(Chris' POV)
A piercing scream rang out from the forest, and was suddenly cut off. I felt the blood drain from my face as we all fell silent, staring into the optically impenetrable woods behind us.
"Christ," I breathed, finally gathering my wits. "Something's happened to her!"
Teddy glanced nervously at the woods and back to me. "Calm down Chris, she's probably just trying to scare us. It's not like there's any bears or wildcats in those woods."
Vern nodded his head in blind agreement, his eyes wide as saucers. "Yeah, I never seen 'em. She's just pulling our leg."
"You don't know what I know," I hissed at them, grabbing a flashlight and heading off to the woods. "It was no animal that got her. Now c'mon, we have to find her before he takes her away!"
Gordie was the first one to stand up, with Sara clutching his arm looking frightened. "Okay man. Let's go find her." Gordie didn't know what the heck I had been talking about when I said I knew something they didn't, or the "he" I had mentioned, but he was loyal anyway and believed me.
Everyone else soon followed suit, and I knew I probably shouldn't have brought all of them along, but I was in a hurry and convincing one of the guys to stay back with the girls would only take longer. I impatiently brushed away the foliage that blocked me, and followed Callie's distinct footprints on the ground.
Before long we made it to a tiny, tiny clearing, only a few feet wide, with a rotting log set down at the side of it. But it wasn't the log that got my attention; it was the small flashlight that was blinking madly on the ground, its glass cracked.
(Ace's POV)
The car swerved as I sped around the corner, and onto the dirt road leading through the forest behind Tessio's house. The other guys in the car were laughing and taking swigs from the bottles they held. "Save some for when we actually get there," I demanded, looking back at them.
"But we pretty much are there," Fuzzy argued, and they grinned and but put the stoppers back in the bottles anyway.
"Ace, man, look out!" Eyeball yelled from the seat beside me.
I flashed my eyes back to the road, and saw a car parked in the middle of the road just ahead of us. I braked right away and we slowed to a stop a foot behind it. Swearing, I backed the car up some yards and then turned off the ignition, pulling out the keys. Me and the gang got out of the car and walked over to the car I almost hit, whistling as we looked at it closer. It was a deep red Mercedes, with badass black leather seats and paneling. I'd say it was a 1958 or '59 by the looks of it. I grinned and the Cobras knew what I was thinking.
"Are you gonna boost this car?" Eyeball asked, not taking his eyes off it.
"Fuck yeah. No need to even hotwire it though," I told them, gesturing to the keys that had been left in the ignition. "Now why the hell would someone leave the keys in a car like this?"
Charlie Hogan shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot. "But Ace buddy, won't a car like this be kinda suspicious? I mean we can't exactly drive it around anywhere public."
"I'm not that stupid, you jerkoff. I know someone who-" but they never got to hear the rest of the sentence about the man I knew we could sell the car to, because at that moment a short, fleeting scream cut through the air.
Everyone stood stock-still, and no one took a breath. When nothing followed we all looked at each other, and Vince said, "Fuck man, we gotta get outta here, what if someone's bein' murdered? I don't want nothin' to do with it when the cops show!"
Eyeball cleared his throat nervously from beside me, and turned to face me. His eye twitched as he spoke. "Uh, Ace?" He went on without waiting for me to ask what. "Didn't that voice sound familiar? I mean, I know it's hard to tell from a scream but…"
My blood ran cold as I realized what he meant. As I thought back to it, I recognized the tone of the voice, or the pitch. I'd never heard Callie scream before, but I was willing to bet my life it was her that had screamed. "What the fuck is she doing in the forest!" I said, my anger building as I felt an emotion I had not experienced in a long time: fear.
"Oh shit, man. Shit! Vern said somethin' this morning about how he was getting everyone to camp out in his backfield tonight! I forgot all about it."
"Come on," I said, striding towards the forest quickly.
"But shouldn't we just call the cops?"
"COME ON!" I repeated in a roar, and this time no one hesitated to follow. The forest was pretty thick, but I cleared the way quickly. When I heard rustles and voices a little farther ahead of me, my fast stride broke into a jog, and I heard the boys behind me struggle to keep up without tripping up or getting caught on tree branches. Soon the people the voices belonged to were just out of sight, and then I came upon the little clearing.
(Chris' POV)
I heard the footfalls of someone running towards us, but it was too hard to tell from which direction. We stayed glued where we stood, turning a little to try to glimpse them. Finally someone entered the clearing, and I was very surprised to see Ace, and more than a little disappointed that it wasn't Callie coming to tell me it was all just a veryunfunny joke.
He stopped abruptly, looking from us to the still blinking flashlight that lay dying on the ground. Soon the rest of the Cobras followed up behind him, also staring at us and the light. Then Ace spoke, his voice thick with usually unused emotion. "Where the fuck is she?"
I figured he and the gang must have heard the scream too. I swallowed, my throat felt tight and I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown. "I dunno man. But someone's been after her for awhile now. I can't say anymore than that. But it's going to be too late if we don't find her soon!"
Ace nodded and turned to his gang, full of confidence and leadership again. "Take these kids back to the house and call the cops. If there's some crazy killer around here, I don't want anyone else goin' missing. I'll go find her." He unconsciously slid his hand into the pocket where his knife was and turned it over in his hands.
"I'm coming too," I told him stubbornly. "I can't just sit around while she's gone." My voice was close to breaking by that point, and I didn't really care at the moment if anyone noticed. All that was going through my mind was that Callie's father had her, and I didn't know what he'd do with the girl he'd hunted for so long.
(Ace's POV)
I stared at the kid I'd had it out for for as long as I could remember. I hated this kid for humiliating me in front of my gang that one day at the Back Harlow Road. I hated him for being better than the rest of us, smarter sensible. More recently, I hated him for going out with the girl that reminded me of my deceased sister, Becky. But I knew now that I had to put all that aside for that very girl, or else I'd lose her too. And I didn't think I could go through that again. We had to save Callie, and to do that, we had to work together.
"Fine," I growled. "But don't slow me down, and when we find the bastard, don't get in my way."
Chris nodded solemnly, and asked, "So where do we look first?"
It wasn't until then I remembered that Mercedes parked on the dirt road. "Shit!" I turned to my gang. "That Mercedes! That's gotta be the guy's car!" I looked back at Chris and noticed he had gone pale.
"Was it red?" Chris asked in a low voice, still paling.
I looked at him suspiciously, he knew something I didn't. "Yeah, why?"
That's when Chris lost it. He grabbed the front of my shirt and under normal circumstances I would have killed him. "That's his car! For fuck's sake, what are we waiting for?"
"Okay, okay!" I tore his hands from my shirt and we took off into the forest, after I told Billy to make sure to tell the police about the car.
(Callie's POV)
When I gained consciousness, I was laying in the backseat of a car, my wrists still tied up, and my ankles had been tied as well. There was a new gag in my mouth, this time tied around instead of just shoved in my mouth. I was face down, and when I opened my eyes I saw the black leather of the seat. I squeezed my eyes shut again. Shit, I was right. It is him.
I tried to wriggle so that I was laying on my side without him noticing, but he saw through the rearview mirror I suppose. First I heard his cruel, mocking laughter and then the familiar voice.
"Not comfortable? Well you better make yourself so, because we're in for a long ride."
I twisted my head so I could look at him. Looking past the front seats, I saw his face reflected in the rearview mirror. He had the same sort of tanned skin, like me, although his was leathery and he had a scar down one side of his face. I remembered my mother told me that when he beat her once, she fought back and gave him a gash down the face with her nails. He was wearing sunglasses, just like the day he took me years ago, and he had the same dark hair, although now it was showing signs of graying. He saw me looking at him, and laughed again.
"Do you recognize your dear daddy? You should, after all we look so much alike." He took the sunglasses off. "Even the same exact shade of eyes." His eyes were indeed the same sea green of mine, and he slid the sunglasses back on. "You needn't call me daddy. I never wanted a kid anyway. Your bitch of a mother figured that out soon enough."
I closed my eyes and tried to ignore the man that was insulting my mother and I. He kept talking anyway.
"I tried to get rid of the kid before it was born. That bitch refused to get an abortion, so I was forced to relay on a more violent method. But you were born anyway, Calypso Gemma Jordans, 7 pounds, 8 ounces, beautiful, healthy baby girl. I was in jail by then of course, but they still told me all about you. It would have been better for you if they didn't, because seven years in jail gave me a lot of time to think. Sure, I had lost control of your mother, but there was still a way to get that money."
Money? What money? I was really confused by then, but I had no time to think about what he could possibly have meant, because just then my "father" swore loudly, and the car swerved as something large hit us and broke the windshield. The car continued to spin out of control and we crashed into the trees at the side of the road.
I stayed there, breathing heavily as I gathered my wits. My "father" was sitting slumped in the sit, and I couldn't see how badly injured he was, only that he was knocked out and this was my chance to escape. I felt a little bit of pain above my stomach but ignored it. With my hands that were tied around my back, I carefully felt around for a shard of glass from the broken window beside me. Finding one, I painstakingly sawed away at the ropes that bound my wrists. It was when I finally had them free that I smelled the gasoline.
My eyes widened at the thought of the car catching on fire. I quickly cut through the ropes tied around my ankles and tried to open the door. It was locked, and I didn't want to chance waking up my "father" by leaning over him to the unlock switch, so I crawled through the broken window and gashed my side on a piece of glass that was still jutting out. I dropped to the ground painfully and dizzily got to my feet again. I was overcome by excruciating pain and looked down at my stomach. There was a piece of glass sticking out of above my stomach, that had lodged itself between two of my ribs on the left side. Shaking, I grabbed it and yanked it out, pressing my hand down on the wound as it gushed blood.
By then the car was smoking ominously, and I got away from it, watching flames appear before I ran up the road as far as I could. I prayed for a car to come by, but none did. My wound was still bleeding a lot, and everything started to get blurry, and my limbs heavy. Finally I dropped to the dirt road below me, and let the darkness take over me for the second time that night. My last thought was that I would never see my mother or Chris again.
A/N: I'm just full of cliffhangers! Oh well, they keep you guys interested! I'm tired and not feeling well enough to write anymore tonight, and I did say I'd have this chapter up soon! Hopefully I'll have the next one up quickly as well, but I do have exams to study for…But I hate studying, so I'll most likely work on this instead! So what did you think of it? It was kind of a pain to write about the stuff up until the car accident, but it needed to be done, and gave insight to what Chris and Ace thought. Yeah, well I'm gonna go to bed soon, although I doubt I'll be able to sleep because this house is so HOT! I swear my parents turn off the air conditioner at night, but they shouldn't, because it's still really hot out! It was 43 degrees Celsius today with the humidity! Good thing I live next to a lake! Well anyway I'm done my ramble, so I'm gonna finish review replies so I can sleep!
MidnightBlue88: I left the story at yet another cliffhanger! I hope you can't wait until the next chapter too now! I'm glad you thought I did a better job with the love scenes! Thanks!
Get A Room: Thanks for wishing me good luck on my test! I got the highest mark in my class, though I don't mean to brag. Your fic, Gordie's Story: Am I Weird, is good! I just read chapter 2, and reviewed it! Thanks for reviewing mine!
Chocolate Pudding1: Hey, I read your profile (I was really bored and was having trouble writing this chapter, I'm not a stalker or anything, don't worry) and saw your name is Lauren! That's my name too! I just thought that was interesting. Anyway, I'm glad you liked the chapter and it had the right effect on you, even at 10:30 in the morning! And that you don't think Callie's a Mary-Sue. Thanks!
Screaming666: Yes, I'm pure evil, and continue to be so! You're nickname Arachne's sweet. We're doing mythology in school and just learned how that Arachne was a weavergirl that pissed off Athena, and was turned into a spider, hence the term Arachne, and why they spin webs...According to the Greeks anyway.Lol, just thought it was interesting! Hang in there until my next update!
StormShadow21: I guess you could say Ace saves the day, but not in this chapter, and not really in the next, except for his car (you'll know what I mean in the next chapter), but he will in a later chapter. You'll find out what I mean! You really had to do those dares? Hahaha! Sorry. I've never really had to do any bad dares, I don't think. Yeah, this new fanfiction login layout confuses me too! I really despise it. You're proud of me? Thank you so much! And The Simpson's is hilarious…I saw that episode!
Icy-dropletz: Chris does become a hero, but not now. There's a little foreshadowing! I hate that whole thing with the password! I hate typing it in every time. And it is ugly! I hope you update your fic soon! Thank you!
Callie: Your name's Callie? That's so awesome! I always wanted to be named that! I only know one other person named that, although I've never met her, she's my friend's friend from school! Her last name is Edwards though. Anyway I'm so happy you like my story! I love new reviewers! I hope you'll review again!
What's going to happen to Callie? And what doesher dad mean about money? Ooh the suspense!