my injured leg,making me scream more.
"Quiet!"He yelled pressing something else on my other leg."Or I'll shoot the other one!" My screams softened into slight whimpers, so he removed his foot,and the gun.
"Glad we understand each other Jamie.I would've regretted shooting you again."
"Why did you shoot me!"As stupid as that question was to ask when your near death at gunpoint,it sounded better in my head.
"I don't know..."He stopped for a second."Seemed like the only thing to do at the time,I'm sorry."
"Your fucking crazy!"I hissed at him,and he laughed knowingly. "What do you want from me!?"
"Don't worry your pretty little head about that..."He grabs onto my jacket pulling me onto my back.I look up seeing that he was wearing a back suit and tie like he was going to a funeral.He had tore a piece of his white undershirt,and tied it around his thigh to stop the bleeding.His tie was undone laying awkwardly over his shoulder,the suit wrinkled and disarrayed from walking around the dusty factory.
When I got to his face,he had chiseled high placed jaw bones,and a square shaped chin that made him look older than he was which was probably no older than twenty-six.Beads of sweat rolled down his face,and down his long neck.He wore his dark brown hair slicked up into a small curl falling over his two straight eyebrows.
"This..."He holds up a silver gun as he knelt closer to me."This is going to hurt.Alot."He smiled at me as the corners of his thin mouth turned up a bit before lowering down into a serious line.He swung his arm back,then hit my face with the gun with blunt force smacking my face against the floor.
His eyes...Those two narrowed,bright silver colored eyes were the last thing I saw before the brightness of the room swirled away leaving me to the dark contrast of the back of my eyelids.
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