“Hey! Is everything alright down there?” called Captain, waving at the two.
“Yeah, everything’s fine, we’re just about to be going now!” Reinhart shouted back. He tried to get Cody to move, but the kid was rooted in place. Reinhart looked down, concerned.
“Come on, Cody, it’s fine,” he whispered. “We’ll just head out of here and everything will be alright. I, uh, have a gun on me right now if it comes to that, so don’t you worry.”
“Start firing now,” Cody whispered back, trying to move backward towards the trees.
“What? I’m not going to start firing at four guys that-”
“You sure?” Captain called out. “You don’t just jump out of a car and come out with just a scratch and dirty clothes.” They had made it down the hill and were getting close. Captain stayed in front and kept his eyes on Cody. The three men behind kept making small glances up and down the road for more cars.
“Yeah, we’re pretty sure. Now if you’ll excuse us, we need to go pick up my other son-”
“Ian? I assure you that he is alright, as is your wife, Mr. Reinhart. We just want to talk for a bit.”
Reinhart had been holding Cody back with him, trying to get back to his car. He had made a little progress, but the man’s words caught his attention. “How do you know who I am? Where are they?” he asked cautiously.
“Don’t worry about it. They’ll be fine as long as you cooperate. It makes things go a lot more smoothly if you do.”
“They’re probably dead already,” Cody said, loud enough for the agents to hear. Captain smirked.
“Alright, you caught me. You only get hurt if you fight back. We tried talking to your wife, but she found a knife and that didn’t end very well for her. She was pretty hysterical, but I’m sure you heard that from the background of that phone call. And your other son, Ian, came a little bit more quietly like a good boy.”
“You BASTARDS!” Reinhart shouted. He released his grip from around Cody and reached for the gun stuffed under his shirt. Cody took the chance and bolted away from the scene and deeper into the forest. He winced a moment later as shots echoed all around him.
“You two, catch him, don’t kill him!” Captain shouted once the bullets stopped flying. Cody pumped his arms hard as he ran, but nearly stumbled as more pain spread from his shoulder. Gasping, he clutched at the ache as he ran forward, trying to get lost in the trees. The sun was nearly set, but there was still too much light to easily hide.
Footsteps raced behind him. Cody took one quick glance back to see two of the men close to overcoming him. He looked forward again, cursing at his protesting foot. Every stride was a challenge to ignore how it had been shot months ago.
I’m really hating all these stupid forests, Cody thought, slowing down and out of breath. Warm from running, Cody tried changing directions. The agents were clearly in better shape, having gained much ground. It wasn’t much longer before one of them tackled him to the ground. Cody landed face first in a small patch of wet moss. He started spitting out the dirt as they pulled his arms behind him and zip-tied his arms together. As they forced his right hand to his back, Cody screamed in pain.
“You idiot, he’s still hurting from getting shot. Didn’t you read his file? No, don’t do that, tie his hands to the front. Do you want him complaining all the way back?.”
“Look, dickwad, this is the first time I’ve done this, give me a break.”
The agents argued while one of them turned Cody over onto his backside and refastened the cheap handcuffs. Cody was still whimpering in pain when one of the agents picked him up in his arms and began the trek back to the van.
They returned fifteen minutes later after almost losing their way in the dark. A smearing of dirt ran across Cody’s face that he wiped off on the man’s shirt in a miniature revenge. He heard an annoyed sigh above him and smiled. The darkness and the cold were making Cody feel miserable, and the more misery he could pass on, the better. They caught sight of the clearing where Captain and the other man were waiting. From a distance they could tell Captain was fine, but the other man was sitting down on the ground, apparently hurt. Another body, Reinhart’s lay further away, and didn’t move an inch. A slight wind blew through trees.
As soon as Captain’s head turned to welcome them back, Cody threw his hands upward into the chin of the man carrying him. Out of surprise, the agent dropped the kid and clutched at his jaw. While he was busy spitting out blood, Cody forced himself up and began his second sprint back into the trees.
Running like he was being chased by the devil, Cody tried pulling apart the zip tie around his hands. He yanked once or twice before the pain in his shoulder caused him to stop. The shouting behind him made Cody take a short glance behind. There weren’t any figures chasing after him. Cody slowed slightly in confusion, trying to make out why they were standing there and not-
shhhp
There was a small prick in Cody’s lower back. He slowed down further, still not understanding. Turning forward, what little of the dark forest he could see was turning blurry. Cody tried pushing himself ahead but all the energy he had was draining away. He began to stumble ahead before tripping and landing face first on an exposed tree root. It wasn’t long before he closed his eyes and lost consciousness.
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[Part 14][Part 16]
who put that tree root there, that is not a good place to put a tree root, where someone might fall on it
These posts just keep getting longer and longer, I swear. There probably was a good place to stop in the middle of this, but I just kept going and going. Oh woe is me.
School's gonna start up again. I can't guarantee that I'll have time for this again. Then again, do I ever?
And with that, I leave you with this.
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