Playing With Fire

Chapter 10: My Run in With an Old Friend

So, apparently, it is about six hours to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, so we had to stop for gas. Just as we were about to pull out of the gas station, we got a hologram.

Yeah, a hologram.

It must have been programmed into the car as a way of communication because soon we were talking to infamous Bill.

Like Mark, he was another old man, but he didn't look like a friendly Italian grandpa or Grumpy Cat; he looked like he used to be a drill sergeant. He wore a tight frown with some black, aviator sunglasses. Even though he looked like he was in his 70s, at least, he had hardly put on weight. He had a small but built build and wore a black button-down with slacks. He looked very intimidating, and I was glad I was meeting him through a hologram and not in real life.

"Why hello there, Briana and Pax," Bill greeted us. "Well, actually, just Briana. You have made quite a name for yourself missy. Sorry Pax, but if you had broken out of one of our top prisons, you would understand."

"Uh, okay?" Pax said, not sure of what the right response was. "To be honest, I don't care if you know me or not."

"What?!" Bill cried. "Why would you not want to be known by the famous Bill Walker?"

"Because you are infamous to us," I said.

"Whatever," and he mumbled to himself more quietly, "kids these days. They keep on getting smarter mouths.

"Anyways," he continued. "I have come to inform you that I want you up here in Boston, Massachusetts in no less than twelve hours from now, or he gets it." the hologram shifted, letting us get a look at the skinny boy sitting unconscious in the corner. He had a bruised eye and a cut lip, and by the way, he was sitting he looked like he was unconscious. The lighting was dark, and he looked so beaten up that it took me a second to realize I recognized him.

"Cameron!" I cried as soon as I recognized him. As I said that, the camera angle shifted and we saw Bill again. "What did you do to him?" I asked, venom oozing in my voice.

"Oh nothing much," Bill said, waving his hand to show that it was even worth his thought.

"The boy wouldn't tell me his name, but you gave it to me easily, so that's not a problem anymore."

"I can't believe you." I was trembling with so much anger. Now I wish I was in front of Bill so I could get a  chance to smack his face.

"Yeah, so get here in twelve hours or he dies," Bill said with a happy smile on his face. That jerkface.

"But it's fourteen hours away," Pax complained. "We can't possibly get there on time."

"You have a police car," Bill explained. "See it to your advantage. Well, got to go now, it's my nap time. I will hopefully see-"

"WAIT!" someone yelled in the background. "You said I could talk to them!"

"Alright fine, go ahead," Bill said, clearly annoyed. "When you're done, make sure to sign off," and with that head left the screen, allowing a young woman to take his place.

The new person in front of me looked without a doubt our age. She had thick, wavy, black hair that she wore half up, half down. Her eyes were so dark that the iris's almost blended in with the pupils. She had pale skin with freckles dotting her checks, and a nose piercing in one of her nostrils. She was your definition of what a goth person would look like, but I would never forget that face anywhere.

"Miranda?" I almost whispered to myself.

"That's right, honey," she practically sang, as spunky as ever. "The one and only."

"But you got kidnapped. How are you with Bill?"

"Oh, really Bri. Did you ever think that maybe Bill was the one that kidnapped me? Well he wasn't, Jeff technically was, but Bill was the one in charge of the kidnapping so it counts."

"I don't understand," I said in confusion. Why was she so happy there? "Don't you want to come home?"

"Really? Do I want to come home?" she said with a laugh, but it was an 'are you actually that stupid' kind of laugh. "You must have been blind, Bri. I don't know if you could tell, but my family wasn't as wealthy as yours. We barely had enough to scrape by, and often times I would only get dinner for that day. That's why I always came over to yours because that way I knew I would eat. So no, I don't want to come home because one, I get three meals a day. Two, the technology here is incredible, and three, I don't have to pretend to be happy, because I am for once." She wore a face I didn't know; she was mad but at me. How is this my fault? "Anyways, you have now eleven hours and fifty-five minutes to get here. Oh, and gummy bears have and always will be terrible," and the hologram disappeared.

"How dare she!" I screamed. Gummy bears are literally the best things on this earth.

"So," Pax said as he drove the car, now heading for Boston. "Some reunion, huh?"

"Yeah, that's for sure," I grumbled, fuming over the fact that she said gummy bears were awful.

"Okay, so we need a plan," Pax said. "I was thinking that since we were already in town, we would stop at a grocery store for some food. We will be taking a bunch of interstates, so we'll keep our lights on so cars will move out of the way for us. When we are on the interstates, we won't go below 100 miles per hour. That way we should make it to Boston with enough time to come up with a plan on how we will get Cameron out of there alive. Sound good?"

"Yeah, except how are we going to get the money?" I asked. "We both left our backpacks at your house."

"Oh Bri," he said with a smirk. "You say that like you don't no me. When you can persuade someone, why bother paying for things?"