Game of Patience

Chapter 24

Chapter 24

She woke up on the floor of a room. She checked herself over quickly, nothing was bound anymore. She stood up and looked around. She was in a cabin, the walls and floor were wooden. It was beautiful but she didn't want to stick around to admire it. She ran towards the door and tried the handle, but she wasn't surprised when it didn't open.

She moved to the window.

"They don't open. I've tried."

Brooke jumped and turned to face the voice.

"Stay away!"

The guy held up his hands and stayed where he was.

"I'm not going to hurt you. I know my word doesn't mean much, but I promise. I'm like you. I was brought here against my will too. My name is Simon Black. I've been here for about a week."

Brooke looked around. He didn't look threatening, but looks can be deceiving. When he didn't make any sudden movements, she relaxed a bit. She still kept her eye on him incase he was going to suddenly jump on her.

"Where are we?"

"In their hideout."

"But where? What area?"

"Nowhere, look out the window."

She took a moment to think and then thought there was no harm in it. She turned and moved the curtain out of the way. The view was trees all around them. But beyond the trees she could see green fields. Beyond that, she could see nothing different.

"I don't know exactly where we are. Only that there is nothing much around us." Simon continued. "They've popped out for supplies but Mark is around here somewhere."

"Mark?"

"He doesn't go on the drives. You would have met Andrew who is Spencer's right hand man. Spencer is the leader from what I can tell. Mark is in the bedroom, laying down. He doesn't have to watch us a lot. There is nowhere to run."

"With both of us, we might be able to overpower him."

"I like your fight, but they will knock that out of you soon. Best to keep quiet and keep your head down. The more you fight, the worse it will get. Plus I don't think anyone could overpower Mark."

"Why?"

"You'll see."

There was noise from behind a closed down. Brooke could hear someone moving around. She waited a moment before moving towards an armchair and sitting down. She was sure she would meet him soon enough. Then she could work out what to do.

The door handle rattled and the door opened. The guy had to duck to walk through the door frame. He closed the door behind him and looked around the room, probably doing a mental check of all the contents. He spotted her and started moving.

He walked round and stood in front of Brooke. She had to look up at him. He was tall, over six feet from her guess. His muscles made the arms of his shirt tight, it looked uncomfortable and too restrictive. He had one tattoo sleeve on his left arm, a mixture of black and white with some red added to the mix. She couldn't tell what the tattoos were of though. At closer inspection she noticed that the tattoos were covering long scars.

His eyebrows were thick and looked in a constant state of annoyance. His beard was bushy and dark. He probably kept it long to make up for the lack of hair on his head.

"I'm Mark." His voice was deep and he sounded annoyed, almost bored. "I do not appreciate anyone making my life any more difficult than it already is. If you make it out the front door I will drag you back in kicking and screaming. You will not survive out there, don't try it. I am constantly armed and I'm not afraid to use force. If you keep quiet and try not to escape, I will ignore that you are here."

He walked away back into the bedroom. She could hear him moving around.

"He sounds pleasant."

"He isn't joking about being armed. He carries a dagger at all times. He even sleeps with it."

"Thanks for the warning." She looked around the cabin. There was a kitchen and three other doors. A bookcase sat in the corner of the room and the TV sat opposite her. "So what do you do here to keep sane?"

"Well if the others aren't watching TV we can watch anything, but that never lasts long. I read or sketch mainly." He pulled out a sketchbook from his back pocket and handed it to Brooke.

She opened it and was greeted with beautiful pencil sketches of animals and the cabin.

"I'm allowed outside if someone sits with me, but they get bored quickly. So most of them are done looking through a window or by memory."

She turned the page and saw sketches of Mark from different angles.

"He moves quickly, but I always loved drawing people. He is here the most as the others are often running errands."

She handed the sketchpad back and thanked him. She stood up and walked over to the bookcase and inspected the books. They were mainly non-fiction books based on wildlife and trees. There were a few fiction books, but nothing that interested her.

"Any fantasy books, or anything for anyone under the age of forty?"

"No, but maybe if you asked nicely in a week or so they might find you something."

"I don't plan to stick around that long." She said as she sat back down on the chair. "I don't even know why I'm here."

"I'm here because they need someone good with computers. I'm a computer engineer. No idea why, but that's all I was told."

"And you've just sat here waiting?"

"I've tried to get out, but I'm good with computers, not survival. If I get out, I have no idea where the next town is. I have no idea where we are. I don't even know how long I was in the car. I was drugged."

"Same. She rubbed at her wrists. They ached slightly, she must have been asleep for a while in the van. "I was leaving the house and they grabbed me." Her mind flicked to Phillips. He would think she was just being stubborn. She regretted their last conversation now. What if she never saw him again? How long would he wait to ring her?

She patted down her pockets. Of course they had searched her, they wouldn't leave a phone in her pocket. She looked out of the window, she doubted she could get a signal out here anyways.

"I don't even know how long it will take for them to realise I'm missing." She looked at her hands. "I'm not even sure they will care. I was really mean this morning. I wouldn't blame them if they didn't come looking."

"Don't be silly. I'm sure your parents will come looking for you."

"I don't have any, not any more. They died a few months back. It's just me and this guy I was dumped with. He was apparently close to my parents, or at least close enough that he was to become my legal guardian. I never even met him before."

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay. He's nice, just - I don't know. He doesn't seem to have much experience with kids."

"Maybe you were meant to change that. I don't think your parents would send you to live with someone who wasn't going to look after you. Did you wonder how he felt? You say it's just you and him. He has to change his daily routine and his life to fit you in. If your parents picked him, it was probably to benefit you both."

"I wish I could call him, to tell him I'm sorry."

"I'm sure he is out there looking for you."