Till Deceived Do We Part

His fingers pulled the zipper down, and my heart hammered. Think. Think. Think!

His fingers began to tug down my jeans, and just when I thought something in me was about to explode, he hesitated.

“What’s this, sweety? You did come alone, didn’t you?” My eyes opened, not knowing what he was talking about, but not sure I wanted to. All I could see was red. I wanted to hurt him so bad, but it was my own stupidity that got me into this situation. I should have thought before I jumped, and now I was on my back with who knows what about to happen to me.

I looked at what Lincoln was holding, and my breath caught. I could use this, I could make it work. I had to!

I could see where Lincoln thought the small wired device in my belt loop could be a tracker, or even a transmitter, but it wasn’t. I didn’t correct him though, I just gave a small smile.

“Test it, Lincoln. See if you can get to me before someone puts a bullet in your head.” He stared at the object before looking at me.

“I’m confused, then, sweety. For if this was a transmitter, where are they? Do they care so much for you, that they’d just let you get raped? Doesn’t seem right, you know? So what is it?” My heart pounded. I wouldn’t lose this. I would use this to my advantage, I had to.

“Believe what you want to, Lincoln. Doesn’t matter to me.” He glanced at it again, his eyes calculating.

“My guess? It is a tracker. Just not activated. Am I right?” I didn’t respond, and he laughed, the vibrations running through me again. “Best to not let it activate, then.” And he raised it, and this time, my response was true.

“No!” He laughed again and smashed the thing against the ground. The wires split and a light whirring sound occurred beneath us.

“How will this work, Isaiah?” I stared at my wall, my hand gripping my phone painfully.

“First, pick up the switch at the post office.”

“Post office?”

“I have stations there, and no one will think anything off about you getting a package from there.” Which was actually pretty smart. “Keep it on you. If you want to activate it, which I pray you won’t have to, split the wires. Or smash it. Just destroy it, in any way. With that no longer working as a fail safe, the bomb will activate.”

“And how long will it take?”

“A minute, give or take. It’ll be nasty, Drake. What you asked for wasn’t some small trinket.”

“It’s supposed to be nasty.”

Fear gripped me and adrenaline coursed through and my body bucked. His attention snapped back to me, humour in his eyes. My heart caught in my throat, and I continued to struggle, which only seemed to amuse him more. In my head, I was already doing the countdown. If I didn’t think quickly, I was going to die.

He continued to chuckle as his hand went back to my jeans. I hissed in anger, before closing my eyes. I had to think. I had to get him off me. And for that, I had to forget about him on top of me. Just forget. Easier thought than done.

I gritted my teeth. What had Jake taught us? Never get pinned. Too late for that. And if you do get pinned... what do you do? I strained, images, lessons, missions all going through my head. What had he taught? If you do get pinned... if you do get pinned... get their attention to one particular part of your body. Use the rest of your body to escape. Never be dependant on just your hands, or your feet. Yes!

I didn’t even think now, I just let instinct take hold. I arched my back, my chest now pressing harder into his. His eyes flickered to mine briefly, his hand clenching, as if expecting something. I rose higher, my eyes meeting his before I shut them again. This time, was to save me from pain though. It was going to hurt us both, I was just hoping it would get him off of me.

I slammed my head into his. He let out a howl, his hands momentarily slackening. I yanked my hands free and shoved him off, not bothering to cause him more pain. I had to get out. I scrambled to my feet, glad he hadn’t managed to pull of my pants. I made for the door, and just when a small flicker of hope ran through me, hands wrapped around my ankle. My body was jerked, slamming down against the wooden floor. My bad arm burned, stinging sensations running up it. My vision blurred for a second with pain, but I shoved it aside. Now was not a time to be in pain! I’d deal with it later.

I twisted and kicked, as Lincoln tried to climb up my body. His nose was a bloody mess, and vulgar curses were leaving his mouth.

“No games, you little bi-“

I kicked out at him, earning a howl of pain. I grabbed out my gun quickly, but he was ahead of me. His body slammed down on mine, his hand going for my gun. I held on for dear life, knowing that saying may true. I could die any second. I had lost count, and I was breaking out in a sweat. Sure, I knew I could die, but when it came to the fact... I wasn’t ready. I didn’t want to die.

I elbowed him as hard as I could before letting go of the gun and slamming my hand that had been holding it, into his face. He cursed, spitting blood on my face. I shoved him off me, my foot hitting him in the groin in the process. He cursed again as I scrambled to my feet. I ignored my arm and my ankle, which I was beginning to guess was twisted. Pain shot through it every step, but I didn’t stop.

I yanked at the rickety door, and a blast of cool air hit me in the face. Freedom. My heart pounded and I yanked it again, but it caught. My moment of happiness left me, as I yanked again, but the door wouldn’t budge. There was a sliver of room, showing the dreary outside. No. I would get out.

I yanked again, but the door was catching on something, something I didn’t have time to look for. I pushed my arms through the gap first, and then began to push the rest of my body through. Faster. Faster. Freedom was so close, so tauntingly close, that I felt anger and despair rise in me. To die in a door jam? That would be disgraceful. But I wasn’t going to die! One more push, and you can get out. Just push...

I gasped slightly in pain as I put pressure on my arm, and my hips scraped bloodily across the wood. So close...

Something wrapped around my ankle, the sore one, and yanked. I let out a yelp and kicked out, but it didn’t let go. Lincoln wasn’t letting me go. I kicked again, but this time in desperation. No! I could feel the panic bubbling up in me, and I knew I was going to lose control. However, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t quench the panic.

Lincoln pulled, and I felt my body sliding inwards. I cursed him, and tried to hold on, to pull myself out, but he had better leverage. He gave me a hard yank, my stomach now sliding in the house again. I felt him steady himself, his grip tightening, his muscles bunching. I felt him step back and get ready for the final pull...

Hands gripped under my armpits, and before I could even gasp in surprise, the arms yanked, a foot kicking out at the door in the process. The door gave slightly, and with the combined effort of the man, my body pulled. I kicked hard at Lincoln, and I felt his grip falter, and with the combined effort of the arms, I felt my body slide out of the door.

I didn’t waste time to grab a broken piece of wood and shoving it in the door. No way would Lincoln come through that, and then I turned. Outside the house was no safer than inside it, with the size of that bomb.

“Go around back, I’ll get the si-“ it was the fist time I saw my saviour; Flint. I ignored everything I felt for him, and cut him off. He wanted to take out Lincoln. But we didn’t have time, and anyways, the bomb would do it.

“No.” I hissed, grabbing his arm and pulling it, as I tried to break into a run. But he put his feet in the ground, angry eyes flashing to mine.

“No?! What do you mea-“

”Bomb.” I hissed at him, and turned and ran. Flint didn’t need any more encouragement than that. He broke in a run next to me. I saw his car, but it was too close. The explosion would get it. When he stopped next to it, I yelled at him. He hesitated but quickly decided the running away from the bomb was the smarter idea.

I felt my breath heaving, fear in me. Any second it would go, and Lincoln would die. Any second, we could both die. Any sec-

“Cowards!” I spun, but Flint yanked me onwards.

Lincoln was shoving open a window, having difficulty at that. His face was in a bloody snarl, and the composed persona he had put on earlier, vanished. He yelled again, but this time, it was lost. Lost to the sound of hell breaking loose.