Dirt

I had a brief moment of panic. What the hell now? Didn't everyone know that I was exhausted, and couldn't keep up a pace like this much longer? To say my hand hurt was an understatement, the bruising on my face from where I was hit was really starting to take its toll, and I was starting to feel worn down and sleepy. But I knew if I wanted out of this shit, then I'd have to suck it up for a while longer. Matt grabbed my hand and quickly ushered me down a side tunnel. He pressed me up against a wall and covered my body with his. There was a nanosecond where I thought it was sweet, but I quickly remembered how much I hated him. Although, I didn't react at all because I could hear the footsteps getting closer to our hiding place. I could only hope that we were hidden enough that he would walk past us.

"Aiden, you fucker, hurry up! You were just supposed to see if she woke up! What are you doing?" Harrison called down the corridor towards where we were previously chained. I held my breath as he slowly walked past us, calling out for his friend. I tensed to run, but Matt slowly shook his head at me.

He put a finger up to me, signaling for me to wait. I watched as he slowly crept out towards where Harrison had just passed. He positioned himself at the opening. Then he disappeared from my sight. At first I didn't hear anything, but then I heard a scuffle. There were grunts and the shuffling of feet on the floor. I heard one gunshot go off in the confined space, which sounded so loud I had to cover my ears for a moment. I didn't have time to register who was doing the shooting because Matt was yelling at me to run. "Ash! Run! Go up the stairs and don't stop running!"

I did as he said and I booked it down the hallway and didn't look back. I ran up the stairs and into a room. I stopped. It was a huge barn. I spun around for a second looking for a door, then made a mad dash for the tall, wide door that was opened a crack. I was about halfway to it when I tripped and fell down. I looked back to see what it was I tripped on, and I spotted a foot. I couldn't tell you why, but I just had to see who the owner of the foot belonged to, especially since I just fell over it and said owner didn't seem to flinch. I quickly crawled over and peered behind the old, rusty tractor. It was David Black. I was almost a hundred percent that he was dead. His eyes were wide open, and there was a pool of blood around his head. I suddenly couldn't breathe. Kidnapping was one thing, but actually killing your own father was something completely different. This took Harrison to a level of crazy that I wasn't really prepared for.

A big hand gripped my shoulder and I jumped. Matt quickly ushered me out the door and into the sunlight. I didn't know what had happened in that hallway, and I wasn't really in any position to start playing twenty questions. My biggest problem was that I was getting extremely tired, and I couldn't seem to catch my breath. I wanted to keep going and get back home, but my legs were getting heavy, and my vision was starting to blur. We were just a few feet from the barn when I dropped to the ground like a useless sack of potatoes. I could hear Matt talking to me, I just couldn't respond because he sounded so far away that I couldn't really make out what he was saying. I felt him lift me up off the ground, and then we were moving.

We walked over to the cars, and Matt sat me down in the grass while he tried to hunt for a key. He seemed to be in a hurry about it. This made me worry. "Is he dead?"

Matt shook his head. "Not sure. I just want to get out of here before we find out for sure. You don't have your phone, do you?" I shook my head no and closed my eyes. My coping capabilities were quickly reaching their limit. "Hey, look at me." I did. "I'm getting us out of here. Don't worry. I'm gonna fix this." I just kind of nodded.

He fumbled around with the cars for another couple of minutes before I decided that I had gotten a second wind. I slowly stood up from my place on the ground and started to follow the dirt road in the opposite direction of the old farmhouse. I heard Matt yell out to me from behind me, but I was too determined to listen. If he wanted to follow me, then he could, but I wasn't stopping. I didn't know how long my renewed energy would last, but I wanted to put as much space between me and that hell hole as possible while I could.

What I really wanted to do was freak the fuck out. I wanted to cry and scream, and have a complete nervous breakdown for at least an hour, but I couldn't. I couldn't do any of that. I had to keep pushing myself and get home. Once I was home, I knew I'd be safe to have all the tantrums I wanted.

I eventually wound up at an open gate, separating the dirt road from a smaller main road. I didn't really know which way to go, so I turned around to wait on Matt. I hadn't realized he was following right behind me, and when I stopped suddenly, he bumped into me. He hit me so hard we both almost fell down. He started to apologize and held onto my arms to help steady me, but then we heard the shouts coming from the barn.

"You son of a bitch! I will find you both, and now I'm gonna kill you! God damn it, Ashlynn! You should have made this easy on yourself! If you come back to me now, I won't hurt you!" I couldn't see him, but Harrison sounded completely unhinged.

Matt guided me away from the gate and down the fence line a little ways. He quietly motioned for me to lay down in the tall grass, and did the same thing next to me. Then we waited. I heard a car start up down the road and listened as it slowly made its way down the road. I closed my eyes and held my breath again as the car paused at the front gate. To my utter relief, the car took a right down the road. I listened as the sound of the tires faded out as the distance grew.

Matt jumped up. "Okay, that was the direction we needed to go to get to town." I asked him where we were as I struggled to get up from the ground. "About an hour north from home." He bent down and helped me up from the ground. "I'm gonna be honest. I'm not really sure what our next move should be. I've got a couple thoughts, I'm just not sure-"

"Where is he going?" Matt stopped and looked confused. "I need a phone. If he's going to my house to hurt my father, I need to warn him." Matt assured me that he didn't think that was what Harrison was going to do. "It doesn't matter. He's insane. Is he out looking for us? Eventually he's not gonna find us and come back here. I would rather be gone when that happens."

"What are you suggesting? That we go back and search the other guy down there, or even old man Black for a cell phone? That's not a good idea, Ash. What if we're digging through the dead guys' pockets and Harrison comes back? He still has the gun. I'd rather take my chances on the road than stay here."

I didn't answer him. I just turned back to the house and barn and started walking. Again, Matt didn't have to come with me. At this point, I didn't care if he left or not. I knew what I thought we needed to do, and I was going to make it happen. I walked back into the barn and tried my hardest to ignore the shudder than ran through me. I made my way over to David, and started searching through his pockets. I hit pay dirt as I pulled his cell phone out of his coat pocket.

"Great, you have it. Can we go now?"

I rolled my eyes at Matt's impatience. I spun around to tell him to calm down, and saw Harrison's car pulling back up. I grabbed Matt by the arm and dragged him behind the old tractor. We ducked down next to David's body. I could hear him shuffling around outside and talking to himself. He cursed loudly and hit the top of the car with his hand. I started to shake. My body was extremely tired and was ready to shut down. I couldn't sit around any longer. I took a chance and punched in the familiar numbers.

Pop answered on the second ring. Just the sound of his voice had me breaking down into sobs. I had to be quiet about it, but I just couldn't help how emotional I got. Matt patted my back and took the phone from me. I could hear him whispering to Pop. I could also hear Pop talking loudly on the other end. Pop was pissed. Good. He'd rally the guys and be out here to save me in no time. Matt hung up the phone and told me they'd be coming. Now if only we knew what to do about Harrison until then.

I put my hand over my mouth to keep quiet as I heard Harrison come into the barn with us. I truly didn't think he knew we were there. He seemed really out of sorts. His face was bleeding and he had blood coming from a wound in his side. He paced the floor a couple times talking quietly to himself. I watched him pacing and saw a sliver of a possibility for an escape. Every time Harrison made a pass, he got closer and closer to the opening in the floor. If I timed it right, I could push him down the stairs. I'd be taking the chance that he'd be disoriented long enough to close the door on him and find a way to block it off, so he couldn't escape. I glanced over at Matt to see him studying Harrison's movement as well. He looked to me, and we shared a knowing look. Matt nodded over to me and readied himself. He waited until Harrison turned his back on us, then ran out and shoved him as hard as he could. I ran out from my hiding spot and helped Matt close the door in the floor.

"We have to find something heavy to put on top of this," I told him in a hurry. Then I looked out the door. Please let the keys be in the car. I went out to it, and I praised all forms of deities as the keys were sitting in the ignition. I started the car, and slowly maneuvered it into the barn. Matt stepped out of the way with a giant grin on his face and helped direct me to stop right on top of the door. "Holy shit," I said to myself once I'd stopped the car and got out of it. "I can't believe it's over."

Matt took a deep breath. "Wow." He looked up at me and smiled triumphantly. "We did it. You did it." Then his face fell. "You look like you're gonna pass out. Come sit down." He moved over to me and tried to guide me outside by my arm.

I snatched it away from him. "Don't touch me."

"Ash-"

"No." I shook my head at him and sat down on the grass. "We're done with this now. I'm done with this."

"So that's it? Everything we've been through, you're just going to end it all?"

"You lied to me. You betrayed me. How am I supposed to be okay with that?"

He looked at me. "I love you. I'm completely in love with you. I'm sorry that I lied to you in the beginning, but I wouldn't take it back. You're the person that I want to spend the rest of my life with."

I cut my eyes to him. "How the fuck am I supposed to believe anything you tell me? You're a liar. You lie." We sat there in silence for a while before I thought of something. "Who else knew?" He asked what I was talking about. "Who else knew that you were sent to spy? Brian, Johnny?" Matt shook his head no. "Jimmy?" Again, another head shake. I almost didn't want to ask. "Zee?"

"Ash, no one knew. I didn't tell the guys. I especially didn't tell Zack. Things were weird enough when we were coming to meet his father for the first time. I swear to you, I was the only one involved in that."

I only nodded at him. I brought my knees up to my chest and laid my head down. Matt tried talking to me several more times, but I stopped listening. Knowing that we were out of any immediate danger, my body finally felt that it was okay to shut down. I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer, so I stopped fighting it. I closed my eyes and settled into sleep. The last thing I remember was the sound of the rumble of motorcycle engines rumbling in the distance.