Do What It Takes to Survive

I stood as still as I could, even trying not to blink. After a few seconds passed, two of the men lowered their guns and pulled cords out of their pockets. The other two continued to aim their guns at us; one at me, and one at Gerard.

Three of them had black hair, I realized. The two tall ones with black hair were the ones pointing their guns. The shorter black haired man was approaching me confidently, a smug look on his face.

It was the blonde who had spoken, and he was walking towards Gerard. He spoke again.

“Here’s what’s going to happen,” he said calmly. “We’re going to tie you up. If you struggle, we will shoot you. Then you’re going to get into your cars. If you try to escape, we will shoot you.”

I gulped. I believed him. The man who was closest to me grabbed my hand that was resting on my car’s door handle. He roughly spun me around so that my back was facing him and caught my other wrist. I gasped, a reflex action.

The blonde paused, looking up from his task of wrapping a cord around Gerard’s wrists. “If you make another sound, we will shoot you,” he said in a tone someone would use when commenting on the weather.

I clenched my teeth and shivered in fear. The man who was now winding a cord around my hands smiled. He liked that.

I tried to keep my muscles tense. I knew that if I kept them relaxed, the cord would be too tight later.

Once they were done, the short black haired man stuck his hand in my pocket and retrieved my car keys. The blonde did the same to Gerard. Then the man that had tied me up opened the back door of my car and motioned for me to get in.

I didn’t hesitate. Numbly, I stepped into my car. The man that was pointing his gun at me climbed in after me, never lowering it. The other man got into the driver’s seat and put the keys in the ignition.

I looked over to Gerard’s car, and saw that he was in the exact same situation. He was even returning my gaze. There was no hate in his eyes, only shock. Shock and fear. I imagined I looked just the same.

When the car started to move, I vaguely wondered where we were going, but I didn’t dare to ask. How could I, with the gun staring at me, a constant reminder that I was in trouble? A lot of trouble.

I tried to worry about minor things, like the cord around my wrists. It was still much too tight. I closed my eyes and attempted not to think about anything.

After a while, I felt the car stop moving. A hard, cold object nudged my leg carelessly, and I shied away from it, knowing it was the gun. I opened my eyes. When I got out of the car, we were in a parking lot that was fenced in. Gerard’s car was next to mine.

He looked like he had recovered from his shock. The look he gave me was livid, but I knew that, for once, it wasn’t really meant for me. He was furious at the unknown men. He was being herded towards the back of an open moving truck. I followed him mindlessly, stepping into the back.

The truck was empty, and the metallic walls, floor, and ceiling were all the same. I saw my reflection in the floor as I shuffled my feet. When we made it to the end, the blonde man pushed me, throwing me to the ground with much more force than necessary. My back slammed against the metal wall, knocking the breath out of me. Gerard glared up at the man.

Then the fifth man appeared. It was eerily dark in the truck, and the light coming in from the opening made it hard to see him at first. Once he was far enough in, I saw that he was the fifth man from the store. He had short brown hair and blue eyes. Tattoos covered half of his face.

“Nice job, Randy,” he said gruffly to the blonde man.

Randy looked up at him like a dog would look at his owner. The other three men grunted, obviously upset that their leader wasn’t acknowledging their work.

“Ron, Mark, and Jared, stay back here with them,” the leader instructed, pointing first to the short black haired man, then to the one that still had his gun directed at me, and then to the last man. They nodded.

Without another word, tattoo face and Randy walked out of the back of the truck, and Randy started to pull the door down. I watched helplessly as the crack of light got smaller and smaller.

Then it was pitch black, and I shivered. Ron, Mark, and Jared were lurking somewhere near, and only the darkness separated us. I shrank into the corner. I settled into a very uncomfortable position, with my arms behind my back and my knees curled up into my chest. I rested my cheek against the cold metal wall.

The shock was starting to wear off. I knew what was happening. I was being kidnapped, along with Gerard. Ugh. Why did he have to be the one I was being kidnapped with? Why couldn’t it be anyone but him?

Gerard wasn’t my biggest problem, though. My shoulder throbbed, and I knew a bruise was starting to form. These men weren’t gentle, and I felt that there were a lot much worse things awaiting me than a bruised shoulder.

The truck started to move. I suddenly felt exhausted, and, despite the knowledge that three criminals were very close, I started to doze off. I woke up when the truck made a sharp turn, causing me to slide across the slippery floor. I thudded to a stop against a body. I guessed it was Gerard, and I was right.

“Get off me,” he said disgustedly, and kicked my shin. I gasped and scrambled to my corner. My shin was searing in pain.

“Idiot!” I hissed, even though I knew it was a bad idea to speak. I just couldn’t help it. No matter what situation we were in, I couldn’t stand even the sound of his voice. And until that moment, he had never physically hurt me.

“You two better shut up!” one of our kidnappers commanded. I hadn’t heard their voices before, so I didn’t know which one had spoken.

I squeezed my eyes shut and let the tears spill over.