Escape from Metal
Chapter 7: Taken

Jakes world was a hazy blur as he wondered aimlessly down a darkening tunnel. His heart was racing, and his hands were dripping from sweat. He had no idea where he was, and he didn’t care. The memories. They were coming back.

He didn’t want them to come back.

The screams of terror. Screams of fool hardy bravery. But most of all the ones he couldn’t forget. Screams of writhing agony. So many of them. He could hear more as they grew, a clamoring chorus. Endless fighting. The same story over and over again more and more dying. Being a guarantee that he would soon join them, but he never did.

Then there was a vague memory of a man. A brutal man, he looked much like Jake, but he didn’t let anything stand in his way nor anyone. He was a survivor.

“No! Stop. Please!” He said as he grabbed his head and stumbled forward. “Not again, please!”

His vision had become spotted with black dots, and he had a migraine that only grew as the memories did.

The next moment Jake was pinned to the wall as an arrow at each shoulder held him up through his clothes. Hanging like a helpless doll, his toes barely able to touch the floor.

Now both physically and mentally he was completely incapacitated. Unable to think clearly. Only able to see flashes of the memories. He had a desire to run to had but his body wouldn’t let him, nor would it let him try escape out of his snare.

Gwen stormed out of the shadows. Pulling a metal knife out of a holster and put it to Jakes throat.

“Give me one reason I shouldn’t drop you like a heap of scrap.” Gwen said in a muted whisper.

Jake said nothing his eyes had a blank look and with his head tilted he was staring into the distance.

“You’re a coward you know that!” Gwen said completely emotionless, it was almost more intimidating than someone yelling, the completely blank eyes and null facial expression. Even in Jake’s state he would probably never forget that sight.

“If you had helped me, we could’ve saved Ashia… you could ha…”

Gwen stared at Jake for a second looking into his empty eyes and closed hers for a second. As she took a few paces away from Jake she started saying things incoherently. Then in a split second almost with inhuman speed she took out her bow, notched an arrow and fired right between his legs.

He didn’t react still staring into the distance. Gwen mumbled something as she hit the closest wall but it seemed almost an act her anger when hitting the wall almost seemed like a poor stage performance. The metal clanged as the sound rang along the rusting metal, some of the more corroded sections of the wall collapsing into a pile of dust.

Gwen swung around still blank eyed, as she faced Jake. She stared down the electricity coil of a gun pointed straight between her eyes. Small sparks jumping around on the coil.

“Hello there.”A woman said.

“Why don’t you hand over that lovely bow and knife of yours or Jordan over there will do it for you.” She said as she looked at a rather big man behind her.

“Personally, I don’t care what you choose but Jordan isn’t the gentlest when it comes to taking things.” She said stepping back letting Jordan look at her menacingly.

Gwen reluctantly dropped her weapons on the ground in front of her. She looked around at all the big men with their coilguns and tried to understand how they could have snuck up on her. She was supposed to be beyond normal people and certainly beyond these chumps.

“Good that wasn’t so hard was it.”

“Jordan get that man off of the wall.” She said pointing her hand in the general direction of Jake, her voice had changed from patronizing to calculated and commanding.

“Chain these two up before any hunters catch our sent.” With that some of the other people with the woman dragged Gwen and Jake to be chained up.

“And juice that one up, I don’t want him walking off the edge.”

One of the goons of the woman took some kind of injection device and injected it straight into Jakes arm. His eyes shot wide open and the blank stare he had seemed to start fading away.