Chapter 16 already! I'll keep it short.

Katia, this one is for you.

Olivia, #WeSupportEva

- Sorry for waiting. One problem: School.

Ryan sat down on the nearest stool, chin resting on his hands. Many things were crossing his mind.

'Ayla and her mother had been brought to a safe place. They were allowed to leave the place when the case would be solved.

But one thing he didn't quite understand, was the fact that Ayla had told them that her father had to swallow a bomb to let the building explode. The thing was, they had found a woman's body with pieces of a bomb inside. Not a man's. Ayla's father, however, lay a couple of feet away from the woman. Which all means, that the father had never swallowed the bomb at all. But that he used an innocent woman to do it for him.'

Ryan noticed a movement beside him and he looked up, facing Eric. Eric was holding two cups of coffee and gave one to Ryan.

"Drink it, it's with whipped cream. Your favorite." said Eric.

Ryan thanked him and took a sip. It immediately made him feel a bit better. Not fully better though. Not until Natalia would be found and would be safe.. with him, and the others, of course.

"I have seriously no idea what to do now. We have questioned Ayla, but didn't really get closer to where Natalia could be." said Eric, who had (in the meantime) grabbed another stool to join Ryan in his loneliness.

"I know right! It feels.. it feels like we are losing Natalia more and more and more. And I hate that feeling."

Ryan sighed and took another sip. Noticing that Eric hadn't had a sip of his own coffee at all. "Eric, drink it up. It's getting cold."

"I'm not in the mood for coffee." Eric stood up and threw his coffee in the trashcan. He then stared down at his feet. Not sure what to do. Neither of them was quite sure what to do. Until ..

"Guys!"

It was Calleigh.

"I found it! I found the car! Jack Peterson's car!"

Eric looked up and Ryan got on his feet.

"Come on then!" said Calleigh, looking quite disturbed by their reaction. "You wanna find Natalia or not?"

Both men immediately followed Calleigh.

-x-

Driving as hard as they could, they made their way to the place they thought Natalia would be.

"Where did you say the car was?" asked Eric.

Calleigh turned left and both men, Ryan and Eric grabbed something of the inside of the car for keeping them of losing balance.

"I said; the Everglades." Calleigh took another turn. This time the right one, Ryan and Eric held on tightly.

Ryan looked out of the window. He could see the Everglades becoming bigger. They were almost there.

'I'm on my way Natalia. Stay strong.'

She was thirsty and tired. Her feet felt sore. Her head pounded like crazy, sun burned on her skin. Everything around her seemed weird. Her breathing turned into coughing, like there wasn't enough air to breath in.

Covered in blood, she still kept on running. Not looking back, nor looking where she was going. She didn't hear any sound behind her, though. But she was scared, scared that if she would stop running he would catch her, hurt her may even kill her. And she didn't want that at all.

Barefoot, she kept on running. Stones were hurting her feet. Tears were burning up, her eyes swollen. While running, she pressed her fists hard into her eyes – there was no time for tears now.

...

Then suddenly a car came from her right and before she knew it, she was hit by it. She heard laughter and she saw the world spin around. Everything felt all fine, everything felt so light. She saw all kind of weird colors passing by until black.

Her lungs were hurting. She tried to catch some air to fill her lungs with. But this time, she failed.

"Damn! What was that?" cried Calleigh in shock. Her eyes and mouth wide open. She was quite sure she had hit something. She stopped the car and looked at Eric and Ryan. Both of them also with eyes and mouth wide open.

Something snapped in Calleigh's head and she got out of the car. She ran to the figure that lay on the ground. She heard Ryan and Eric getting out of the car too. Calleigh kneeled beside the figure. Hand on her own forehead, wiping the sweat away. Tears were welling up in her eyes. She then moved her hand to her mouth and looked shocked. Eric placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Calleigh? Are you okay?" Asked Eric. Kneeling beside her. She shook her head and answered the open arms of Eric.

"N..no. It's not alright! Natalia is hurt and I feel so sorry for her. This week has been tough and I am all tired, but I don't want to give up, because this is my job. This is what I have to do. But this is all getting on my nerves. And I think I might collapse of tiredness if I keep on doing this! It's so not healthy. And I always tell myself that I am a strong woman, but this.. I've never seen this side of me before. Like my heart is ripped in ten thousand pieces. It feels horrible. And last but not least! I hit my favorite animal with my car. A horse! What the hell was this horse doing! I didn't see h..him at all!"

"Ssssh, Call. Calm down. You need to get up. We need to keep on searching for Natalia. I'm sure that this horse had a good life, before you.. hit him. I know that this week has been a tough one. But you have been in harder ones! I know.." Eric glanced at Ryan "We know, that you can do this. We know that you are a strong woman."

Calleigh looked up. Tears still rolling down her face.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry I'm being all emotional about this." She turned to Ryan. "I'm sorry Ryan, this must be awful for you. Seeing me cry here about nothing, while Natalia is in great danger."

"It's alright Calleigh. But I would really appreciate it if you could get in the car again and drive as hard as you did 5 minutes ago, because only that way we can find Natalia as soon as possible." Ryan offered her a hand and Calleigh took it. Eric stood up too and the three of them walked towards the car.

"Wait.." said Eric. "The tire is flat.. we can't drive with that!" He kicked the wheel of the car eagerly.

"Aaargh!" Ryan kicked a rock away. Biting his lip angrily.

Calleigh was right, this week was tough. And was getting on his nerves too. All too emotional for him to bare. A feeling like he was living half a life.

All Calleigh could say was: "I'm sorry.. I'm sorry.." But it didn't help any of them.

"We are acting all pathetic." Said Ryan suddenly. "We need to continue. This time walking. Take your gun in your hand. We are definitely NOT giving up. Not as long as my name is Ryan Wolfe. You understand?"

Calleigh nor Eric answered. They just grabbed their guns and they started walking. Calleigh took a quick glance at the horse. Promising him she would come back to get him and her car.

Ryan was relieved by their reaction, and sighed. He followed them.

-x-

What seemed like hours, was only another of 5 minutes. The sun was making them feel nauseous. They had one bottle of water to share. They kept on walking, surely no idea where they were going. No idea if they were heading closer to Natalia.

Then, there was this loud 'Bang." Like someone shot with a gun. Ryan stopped so suddenly that Eric bumped into him.

"Did you hear that?" asked Ryan. Calleigh turned round when she realized she was thinking the same as Eric and Ryan. They started running to where the sound came from.

-x-

Holding their breaths. They heard another shot. And another. And another. Like there wasn't an end. Hoping the best, they continued their way to the gunshots. Holding their guns high in front of them. Ready to shoot if necessary. They knew something was definitely wrong. Definitely.

They were getting closer. They could feel it. Hear it too, though.

Bang, Bang, Bang.

And it stopped.

Was it finished?

They turned right, then left, and another left. Then they saw a car parked in the middle of the road. Well, it didn't really look like it was parked up there. Windows were broken, the front of the car was damaged badly. The whole car seemed bad in shape.

They checked the car. Nothing inside.

They walked around the car, to check if there was a scene behind the car they couldn't see. And they were right. They automatically lowered their guns.

Show me where to go.

The light or the darkness.

The happy feeling or the pain.

Right or left.

I can't breath..

Should I wait and call it 'faith.'?

I'm going down. No where to go.

All these questions, still unanswered.

I don't know what day it is.

I don't know where I'm going.

Only if you show me.

Show me the unknowing road.

I hope you all liked this chapter. Review please. I love reviews!

Owh & Ayla. I think / hope you are going to like chapter 17 ;)

yes. I'm already working on chapter 17. So i might be updating this weekend again :)

Thank you for reading. See ya next time!

xx Wolvista aka Romee !