Chapter 5: We Fight for my Life
Sam POV
It was like one of my bad dreams come true, I thought as I sat up. The room spun but I forced myself to my feet. I waited until I could walk and again forced myself into action. I sprinted from the room and paused. Where would Jared go? The closest exit. I thought, probably scoped out beforehand. Pick out his path, get rid of any nurses or doctors. A path secluded. I was about to randomly pick a direction when the unmistakable sound of an engine reached my ears. There, down the north hall was an exit ramp used for carts. I raced for it, conscious of my dizziness and lack of winter clothes. I threw open the door just in time to see a gray van pass by. Jared smirked and I sprinted forward. Racing after the vehicle, lungs healing. There was a second where my fingers were an inch away from the van, But I tripped and tumbled painfully into the asphalt. I sat up and watched Jared drive away, burning the license plate into my memory before getting up and racing back into the hospital.
Brandon POV
Sam came into the building with snow in her hair and blood gushing from a nasty cut in her cheek. She was on the phone when she grabbed me by the ear.
"Yes I said kidnap. Braelyn James, sixteen, taken from Saint Mary's Hospital. NO THIS IS NOT A GODDAMN PRANK….DON'T YOU TELL ME TO CALM DOWN! Just get someone over here with a god damn squad car and help me get my friend back!" She hung up the phone and continued to drag me painfully back to Braelyn's hospital room. She put on her jacket and hat. "Call Braelyn's mom. Jared took her." She took her switchblade and pinned it to her belt loop, then made me look at her. I felt fear, total fear. "You can't flake out on me okay? HEY! Okay? You have to stay strong. She's not dead. I don't give a shit if you hate her, but I need you to call her mom and be strong. She's already watched her husband leave, she doesn't need you to freak out when her daughter is missing. There will be time for that later. Just stay calm for her. And don't worry, I'll bring her home." Sam's signature sad smile didn't reach her eyes. She was afraid.
"You can't Sam! It's too cold." I said at an attempt to keep her here.
"I have to try." She snarled, wrapped a scarf around her face and walked out, pulling a fire alarm in her wake. I had this awful feeling that I would never see her again…
Kathy POV
I was sitting in the hall on my phone when the alarm went off. I jumped to my feet and walked down the hall, looking for Brandon. What I found was a distraught boy. Curled up in an armchair.
"He took her Kathy. He just….took her." He sobbed. "And Sam is out there, alone. I should be too." I placed my hands on his shoulders.
"She can handle it. You just stay here. No need for carelessness." I said calmly. "Two of us are already missing, they need someone who knows Braelyn and Jared. Look here they come now." Three policemen were walking down the white hallway. Brandon surged up from the chair and started babbling uncontrollably. I had a sudden wave of Deja Vu and felt light headed. I closed my eyes against the memory and slumped in the chair, head between my hands.
They had never seen such courage…
I flinched away from the memory as fast as possible, bile in my throat.
Mother screaming at me to answer as Uncle just looked at me, blue eyes cold against the truth…
I felt the scream build in my throat and forced myself to swallow it when a soft hand touched her shoulder. I looked up into the kind face of the police officer and immediately felt safe.
Sam POV
I ran when I was able, thankful for the recent snow, knowing I couldn't keep going like this if I wanted to get to Braelyn in time. The cold bit against my skin with each step, the gash in my cheek burned, my breath came in short gasps, but I kept going out of sheer will. I had to try, no matter how bad the odds of saving her were, I had to try. I did not have a sense of time, but she knew she needed a vehicle. It seemed Jared was headed south, but it was difficult to follow the tracks, despite the snowfall. I prayed that Brandon knew what he was doing, and scoffed. The boy was so dense it was a miracle he was still alive. I broke into a run again, trying to breathe normally against the cold. She needed a vehicle. By the god I didn't believe in, I hope Braelyn can get out of this...
Braelyn POV
I feel warm, calmed. I am safe here. I smell vinyl and the fresh cologne of Jared, and I am in a vehicle. For a moment I wonder where we are going, then I remember. I froze. In my head I hear Sam telling me what to do if you're hiding from someone.
"They look for movement and noise, breath through your nose and relax, tensing will cause you to move…" I remembered that summer day when Sam had taken me paintballing. But now, I had to take her advice in a different way. I relaxed, labored mt breathing and opened my eye to a slit. The first thing I noticed was it was raining. It had been snowing before. How far south had we come? Jared would be able to see me in the rearview mirror, but he was focused on driving. It was a van I assumed by the amount of space in the back. My hands were bound, but not my feet, my leg burned and it hurt to breathe. Suddenly Jared looked at my in the rearview mirror and I blinked at him, unable to speak.
"We will be there soon, and you'll be safe. I promise. I'll explain everything when you're safe." I tried to sit up, and pain darted through my ribs. I collapsed, eyes shut against the pain. Breathing through my nose, lips pulled tight in a grimace. "I can't tell you how sorry I am about that. You were never supposed to see that." My eyes snapped open.
"Why?" I asked in a forced whisper. He blinked in surprise.
"Because he hurt you. He never deserved you." He looked at the road and I saw unlimited anger, so familiar to me somehow. I have to get out of here, and that can only happen if he believes me to be weak, if he underestimates me. I force tears into my eyes, and start to sob. My shoulders shake with the effort.
"Please don't do this Jared." I whimpered. I opened my eyes to meet his. He looked at me almost pleadingly, pain for my pain. "Please." I whisper, putting as much girly simpering into the word, being vulnerable without anger. He must want to protect me, he has to underestimate me for me to surprise him. Jared stops the van and gets out. I take a painful breath as the doors in the back open. Jared stands there in the rain, brown eyes so pain filled, brownish-gray hair drenched. So massive and so...familiar. I am afraid, but I can't show him that. I sob and he gently gathers me to his chest, my legs dangling outside. I bury my face in his shoulder and stay there.
"I was going to ask you out." I say, and as he moves back to look at me, I force my leg, as fast as possible, into his groin. His eyes go wide and he falls. I bring my knees up, my right knee screaming, and kick him hard in the chin. Then I jumped from the van and limped as fast as I could away. I screamed and broke into a run. glancing behind me to see Jared sprinting for me. My knee buckled and I tumbled into the ditch and he was on me. I wailed, kicking against him until he pins me down. Forcing me to look at him, the rain soaking into my clothes. His eyes burn with cruelty and I wonder how I ever thought them to be beautiful. They are an ugly brown and I suddenly hate them. Hate burns and I spit in his face.
"You will never have me." I snarl. In response, he slung me over his shoulders. "Let go of me! Let go!" He took me back to the van. I am secured with a gag and bound ankles, and I scream, scream against the cruelty of him.
Brandon POV
I thought I had never seen such a defeated woman. Braelyn's mom stood at the counter, screaming at a very frazzled nurse, her cheeks flushed and shining with tears. The police were looking for the van and Sam, calling on me for information on Jared.
"When did you see him last?" An officer asked.
"When he tried to kill me, the last thing I saw him do was shoot my girl- ex girlfriend while rolling into a river. Sam told me he took her, and I've given you the damn plates. We need to find her." For her mother's sake. I thought. Braelyn's mom breaks down and slides to the floor. "We need to find her." I repeat, and knew it to be true. We needed Braelyn.