The Money Trees — Part 3
Here is part 1, in case you need it. If not, let’s go!
— Jack
“The tracker we shot into your calf led us right to you. You’re coming with us.”
Jack looked down in horror at the back of his leg. A little pulsing blue light blinked on his right calf. And while he was distracted, Mr. Allen locked his wrists in handcuffs. Before he knew it, one of the hulk-men was dragging him off the couch toward his own front door.
He dug his heels into the carpet, resisting the mountain of muscle with all his might, but it was no use. Mr. Allen snapped and the mountain hoisted Jack up onto his shoulders.
“A-” He started to call out to Amy for help, but the other mountain elbowed him in the head. Everything went black.
— Amy
“No Dad, I can’t tell you why!” Amy stood back, evaluating her handiwork of shoving Jack’s backpack into her beanbag. You could hardly tell it had been tampered with as it was already too flat to begin with.
“Amy I’m your father, you can tell me anything.”
She chewed on her lip as she rumpled it a little and threw some clothes on her hiding spot. “Dad, you’d never believe it.” She heard from downstairs and Tyler started yelling. “I have to go now. Bye!”
“Wait, Amy! Don’t hang — ” She took one last look at the beanbag, throwing Jack’s empty backpack on top, before running down the stairs.
At the bottom of the stairs, she nearly tripped over someone who lay on the floor. But her eyes were up on Jack, unconscious, draped across the shoulders of a giant, carrying him right out the front door.
“Jack!” She ran toward him, but a tall, thin, and surprisingly strong man held her in place.
“Not so fast. Where are the pods, no one gets hurt.”
Amy’s heart was beating in her throat. Jack was already gone and someone, probably Tyler, was lying on the floor, who knows how badly hurt.
The man shook her with unexpected force. “Come on girl, where are they.”
With tears running down her face, just hoping the whoever they were, they’d just leave her alone, she yelled out. “In my room, in the beanbag. Please!”
The man dropped her and snapped.
One of the giants shuffled up the stairs. She heard ripping sounds as she crawled over to where Tyler lay, a big knob already forming on his forehead.
“Got it boss.”
She looked up at the big man, holding the pack up like a prize for all to see.
“Good,” said the tall man who had grabbed her. Amy immediately decided she hated him, the tall man with the hooked nose. She jumped a little as he looked right at her. “See, how hard was that.” Then he looked away and started to follow the giant out the door.
Amy tried to make her voice sound as steady as possible as she pushed herself to her feet. “You have what you want. Give Jack back.”
He paused in the doorway. “Oh don’t worry, we just have a few questions we want to ask him. He’ll come home, as long as he cooperates. It’s really up to him now, isn’t it?”
The hook-nosed man slipped out the door and was gone.
—
Jack’s cheek was pressed up against the cold metal floor. It was vibrating, causing his teeth to chatter. It was quite an annoying feeling, since it only made his headache worse. Almost worse than the headache was the fogginess, like the feeling you have with a really bad fever.
He slowly opened his eyes and tried to blink the spots away. Why was he lying on the floor again? It was so cold and hard. He should get up. Jack tried to push himself up, but his hands seemed to be stuck behind him. His legs likewise were stuck together. Why was that?
He painfully rolled himself over one shoulder onto his back. That hurt his hands so he pushed himself up to a sitting position to get a better look at the big metal box he was in, the metal box that was moving.
He caught sight of his ankles tied together and finally registered the feeling of his wrists tied behind his back.
The memories of last night washed over him in a flood of panic. He floundered about, trying desperately to free himself, but it was no use. The ropes wouldn’t budge.
The van took a sharp turn, rolling him into the wall with a thunk. His head throbbed with the impact and a small herd of horses ran just behind his eyes as the van bounced down a gravel road.
Where were they taking him?
—
Funny note, when I picture Mr. Allen, the only thing I’m seeing is like a cross between Hades from Hercules and Jack from Nightmare Before Christmas. And I feel like he has a stripy feeling. (I don’t know exactly what that means.) I think for Hades particularly, it’s probably the nose.
Ugh, this is hard to do in a week. Not obsessing over each sentence for at least an hour is not easy.
(Here’s Part 4)
