Quote from Indy on July 9, 2023, 12:40 am

The older man watched without speaking a word. Instead, her merely tilted his head to the large werewolf by the door just so.  He did not afford a second glance to the boy in Silas' arms - although said boy was doing nothing but looking at his mentor for some manner of reassurance.

The man made a thin-lipped expression that might have been intended as a smile. Then he strode out the front door, passing by the large mass of the orange-eyed werewolf as he did so.

***

It was dark.

It was dark, and I couldn't move.

It was dark, and I couldn't move, and I couldn't scream.

I've had nightmares like this before. Once, when I was thirteen, I'd fallen asleep on the couch. I'd woken up strangely. When I woke up, I found I couldn't move at all - no matter how much I tried. Even after the incident, I had bad dreams for weeks of being unable to move or speak - like my own subconscious loved to torment me over a fluke round of sleep paralysis.

Except, this wasn't like that at all. I could still wiggle my fingertips. I was in a strange position, with my hands and legs bound together behind me.

I twisted my body, only to feel the walls all around me. I felt suddenly very warm, and the air very thin. This was probably a nightmare - it couldn't be real. Last thing I remembered...

I'd been walking home.

Suddenly the sky split in two. Two blue eyes loomed over me in front of a starlit sky. The cold air was a godsend. The realization that I was in the trunk of a car, bound at wrist and ankle, was not. In an effortless motion, I was tossed over the man's shoulder. I couldn't scream, because my mouth had been gagged.

This was all just a horrible nightmare. Tomorrow I would wake up, and I'd have to study for my Chemistry final.

 

Quote from Adriana on July 9, 2023, 12:53 am

“He’s a kid. He wasn’t part of the contract.” I growled, glaring at the female. Nevermind that I was a kid. Or the kid in my arms was a kid. I always figured we had to add a few years accounting for the dog in our DNA.
Grow up fast. But the kid they took? He was in school. He had a life planned out.

I didn’t dare look at the door. Finger trained on the trigger.

She didn’t respond, I didn’t think she would.

“And you just let this happen? How do you know that he won’t turn you over for a profit? That you’re not disposable? There’s a pattern here-you noticed? Us against them.” I squeezed my arm a little tighter around the boys ribcage for emphasis. Watched her ears point up-then pin back.

Quote from Indy on July 9, 2023, 12:38 pm

Something happened to the man in Silas' grip.  He'd gone so perfectly still - even his breathing had gone stagnant. Was there even a rush of air past his lips? His eyes were on the ground, not looking at his companion.  Every nerve in his body was still....

***

The world was upside down, the sky at my feet and the earth at my head.  It was a disjointed painting. I kept still - soon I would wake up, soon the nightmare would be over...

A door opened. I was thrown to the floor with a thump so hard, my body felt too dazed to process what was around me. The bright lights left me dazed. I was inside.... somewhere?

Someone shouted and there was a loud sound - and was that Jack I smelled?

Quote from Adriana on July 9, 2023, 1:28 pm

I cursed a hiss - I hadn't noticed the little blade in the kids hand before it was plunged into my thigh. It wasn't big enough to do any damage, but now I was pretty mad. I flipped the gun around so the muzzle was in my hand and smacked it against Stabby's temple, just as I watched Zander hit the ground with a thump.

The kid went limp. Both events had caused me to take my eyes off of the Hulk for a few seconds too long, and the table between us was sent flying across the room-she was standing maybe six feet in front of me. I steadied my breathing. The gun was back against my hostages head, which was craned back against my shoulder.

"Untie him."

Quote from Indy on July 9, 2023, 3:00 pm

The ancient man regarded Silas without remark even as 'Stabby' went down like a sack of potatoes. He hadn't removed his heel from Zander's back.

"Are you going to shoot him, or not?" the man asked, watching how he held the gun even still to his associate's head.

He extracted something from his side - a pair of gleaming, silver cuffs. He tossed them in Silas' direction. On closer inspection, they were not ordinary cuffs. They were far stronger, and adapted to function on something much larger than an ordinary man.

"Here's what's going to happen. You're going to drop that boy. I will untie your associate if and only if you put those cuffs on".

The man paused, "Alternatively, you can shoot him now - and we can have a blood bath. It's your choice".

Quote from Adriana on July 9, 2023, 3:10 pm

"You're getting two for the price of one. Untie him first. Whatever contract you've got on me is worth a lot more than what you'd get for him. On the plus side, I don't have family - you're making a mess taking him. You know I'm not going to shoot my own lifeline, not even once he's free, because he's the only thing between myself and her." I lowered my chin towards the female.

"Hey, kid, you awake?" I asked, glancing to Zander without moving my head. "I'm going to get my carkeys out of my pocket. That nice man is going to untie you, and you need to drive away and pretend none of this happened." I fished them out, tossing them so they landed right in front of Zander.

Quote from Indy on July 9, 2023, 3:59 pm

My head was still spinning. I'd just figured out what was the ceiling, and what was the floor, and Jack right in front of me. Except he was holding that kid, limp in his arms. That kid, familiar somehow, in a way a movie star is when you've seen them in a few films but haven't thought much of them.  The nightmare hadn't ended. The floor felt solid beneath me, the flavor of the air too specific, and my surroundings hadn't shifted or morphed as I looked at them. Either I'd had a psychotic break from reality, or this was real real, even if it didn't make any sense.

I wanted to ask Jack so many things, but there was still a gag on my mouth. All I could manage was a grunt and nod in answer, my eyes meeting his just as the keys landed in front of me.

It was weird. I'd thought about a lot of terrible things before. Failing out of school. Disapointing my parents. Hurting my friends and family. But I'd never thought about dying before, actually dying dying, end of the road, until now. And there it was staring at me...

Did I have regrets? Not finishing school, not becoming an anthropologist, not learning about the culture of my own kind.... things I could have done, but wouldn't now.  Maybe I was padded up in a mental hospital somewhere. Maybe I'd never been a werewolf. And I'd wake up and a nurse would tell me it's been five years since I'd last been concious. Or maybe in five seconds, it would all cut to black.

The weight on my back shifted. The weight on my hands and feet fell aside. Tingling sensation rushed through them. I stared at the keys, then at Jack, and I somehow couldn't remember how to make my feet work. My arms and legs were shaking so badly I wasn't even sure I could move.  I wanted to cry, but I couldn't remember how to do that either.

"He's worthless to me," the voice behind me said. Impossibly cold, impossibly all-consuming - even if he said it just a casual speaking voice, "Dogs are only as good as their use. He's served his. Now yours".

The voice was a threat. I knew it was. But I couldn't even figure out what movie I was in.

"Drop the kid. If you put on those cuffs, we'll let yours make it past the front door".

Quote from Adriana on July 9, 2023, 6:01 pm

Zander wasn't moving. I needed him to move. He was frozen, except not-shaking all over. He was scared into a state of shock.

Not. A good. Time.

My hostage wouldn't be unconscious forever. Already I could detect the subtle changes in his breathing pattern, indicating he'd be waking up within a few minutes.

The windows on the other side of the room were locked, so there's a good chance the one behind me was too. Had to be out the front door. There was a back door, but the kid was closer to the front door.

I began to lower the kid to the ground. Then... shoved his lifeless body towards the female! In the same move I pulled my sidearm and fired towards the phantom man, aiming for his leg, and lunged at Zander.

"Go, RUN!" I barked, plucking him up by the collar and shoving him towards the door. He had seconds-I had less-the next thing I knew I was caught by back of my neck and sailing through the air.

Quote from Indy on July 9, 2023, 6:33 pm

My feet caught me, somehow, when they hit the ground. Every ounce of air had been squeezed out of my lungs, my heart screamed in my ears - but somehow, my legs were stable beneath me.  Everything had gone slow. Jack behind me - the crack of the gun - a grunt - Go, RUN! - Jack gone

And then I was moving. Scrambling out the door. Wondering where I should go. I looked in my hands, but the keys weren't there. I'd left them inside, on the floor. I looked for the car that Jack had mentioned, and found it there parked except-

The car hissed like a serpent. Or more accurately, like a car whose tires had been sliced. Even if I found the keys, it wouldn't be taking me anywhere...

I looked ahead of me, but all there was for miles upon miles was the same empty road. Recognition struck me - the same empty road Jack had taken me up. The same cabin - although I'd only seen it from the outside before.

I hadn't dreamed that. I hadn't invented it. And now all the things my gut had been telling me that night was crashing down around me in the smell of blood, gun powder, and escaping tire pressure.