Daniel brought himself up into a sitting position and studied the woman. She had fair skin and bright blue eyes. Her nose was a little blunt and she had high cheekbones. Her hair was tied into a ponytail that reached her shoulders. He then saw her clothes and lost all hope. She was wearing a black shirt, khaki pants and had black boots on. She had a piece of black cloth tied around her forehead, which seemed to complete the thwarter uniform, but it wasn’t a ninja band. It seemed to have been ripped off of something. Upon closer inspection, he found that the hem of her shirt was torn, revealing a little skin underneath. She was now pointing her pistol, with a silencer attached, at him. She was murmuring something to herself.
“I would thank you, but you’re pointing that gun at me,” Daniel said softly, hoping there wasn’t another leech around.
She walked up closer to him, the gun still trained on his chest. “Get up and put your hands behind your head.”
Daniel was in a fix. Was she going to take him to Reid? What else could she possibly want from him? Daniel tried to stand, making his left leg and both arms bear the load of his body. He straightened up, still shivering since the water hadn’t dried off yet.
“Hands — behind — your — head,” she repeated slowly.
Daniel obeyed. He stood still as she walked behind him and poked her gun into his back. “Take me to the rest of them.”
Daniel was slightly baffled. “The rest of who?”
She struck the butt of her pistol on his back. “Don’t play dumb with me, bastard. I know a whole group of you idiots are hiding around in this forest, somewhere!” she said, a little too loud for Daniel’s comfort.
“Lady look here, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Daniel said, trying to convince her. The strike to his back was smarting lightly, even over his cold numbing skin. “Really, I don’t. I was washed down the river with him.” He pointed to the thug he had kicked off the bridge, who now lay pale over the sanguine pebbles.
“That’s a load of shit, and you know that I know it.” She didn’t seem to believe him. “Get going now.”
“Lady, c’mon! You think two guys just took a jolly swim in the river in the middle of a forest? I don’t even know where I am!”
She wasn’t going to have any of it. “What that dumbass was doing over here, I have no idea. I just heard him screaming and I followed the voice. You’re lucky only one leech came over. This forest is infested with them. Their parasites have matured for long and they are really dangerous.”
Daniel turned around to face her. “Ok… so why in hell will people be camping in woods like these!”
“It’s perfect!” she screamed. She realised what she had done and fell silent. They stood in silence for a while, listening for anything that could do them harm. They only caught the trickling of the river and the crunching of the pebbles under their feet.
She continued in a low voice. “It’s the perfect place to hide. Reid would never expect anyone to be hiding in a danger-zone like this. Oh man, I can’t wait to see the look on his face when I show you to him.”
Daniel could imagine the look on Reid’s face, yes, but he thought the reason would be different from what she was thinking of.
“You’re proof that people are here, and you’re going to lead me to the rest of them,” she said.
Daniel remembered something Reid had told him. Where they are is where your other friends wouldn’t be, right? He was obviously right. No sane person would stick around a place like this. This lady was just… cuckoo.
“Are you going to take me to them or not?” she asked as she struck him again, this time on the shoulder.
“OK, OK! Fine, I give up, I’ll take you to them,” he said. He had no idea where he was going to be taking her. He hoped he could come up with a plan on the way.
Shivering, he started to move, hands still behind his head. As he crossed the corpse of the mutilated thwarter, she pressed the gun to his back. “Don’t even think about going for the knife.” She scooped it up and followed Daniel into the forest.
As he headed in a random direction through the woods, he ran the whole day through his mind. It had been a nightmare. Not only had he come across the thwarters, and to top that off, Reid, he had even lost Sara. God knew what was happening to her in their camp. If he hadn’t left the colony, none of this would’ve happened. Was Sara going to be OK? She gets scared really easily, but she could be extremely persuasive. She had convinced him to bring her along as well. Maybe, just maybe, she found a way out, or a way to survive. Could he save her? Him against an army of thwarters? But how would he even get there?
“You better hurry up man, the sun’s setting,” the woman said from behind.
Daniel looked up through the gaps in the leaves and saw the grey sky dulling. They were about to be stranded out in the woods full of leeches with mature parasites… Even if he wanted to save Sara, he’d have to be able to save himself first. His clothes had dried considerably, but there was no improvement in his toe. He was still limping, and slowed down every time dirt fell upon the injury, burning his toe. He stopped when his nose started tingling. There was a sneeze coming. And it came so fast he didn’t even have a chance to cover his mouth. A combination of air and spit rushed out of his mouth as the sneeze echoed through the forest. Both of them stood still.
“Are you a fool?” she scolded in a whisper. “Are you trying to get us killed? There could be a leech right nearby!”
And sure enough, they heard a grunt from somewhere in the forest. And then another… then another.
The woman immediately went up to a tree and climbed it to one of the higher branches, safe from any leeches on the ground. Daniel limped to another tree, his back hugging the bark. He steadied his breathing, but couldn’t seem to do anything about his galloping heart. He waited for the first sign of the leeches. There was nothing in front of him, and the woman was sitting with her legs dangling off the branch high above him, her gun still trained on him. He heard a grunt behind him — really close behind.
On his right, a slimy black worm-like thing emerged from behind the tree. Daniel cupped his hand over his nose and mouth. Eyes wide, he watched as it gently waved in the air, right next to his cheek. Very slowly, he began to fold his knees and crouch onto the ground. At that instant, the parasite curled around the tree, barely nicking his hair. He continued his descent and got his hands on the ground. He felt his hand wrap around something hard. It was a portion of a fallen tree branch. It was thick and about a half a metre long. He picked it up in his hand, thinking of how he could use it.
To his left, the leech appeared, its long parasite still wrapped behind the bark. It grunted and set its foot right next to Daniel. Its next step would hit him. He had to act quick, and with precision, otherwise he was going to die. From below the leech, he rose up, trying his best to ignore his toe. He rammed the branch into its chin and its head snapped back. As it reeled away screeching, he threw the branch far away, where it hit another tree with a loud crack. He quickly sat back down and held his breath in anticipation. The angered leech ran, almost human-like, for the crack it had heard after recovering from the blow. It screeched and wailed in frustration. Even though he had managed to distance it from him, he knew it wasn’t over. The other leeches in the area, around five, ran for the screeching. One almost tripped over Daniel’s leg, but he pulled it back just in time. They ran over to the spot and stumbled over one another.
That was his break. He got back up on his feet and slowly limped away from the leeches, backwards so he could see if they were coming after him. He saw the woman climb down the tree and backpedal like him. Staring at her back, he saw a chance that would disappear after that very moment. He crouched and searched the ground for anything hard that he could throw. His fingers ran across a small stone. He picked it up and prayed for his aim to stay true. He threw the stone and it hit the woman on the back of her head. Stunned momentarily, she cried out and fell on her knees. The leeches stopped their commotion and turned to her for a second before running at her in full tilt.
“What have you done!” she screamed at Daniel before picking her pistol and shooting at the incoming danger.
She was a surprisingly good shot. Barely missing two or three shots, she managed to get every leech in the neck. Daniel didn’t wait till she was done though. He limped to her as fast as he could. The moment she took her last shot, he punched her square in the jaw. Her blood splattered to the ground and she followed, twisting and landing face-down. Daniel immediately dropped down to snatch her gun from her hand, and then pointed it at her.
“Get up and put your hands behind your head,” Daniel whispered. It felt good saying that, tit-for-tat. He listened for another grunt, but none came. She did as she was told.
“What’s your name?” he asked her.
“Jenna.”
“How did you get here?”
“I’ve got a car a bit ways off.” She clearly sounded disgusted, falling into this predicament.
Now Daniel had a way off this place. But where would he go? He thought about Sara. He thought about how he couldn’t protect her. He thought about how she had run out of the bedroom thinking he was dead. He took a deep breath and cleared his head.
“Take me to the car,” Daniel ordered.
Click here for Locked Down | Chapter 7
