Chained

Fifteen

The man is gone before I can even blink. But at this point, I've had it. I don't want to be here.

I can't be here.

The fetid stench of rotting fish nearly overwhelms me as I lunge over Freddie. I reach for the car door and it opens—thank God it opens—and I scramble out of the car. My body hits the hard ground, the pain grounding me to reality. A swirl of shouts surround me, but it doesn't mean anything.

I just need to run.

The steadiness of the ground is slowly dissolving into nothingness, but that's just in my head. I have to keep going and get away from these people. If one of them wants to murder me, it hardly matters. I am completely losing myself since coming into contact with these people and no one knows my location.

I just need to keep going forward.

A terrible sound fills my ears, an unearthly groaning that seems to rip into my soul. Everything whirls as the sound hammers into my head. It's too much.

I close my eyes and when I open them, Robert is restraining me. He was farther away when I shut my eyes. I can't even trust time.

Rachel steps in front of me. I can see her better now. Strawberry blonde hair and hazel eyes. Her features familiar to Freddie, but older and more steady. The earth to Freddie's wild ocean.

"Jason Hill." Rachel snaps her fingers in front of my face. "You need to calm down and let us help you."

"All you people have done is hurt me!" I retort.

"We should have just put him in the trunk," Robert mumbles.

"We are trying to help," Rachel says, her face twisting in impatience. "This shouldn't have happened, but Jason? You can and will hurt people if we let you go. There is simply no other choice."

"It's her fault!" I hiss, bobbing my head wildly in Freddie's direction.

Rachel nods. "That's right. It's her fault and it's not fair. But life isn't fair, Mr. Hill. Everyone in this place knows it. Freddie brought you into our world and we can't let you go back. Not like this anyway."

I stop struggling and attempt to calm down. It's almost too difficult with Robert's iron arms securing me, one wrapping around my neck. He can break it at any second.

"What happens now?" I ask.

"You need to stop fighting us, for one thing." Rachel runs her head through her hair. "And we need to get you somewhere secure."

My heart sinks. None of this sounds very good for me.

"I want to call Emily!" I say quickly.

"No," Robert says before Rachel can say anything.

Rachel shoots him a dirty look. "Mr. Hill, you aren't in your right mind right now. You might say the wrong thing."

I shake my head wildly. "No. No, I won't. Just...just let me talk to her and tell her I'm okay. Please? She won't know what happened to me and I don't want her worrying. You don't...you don't want her looking for me, do you? I doubt you want anyone looking into your group or anything."

"They'll never find us," Robert says.

The cold words send horror through me, but I focus on Rachel. She's the only one who seems to have a modicum of humanity. The only one I may reach.

"I'll stay calm and I won't do anything else," I say. I don't know if the words are truth or a lie, but I believe them in the moment and hope that's enough to convince her. "Please."