Here's chapter 17 for ya! Enjoy!

I awoke in a cold sweat, jolting out of my forced slumber. My heart was racing, and I could hear my labored breathing in the darkness.

"H-Hello?" I called out. No answer. "Leon?" Nobody answered.

There was no light wherever I was, just pitch-black darkness. Other than my own breathing, the only thing I could hear was the rain outside and occasional thunder. I stood up to see how big the room was, when I noticed that my hands were tied behind my back.

I turned my body to the right and began walking, very cautiously. In a few steps I bumped into a wall; it was cool to the touch, and felt like stone. I kept walking, keeping my arm against the wall, until I had reached the corner. I then turned left and did the same thing, only this time, there was a door.

I thought desperately about how to untie my hands, when I remembered seeing a girl in a movie sit down, and bring her arms out from under her bent legs. Since my legs were short, I knew I could do it. Once my arms were in front of me, I felt for my gun: it was still there. I scoffed at how idiotically stupid these people were; they didn't even disarm me. I stood up and jiggled the door handle. It was locked from the outside.

I cursed under my breath. Desperate times call for desperate measures… I thought. I began kicking the door and hitting it with my wrists, hoping that any sane person would hear me and come to my rescue.

"HELP!" I screamed. "Leon! … Ashley! … Anyone!"

After about thirty minutes of constant shouting, my voice grew hoarse, and I was pretty sure my arms had begun to bleed, and they stung worse than the rope burn from before. I sat back down beside the door with my legs crossed, and tried to undo the knot with my teeth. I eventually gave up; the knot was too tight. Once again, I began to cry. I felt bad, but I couldn't stop the tears from overflowing and spilling out of my eyes and down my cheeks. Horrible thoughts had entered my mind. I'll never get out of here… I thought. Leon probably isn't even looking for me…

That was when I heard a loud bang on the door. I quickly stood up and ran to the other side of the room; I didn't want those freaks anywhere near me. I wouldn't doubt that they had injected the vile parasite into my neck while I was knocked out, what other horrible plans could they have in mind?

I took out my gun and held it with both of my hands, pointing it at what I had guessed what the door. There was another loud bang, and the door came crashing down.

"No! Stay away!" It wasn't until later that I realized how much I had sounded like Ashley when I said that.

"Emily?" A familiar Hispanic voice said.

"L-Luis?" Then, lightning flashed and I got a short glimpse of the man's face. "Luis!"

I put my gun away and ran up to greet him.

"What happened to you?" He asked me, his voice thick with his accent.

"S-Saddler… These two men took me… that's the last thing I can remember…" I explained.

"Shit! I was afraid of this… I hate to say it, but he has most likely already injected the parasite into your body. You're safe… for now. But after you start coughing up blood, I'm afraid there won't be much time." He untied my hands as he explained. When he was finished, I rubbed my wrists.

"W-where's Leon?"

"How should I know?"

"I thought you might have run into him on the way here or something…"

He shook his head, making his long brown locks fall into his face. "This place is huge. He could be long gone by now." When he noticed the pained look in my eyes, he spoke again. "But, from what I can tell, he cares about you. I'm sure he's going nuts trying to find you."

I didn't say anything after that.

We left the room that I was held captive in and began walking through a thick forest. It was dark out, and I had no idea where we were going, so it was hard to keep up with the man. As we were walking through the woods, I tripped over a tree root and hit my head on some rocks. We didn't have a flashlight so we couldn't tell how bad it was. He helped me stand back up, and caught me when I nearly fell again.

"Easy now…" He said. "We're almost there. There's a First Aid Kit in the house, do you think you can make it?"

I nodded, even thought I was starting to feel a little dizzy, and we kept walking. About five minutes later, we made it to the house he had spoken of earlier. It was pretty decent in size, two stories, but it only had two rooms. The bottom floor was used as a dining/living area, while the top floor was used as a bedroom.

Luis pulled out one of the chairs from the table for me to sit on, while he went upstairs to grab the First Aid Kit. I could feel my heartbeat in the wound, so it had to have been pretty bad. I was suddenly reminded of my right leg, the one that had been caught in a bear trap. I looked down at it; the bandage around my calf would need to be changed soon.

When he got back, he dabbed my forehead with a wet washcloth to clean up the blood, and I asked if he could change the bandage on my leg, too, which he replied with a 'Sure, no problem.'

"So how do you know your way around so well?" I asked.

"My grandfather… He used to hunt in this region a while back. Before he died, he taught me where most of his secret passages and short cuts were."

"What did he hunt?"

He put the wet washcloth aside, and pulled out a can of first aid spray and some gauze and medical tape. "Oh, you know… deer, rabbits, things like that. Now, this is going to sting."

"I know." I smiled, thinking back to my leg, and how nice Leon was when it was injured. I wondered if he was okay, what had happened after I left?

While I was busy thinking about Leon, I didn't even notice that Luis had finished with my head, and was now re-bandaging my leg.

He had sprayed it with some more First Aid Spray, put gauze over the wounds, and then wrapped my entire calf with an Ace Bandage.

"Alright, I think that's it. As long as you don't mess with either injury too much, you should be fine. You know, it's not good being that clumsy."

I lightly chuckled and felt the bandage on my head. "You know, you didn't have to do that… Or save me from that room."

He shrugged. "I like helping people."

I smiled. Luis was actually really sweet... and handsome. He and Leon could probably be really good friends.

That reminded me. "So, you really have no idea where Leon might be?"

"Aye, señorita. I wish I did."

He sat down at the table across from me. He must have noticed my gloomy face, because then he said, "What do you like so much about him, anyway?"

I immediately blushed and smiled. "Oh, I don't know. He's nice, and sweet, funny, generous. He has really nice eyes. And hair. And I don't know… I guess I kinda-"

"Love him?" He asked suggestively, with a growing smirk on his face.

My face, however, was so red I was worried it was unhealthy. "U-uh, w-what?"

"It's pretty obvious. It's written all over your face."

"Oh?" I tried to play it cool. "And when did you become such an expert of the subject?" I leaned forward.

"Since I saw how much you gush over him!" He leaned forward too.

"Jealous, much?" I leaned in further.

"You wish." So did he.

Suddenly, the door flew open and in came a hurried man, followed by a scared woman.