Breaking Their Hold

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With Melissa, Jimmy, Matt, and Pierre
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“Mel, come on. It’s time to start moving again.” Jimmy muttered into Melissa’s ear, causing her to stir from her dreamless sleep. She rubbed her eyes gently and looked at his blue eyes, seeing worry clouding them. She forced a smile onto her face and nodded, reaching for him to help her stand up.

“Where are we?” She asked quietly when they got out of the cave. Matt and Pierre were already there. Pierre looked back at her with a smile on his face. She couldn’t see it through the darkness of the forest, but she could feel the atmosphere between the four of them. They were optimistic, and it made her smile.

“We’re fairly close to a city called Fullerton. We should be able to reach the camp by daylight if we move fast enough tonight.”

“He’s going to have people there.” Melissa said quietly, remembering what Matt had said the night before. “They’ll be everywhere, especially if we’re high profile.”

“You’re right, there is.” He told her. “But neither of you look anything like Jimmy and Melissa. The two of you have to play it cool and be as quiet as possible; we all do. I won’t be able to get any fake IDs for us until we reach the camp.”

“How long will that take?” Jimmy asked him. Pierre shrugged, seemingly not worried about potentially getting caught in Fullerton.

“If we don’t have trouble with the Government, we should be out of the city and into the forest by about seven or eight.” Pierre guessed. “It won’t take long for someone from the camp to see us and take us there.”

“…Take us there? How?” Melissa asked. Pierre sighed.

“They’ll be extremely cautious about us, but I have enough evidence to prove who we are. By this time, all the Independents around are going to know who we are. We have to be careful, though. Some of them like to play both sides of the fence to maintain their freedom, and it’s those ones that will turn us in if we give them any reason. We can’t trust any of them, and we will get out of the camp as soon as we’re able to. I’m hoping we can be out of there by tomorrow night.” Pierre explained to her, his voice very serious. Melissa nodded, though she knew only Jimmy could see the motion. He grabbed her hand in his and squeezed lightly.

“We’ll be fine, Mel.” Matt reassured her. “We won’t let anything happen to you; you know that, right? We swore to him that we’d keep you safe, and we will.”

“I know.” Melissa whispered. “I just…I’m worried.”

“You always worry.” Jimmy told her, his voice aloof as he mussed her hair up with his hand, hugging her to his side. “But you can stop worrying now ‘cause Super Jimmy and Macho Man are here to keep you safe.”

Melissa stifled a giggle at Jimmy’s words and then heard Matt and Pierre begin walking. Jimmy took her hand in his again, and the two of them followed them, making sure to move on the forest floor as quietly as possible.

-x-

Four hours later, Pierre came to an abrupt stop and turned to look at the three people behind him. He held a hand to his lip to signal them to all be quiet, and moved behind a tree before whispering for the other three to do the same. Matt moved behind a nearby tree, and Jimmy pulled Melissa with him and held her in front of him, holding a hand over her mouth to stop her from making any sounds. Footsteps crunched over the leaves, loud and uncaring what wildlife the sounds disturbed as two people walked into the clearing.

“I told you there was no one here, Jacobs.” A gruff male voice said loudly, coming to a stop just in front of the tree that Matt was hidden behind. A loud sigh filled the area, obviously from the second man.

“I know I saw something, Stedman.” He said, cocking his gun. Melissa’s heart was beating so rapidly against her ribcage she was sure that the two men, obviously Government agents, could hear it through the morning sounds of the woods.

“You’re just being paranoid again.” The other man said, obviously annoyed. “Either that, or you’re just too damn ambitious for your own good.”

“You heard what the Lieutenant said.” Jacobs told him, his voice holding an heir of greed. His tone scared Melissa; he reminded her of what she recalled Schlagger to be the one brief time she’d seen him when he’d visited Haverly a few months before they’d escaped. “Those four brats are worth a ton of money.”

“They wouldn’t have gotten this far in such a short amount of time.” The other argued him. “And I doubt they’ll get out of the woods alive in any case. You know what’s out there.”

“Oh, yeah. I’d hate to come across one of those monsters.” Jacobs muttered under his breath, obviously intimidated by whatever Stedman had alluded to. Melissa was now visibly shaking, and Jimmy was rubbing his free hand against hers to calm her nerves.

“That’s why we have guns, you moron.”

A silence filled the area once more before one of them spoke again, a yawn leaving his mouth. “Let’s get back to the base, eh? It’s time for the guard switch, and I’m exhausted.”

“For once, I agree with you.” The other replied. The footsteps started again, and none of them moved until the sounds couldn’t be heard anymore. Finally, Jimmy let her go and moved out into the center of the clearing, where Pierre and Matt were standing already.

“What was he t-talking about?” Melissa asked with a shaky voice. “Wh-what’s out here with us?”

“Mountain lions, bears…Stuff like that. I’ve never come across one any time I’ve crossed through these woods, but…” He replied.

“But what?” Matt pressed, obviously just as concerned as Melissa was. Pierre sighed before he continued.

“They’re prevalent in the mountains. We’ve got to be careful when we go through the mountains. Not only are there cougars and bears, but there’s tons of snakes, insects, and poisonous berries and plants. We have to be extremely cautious when going through the passes up there.”

“We need to start going again.” Jimmy said, his voice dark. “We need to get out of Fullerton as soon as possible. They’re looking for us.”

“Yes, but they’re not expecting us.” Pierre told him. “We’ve got that as an advantage. They won’t be checking too hard for us. They think we’re either not through the forest yet, or dead in it.”

“Then let’s get going.” Matt said, beginning to walk again. Melissa looked at Jimmy, and for the first time she saw a hint of anger covering his face. She didn’t like seeing him angry. It didn’t suit him. She just hoped that when they got through Fullerton alright that he’d be calm again, and not so worried.