One Last Chance

Chapter 22

A low, constant hum could be heard somewhere not far off.

Daniel cracked open an eye slowly. His head felt as if it had been split apart and his mouth was as dry as sandpaper.

He saw nothing but black and fought down a rise of panic. A shot of adrenaline raced through his blood, chasing away the grogginess he had left. Unfortunately it didn't chase away his throbbing headache.

He was somewhat awake now, and he felt some sort of blindfold around his face. His hands and feet were bound together, to a chair.

How cliche, Daniel thought. How many adventure stories have written about this? You'd think that in the twenty-first century, kidnappers would use something more high tech! Like some sort of futuristic version of handcuffs.

But now you're in this situation. And it's exactly like all those stories. Which you've read over the years. So what's stopping you from trying to escape now? A little voice sounded from the deep recesses of his mind.

Daniel wiggled his hands. The rope bit viciously into his wrists and he swore. My kidnappers really do know how to tie a knot. Not those little ones they teach at Boy Scout camps, more like those of a seasoned sailor. He kicked his legs, hoping to find some slack in the rope. None.

Damn. I need to get this blindfold off so I can see what I'm doing. Maybe find something I could use. But how?

Daniel dug into his fuzzy mind, probing for all those stories he'd read about kidnaps. He searched through them methodically, as if his brain was a bookshelf in a library. It wasn't easy to concentrate with his body doing a hundred different things at once, like listening out for anyone approaching or working at the ropes. He was still light headed from whatever drug they'd given him and he felt weak and severely dehydrated.

Aha! Got it!

Daniel's thoughts snapped back into the story he'd remembered. In it, the main character Seth had been kidnapped and he'd been more or less in the same situation Daniel was in now.

Seth had gotten the blindfold off by tipping his chair over and scraping his face on the floor till it came loose. Regaining his sight back, he made use of his surroundings to break free of his bonds.

Daniel rocked side to side, throwing himself violently against his ropes. The chair tipped over violently and he smashed his head on the floor, involuntarily letting out a shout of pain.

Daniel lay on the floor. He waited until his head stopped protesting and he could hear no one coming back. The floor was made of some rough, bumpy material, maybe concrete or crude wooden planks. Or some metal.

I could be in some abandoned building, like the one me and Edward had sheltered in before. Or in the middle of a forest in a cabin or something. Or... Well, what has a metal floor?

Daniel worked as fast as he could, trying to work the blindfold off. He hoped the blindfold would snag on something and come off, and as luck would have it, it did.

Daniel winced as a stream of sunlight pierced his eyes. He could make out some shapes around him and he put this information together, judging his surroundings.

Q: Name a building where there are crude wooden planks for the floor, has a towering roof/ceiling meters high, bright (and cheap) lights dangling from rafters above and there are huge cargo containers stacked atop one another. Also, there is the constant hum of heavy machinery at work.

A: Warehouse.