Following Arcas

4

AN: ... I'm so hungry...

Long chapter ahead, sorry not sorry. Let me know how you like it!

Have you ever just not known...anything? Not had a single thought in your head, or no idea what to even begin thinking about? What would you do in a situation like this? I know that when I wonder what I would do in such circumstances, I plan it out; where I would go, what weapons I would use to my advantage, who I would try to save.

But if I have anything floating around my empty brain, it's that I have definitely not prepared myself for a real-life dangerous situation.

I feel like I'm going in slow motion, just like in my dream. Was it a false alarm? Does someone actually have a gun? Should I hide or run?

Like a movie, everything slowly rushes back to the present. My head quickly fills with thoughts, so many thoughts that I don't even know if they're all coming from me. The sound of screams, from men and women alike, flood my ears. The sight of a frantic mass of people blurs into my vision, everyone pushing and shoving against each other to get out first.

I didn't even know that so many people were in the bar.

I go to run, because that's what I decided to do, run. However, before I can, a hand snatches my arm and I'm dragged off in the opposite direction. I squeal and put all of my focus on not tripping over my feet as the stranger pulls me quickly towards the back of the bar where I know a back exit exists. Luckily, it doesn't seem like many others thought about that.

Others.

People.

Other people.

Kade.

Kade!

"Kade? Kade! Where are you? Kade!" I scream out as we pass through the insane crowd, twisting and struggling against the strong arm to look for the familiar tuft of dirty blond hair.

"Let me go! I have to make sure that he's okay! Kade!" I cry out and start to actually panic for the first time in this split second.

My attempts to break free are proved fruitless as the man yanks me back around, growling down at me as he rushes us through the abandoned kitchen.

"We don't have time for you to look for your boyfriend. You'll stop squirming and follow me if you want to get out of here safe." His tone is resolute, leaving no room to retort. I don't even have the capacity to correct the boyfriend comment before we burst out into the brisk night.

Next thing I know, I'm thrown into a pickup and squished against the window as said pickup's driver peels out of the bar's parking lot.

For the first time since the warning, I take a deep breath. I allow myself to lean back into the seat, having enough sense to buckle up. Goodness knows I've had enough of a scare for tonight.

A sigh that's not my own prompts me to look over, taking the opportunity to take in the sight of the man who grabbed me. Me. Of all the people he could have helped.

Don't make a big deal out of it, Mara. You were probably the closest one to him.

I clear my raging head enough to observe the features visible from the gentle glow of the street lights, casting a warm orange onto his rugged face. I take in long, dark brown hair that frames a square, scruffy jaw. It's set, clenched hard with rough lips that are twisted into a frown as his hands grip the steering wheel so hard that his knuckles have turned white. My eyes follow the prominent veins that travel from his hands all the way up the toned arms. Toned arms that thanks to his black t-shirt, I can tell are heavily covered in tattoos. They connect to the strong shoulders that I admired-observed-before everything went down. And connecting those shoulders to such an alluring face, is a neck just begging to be kissed, so taught and so tense that you could poke with a needle and it would pop.