AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I look up. I flash my hands across the trees and sprint off into the night.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
KEVIN STEPS FROM THE TREES, DRESSED AS A mummy. He’s the one who tackled me. The lights stun him and he seems dumbfounded, trying to figure out where they’re coming from. He’s wearing night-vision goggles. So that is how they are able to see us, I think. Where did they get them?
He charges me and at the last second I step out of the way and trip him.
“Let go of me!” I hear from down the trail. I look up and sweep my lights across the trees but nothing moves. I can’t tell if the voice is Emily’s or Sarah’s. A guy’s laughter follows.
Kevin tries to stand but I kick him in the side before he gets to his feet. He falls back to the ground with an “Ummpf!” I rip the goggles from his face and throw them as far as I can and know they will land at least a mile away, maybe two or three because I’m so angry that my strength is out of control. Then I race off through the woods before Kevin can even sit up.
The trail winds left, then right. My hands glow only when I need to see. I sense that I’m close. Then I see Sam up ahead, standing with a zombie’s arms around him. Three others are close by.
The zombie lets go of him. “Chill out, we’re just kidding around. If you don’t resist, you won’t get hurt,” he says to Sam. “Sit down or something. ”
I snap my hands on and flash the lights in their eyes to blind them. The closest person steps towards me and I swing and hit him in the side of the face and
he falls motionless to the ground. His goggles sail into the overgrown brambles and disappear. The second person tries to bear-hug me, but I break his grip and lift him off the ground.
“What the hell?” he says, confused.
I throw him and he hits the side of a tree twenty feet away. The third guy sees this and runs away. That just leaves the fourth, the one who was holding Sam. He lifts his hands in front of him as though I’m aiming a gun at his chest.
“It wasn’t my idea,” he says.
“What does he have planned?”
“Nothing, man. We just wanted to play a joke on you guys, scare you a little. ”
“Where are they?”
“They let Emily go. Sarah is up ahead. ”
“Give me your goggles,” I say.
“No way, man. We’re borrowing them from the police. I’ll get in trouble. ”
I step towards him.
“Fine,” he says. He takes them off and hands them to me. I throw them even harder than I did the previous pair. I hope they land in the next town. Let them explain that one to the police.
I grab Sam’s shirt with my right hand. I can’t see a thing without turning on my light. Only then do I realize I should have kept the two pairs of goggles for us to wear. But I didn’t, so I take a deep breath and let my left hand glow and begin guiding us up the path. If Sam finds it suspicious, he doesn’t let on.
I stop to listen. Nothing. We continue on, weaving through the trees. I turn the light off.
“Sarah!” I yell.
I stop to listen and hear nothing but the wind blowing through the branches and Sam’s heavy breathing.
“How many people are with Mark?” I ask.
“Five or so. ”
“Do you know which way they went?”
“I didn’t see. ”
We push on and I have no idea in which direction we are headed. From far off I hear the groan of the tractor motor. The fourth ride is starting. I feel frantic inside and want to sprint, but I know that Sam can’t keep up. He’s breathing heavily already and even I’m sweating despite the temperature being only forty-five degrees. Or maybe I’m mistaking blood for sweat. I can’t tell.
As we pass a thick tree with a knotted trunk I get tackled from behind. Sam yells as a fist hits me in the back of the head and I’m momentarily stunned, but then I pivot and grab the guy by the throat and shine the light in his face. He tries to peel my fingers away but it’s useless.
“What is Mark planning?”
“Nothing,” he says.
“Wrong answer. ”
I thrust him into the nearest tree five feet away, then I pick him up and lift him a foot off the ground with my hand again around his throat. His legs kick wildly, hitting me, but I tighten my muscles so that the kicks do no damage.
“What is he planning to do?”
I lower him until his feet touch solid ground, loosening my grip to allow him to speak. I sense Sam watching, drinking all of this in, but there is nothing I can do about it.
“We just wanted to scare you guys,” he gasps.
“I swear I will break you in half if you don’t tell me the truth. ”
