Jacob awoke to the rocking and bumping of a moving vehicle. The sound of a car engine accelerating filled his ears as he opened his eyes. The mutant boy blinked a few times to try and clear his head. He tried to turn his head to the right, but a sharp pain swarmed him immediately and prevented him from doing so. Then he was aware of the source of the pain. The back of his head was throbbing with increasing pressure, and he could feel a bump growing there when he tilted his head back and hit the back of a seat.
Then Jacob was aware of his surroundings. He was solidly strapped down to a seat in what appeared to be a moving army jeep. He couldn't move his hands apart because they were handcuffed together behind his back. Jacob wriggled and tried to free himself from the straps that were holding him in his sitting position, but to no avail. They were completely and utterly secure. Fear was rising steadily in the little boy. He tried to remember how he got here, but the last thing he remembered was…
"Mom! Dad!" He cried out in sudden remembrance.
Jacob began to breathe quicker, as panic welled closer to his internal release point. He struggled against his restraints again, the cuffs digging painfully into his wrists as he did so. Memories of previous events were flooding his mind, and he couldn't escape. He remembered how he and his family had fought through their burning apartment building, in an attempt to escape danger from both their pursuers and the fire. He remembered how he had wanted to shoot the oncoming man in the fire-fighting suit with his optic blasts, but had been stopped by his father. He remembered running for his life…and finally reaching the window. Escape had finally been within his reach…then darkness.
He had been captured. No. We were so close! Jacob slowly turned his head to the left, pain swelling up again. He resisted the urge to bring his head back to its original position, and continued looking to the left. He was sitting in the middle of three seats in the back part of the jeep. The windows were not see-through as they were in Jacob's car. They looked black. He couldn't see outside.
"He's awake," A deep voice sounded from the front of the jeep.
The boy reflexively whipped his head back into position, and the internal hammer pounded inside him. He cried out in pain.
The man sitting in the passenger's seat in front of him reached back, holding something black in his hand. The man held the object directly in front of Jacob's face. The boy flinched silently as the stranger opened up the object in front of him. It looked him like a pair of goggles - the kind that Jacob used to wear to go swimming at the pool. Goggles? The man placed them, not too gently, over his eyes, and jerked the boy's head forward to strap the straps around the back of his head. Pain racked through Jacob's brain, but he refused to cry out in front of this man. These were the men that had captured him.
When the goggles were securely strapped to Jacob's head, the man turned back in his seat, leaving the frightened boy with his head hanging. Jacob slowly raised his head, trying to hold back the pain. It worked to some extent. He sighed with relief, at not having to feel that horrible pain again. After some time, Jacob finally found the courage to speak.
"Where are my parents?" He asked in a voice that sounded more frightened that he wanted it to.
"Shut up!" Came the nasty reply from the front.
At that, Jacob stayed silent. The rumbling and bumps of the Jeep moving over scarred terrain resumed it's place in and around Jacob with the silence.