by James, Jax
“I hope you know that they intend to make us suffer and maybe it would’ve been better and more humane that I killed you. At least I would’ve done it quick.”
“I don’t want to die at all. I think that you are allowing this man to get inside your head. I don’t care that you’ve changed your spots, but these people aren’t your friends. I don’t know how you could possibly believe anything that they say, because they’re obviously trying to make you feel like there’s no way out.” I couldn’t believe that I was the one that was telling him how it was, when these words should’ve been coming out of his mouth and not mine.
“Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you when you’re being skinned alive.” That wasn’t a pleasant thought at all, but at least I had stopped him from wallowing in self pity long enough to get as far away from here as we could. We couldn’t exactly go back the same way we came, so the only option was to keep moving and hope that we came out onto some kind of road. That way we would be able to follow it back to civilization and hopefully to safety. “He’s like a dog with a bone and once he has your scent, there’s absolutely nothing that you can do to get away from him.” I was through trying to understand any of them and the only thing I wanted to do was keep myself alive long enough to walk away from this relatively unscathed.
“You forget that we’re both survivors and we should be acting like it.” I was running as fast as I could, keeping up with his long strides in the forest, while at the same time hearing voices in the distance getting closer. Suddenly, I heard dogs. It sounded like they had their own bloodhounds to track us down. It wouldn’t take all that much to find our scent, because we had probably left something for the dogs to track from the moment that we entered the house. “Just keep moving. Don’t even consider giving up.” Honestly, if I could’ve gotten away on my own and didn’t need him, I might have considered it. As it was, it wasn’t like I could survive on my own and the only way to do it was to keep him thinking that he needed to protect me.
I heard something in the distance, but I couldn’t place what it was. It sounded familiar…like something from my childhood.
Laughter began to permeate the air “That’s funny Jason. You really have no idea what kind of trouble is coming your way. If you think that I’m bad, then you’re about to find out that something is a whole lot worse than my bark.” I didn’t know what he was getting at, but it sounded like he had a bit of knowledge that we didn’t. “I would love to see the look on your faces when you see what you’ve gotten yourself into, but I suppose I’ll be able to see it soon enough.” That sound was getting louder with each movement through the trees and then almost inexplicably those trees began to disappear all together.
We were now standing in some kind of clearing and I was about to take a few more steps into the darkness, when he put his hand out across my chest to stop me from any forward momentum. “Don’t even move.” My foot was poised in midair, when he pulled me back a few steps and then tossed a pebble into the direction of where my foot had just been. Where I thought I was going to hear the rock bouncing off the ground, instead I heard nothing but silence, until the sound of the rock splashing down into the water down below. “We’re trapped and there’s no place to go. I don’t want to presume to know what you want to do. It’s up to you decide if you want to jump or stay here and face them.”
That wasn’t exactly my idea of fun and choosing from one catastrophe to the other wasn’t going to be easy. On one hand, I could stay here and definitely die at their hands, or I could take a chance on the unknown and hope for the best. It really wasn’t a choice and I knew in the back of my mind that the only way to do this was to take a deep breath.
“I don’t need to think about this and I would rather take my chances down there than with them.”
“Be sure of that, Larissa, because according to my calculations of how far the rock fell, I would say that we were up at least 40 feet or more. There’s no telling what we’re going to find down there and we could be jumping onto shallow rocks. There’s no way to know, but at least up here you have the capability of trying to fight back.” I knew that fighting these people was not an option, because I didn’t have the kind of training that Jason did. If I had, I might have been able to consider that line of thinking, but my best bet was to take my chances in the harsh unforgiving environment of the water down below.
“I don’t think I have to tell you my answer.” I’m not sure exactly how he was going to survive this, not with that injury now plaguing him. It was up to him to decide what he was going to do. I did like him a lot, but I think I was more concerned with my own life than anything to do with this dangerous man that betrayed me. “I can’t decide this for you, but you either come with me or we part ways right here.”
“Man, I don’t know if I can survive the fall with my injury, but what the fuck…let’s do it.” We grabbed hands and stood on the precipice of life and death, looking at each other before taking a deep breath and letting it out, while at the same time leaping into the air.
The ground around us disappeared and it almost seemed like we were moving in slow motion. I don’t know how long it really was, only that the impact into the water was jarring and so cold that it almost froze me from the very beginning. All I could see was blackness and the water that was now surrounding me from every angle and I didn’t even know which way was up or down. The only way that I could determine that was to look and see the light of the moon shining on the surface of the water. This gave me a marker to follow, until finally I was gasping for breath and coming out of my own watery grave.
“I didn’t think that you would do it, but don’t thing for a second that this changes…any…” The rushing water was more than enough to drown him out, but it was the force of the water that was now dragging me down away from those that wanted to do me harm. I didn’t see any sign of Jason. If he had to die this way, then a least he was dying on his own terms.
There was something in front of me and then I saw the terrified face of Jason, as I slammed into him, as he was clinging to life on a branch that was stuck out from the other side. I didn’t mean to dislodge him from his safe zone, but it wasn’t like I had much of a choice. “Damn, where the hell did you come from?” The rapids were strong and were pulling us further down, but I suppose I could take some solace in the fact that we were together.
It didn’t look like he could swim that well and he was basically bobbing up and down in the water trying to stay afloat. “I hit the water hard, but I managed to stay above it, until I was able to grab onto that branch.” I was beside him and I was able to wrap my arms around his chest to keep him from going under, but it was that sound that I’d heard before that was making me have cause for concern. I knew that sound.
My mind began to formulate a memory from my past where I was swimming with some friends out in the middle of nowhere. There was this watering hole with rushing falls and then a moment of clarity made me realize just exactly what was coming our way.
That sound was waterfalls. Though we survived the first fall from on top of the hill it didn’t mean that we were going to be able to survive a fall with rushing water crashing into us all the way down.
“I don’t want to alarm you, Jason, but we aren’t exactly out of the woods.” He looked at me, but then I think it dawned on him what that sound was. “Let’s try and get over to shore and grab on to anything that we can.” Desperately, we fought against the current as best as we could, grabbing onto slick rocks that were too damn slippery to get a hold on.
It appeared that Jason had grabbed onto another branch, but this one broke under the weight of both of us hanging onto it and before long it became quite obvious that we were going to have to face the falls whether we wanted to or not.
The sound of the waterfalls was deafening and it felt like forever before we actually reached the top of it. I looked towards Jason and he looked at me and we both knew that we were going to go over. This was just one day of one bad thing aft
er the other, but maybe with this final plunge, I could find some peace and quiet in the great beyond. I certainly didn’t want to die, but it was stupid to think that we could survive. I would hold onto the little hope that I had, but inside I knew that this was the end
Chapter Nine
The water was everywhere and I could feel it dragging me down and there was absolutely nothing that I could do about it. I resigned myself to my fate, thinking that this was finally over, when the realization that I had given in began to sink into my subconscious. I couldn’t allow these people to dictate the terms of my death without putting up a damn good fight. There was no way that I was going to let one moment of weakness determine what was going to happen to me.
It didn’t matter that Drake or Jason had betrayed me and it didn’t matter if Devlin was out there right now searching for us to put the final nail in the coffin.
I suddenly opened my eyes and began to take in everything around me, looking for any signs of where I should go in order to surface above the water. I’ve always been a strong swimmer, but this was taking things to a whole different level. It was getting hard for me to hold my breath and I could feel my lungs burning with the effort, not to mention that my clothing was weighing me down like an anchor around my neck.
I tried various angles and moved into that direction for a few seconds before changing to yet another. I was losing hope quickly, but I was holding onto that small sliver that something would happen to show me the way out of this.
Just as I thought all hope was lost, I somehow manage to surface long enough to supply myself with enough air before being pulled down yet again. I was still in the waterfall and in danger unless I could get out of it soon. Having no idea where Jason was, I had to concentrate on what was going to keep me alive. After I had accomplished that, I could concentrate on looking for Jason, but for now we were going to have to rely on ourselves to get out of this mess.
I found the semblance of mind to push through the rushing water, continuing to move further away until I was sure that I was in the clear. It was only then that I went towards the surface with this sense of calm and not panicking like most people would do in this situation. I’ve heard of too many people drowning and it was mostly because they couldn’t separate their fear from reality. I’ve even read about people who drowned in ½ foot of water, because they had no idea that they could actually stand up and save themselves.
I knew I couldn’t do that, but that didn’t stop me from coming back up, seeing the shore and making a straight line towards it. It took everything I had to drag my sodden clothes and myself onto the out stretch of shore. Falling down on to my knees, I took great mouthfuls of air, sputtering up a little bit of water in the process, but nothing that I couldn’t handle.
After I got my bearings, I used the light of the moon to try to verify where Jason was, but so far there seemed to be no sign of him whatsoever. I searched up and down the shoreline all the way down to the waterfall and then I saw something bobbing in the water just out of my reach. I used a long branch to pull it in and found that it was a ripped piece of shirt with blood on it. This could only mean that Jason didn’t have the swimming stamina to find his way out of that makeshift watery prison.
I felt a momentary sense of loss, bringing about the memory of our two nights of passion. I would never see his smiling face again or that strong, beautiful body that made me ache inside for just another taste. Maybe I didn’t have to worry about those feelings any longer. I had bigger problems. I still had to worry about what all of this was all about. Without him and his friend to give me a hand, I was basically blind.
There was the sound of cars in the distance, which meant that I was close to a road of some sort. That would at least get me away from this place and maybe I could find some much needed help. At the very least they might be able to take me to a police station, but still Jason’s words rang true inside my head. It was a risk that I was going to have to take, because without Jason, I was wearing a target on my back and had no idea why.
Staying there a little bit longer just to make sure that I didn’t see a ripple in the water, I soon sighed with resignation, picking myself up and slogging away from the water and into the trees. I’m not sure how much distance it took to get me here, but I could only assume that Devlin and his people would be following the currents.
I continued to follow the sound of the traffic, until I was coming out on to a highway in the middle of the night. The sounds that I was hearing were mostly because of semi trailers trying to get from one place to another.
Doing my best to flag one of them down became an effort in futility because they just couldn’t see me unless I walked right in front of them to get their attention. That wasn’t really something that I wanted to do, because I these trucks were going so fast they probably wouldn’t be able to stop in time.
Walking alongside the road, I began to kick at rocks, taking out my frustration at everything that had happened to me so far. I’m not one to get angry, but this was not a normal situation and the red hot rage that had been building inside me began to formulate into a scream that came from the pit of my stomach. I was wet, angry, scared and just about every freaking emotion that was on the spectrum.
It felt like it had been weeks since I’ve been home, when in reality it had only been less than a day. All this started with a woman that was dying on the side of the street and I decided to be the good one and try to help out in her time of need. This led to Jason taking over Drake’s persona, although I had just recently learned that Drake wasn’t exactly the person that I thought he was. He had been playing me like a puppet, while all along living in secret with his wife and two kids. This was his way of getting some excitement back into his life and I had no reason not to believe that he wouldn’t have met me at some point. That would most likely lead to a flirtatious temptation that neither one of us would’ve been able to contain.
Jason had shown me a photo of the real Drake and he wasn’t much to look at, but it wasn’t all about looks when it came to attraction. He had already done a remarkable job of stimulating my mind and I don’t think it would have mattered what he looked like.
I saw headlights in front of me and turned to see a large truck bearing down, until finally it was skidding to the side of the road with rocks shooting in all directions. Perhaps it was a farmer getting an early start on the day and I was just fortunate enough to be standing there looking like a wet rat. There was no telling who was going to stop just when I was starting to think that nobody was willing to stick their necks out anymore. I could see why, especially considering what had happened to me, because it just didn’t pay to get involved in other people’s business.
Both doors opened up and two figures emerged from the inside, while I shielded my eyes from the headlights to see exactly who had come to my aid “Thank god you stopped. I need a drive into town and maybe you’d be so kind to give me a ride to the police station.”
“I really don’t think that we’ll be doing that.” The voice was eerily familiar and then my eyes went from gratitude to all out fear. Devlin was now standing with one of his men and I could see down the road that two more vehicles were approaching, most likely with more of his contingent following suit. “Imagine my surprise when I saw you standing on the road. It was almost like a gift from god. We thought for sure that you were dead. You really do seem like you have nine lives, but unfortunately you’re not going to live out those last seven.” He produced a gun and leveled it at my forehead while I closed my eyes waiting for the inevitable.
Chapter Ten
I heard the bullet and I’ve often wondered what people would feel when they were shot, if they would feel the pain or just the sound of the bullet as it exited the chamber. For me, it was the sound that was the most terrifying and I felt no pain at all. I thought for sure that all of this was happening in slow motion and that the bullet was now careening towards me.
I heard something like a fight going on so I dared to
open up my eyes. I saw a sight that was beyond my comprehension. Devlin was lying on the ground with the other man. Standing victorious was Jason, who had now moved into a kneeling shooting stance. He fired indiscriminately at the other two vehicles approaching; using whatever ammunition he had at his disposal to level the playing field.
Once he was finished with that gun, he grabbed onto the gun that belonged to Devlin, taking it from a few feet away from his hand and once again using it to send a barrage of bullets down the street. I must’ve stood there in shock for some time, watching this all play out, until I finally had the presence of mind to duck down behind Devlin’s black SUV.
“Get in the truck and stay the fuck down until I tell you to come back up.” I didn’t like being told what to do. Instead, I picked up the last remaining weapon and joined him in the fray. “I told you to…” His words were cut off as I fired point blank into one of the front tires, making the driver struggle with the steering wheel, until he was veering to the side and flipping the truck two times over. I hadn’t shot a gun in a very long time, but apparently it was like riding a bicycle.
Jason looked at me with a little bit of admiration, before smiling disarmingly. We stayed where we were behind the vehicle, shooting at anything that moved. The other truck had been taken out of action by a well placed bullet in the radiator, sending up a plume of steam that blinded the driver and sent him into a nearby tree.
As they tried to get out, we took careful aim and brought them down one at a time. They didn’t have a chance and we weren’t about to stick around to find out if any of them had survived the melee. “Let’s go.” I felt like dirty Harry, holding this gun in my hand and knowing that I had the skills to protect myself. I may not be able to fight hand to hand, but I could shoot the eyes off of a mosquito from 100 yards away. That might’ve been an exaggeration, but that certainly didn’t detract from my skill with a weapon. Why I didn’t do this before now is a mystery. Then again, the last time I picked up a weapon was when I was 16 and ended up seriously injuring my best friend Jenny.