Survival

Chapter 33

We screamed through the dense forest, as the man dragged us. Pulling our hair, pain surging deep into my scalp. I closed my eyes as the trees, barks and straps pierced parts of my body. This continued for a while, before he stopped. "Jamie!" I heard him call, then the sound of a door kicked open. I curled up into a ball on the floor, sobbing quietly. Our plan had gone completely wrong. I didn't know what they would do to us now. If they didn't want to kill us before, they definitely had a reason now. I prayed in my mind silently. Someone pushed me up, and forced me on a chair. I opened my eyes slowly and took in my surroundings. I was in a large room, it looked like a kitchen. There was utensils, a long table, chairs, a fridge, and a plate of unfinished food lay on the counter. Hanna pushed her chair closer to me, holding my hand. Not long after, Jamie came in. His father stood by the door and spoke in hushed tones, then he left. Jamie looked at us with disgust. "Is all ya faul. Now ma dad is angry at ya. Yo bitc. Yo deserv this. Huh." He crossed his arms on his chest, and smirked.

I whispered to Hanna, "I can't believe this. Our plan failed. I'm so sorry." "No. this isn't your fault. Not today. Don't blame yourself. If we're going to die, we will but with dignity." I smiled a bit. Hanna - my strong friend, I thought. My eyes darted left and right. I made a mental note on my surroundings. Trying to find something I could use as a weapon. There was the plate with food in it. It was ceramic. Well, it could hit someone hard and knock them out. I could see a bunch of utensils, with knives included from the corner of my eye. They were not that far from me. If I run fast enough, I could reach them before Jamie. A large wood was slanting beside the front door, where Jamie stood. That was completely out of question. I was still thinking of how to run, when the man came back. With Ibraheem. We all rushed to them. Ibraheem was pushed towards us. "Ibraheem. I missed you. Where have you been?" "Oh my God. Are you okay?" We bombarded him with questions all at once. Ibraheem was very weak. His eyeballs had diluted, his cheekbones very prominent. His lips were craked, bruises on the neck. I pulled out a chair from under the table and sat him down. We all crowded together, talking in whispers. The man had gone out again leaving us with Jamie. "Ibraheem, are you okay? What happened?" "I-" He cleared his throat, "That day, after I was hit, I awoke in a dark place. It was like a cell, a prison. They brought food twice a day. I coudltn eat, of course." His eyes became watery. "I wasn't alone there. Mike was with me." Huh? Oh my God. Mike. Mike! They had kidnapped him some weeks ago. I couldn't believe this. Where was he now? "Where is he? Where is Mike?" Hanna asked. Ibraheem simply shook his head, as we all burst into tears. Amidt tears, we told him what they did to Joe. Our dear funny Joe. He was our friend. But those monsters were heartless.

I was startled when the man came back laughing. We didn't hear him come back. He looked delighted seeing us like that. I understood that he was one of those people who became excited causing others misery. Seeing others sad and in pain made them happy.

"you'll should celebrate. You are going to revive the mistress of the times."

I watched as Ibraheem's nostrils flared, his rhythicmic breathing going up. Before I knew it, he burst out shouting "Who do you think you are? Deciding peoples' fates. You monsters!" ibraheem charged at the man, who pushed his back with one hand. He fell face first on the seat. "ha! Who do ya thin ya are? Rubbish!"

Hanna managed to speak, "mistress of the times? What is that?"

The man smiled, his rotten teeth showing. "A good fella. Inteligen one, I tell ya." He leaned beside the kitchen counter, and looked straight ahead. "Hmm. I guess ya all need to kno, why ya'll ar ge'in killed. Jamie, you ought to tell them."

Jamie smiled happy that his father had entrusted him with a task like that. He cleared his throat and began, "our ancestors were warriors. Fighters. They had a centralized system. Working hard. Every moon, they had a sacrifice. The leaders would assign eight people- four boys and four girls. There was also be a queen who would lead the ritual. They would all be between fifteen and nineteen years of age. The queen will drink from the cup of life, then take a knife and kill the other initiates. Before kiling herself. That was our tradition. Our way of life. Our pride. Until one of the girls ran away. On the day of the ritual. Our god was enraged. Houses were burned. Families were destroyed. Children, women, men were killed. In the midst of all this, a great fire erupted. Our people were gone. Vanished. Wiped out of history. Only few survived." He shook his head in pity. The man's face looked grave, his eyebrows down. This was all too strange to me. Why was he telling us this? What does this have to do with us?

The man took over, "Today is tha moonless nigh. We will perfor the firs par of ths sacrific." He let out a malicious laughter.

I shook my head, "what do you mean? We don't have anything to do with all this. Just let us go. Please!"

The man gave me a disgusted look. "You have everythin ta do wi thi. Sinc ya'll arrived here, tha temple shook. One of ya is tha missin link."

A shotgun in hand, the man and Jamie pushed us into a small room inside the house. I mentally took note of the directions - we went straight, then turned left. A quarter angle was a black door. The room.

"Get everythin readay, son." He told Jamie before the door was locked.

We were quiet while I thought deeply about what the man told us. There were sacrifices made long ago, for devilish purposes. But what I didn't get was why we were involved. Were they planning to use us as their sacrificial lambs? Those bastards.

I was wondering whether they would kill us when something striked me. I remembered the book we found in the basement. It has wierd symbols and a completely obnoxious language. It definitely has something to do with this. Besides, there was that piece of speech by a researcher. I remember something that has to do with when someone arrives, chaos would arise. What if that someone was related to the girl that ran away? He said as soon as we arrived, wierd things happened. If that was true, then it meant that one of us was the descendant.