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"Now what?" Damian said.
"Now we keep going north and find Jayden and the others," Vladmir said. "Although it's unfortunate that we can't take a taxi, seeing that we don't have money anymore."
I looked guiltily at my shoes, Should've bought the black ones, a voice rang through my head.
"So we walk," Austin said.
"Looks like it," Vladmir said, chuckling. "I don't think many people will take in seven hitchhikers at a time.
"Just before we start, I have to go to the bathroom," I said.
"Okay, is there one in Footlocker?" Vladmir asked, looking back at the store we just left.
"I'll check," Cecile said, dashing back into the store.
Through the window glass, I saw her talk to the cashier, who shook her head.
Cecile came back out, saying "They don't have one in there, but there's one right in that restuarant," she pointed across the street.
"Great," I said, "I'll be fast."
Looking both ways, before I sprinted across the street, I came to the restaurant and pulled open the heavy door.
It was pretty loud in there, with many couples and families eating out. Looking around, I saw a restroom sign and followed it to a door that had what I liked to call the universal ladies' bathroom sign on it: A stick figure in a dress.
I pulled open the door, just as someone else was pushing it open "Sorry," I said, stepping to the side, letting the woman who pushed the door by.
Then I literally jumped, as I took a look at that woman's face.
Brown hair, high cheek bones, wearing a green bouse and a black pants. Her red eyes pierced me as she smiled, "Maddy," she said drawling out my name.
"Mom," I whispered. I fell against the red, side wall, my breath coming short.
"Where have you been, honey? Daddy and I have been searching everywhere for you."
"No," I breathed.
"Why don't you come home with us? Jojo's very worried about you too. She wants to see you."
"No," I said again.
"Maddy. Listen to me-" she said, grabbing my arm.
"No, Mom. Please," I jerked away, out of her grip.
"Maddy, dear, we can help your friends out too. They can come with us."
"No," I took a step backwards, then another.
Bumping into someone, I turned around, "Oh, sorry."
I froze, shock coursed through me.
"Dad," I said, instantly recognizing my father.
"We're going now, Maddy," my father said in that deep voice of his.
"I can't... I have to go." I ran out of there like mad, tears streaking my face.
Running blindly across the street, it was a wonder I wasn't hit by any cars, honking there horns at me.
The others were still where I left them, talking together about something. They looked up as they saw me coming.
"What happened?" Vladmir asked once I reached them.
I shook my head, not wanting to talk about it, but looked behind me at the restaurant I'd just left.
I didn't see my red eyed parents anywhere, and I breathed a sigh of relief.
"Maddy," I winced, hearing my mother call my name, and whirled around to the sound.
There I stood face to face with my mother who I thought I had just escaped.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the others stiffen, and Austin made a grab for Josh's hand, pulling him close.
"Maddy," my father said sternly, walking up next to my mother, "Come with us, or-"
"Or what?" I challenged, sounding braver than I felt.
He smiled a not-my-father's smile, and remained silent.
"Austin," I heard Josh whisper, "Let's get out of here. I don't like them. Their minds..." he shook his head slowly, trailing off.
I turned my back on my parents and led the others away from them.
"We don't want to do this, Maddy," my mom called from behind us.
I kept my eyes trained forward and concentrated on walking. Right foot, left foot, right, left, right, left.
Suddenly I heard a rush of air behind me, and pounding footsteps.
I glanced over my shoulder warily. My eyes widened and my mouth became dry. Behind us, were five men, running at us with inhuman speed. They were charging at us, super fast, while behind them stood my parents, watching the whole thing.
"Run," Austin said, also realizing what was happening.
We ran. We barely ran a block before the men caught up with us.
"You can't outrun us," one of the men called from behind us, as we came to an intersection with cars.
I stumbled to a halt, as the others around me did the same, and turned around, facing the men.
The five men stopped and were within five feet of me, not breathing hard at all. One tall man had dark hair, and dark eyes as well. Another two had brown hair, one with brown eyes and one with blue and a short beard. The fourth man was short and had blonde hair and light eyes. And the last man, had a muscular structure, brown hair, and as I looked closer, I noticed he had red eyes.
Red eyes, Osiris's doing.
All of them were wearing similar dark clothes, so they blended in well with the dark night, and they were grinning unsettling at us.
"You have no where to go," the blonde haired man said.
I looked behind us, and saw cars zooming by. Across the road, was a small building and behind that, the forest.
We could lose them in there, I thought, Only problem is, how do we get there?
I turned my gaze back to the men, just in time to see a punch headed my way.
I quickly ducked, letting out a small yelp.
Right away, Vladmir stepped forward, handing out his own punch. His fist made contact with air, missing the man completely as he avoided the blow with speed.
"Watch out!" I yelled as a man snuck up on Cecile. He punched her in the back and she fell forward to her knees with a high pitched screech.
I ran to her, and helped her up as she leaned on me. Looking around, I saw this fight wasn't going too well for us. Adam and Damian were both trying to deliver kicks and punches to the men, but they were too fast and kept dodging everything, and hitting the boys back. Vladmir had knocked out one man and was dueling another two. Josh was cowering behind Austin, who was biting his lip, unsure of what to do. As far as I could tell, he wasn't doing much damage.
Just then, I heard a loud high pitched beeping, and I looked towards the road, where the noise came from. There I saw the green light of a person, signaling that it was safe to cross the street.
I pulled Cecile along, running across the street. Seeing where I was headed, Adam and Damian ran off as well.
"Go!" I heard Austin yell to Vladmir, with Josh still beside him, as they themselves were already heading across the street.
Vladmir looked up and with a curt nod, he took a step back from his fight.
Then, all five of the men were hit by an invisible force and were knocked off their feet.
I waited on the other side of the road for the three of them to catch up with us, then made a a mad dash into the woods. I didn't need to look behind me to know that those five men were on our tail again.
We ran into the dark forest, where crickets were sounding loudly. My breath was coming in ragged patterns, and my legs were tiring.
We didn't get farther than a few yards when Adam slowed down and said, "Hold on a sec. I have an idea."
He turned around and stared a while at the trees by the edge of the forest.
The men were running still, but they were having a bit of trouble crossing the street, even with their super human speed.
Suddenly, the trees began to move, their branches crowding closer and closer to each other, creating some sort of barrier and blocking out the men.
"Alright, let's go," Adam said turning back to us.
What Adam didn't realize was that the trees not only blocked out the men, but also the lights from the city. The forest was pitch black, and the farther we traveled blindly through it, the darker it got.
Cecile limped by my side, her hand clutching her back, until Damian realized she was in pain and came over to help. Still walking next to the small girl, the forest was becoming very silent and still.
"So," I said, after the initial shock of escaping once again wore off, "What's the new plan?"
"Same as the old one," Vladmir replied, "Keep traveling north, 'til we run into Jayden and the others."
"And how do you know we're still on track?"
"I don't. Let's just pray we're going the right way and we'll run into someone."
I let it fall at that and we lapsed into silence once again.
At one point, Austin had picked up Josh and was carring him and Vladmir had picked up a tired Cecile. I was beginning to feel jealous, wanting to sleep myself as my eyes began slipping shut, and I struggled to keep them open. My legs moved mechanically, and I unconsciously avoided trees, following the others.
I would have fallen asleep right then and there if Austin didn't say quite loudly, "Did you hear that?"
We all stopped, and looked around, which of course was pointless because we couldn't see anything anyway.
"I didn't hear anything," Damian said.
"Listen," Austin said.
Then I heard it, a rustling noise. An animal crawling through the bushes. A rather large animal, I thought, as I heard it again, this time louder.
"An animal?" I suggested.
"No, not an animal. It's a-"
But at that moment there was a loud thud, and Austin fell unconscious to the forest floor.
Beside me, Adam fell too, hitting the ground face down.
Immediately, my sleepy state disappeared and my adrenaline kicked in. I looked frantically around for who was knocking out the others, but my eyes met nothing except darkness.
"Maddy!" Vladmir called my name, and I looked in his direction. "Your dream, remember? Get out of he-" and then he too fell to the ground, unconscious.
All at once, it came rushing back to me. My dream. We were knocked out and our hands were bound. They were going to sell us. There was-
There was a sudden sharp pain in my head and then everything went black.
