So Far Away

Zack sighed, wondering if Matt and Melissa got out okay. He didn’t want his friend stuck here the same way he and Milla was. He heard that Milla was locked in a padded cell, so they were practically alone.

“Hello Zachary,” a male voice brought Zack from his thoughts. He looked over the best he could and saw it was Clemins. “Now, I’m going to ask this nicely, where did your friend run off to?”

“Like I’m going to tell you,” Zack snapped in disgust. “You’re just going to use him for whatever sick experiments you have going on here.”

“That may be true, but, you lead me to him, and I just might let you live, even help you get the voice out of your head. You know, the one telling you nothing but lies.” Zack acted as though he was thinking, but he knew his answer already. When Clemins walked up toward him with a smile on his face, Zack spit right in his eye, staring him down like he was nothing but a piece of road kill on the side of the highway.

“I don’t give a fuck about myself, I’m not giving my friends up that easily.” Zack said as Clemins cleaned off his eye with a paper towel.

“Well, too bad, guess we’ll have to find him on our own, oh wait, I know just the person to ask,” Clemins went into the hallway, and returned with Gena by his side.

“Hello Zachary,” Gena said in a sickly sweet voice. Zack looked down at her hand, which was snuggly placed in Clemins’ hand.

“Gena my dear, do tell me where Matthew would run off to.”

“Most likely his house, or one of their friends,” Gena replied, smirking at Zack.

“You stay away from them!” Zack yelled, fighting against his restraints.

“Will you show me where that is?” Clemins asked Gena, kissing her gently behind the ear.

“Anything for you,” she giggled. Clemins smiled even wider and winked at Zack, who was still fighting against the restraints keeping him in the bed.

“Let’s go,” he said, escorting Gena back out of the room.

“Damnit!” Zack shouted.

“What’s wrong?” Milla’s voice asked as she walked around the corner.

“Milla? Thank God,” Zack said. “I need your help, he’s going after Matt. You have to find a way to warn him.”

“How? I’m as cut off from the world as you are,” Milla said sadly. She felt for Zack, she really did, but she had no idea what to do to help him.

“Matt needs to be warned, he has a wife at his house Milla.” Zack felt the tears leaking from the corner of his eyes as he thought of the danger his friends was now in. If only he had gotten help when he needed it, instead of letting the voice win the way it did.

“You can’t escape me if you tried,” Zack heard inside his head. A new found strength was found in Zack, and he jerked at the bands holding him down again.

“Watch me,” he said, looking toward Milla. “Let me go, I’m not a risk, so let me go.”

“Thought you’d never ask,” Milla smiled, undoing the buckles. Zack quickly stood up and grabbed a robe, storming into the hallway. “We need to get out of here and get to Matt before they do.”

“How? They’re probably half way there by now,” Milla said, running her hands through her hair.

“There’s no way for us to contact them?” Zack asked, clearly getting frustrated.

“There is a phone at the nurse’s station, but there’s always someone there. If we can get you enough time to get a hold of someone to let them know…” her voice trailed off as she thought more. “I’ll distract them.” She whispered suddenly. “I’ll distract them and give you time to call them.”

“Why?”

“Matt deserves to be locked in here less than I do,” Milla said. “Less than you do even. You’re strong Zack, you can fight this yourself. You need to help Matt.” Zack nodded, knowing she was right.

“I owe you so much,” Zack said as Milla left the room. “Give me about ten minutes,” he called after her. She waved to show she heard him. Going into the hallway, she started screaming, something she knew would get everyone’s attention. Zack snuck to the nurse’s desk and grabbed the phone.

“Hello?” Matt’s voice answered.

“Matt thank fuck!” Zack whispered, trying not to draw attention to himself. “Clemins is on his way to your house man. Gena was fucking working with him. She showing him to your house, either yours or one of the others.”

“You’re sure?” Matt asked, looking toward Val and Marissa who was still sitting in the kitchen.

“Positive, you need to get out of there now.”

“Alright,” Matt said. “I’ll get the others informed as well. Thanks man, be careful.”

“You too Matt,” Zack said before hanging up. He needed to make sure Milla was okay now, so he rushed down the hallway, and somehow found her room the first try.

“He knows Milla, he knows. I owe you big time for this,” Zack said, grabbing her hand.

“Glad to be of service,” she replied with a smile. “They sedated me, so I don’t have a lot of time awake. I’ll be back to myself in no time though.”

“I hope so,” Zack said. “Thank you, for everything.”

“It’s no problem.” Milla said as the sedatives took affect.

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“Val, we have to get going!” Matt called to his wife.

“Why?”

“I don’t know how, but Zack just called, that fucking lunatic doctor is on his way here.” He said, starting to gather random things. “Fucking Gena told him where to find us.”

“Gena? She wouldn’t!” Val exclaimed, but she knew the truth. She had told Zack countless times that Gena was no good and would end up breaking his heart, and now he realized just how true that statement was.

“Honey, you know just as well I as do that she would. Now go pack whatever you need. Clothes, shoes, whatever, but just the essentials. I’m going to start calling the guys.” Matt said. Val nodded and rushed up the stairs as Matt pulled out his cell phone. He dialed Brian’s number and cursed when it went to voicemail. He then called Jimmy, who picked up on the second ring.

“Jimmy, we have to bounce, like now.” Matt said, running to the pantry to grab canned goods and dry foods that didn’t need to cook.

“Why, what’s up?”

“Get a hold of whoever you can. Tell everyone to pack clothes and meet up at the Big Bear cabin, I’ll explain there, just please, just trust me.”

“I do,” Jimmy said. “Brian’s here, so I’ll send him home.”

“Be safe,” Matt said before hanging up. He called Johnny and relayed the message to him as well. Johnny knew Matt was a levelheaded guy, so if he was in a panic, then it was very urgent and he shouldn’t ask questions.

“Val, come on, we have to get going!” Matt called up to his wife as he headed to the front door. He opened it, realizing the coast was clear, and carried the bags to his car. He knew they would look here first, so he was going to leave here, pick up Zack’s family, and get them to the cabin and to safety for the time being.

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At the cabin, everyone watched with confusion as Zack’s parents, his sister and her husband and kids, and Zack’s little brother walked into the cabin with Matt and Val behind them.

“We can’t stay here too long,” Matt muttered, closing blinds through out the cabin.

“Matt, what’s going on?” Brian asked, his arm around Michelle’s shoulder.

“Zina, I don’t want Gavin and Gianna around to hear this. In the bedroom is a TV and VCR, put a movie in for Gavin and set up something for Gianna.” Zina nodded and went to get her kids settled. When she returned, Matt was pacing around the living room.

“We need to think of where to fucking go,” he muttered, more to himself than anyone in the room.

“Why?” Jimmy asked, causing Matt to jump.

“The best place to start is the beginning.” Matt muttered. “Brian and I was at Zack’s house and we noticed it was trashed, like someone was looking for something. We found a will that he apparently made up. I took it to him to see if he knew about it, he didn’t. The doctor showed up, saw me there, and went fucking crazy on himself to get me in there. I got away with a worker, which were the hell is she?” Matt looked around noticing she was nowhere to be seen. He remembered he kept her with Jimmy, so he looked over to his long time friend.

“Shit, I never got to tell you, she went to her parents in Detroit,” Jimmy said. Matt nodded, glad she was safe.

“Well, anyway, I got out with her, but I get a phone call from Zack, I guess he was able to sneak to the nurse’s station to get to a phone. Well, he called and told me that the fucking lunatic doctor is now searching for us…”

“He doesn’t know where we are,” Johnny spoke up.

“Yes, he does,” Matt breathed.

“How?” Maria asked, looking confused. Matt looked at everyone before turning his head to the ground.

“Gena.”