Hayes POV
I woke up in the passenger side of the car, and began rubbing my eyes. Mason glanced over at me as I made small movements.
"You're awake." He started.
"How long was I out for?" I asked.
"A couple of hours." He replied, keeping his eyes on the road. "It's nearly dark, do you want to keep travelling?"
"I think it's best if we don't, the headlights will bring attention to us and so will the engine."
"Smart thinking, let's find a place to stay until then."
I agreed and Mason kept driving for a while until the sun started to set. As it began getting darker we hadn't found a place to stay for the night, so we decided to just stay in the car. We put the seats back and used a blanket from the back of the car to cover the both of us. Mason turned to me.
"So, you mentioned your family." He started. "What were they like?"
"They're good people Mason. My dad, taught me how to shoot back when I was younger, he would take my brother and I camping at the cabin where we would go every summer. My father and brother have been looking after me ever since I was young, always protecting me."
"Sounds like a good man to me, and your brother too. He older than you?"
"We're twins, he looks older though." I chuckled. "He thinks he looks better with stubble and a little facial hair."
"What about your mother?" He asked me, causing my heart to ache. "Sorry, if that was too forward..."
"No, no it's okay...we lost her..." I looked down at my hands. "Lost her when I was only 7, I miss her like hell though."
"Damn, that's hard...I'm sorry."
"No it's okay, she's in a better place. I'm just happy she doesn't have to live through all of this."
"Yeah, I guess that's a good way to see it." He nodded. "Both of my parents passed away when I was a child. It happened in a car crash."
"Jesus Christ..." was all I could let out. "That's crazy."
"Yeah, I was 17 at the time, so it was only a few years ago."
"I would hate to have my parents go like that..."
Mason fell asleep while I kept watch from the car. There was no movement at all from what I could see, as we were parked at the side of the road. I scanned around looking into the dense forest to the left of us. I saw a faint movement in the trees, looking like a shadow of some sort. I rubbed my eyes thinking that I was seeing things and looked back into the same area, seeing nothing. I shook my head and thought I was just being paranoid, but heard a branch break to the right of me. My head instantly turned to look out of the window beside Mason and saw nothing once again. Maybe it's one of the dead ones.
The second I turned back to my side the car door came flying open and I was dragged out of the car. I struggled with the force pulling me out of the car and began kicking out.
"Mason!" I shouted out. "MAS-"
My mouth was covered by a rough hand and my head was pulled back by my hair. I bit down on the hand that was holding over my mouth and it was instantly withdrawn.
"Fuck." He spat out. "You bitch."
I scrambled to my feet and pulled my handgun out from the back of my trousers, pointing it at the man in front of me.
"Don't move." I gritted my teeth, wiping my mouth.
"You might want to put that down sweetheart." I heard a masculine voice behind me and saw Mason being held by two other men, and one coming out from behind them.
"You wouldn't want your friend to get hurt here." He shook his head and came closer to me.
"Hayes, shoot him." Mason struggled in their arms.
"Try." The man egged on, pointing his gun against Mason's head. "I promise you I'm faster."
"What do you want?"
"Lower the gun first, then we'll talk."
"Hayes, don't!" Mason instructed. "He's going to kill us both!"
"Hayes is it?" He edged closer to me. "You don't want to try it sweetheart, you seem like a smart girl, you shouldn't try it."
I looked at Mason and gave him an apologetic look before I slowly lowered the gun to the floor.
"I'm sorry Mason, I can't risk it.."
"Smart girl." The man spoke up. "Now. You two have something that we want, so let's negotiate."
"Negotiate?" Mason's time changed. "You dragged her out of the car and have guns to the both of us."
"You give us the car and you get to live for another day."
"That's fucked up man..." Mason started. "Fu-"
One of the men holding onto him punched him in his stomach, causing him to stop talking.
"What the fuck!" I let out angrily.
"He talks too much." The man justified. "Take the deal or you will die."
"Hayes, we can't..." Mason coughed. "We need to get to your family."
I stayed silent. I had nothing to say in response to that.
"Fuck it..." The man opened up the back of the car and took our bags out, tossing them in front of me.
"Take your stuff and go." He stated coldly. "The car is ours now."
Mason was tossed to the ground and the men rushed over to the car. They all got into the car and started the engine back up, driving away from the car. I chased after it for a couple of seconds and pointed my gun at the car.
"Hayes don't." Mason coughed out. "Just let them go..."
I complied and put my gun away before heading back over to him, kneeling down beside him in the middle of the road.
"You okay?" I asked him, examining him. "Did they hurt you badly?"
"No, no...I'm fine." He nodded. "Just a little winded."
"Good." I helped him to his feet. "We should get moving."
"Yeah, we can't stay here." He agreed. "We're too exposes out here, maybe there's a gas station or something around."
"Hopefully."
We got the bags together and started moving down the road by the tree line so that we weren't easily noticed. I was already beginning to tire after being on my feet for so long. My wound was starting to hurt as I kept walking.
"My abdomen hurts."
"I'm sorry Hayes." Mason said feeling guilty. "I should've stopped them."
"There was nothing you could've done there, they had guns to us both." I shook my head. "We should just keep heading towards the cabin, we can make it there in another day or so."
"Could be less than that if we find another vehicle."
"We could Hotwire it if you know how to." I suggested.
"Hopefully we do find one." He stated. "Because I don't want you to stay on your feet."
"I'll be fine Mason, trust me."
We kept walking throughout the night and didn't find a place to stay, so we had to keep moving. It wasn't easy staying on our feet for that long, it was taking a toll on both of us. But we were determined to make it to my families cabin where it would be safe.
Hopefully everyone is okay, I really could use with seeing them all right now.
