Die Jagd

My senses began to return as I awoke due to the annoying pounding in my head. I couldn’t remember the last time my head throbbed this hard, opening my eyes was a challenge let alone sitting up. It took me a moment to pull myself up to a sitting position against the cold, brick wall. My hands were tied together at the wrists and my arms were prickly from having fallen asleep in such an odd position. The numbing sensation in my limbs took a couple of seconds to disperse. Cool, musky air and the damp wall caused me to shiver as the cold started to shock my system back to reality and my eyes adjusted to the darkness.

What’s going on?! I thought to myself, being completely oblivious as to where I was or how I got here.

The last thing I remember was standing up to use the restroom at Herr Lindermann’s house, normally I was able to compose myself from such activities in a stranger’s house; however I hadn’t felt good at all. I remember I became rather dizzy and lethargic in the middle of the interview, as if my body had been trying to shut down in the middle of the day. This was odd considering the fact I had just had a cup of strong, bitter coffee. The last thing I remembered was Danni had called out to me just before I face planted against the ground, and then darkness.

After I had remembered my lack of coordination had caused me to swan dive face first onto the floor, my nose and cheek started to painfully throb. After a brief thought, I decided there had to have been some sort of drug slipped into the coffee. I was known to be clumsy at times, but not enough to where I’d fall on my face that hard. Rubbing my face ever so gently I braced myself as I slid my feet underneath me and slowly, yet shakily, stood up as nimble and graceful as a newborn fawn. I was just thankful that my ankles weren’t tied together, standing would not have been an option period.

The pounding in my head intensified for only a moment before the painful sensation ceased and I felt a buzz of energy in my chest. Either the caffeine had started to finally kick in, or the adrenalin was taking over (quite possible both).

The dark room I was in was small and confining, with only a tiny window up above to allow a beam of moonlight in. The walls were about eight feet high with the dimensions of the room about eight by six feet, give or take a few, either way it was way too fucking small for me. My claustrophobia began to set in and my heart started to race in my chest as I looked around for a way to escape. The only possible option was a thick steel door across the room from me.

Get out! Was the thought that raced over and over in my mind as the room started to feel smaller and smaller. My breathing began to deepen as I tried to remain calm and collected while staggering over to the door and jiggling the locked handle. This did not help me as I was trying to resist the urge to panic and started to struggle to shake my wrists free from the tight bondage. My wrists started to feel warm and wet as the skin began to tear, but I didn’t care, I felt no pain from the adrenalin starting to rushing through my veins.

Footsteps walking down the hallway snapped me back to reality as I stood stock still to listen as they came closer and closer to the room I was in. I twitched slightly as a key was shoved into a lock on the door. As the door opened and light flooded into the room I stared directly at a slightly stocky, yet small, man with short black hair. The light from the hallway cast a shadow across his face contorting his features. His sharp eyes can only be described as so dark they sucked away any sort of light that went through them.

“Guten Tag…” Came a rough answer as he reached for me.

“Back off!” I shouted at him. “Who are you and where the hell am I?!” I demanded in a slightly forced way, surprised I was able to talk at all. His presence and movement towards me must have shocked me into my defensive reaction.

I must have sounded frank because the man paused for a few moments as if he was not expecting me to be so awake and bossy. A sly and disgusting smirk slid its way across his face as he found my demanding amusing and stepped forward, harshly grabbing me by the arm.

Instinctively I lunged myself at him and shoved him out into the hallway, knocking the breath out of him as I body slammed him against the wall. The moment he let go, I headed down the hallway, staggering and bumping against the wall as my legs had not fully developed the function to actually run. Slipping on the ground I fell to my knees and struggled to get up in time to put some distance between us.

“Dumme Schlampe…” The man mumbled as he came up from behind me and latched onto my hair and yanked me to my feet. I let out a scream in both pain and surprise as he towed me down the hallway and forced me up a set of stairs.

I wasn’t letting him off that easily, my fight or flight kicked in and since I wasn’t able to run I sure as hell was going to fight. Growing up on a farm with older siblings gave me the strength and knowledge to learn how to tussle with larger individuals as well as throw my weight around.

I blindly swung my arm in his direction and started to wail on him, making it as difficult as possible to control me as he dragged me upstairs. I tried to get a glimpse of my surroundings, but I was in a headlock the entire time as I clawed and beat on my attacker. Needless to say I couldn't particularly focus on the scenery. The man was shorter than me only by a tiny bit, but he was a hell of a lot stronger than he looked.

The crisp, fresh air was welcomed into my lungs as we stumbled outside into the moonlight. The man grabbed the back of my jacket to force me in front of him. Some profanity was said about me as he cut my wrists free and shoved me forward. I stumbled but was quickly able to regain my balance. In front of me was a corn field with an entrance leading deep into what looked like a giant maze. I spun around to look at the man, his eyes were glaring deep into my soul.

“Fick dich, Feigling!” I shouted at him, my veins were rushing as I was overcome with anger towards him. Fight mode was still in full swing and I was ready to start using my kickboxing skills now that we weren’t in a confined space. This prick was going to pay for trying to kidnap me and my best friend and I was letting him know it beforehand with a plethora of creative swear words I started to shout at him in German.

Without missing a beat, the man reached behind and pulled out a glock, cocked it, and pointed it at me. My hands jumped out in front of me and I took a few steps backwards. The gun was a big game changer that I was dumb enough to not think about beforehand. He’s a kidnapper, of course he’s going to have some sort of weapon on him.

“Dumme American girl.” His broken English came out. “Act like such a ‘Big Shot’, ja?” He said as victory appeared over his face.
I became tense as I waited for my attacker to pull the trigger and drop me where I stood.

I couldn’t help but glance over as I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. My jaw almost dropped to the ground as a familiar tyrant of a man came walking out from behind the cabin with another prisoner in front of him. I watched as Professor Flake released a middle-aged man free from his bondage and aimed a gun at him as well. I couldn’t believe it, our professor was in on this too. Then again… I shouldn’t have been too terribly surprised by this, the man was a cynical prick after all.

Deep chuckling brought my attention back to the small man that had his gun trained on me.

“Lauf schneller als er.” He said while cocking his head briefly towards the other prisoner.

“Run faster than him…?” I repeated in confusion.

As if on cue, my question was answered by the hair-raising howl of hounds off in the distance. The man’s disturbing smile was going to be the last thing I saw if I didn’t hightail it out of there.

Turning around I sprinted towards the corn maze as soon as I saw the other man start to run. My legs awakened a new found burst of energy as I sped into the entrance with the other prisoner right behind me. A thought came by me as I sprinted down the path as to why I didn’t just run straight through the corn. Sure the paths were much smoother and easier to run on, but I had spent countless hours of playing Hide-N-Seek Tag at large family events back home. Running through corn fields was not a problem if you had an incentive for it.

But that thought was diminished as I rounded the corner and slowed to a gruesome sight. A poor soul had tried to take a short cut and entangled himself up in an electric wiring system that was so powerful, he literally had started to melt. Sparks still flashed from the burned and charred body as it twitched from the electrical current, the individuals face was no longer recognizable. I gasped as the smell of rotting, burning flesh filled my nose, making it difficult to breathe for a moment as I continued to run. Fear was creeping its way into my mind, everything was starting to become very real that this was reality. Earlier today I was enjoying hanging out with my best friend and now I was running for my life through a corn field constructed by a couple of maniacs. My life had just turned into a horror movie, but I was not going to panic and lose my shit. I needed to survive!

As the man rounded the corner, a shot rang out through the night air and whizzed through the corn, hitting him in the side and sending him rolling to the ground in front of the individual tangled in the fence. The man yelled in pain and surprise as blood started to flow out from a wound in his side. As I slowed to turn and help him he held his hands up.

“Nein!” He cried out at me.

I stopped in confusion, but he shook his head and waved his arm at me like a mad man. The look of hopelessness and dread in his face clutched at my heart as he knew his time had come to a horrifying end. I waited for a moment before he gave me a look of determination and started to crawl his way back towards the entrance…buying me time from the dogs.

I turned a sharp left and ran down a long stretch towards a fork in the path, fighting back the tears starting to well up in my eyes as I mourned for the stranger that just saved my life. I ran faster as I heard the dogs victorious howl as they started to tear apart and feast upon their new-found prey.