Icarus | Z.M.

1 | Taken

Victoria Tomlinson.

"Shhh... "

"It's okay, princess. We won't hurt you"

"If you cooperate that is"

"Just stay quiet and we won't need to hurt you"

My hands were tied behind my back and everything was pitch black. The only sounds I could hear were the muffled whispers coming from what seemed like every direction, and the sounds of my own suffocated breaths. There was a bag over my head.

I could feel the vibrations beneath me and the gentle hum of an engine that told me I was in a car right now. The middle seat in the back. I could feel two bodies next to me on either side, I could feel their thighs against my own, their body heat radiating off them.

I had no idea where I was or where I was going. I couldn't remember getting into the car, I didn't recognise the voices. My head was pounding on the left side as if I'd been hit hard. My eyes opened and even though I couldn't see anything, I tried hard to squint and try to make out any sort of light through the fabric of the bag that was over my head.

I just had to stay calm and focus on surviving, focus on getting out of this.

What to do in a hostage situation? A step by step that I had to recite at least once a week.

The first thing I was supposed to do was run away screaming to try and get help.

Which obviously I didn't do, otherwise I wouldn't still be in a hostage situation.

Second step two was fight... if the flight part of fight or flight didn't work.

Step two was also something I clearly failed at. I didn't fight very well. My hands were bound and I couldn't see. There were at least three men in the car with me and I had no chance of even being able to move without one of them getting the better of me.

Step three was stay calm.

I was good at that.

Step three complete.

If my hands weren't tied behind my back I'd give myself a high five.

And according to the WikiHow article I'd read, step four was to try and form a connection with the kidnapper. You have to tell them about yourself, and try to make them feel an ounce of sympathy. I had to get them to see me as a person, a human being instead of a victim that they could easily hurt.

I turned my head to face the right, knowing there was someone beside me on that side, even though I could hardly see them. I could however see the silhouette of their head through the brightness of the window behind them.

I smiled even though they couldn't see me.

"Hi"

"No" was his response.

Oh.

My face fell, "Not much of a chatter then, huh?"

Not even a second later. I felt a pair of hands grabbing the sides of my head, while another pair of hands were grabbing the bottom of the bag that was over my head.

For a split second, I thought maybe my incredible conversational skills had managed to convince them to let me go.

That bubble was quickly burst when I heard a sound that I only recognised to be duct tape being pulled and ripped off. Shortly after, that strip of duct tape was placed over my mouth, shutting me up.

Step four: failed.

I slumped back on the seat I was on, and already gave up. Mainly because I couldn't remember the rest of the WikiHow article.