Hunted

Is The Ninth Time The Charm?

I tried not to slam the door of the truck after I had parked. I was pretty mad. You don't take my prisoner -or whatever you want to call Jessie- and use her as a bargaining chip. That's rude and quite annoying.
I grabbed my backpack I had grabbed from Jessie's house and dug through it for a few minutes until I had attached and concealed both my handguns and three knives to my body. There was one thing I knew for sure. They weren't going to just hand her to me.
I looked around cautiously. The parking lot was completely empty. The warehouse loomed high in front of me. I took a few tentative steps forward before I broke into sprint and ran to the warehouse.
They might know I'm here, but they don't have to know exactly where I am. I was going to make this hard for them.
The door was unlocked and I crept inside quieter than a mouse, looked around cautiously. As I suspected, there were crates of merchandise pretty much everywhere, making a great place for hide and seek and revenge. Or something like that.
I walked in with a steady hand on my gun, creeping around the boxes. My highly trained ears picked up on a sound from above me and I mentally slapped myself.
I forgot to look up.
Before I knew it four men had let ropes down and jumped to the floor next to me. I immediately lifted my hands in surrender. It was probably a good idea because they were all a lot bigger than me.
"Great, you're here." I told them in razien. "Now you can show me where you're keeping Jessie."
The men exchanged glances before my hands were yanked behind back and I was shoved up against one of the crates. I tried not to panic as I felt all my weapons discovered and confiscated. "Easy fellas." I grunted as well as I could with my face smashed up against the wood. "I wasn't going to hurt anyone."
One of the men grunted, spun me around and I felt something connect with my wrists. A zip tie. I smiled to myself. Contrary to popular belief, they were possible to get out of.
An elbow connected with my stomach and I bent over and wheezed. "Get that idiotic smile off your face." One of the men commanded me.
I looked up at him defiantly. "You're going to regret elbowing the prince." I threatened.
Gosh. I just sounded like a ten year old Draco Malfoy or something. That's lame.
The men laughed and grabbed my arms, practically marching me around some crates and towards what I assumed to be the center of the warehouse. I sighed as I stared down at my wrists, flexing them slightly and wincing at the pain. These would be tough to get out of but they were doable.
We walked in silence for a couple seconds before the crates finally thinned out and we came to a clear area. Then we stopped. I stared angrily at the man ten yards away from me.
"Jäck." I addressed him. "I should have known you were here."
Jäck shrugged and gave me an ugly smile. "It always is me in the end, My Prince."
"Oh yeah." I pretended to think. "What has it been, eight times I've escaped you now?" I grinned at Jäck's glowering red face. "I'm surprised my father even keeps you around."
Jäck walked up to me and I knew I was in for something, but it was worth seeing his rage on his face.
I gasped for air as I received three powerful blows to my stomach. The only reason I stayed on my feet was because of the men holding my arms. I grunted as the support seemed to suddenly disappear and I fell to my knees. I began to pick myself up but another heavy blow to my ribcage made me grunt again and fall to the side.
I laid there for a second. Regaining my breath. And my wits.
Jäck grabbed my collar and jerked me up to face him. "You're not getting away this time, boy." He snarled.
I couldn't stop the snarky smile coming onto my face. "Do you think the ninth time is the charm?" I asked him seriously before I could think twice.
There was a loud smack and my head rolled to the side as my vision went black for a moment. I shook my head to clear it and grunted. I had a splitting headache and something warm was trickling down the side of my head.
I should really learn to keep my mouth shut. Jäck was a huge man who could kill a man in one blow if he wanted to.
I took a deep breath. "Okay, you can just give me Jessie and I'll be on my merry way, never bothering you again."
Jäck laughed cruelly. "I think we both know that's not the case Hunter." He told me.
I groaned. "Aw c'mon man, just give her to me. She isn't going to cause any trouble."
Jäck smiled. "You're right about one thing."
I looked up at him angrily. "What did you do to her?" I hissed.
Jäck gave me a close to innocent look. "She did it to herself." He told me before he beckoned to the side. Jessie was escorted into my line of vision. Her wrists were also zip tied but her face was smiling more than if had at Burger King. Her eyes were super unfocused though and she didn't seem steady on her feet.
I cocked my head. "Um, Jessie?" I asked her.
She focused her eyes on me and smiled even wider. "Well hello there Hunter." She giggled. "I didn't expect you here."
"Jessie." I said slowly. "What did they do to you?"
Jessie giggled again and looked admirably up at her escorts who, I noticed, kept giving her lustful looks. "These fine men gave me brownies." She slurred. "They were delicious."
"Brownies." I repeated. I tried to lunge at Jäck but a couple of my previous captors held me back. "You drugged her?" I shouted. "You're a sick man Jäck."
Jäck shrugged. "She's much less threatening when she's like this. She nearly tore off the ear of one of my men. I like her better like this." He moved closer to her and put an arm around her waist. She leaned into him, accepting him. "She's more fond of me this way too." He told me smugly.
I tried not to gag up my Burger King. "That's it." I grunted. I yanked my arms roughly away and brought my hands over my head and brought them crashing down onto my leg. The zip tie broke and I wasted no time in turning around and bashing the heads of my former captors together.
Jäck's features contorted back into an enraged face. "Hunter!" He yelled. "Stop!"
I froze for a split second before changing my charge to him. "Don't say stupid things." I told him. "It makes you look even more like an idiot."
A heavy hand grabbed my shoulder. Without turning around I braced my legs and grabbed the connected wrist, bringing the man over my shoulder and crashing to the ground. Needless to say he didn't get up.
Three more plus Jäck. The odds could be better.
Jäck moved away from Jessie and pulled out a gun. He didn't point it at me though. He pointed it at Jessie. "Take another step and she dies." He threatened.
I stopped instantly and held up a warning hand. "You don't want to kill an innocent." I told him slowly.
Jessie focused in on the gun. She looked up adoringly at Jäck. "Did you get me a toy gun?" She asked him sweetly.
Jäck faltered for a moment, mesmerized by her adoringly green eyes. That was all I needed.
I took a powerful jump and thrust my foot into the side of Jäck's head. He pulled the trigger but his aim was off by then and it hit a crate. It exploded into flames.
I glanced down at the unconscious Jäck. "You really are an idiot." I told him before I ran to the two men and Jessie.
They received identical punches to the temple and crashed to the ground. Jessie stumbled and giggled. "It's a huge mushroom." She pointed to the multiple crates on fire.
"Uh hu." I agreed as the last standing man came rushing at me with a roar. I stood my ground and waited until the last second to duck and bring my leg back up to crash into his head. I searched him quickly and found two of my guns on him and a knife. That would have to do.
I knelt down in front of a happy Jessie. "Hey, shorty, we got to get out of here." I told her as I cut the zip ties.
Jessie nodded at me adoringly and tried to follow me. She fell down just as another crate exploded into flames. That would make half the warehouse in flame.
I sighed. "Time to go. Hold on shorty." I scooped her up bridal style and started running towards the exit.
Jessie giggled in my arms and grabbed my arm and squeezed it. "Ooooh!" She squealed. "You're so strong."
"Yep, I know." I couldn't tell if I was hot from the fire or something else.
Jessie wrapped her arms around my neck and nestled in. "The dragon should stop following us now." She muttered.
I looked around and spotted the door. Finally!
"It's just about to princess." I told her.
"Princess?" Jessie looked up. "Does that make you my knight?" She examined my chest critically. "Where's your shining armor?"
I sighed and dashed to the door. The flames were licking my heels now. "We're just going to stick to shorty, Shorty." I told her.
I burst out of the door and took a huge breath. Then I stopped. Fire trucks were everywhere.
I was so screwed.
A firefighter noticed me. "Hey! A kid just came out!" He shouted. Everyone looked at me.
I did the most logical thing. I ran.
There was a lot of shouting as I ran to my truck holding Jessie as tightly as I could, who was no help at all and kept yelling "begone lowly peasants!". I threw her not so gracefully through the driver side and into the passenger seat and started the truck. A second later I was zipping through people and fire trucks. I think one of the fighters shot water at me.
Yeah, like that was going to hurt me....
It didn't take long for me to get on the road with zero pursuit. The cops hadn't been called yet.
After ten minutes I stopped glancing in my rear view mirror every second.
"Well, shorty," I looked over at her and stopped. She was sound asleep. I managed to reach over her -and continue to drive- and grab the seatbelt and buckle her in. I tucked a piece of hair into place behind her ear and then I whispered
"I'm so going to use everything you said against you Shorty."