I made a beeline to my car, the pace of my Converse barely making a sound as my heart rate picked up. My eyes continued to scan the parking lot, hoping someone might be around in the event something happened, or maybe someone was waiting behind a car or a pillar to jump out at me. I knew I was just being paranoid, but I couldn’t shake the dark feeling coming over me. Something felt very wrong, but I couldn’t place it.
My steps were fierce as I thought about the gun just inside my glove compartment. I had my C.P.L., but guns weren’t allowed on campus property, so that forced me to leave it in my car. I had a black chrome Sig Sauer P238, and it was the perfect companion for me. It was easy to conceal, fit my stupidly small hands, and had tritium sights so I could always aim in the dark. Light on the recoil and moderate with the weight, that gun was definitely my favorite.
As soon as I was within reach of my car, I unlocked it, keeping my car key in my hand just in case I didn’t make it to my gun in time and needed to permanently blind someone. I reached for the passenger side door first, but before I even opened it, I heard the doors of the van slide open. Four men jumped out, all wearing black ski masks, dark clothing, and two of them armed with assault rifles.
I instantly grabbed my gun from the glove compartment and fired two shots in their direction before jumping in and starting my car from the passenger seat. Fuck, only five rounds left.
I suddenly heard the muffled gunshots of their tactical rifles equipped with silencers as they shot out my tires before my engine took the next heat of fire, the sounds easily mistaken for fireworks with the Fourth of July having just passed. Jumping in the driver’s seat, I fired up the ignition and gunned it in reverse, but the transmission was already malfunctioning. My car only went a few feet as my shot tires squealed against the pavement before it went dead. That was when I opened fire.
I emptied the clip through the driver’s side window of my car, but after those final five shots, it was empty, and the men were too scattered for me to hit them in my rush toflee. I hurried for the second magazine I had hidden under my seat but never got the chance before my door was ripped open.
Acting purely on instinct and adrenaline, I kicked at the opening door hard and sent the fucker airborne and onto his ass. Rifles hanging from their backs, the men came at me. As one of them reached in, I kicked his ribs as hard as I could with both legs, sending him backward and flailing to the ground. Abandoning my reach for the second magazine, I grabbed my car keys from the ignition and took off, running in the direction of the stairs.
When it came to flight or fight, I was normally a fight kind of person, but I was outgunned, outnumbered, and I needed to get the hell out of there quickly.
“Help!” I screamed, hoping someone would hear and call the police. “There’s a fire! Someone help! Fire!”
And then I felt a little prick sting my shoulder. As I ran, I reached back and pulled out what looked like a small tranquilizer dart with half of whatever drug they used still inside. And for the first time, real fear spiked up my spine. Even though only half had gotten into my bloodstream, they likely had more, which meant they were going to succeed in taking me.
The men quickly caught up to me faster than I liked, and as soon as I felt the presence of a body close to mine, I jumped forward and kicked my back leg out, landing right between his legs. He went down quickly, clutching his groin and muttering all kinds of threats at me as I continued to run. But then the rest caught up and surrounded me like a bunch of hyenas ready to attack. My breath was coming in and out fast, and the adrenaline flowing through my veins was making me light-headed, or was it the drugs? My heart was pumping so hard I thought it would explode. Then one at a time, they all started laughing.
“End of the line, sweetheart,” one of them taunted.
“Not yet,” I retorted defiantly, clutching my car key like a knife.
A few at a time, the remaining three engaged me, one of them grabbing me from behind at my waist. I clutched his wrist and elbowed him right in the nose, busting it and spraying blood all over my arm. Keeping in motion, I stabbed him right in the thigh with my car key until he finally dropped me. Another one came at my side, and I threw the hardest sidekick to his ribs that I could muster, sending him crashing against one of the concrete pillars. I then struck out with a final jab-cross combination at the last guy just as my previous kick landed. That was about all I got in before the drug finally kicked in. I felt a wave of dizziness consume me, knocking me off balance before a fist busted into my face. The ground beneath me shifted, my legs finally giving out, as pain blossomed in the side of my face, and I crashed to the ground.
I landed on the pavement on my hands and knees and felt one of the men kick my ribs, sending me on to my back. Pain exploded in my side as I grunted and curled into myself.
“Told you it was the end of the line, bitch,” he sneered.
I tried to regulate my breathing as his words seeped into my brain. I was done, and they were going to take me.
Without wasting another moment, they cuffed my hands behind my back with zip ties and hauled me to my feet. I dragged my legs and tried to wrench myself free, fighting against the drug and ready to scream bloody murder, but then felt something sharp stab into my arm. They were drugging me again. Panic rushed through my system as I gradually felt my limbs growing heavier, and I struggled just to stay up. My head spun out of control, and my vision became cloudy and dark.
“No,” I groaned, trying to wriggle myself free, but my limbs were so uncoordinated I could barely get them to work.
The closer we got to the van, the closer I came to losing everything, and it made the panic spike straight through my heart until it punched into my stomach. My helplessness was my literal nightmare as I was quickly being hauled over someone’s shoulder and into blackness. That was the last thing I remembered. I woke up here in this cage.
Tears started flowing from my eyes as I thought about Jason. God, what he must be thinking right now. Seeing my car all shot to shit, clip empty in my gun, and me nowhere to be found. My mother would be a complete wreck, and I could see my two younger brothers sitting around her, comforting her the best they could as they fought off their own fears. The rest of my aunts, uncles, and cousins praying for my safe return while my best friend, Jordan, plotted for my revenge. Those people were everything to me, and I knew I had to get back to them. One way or another, I swore I would.
A few minutes of silence later, I heard Kayla stir next to me. She opened her eyes and rubbed her face. “How long have you been awake?” she mumbled.
“Longer than I’d like to be,” I groaned, adjusting my position on my side. “How did you sleep?” God, my voice sounded like shit as it cracked through the air.
“Like shit. You?”
“I think that was the longest sleep of my life, but it could have been better.”
“No kidding. You were out like a light.”
“Probably for the best. Sleep keeps me out of trouble.” I winked. She scoffed at me.
“For someone who looks like they were hit by a truck, your personality certainly remains intact.”
“Steel wall up here,” I said, tapping against my temple.
“I hope it stays that way. If you go down, I don’t know what I’m gonna do.”
