Thank you guys for reading…it means a lot. I know this is a rather new and daring idea, and I hope that you will grow fond of it. Without further ado I present you:
Chapter 2- A well-deserved breather
It is as simple as that, as obvious as that; the warmth and light of the sun in the morning can boost your spirit, put a smile on your face and give you some reassurance that the day that looms ahead is going to be alright and that you're going to be just fine.
Can someone rely on that too much, so much that in a possible negative turn of events, they would feel depressed and alone, just because the sun refused to appear that morning. It may be silly, but it's true…
This is the most common example, people need something to hang on to when their lives seem to go of course, and usually they seek comfort in the most elementary things. It's easier that way, they don't expect much because they're afraid that they will be left with nothing and so they grab every little moment that can make them smile, even though sometimes those are miles away and they have to fight really hard to find them…
Peyton woke up twitching her nose. Something was out of place, the air smelled different. She slowly opened her eyes to a rather small fire but she could feel the warmth gently coming into her body. She looked around but it was dead quiet, no birds, no animals, no Brooke.
She got up with some difficulty and started searching for her best friend, when suddenly a wave of dizziness came over her and wobbled a little bit until she felt two arms supporting her as she slid back on the ground, taking her head into her hands.
"Hey, easy there Peyt, one single and rather cold night, I might add, can't magically heal you" Brooke gently spoke while her eyes were painstakingly checking her friend's body.
"You don't give up do you?" Peyton mumbled from her position.
"What?" Brooke eyed her intensely.
"The fire" She lifted her head and smiled "You did it".
"Yeah, well what can I say, it sure beat sitting around all morning, bored out of my skull." She let out an exasperated laugh "This way I shot two birds with one stone" She flinched a little remembering yesterday's event "Figurately speaking, of course" She added sheepishly .
"This is great Brooke, we needed some small comfort" Peyton smiled and continued to look at the fire. "You didn't hear anything did you, this morning?"
"Nope, not a damn sound, it's like a whole forest was soundproof and we are being watched from afar, like rats in a lab" Brooke looked at the sky, it was rather dark even though the sun rose a couple hours ago, it didn't seemed to stick with them.
"I know, it's really strange". I have no idea where we could be.
"Here, take this" Brooke handed Peyton a handful of berries she picked earlier from her roundabout spree into the woods. Peyton eyed them suspiciously, not knowing if they were eatable or not, "Don't worry I ate them too and I'm still alive, aren't I?" Brooke assured her "Come on, we haven't eaten in 2 days, it's better than nothing ".
Peyton was starving, and right now they took what they could find. A long day was coming into view and they needed every drop of energy they could lay their hands on.
"Thanks, Brooke. You really were busy this morning". Peyton smiled and quickly swallowed the berries.
"I never liked the outdoors I was always scared of what lies in the wild, but you know sometimes the things you hate most always have a way of pushing themselves in your face. So I had to do the best with what I could find."
"Tell me about it, do you remember how scared I was when I took my drivers license? I couldn't move at all, and panic started rummaging through my body. Eventually I knew it had to be done, because otherwise I would have been doomed to take that damn bus everyday and frankly I didn't like that. In some twisted way we choose to face our fear just because the alternative would be worse"
"Yeah, well this is too much psychology for me this early, so any happy thoughts?" Brooke grinned making Peyton smile.
"Sorry, right now I got nothing" Peyton turned silent for a moment "Do you think they're all right? " She looked worriedly at her best friend.
"I'm sure they are, we didn't offered any clues to where they were, I think they'll be safe until we come back" Brooke assured her even though a small drop of doubt was lingering in her mind.
"We have to go, B. the sooner we find people the sooner we can get help" Peyton sat up, still clutching her side and went to put some dirt on the fire. Brooke nodded and followed her in her actions.
They kept a constant pace for almost 2 hours now, they were always on guard. They found a river, filled their bottles, and afterwards they just followed it hoping that near the water they were people too. Exhaustion was taking its toll on them and the lack of food made it even worse.
"Why the heck haven't we seen any traces of human life around here? No houses, no roads, no electric wires. It's like we're stranded in the middle of the frickin' Amazonian jungle. And even there must be some sort of villagers fishing or doing God knows what...Peyton I'm hungry!"Brooke complained dragging her feet on the hill.
"Nice transition from the Amazonian jungle to food, Brooke!"Peyton chuckled.
"Well at least those people are fishing, we can' do anything in the wild" Brooke told Peyton.
"Don't you dare lose now, you hear me Brooke. Besides I have a feeling that we're closer then we think even…" Peyton started, but stopped when she heard branches snapping. Her instinct immediately kicked in and she motioned for Brooke to keep quiet and follow her. They hid behind a thick row of bushes and carefully listened to find out if they have been found.
They could hear voices in the background, definitely belonging to men, but they couldn't figure out if they were friends or foes.
The sun threw some light on their followers and the sharp glow of their guns put them into panic mode. They could go up against them, but that was a big risk, one that she wasn't ready to take right now, so Peyton took Brooke's hand and led her to the bank of the river. The water was pretty deep but it seemed the only safe choice at the moment.
Brooke was very confused and scared at the same time, but she figured she should go with her best friend's plan, because she was way more experienced than her in these type of situations.
She tried to keep her voice low, although the prospect of swimming scared the hell out of her.
"Peyton I can't fucking swim and you know that. What the hell are we doing in the river?"Brooke panicked.
"Brooke, shut up. OK?We are not going to swim."The sound of human feet was now coming closer and closer.
"Then what ARE we doing in the river, genius?"
"When I say dunk, you dunk!"Peyton said calmly.
"You are out of your mind, my friend. I can't do this!" Brooke said firmly
"Oh you'd rather risk being shot than stay underwater for a few seconds?"Peyton asked sarcastically.
"Fine, I'll do it" Brooke said resigned.
"Alright, here goes nothing. One...Two...Three...DUNK!"Peyton said, while both taking deep breaths and emerging themselves underwater. They could hear chattering, and suddenly a huge splash was heard in the water. The girls watched as the male figures started to swim across the river. Peyton waited a few seconds until the silence surrounded the once again and she gave Brooke a thumbs up, a sign that they were safe and ready to go to the surface.
"Oh my God Peyton, I can't breath!" Brooke was freaking out and was making a lot of unnecessary noise.
"It's ok B., just take small breaths, inhale, exhale. It's going to be alright."Peyton calmed Brooke.
"Let's get out of this infected water, because you will be to blame if I get some sort of skin disease later" Brooke said splashing water all over her and reaching safe ground.
"Yeah ok, I'll keep that in mind. You should send me the bill, I'll pay for the medication."Peyton played her game.
"Ha ha, very funny, Peyton" Brooke stated.
"Come on...we need to head forward, before those monkeys figure out that we aren't on that side."Peyton started walking slowly.
After 3 more hours they finally reached a dirt road and moved along it hoping they could find someone to help them. Utterly beaten and tired they finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel. A gas station was at about 200m in front of them. A tall man of about 40 years old was making some repairs underneath a car.
"Excuse me, sir" Peyton started. The man emerged from under the vehicle and looked at them suspiciously. He saw the poor state in which these strangers were in, and immediately wondered what the hell happened to them. "Can you tell us where we are?"
The man was taken a little aback at the question, but he figured they were travelers that got stranded on their road trip. "You're in Renovo, honey."
"Renovo, okay…Which state?" The man furrowed his eyebrows and having even more question about these two newcomers.
"Pennsylvania. May I ask how did you get here, because you look disoriented as hell".
"It's complicated. Please, sir can you point us where the police station is located. It's urgent and we need to call somebody". Peyton pushed the matters, not even a little fazed at the man's confusion.
"I have a phone too you know, is right inside" the man offered but Peyton shook her head.
"I'm sorry, but we have to call from the station, I can't go into details right now, just please show us where to go". Peyton breathed with difficulty still keeping her hand over her injured ribs.
Gary, as his name tag read, felt something for these girls. Something told him that they were in big trouble, but also that it was a bigger picture here, one that he didn't want to know about and one that definitely the girls didn't want to reveal.
"Look, I can take you there. Just hop into my car, I have to meet somebody in town, anyway" He smiled and pointed to his truck.
"No, you don't, but this means a lot to us. Thank you very much". Brooke nodded gratefully. The man laughed slightly, called for someone to take his place until he got back, picked his jacket and climbed into the driver's seat. The girls followed him and they headed to the police station. The trip was short and silent, even more after Gary saw a gun coming out of Peyton's back. He first thought the worst, but there was something about them, that assured him they were the good guys caught in a very complicated situation.
After they got up, and thanked Gary for his efforts, they entered the police station. They walked to a young police officer, who appeared to be fresh out of the academy.
"Excuse us, we would like to speak to the sheriff, it's an urgent matter" Peyton said seriously in a rather demanding tone. They didn't have any time to spare.
"I'm sorry but he is busy right now. May I ask what does it concern?" The woman eyed them suspiciously. Just then another police officer started shouting at them.
"Put your hands up and get on your knees right now!" He drew his gun and pointed it to the girls. "I said now!" The man's hand was shaking bit when he saw that the women were armed, so he tried to reason with them, before they would suffer the consequences.
"Damn it, we don't have time for this" Peyton sighted exasperated. Brooke was shaking a bit, the fear of getting shot, added to the utter exhaustion put her on the verge of collapsing. "Brooke, do as they say for now, I'll sort this out in a minute" Peyton smiled a little and nodded toward her friend.
They got on their knees with their hands still up, while another officer took the pistols from their backs. "Hands behind your heads, now!"They did as they were told. Just then a man in his late fifties came out of his office with his gun in his hand, intrigued by all the commotion he was hearing.
"What the hell is going on here" He asked as he saw the two women kneeled down, and after he took a better look at them she could observe that they were worn out and in no position to do any harm to others.
"They came in here and demanded to talk to you, sir. I saw they were armed and we followed the procedure, sir." The young man explained to his boss.
"Who are you and how did you get here?" He asked them.
"Sir, we don't mean to cause any trouble, the guns are for our own protection. Please, we have to talk to you in private. It's a matter of life and death". Peyton tried to reason with him. He could hear the strain in her voice, but her tone indicated that they were serious and somehow he believed her.
"Get up and follow me. We'll go into my office" he showed them the way.
Brooke got up first and then helped Peyton, who was still hurting pretty bad from her previous clash with the bad guys. They walked into the sheriff's office while everyone was still skeptic about them.
"Sit down and explain. I am not a very patient man". He was still on his feet, hands on his desk, looking them directly in the eyes.
"My name is Peyton Sawyer. I'm a lieutenant with the New Jersey State Police. This is my friend, Brooke Davis, she is a civilian, who helped us with a delicate case for our Witness Protection Program. I had my mission: protect the family in cause and escort them safely to their new home. We were creating a distraction, with Brooke posing as the witness, while we took the real one to real location. Something went terribly wrong, and I failed to protect her." She looked apologetically towards her best friend."I saw them grabbing her, I called for back-up, but they were too far, so I had to do something. They were too many, I couldn't get Brooke out of there, I got hit pretty bad in the head, and that was the last thing I remember before I blacked out. We found ourselves in a dark room, apparently in a whole different state. They wanted information, but we couldn't give them anything. We managed to escape and after a day or so, we found your town" Peyton finished her story; they had to convince this man that they were telling the truth otherwise she couldn't phone her superiors to notice them about their situation.
"I believe there are a lot more to say about this, am I right? You just gave me the shortest version that you could come up with". He sighted and looked away. Even so, it was more information about a case than a local sheriff could put his head around. It was small town, except from the occasionally bar fights, or small car accidents, nothing much was really happening here.
"I can't tell you more about it, sir. I'm sorry, because they are lives at stake here and some pieces of information should remain unknown." Peyton explained calmly, silently apologizing to him.
"I have to say, you're a long way from home and if your story checks out I will help in anyway that I can, lieutenant. I will send a patrol car to search for the men that captured you. If they are still here we will find them."He inquired.
"Believe me, sir, they are not here anymore. If they didn't find us by now, they figured out we made it into town and they fled to warn their bosses. But you should send some officers to make some rounds into town, just for the safety of your citizens." Peyton was tired of this, she has to report in, fast. "Sir, I have to make that phone call to my superior officer. Can you provide me with a secure line?"
"Yeah, I can do that, it has barely been used anyway, I think it needs a revival" He smiled and gave Peyton the phone. He was amazed by these women, they didn't have more than 25-26 years old and here they were still fighting, after going through a terrible ordeal. They must have an ulterior motive for hanging on for so long, and he knew that the secret they were carrying was worthy of protection.
Peyton dialed the number and entered the code so that the call was directed straight to her boss's office.
"Sir, you have an urgent call on line 4"His secretary informed him quickly, excitement clearly visible in her voice
"Who is it, Rose?"He was intrigued by the tone of his secretary.
"You can find out for yourself, sir. Believe me, you'll be surprised."
He picked the phone and introduced himself, like always. "This is Major Dan Scott, head of the Intelligence Section, whom am I speaking to?"
"Sir, this is Lt. Peyton Sawyer…"He was a little taken aback but he rose from his chair and interrupted her.
"Lieutenant, where the hell are you? We thought you were both dead, we have been looking everywhere for you". The newly found notion that his officer was alive surprised him, not because he didn't think she was capable of taking care of herself and her friend, but because the last thing they knew about them was that they were in very strenuous situation, and the team had to choose between rescuing them and finishing their mission. It was a tough decision, but he decided that in spite of his fondness towards the women, the assignment came first.
"Sir, I believe you have been looking for us in the wrong state. Apparently, they took us to Pennsylvania, now we are in a small town which we managed to find after we escaped, Renovo I believe it's called." The sheriff nodded in approval. "We are in Sheriff Matthews office at the moment .You should send one of the troops here to investigate the place where we were kept, although I doubt you will find something useful there. They surely taken off after they lost us in the woods, they wouldn't risk a capture. They're a lot smarter than that. Peyton stopped for a second to catch her breath, she struggled to keep herself focused, when she felt Brooke's hand clutching her own.
"Lieutenant, are you alright, because from my end of the line you don't seem well at all." The Major immediately noticed that she wasn't in a great shape, not by a mile.
"I'm fine, sir, the damage isn't that bad." She tried to minimize the gravity of the situation, just like she always did.
"Do you know who you're talking to? I know you better than you think, Sawyer, so don't you dare give me that crap". He said in a rather demanding tone, being fully aware that it was the only way he could get the truth out of her.
Peyton sighted, she found the wrong person to lie to. "I suffered some injuries, mostly to my abdomen, I think I have a few cracked ribs also, but I can manage. Don't worry about me. Brooke is fine too, as well as can be expected …we're just tired sir" her stomach decided to make an entrance and growled a few times "…oh yeah, and really hungry" Both of the chuckled a bit.
"I will send an extraction team in the morning, because for now you need the rest. Take it easy and eat, that's an order." Dan was relieved they were ok, after they got captured he blamed himself. Apparently their well thought plan had some glitches. He didn't even have to ask if information was slipped, they would rather die than say anything. "Put the sheriff on the phone, lieutenant. I have to discuss some details with him".
"Sir, before I do that I need to ask you something" He knew what she was about to ask so he answered quickly.
"They're safe for now, lieutenant. Don't worry, we will figure this out one you get home.
"Yes, sir. We'll see you soon" Peyton handed the phone to the man in front of them and mouthed to her best friend a low 'they're ok', and Brooke smiled in relief.
The sheriff exchanged goodbyes with her superior officer and ended the conversation. "Ok, girls, I will take you a nearby motel, make sure you eat, and also I'll bring a doctor to check your wounds". They nodded gratefully. They found themselves 15 minutes later in a small, but cozy room. Brooke was engulfing the food, but made sure she left some for Peyton too, who was being treated by a very nice local doctor. They hoped to catch some sleep, until the rescue party would arrive.
After 30 minutes, Brooke was already snoring. Peyton smiled and closed her eyes, taking everything in. The made it out, they were going to get home, but she couldn't help but think that this was the easy part. She knew that in the period that was about to come, they had to rethink everything over again. But that was tomorrow's problem, for now they allowed themselves to rest…
A/N: I managed to post this rather fast, but I can't guarantee that I will always do so. Sometimes nothing I write seems good enough, so it can take a long time before I am happy with what I've done :D.
I also wanted to say that the other characters will be introduced in the next chapters, each having a rich background behind them. Everything will be explained, I promise.
Take care, guys and have a great week.