Chapter 1
Saralee lay huddled in a cold dusty corner where she had been thrown. Her leg, which was twisted at an odd angle underneath her, throbbed in pain. She thought back to the hours that had brought her to this point.
It had started out as a normal sunny, breezy summer day. She had woken up and went on a jog around her block before breakfast. It had all proceeded like normal until she went out for her afternoon run, which she did right before her dad came home. She ran to a little running trail by her home. It was five miles long, and went around in a circle. All along the trail there were trees, for shade. It ran right by a small little stream that gurgled happily most of the year. The grass was a lush green and just perfect for lying in to daydream. As she was running along the trail she saw a big man following behind her. Suddenly the man caught up to her and grabbed her from behind, covering her mouth with his strong, calloused hand. He dragged her to a big white van that was waiting on a turn-off of the trail. She was shoved in and the van squealed away. They drove up to a mountain, full of trees and clearings for campsites, and on deep into the forest. She was tossed about like a rag doll as they drove up and about the rocky terrain of the mountain’s forest. By the time they stopped at an old, run-down cabin, she was black and blue. The place wasn’t much to look at. It was dark and dusty. The roof was falling down in places and the walls were crumbling about the place. It was in sad shape, and looked about ready to give up and topple completely to the ground. A tall towering figure with a dark curly black beard and hair to match opened the door as she was dragged up the walkway. He took her other arm, and then they shoved her into a small, almost closet like room that had only one small window, that didn’t get much light, it was almost totally dark. They threw her in and left her where she was now.
She could hear sounds coming from the other room. Pushing herself up onto her hands and knees she slid across the room to where she could make out what was being said.
“Now what do we do with her?” asked a young sounding voice.
“We wait until we get our orders before we do anything,” a deep voice boomed.
“When will that be?”
“Whenever our boss decided to call.”
“But...”
“No buts’, now be quiet.”
Then silence encased the cabin. Exhausted she fell asleep. When she awoke she was shivering with cold, and she could hear the sound of the TV but couldn’t make out what it was. Her stomach growled, reminding her that she hadn’t eaten since lunch.
How long had that been? “What time is it? What day is it?” she thought to herself. As her stomach growled again she started to bang on the door.
“What do you want?” a voice growled and she recognized him as the booming voice from the previous night.
He opened the door abruptly, he smelled of cheap beer, and had food particles stuck in his beard, he had a husky voice, like he’d smoked too much cigarettes in his life, and now he couldn’t talk right. His brown eyes seemed to pierce her to the wall, making her afraid to even breath, let alone say anything, but she started it and needed to finish it, so she spoke up, trying not to make him mad.
“C...can I have something to eat?” she stammered.
“Why?”
“I...I haven’t eaten for a long time.”
“You’ll get fed when I decide that you’ll get fed.” With that he slammed the door, narrowly missing her nose.
She pulled herself up, using the door handle, and tried to walk to the window, but as soon as she put weight on her left leg a fiery pain shot up her leg and she crumpled, losing consciousness before she hit the floor.
It had been a bad day for Jessie and Jordan. Their parents had come home drunk from gambling all afternoon. Jessie was called downstairs almost immediately. Jessie looked at her twin brother with fear in her sky blue eyes. Jordan despised his parent, how they could do this. He noticed how his sister’s shoulders slumped as she walked downstairs, her curly blonde hair grazing her shoulders. Today he held his breath, waiting to be called downstairs to see his parent’s wrath, but nothing happened, today was a day that their parents had seemed to forget about him.
The afternoon was turning into evening by the time Jessie came back upstairs to their room. It wasn’t much, just two beds and a dresser that they shared. They had no decorations, nothing to make the room state that they lived there, just a room that seemed to be forgotten at the end of the hall.
Jessie walked slowly into the room. Her hair was a mess, and her clothes were dirty, probably from cleaning the house Jordan thought. She had a huge red mark on her left cheek, and she cradled her left arm. She sat cross-legged on her bed, and didn’t say anything.
“What did they do to your arm?” Jordan asked gently.
“Dad got mad that I wasn’t working fast enough for him, he grabbed my arm and twisted it behind my back.” she whispered quietly.
“Let me see it,” he walked over to her bed, and kneeled beside it. “It looks like it’s just twisted, it should be fine soon, at least it’s not broken.” he said after he had examined it.
They got changed and got into bed, and fell asleep. Jessie woke to someone shaking her. She stared out into the darkness, and sat up, using her right arm to prop herself up.
“What?” she asked sleepily into the darkness.
“Get, up, we’re leaving.” Jordan whispered.
“What do you mean? Leaving? Where are we going?”
“I packed a bag for you. We are getting out of this house, we’ll walk to South Dakota, we have some family friends there, and they’ll help us.” Jordan put a pack on her bed.
Jessie got dressed quickly and then the sneaked downstairs, and out into the night
*
“Hurry up, will you?” Jordan shouted to his twin sister, Jessie, who was falling behind.
“I’m trying, but this stupid log tripped me!” she shouted back.
After she had caught up with him he said, “Come on, we’ll sleep there tonight,” pointing at a clearing straight ahead.
There were no trees, and a little stream bubbled happily through the clearing. It was the perfect place to sleep for the night.
The fire was blazing comfortably as Jessie cooked up the fish they had caught earlier that evening.
“Do you know where you’re taking us or are you just wandering around?” Jessie asked as they were eating.
“Yes, we’re going this way so we don’t get caught and taken back to our parents.”
“Okay,” she said with a hint of suspicion in her voice.
Jordan cleaned up camp as Jessie laid out the sleeping bags, and fell asleep.
Hunter, dressed all in black so as not to be seen, scurried up the nearest tree and looked down at the picture he below him. Three men sat, fishing by the river. Their things were scattered all over the place, making it look like a tornado had hit just that one spot of the forest. He scanned the sight carefully, looking for a bag that was in their possession. After locating it by a tree in the vicinity, he climbed stealthily down the tree and snatched it up- but not before one of the men saw him.
“Hey you! Bring that back,” a tall, strong, big boned man yelled with a Texan accent called out to Hunter.
Hunter ran harder as the men got up and chased after him. He hid in a tree, and waited for the pursuers to pass him. When the road was clear he jumped out and ran in the other direction, picking a beaten up, dilapidated, old woodshed to fall asleep behind.
Saralee sat up groggily. Her once curly, shiny brown hair was now a tangled, dirty mess. Her clothes were full of dust and dirt, and ripped in several places. She looked like a street urchin in a movie she had seen once.
She was sliding across the room, towards the dirty window when the door opened and a stealthy young man came in. As he walked towards her she drew back with fear. Memories of what had happened last time were still fresh in her mind, and she didn’t want to find out if he was as mean as his partner had been.
“I brought you some food.”
She nodded her thanks, as she reached for the plate of mush that he had brought in. As she started to eat, he knelt down and examined her leg. As he touched it she winced in pain.
“Ah, that doesn’t look too good. Let’s fix this leg.”
Again she nodded, unsure of how to answer.
“What’s wrong? Can’t you talk?”
“Why are you doing this?” she asked as soon as she was able to find her voice that had been hiding from her since the man had come in.
“The boss wants you healthy before we take you to her. Now, other than your leg, anything else need attention?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Good, now let’s fix this leg.”
He had brought in some wraps, and some wood in order to splint her leg with. She screamed in agony as he gently tried to set her leg. Fire was shooting up her leg and into her brain, making the world go black around the edges. He gave her some pain reliever to help ease the pain as he carefully wrapped her leg and attached the two pieces of wood to her leg. She was drifting in and out of consciousness as he worked, but she could hear his tuneless humming. After he was done he picked up the plate and all his equipment that wasn’t being used, and left the room.
Hunter opened the bag and gently took out each item. It had: weapons, food, a laptop, a flashlight, extra clothes, a note, and a map. Everything he needed to get. He was able to go home now. Quickly and gently he put the stuff back, slung the pack over his shoulder and was about to take off when he saw a girl’s face through a cabin window.
She had dirty brown hair, and emerald green eyes. Her face was streaked with dirt and contorted with pain. He walked towards her.
She was standing by the window- looking out into the world she was now no longer a part of- when she saw him.
He looked like a normal teenage boy, with black hair and green eyes. For some reason he had stopped and was looking right at her. Before she knew it he had walked up to the window.
“What’s your name?” His voice revealed a slight English accent.
“Saralee. Who are you?”
“Name‘s Hunter. What are you doing here?”
“I’ve been kidnapped. I don’t know what they want, or where I am, or who they are or anything,” she said in one long breath.
“Anything else?” he asked, a hint of laughter in his voice.
“Yes, I’ve broken my leg.”
“Well, seems you’re in a bit of a pickle.”
“Thank you Captain Obvious. Are you going to help me or not?”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thank you.”
“Wake up,” Jordan said, shaking Jessie awake.
“What?” she asked as she sat up.
“We should get a move on.”
She got up and started packing up camp, while Jordan went to look for something to eat. After she was done she sat down to wait for her brother.
She saw her brother walking back, with his blonde hair shining in the sun, looking more gold than blonde. Both of them were like that, golden blonde hair and sky blue eyes, they had gotten it from their grandmother on their mom’s side. Thinking about that made her mind go off on their parents. It had all started when they were twelve. They didn’t know what had happened to change them, but one day they started to drink, then it went into gambling, before Jordan and Jessie knew it their parents had changed into monsters. They would neglect them for days on end, leaving them to fend for themselves, or they would beat them, or treat them like slaves, forcing them to do anything that came to their mind. It seemed like they lived to come up with something new to do. It was like a drug to them. Then one day Jordan and Jessie had had enough, they packed up some bags, and headed out of their home in Idaho and headed to a family friend that lived in South Dakota.
“Ready?” Jordan asked, shaking her out of her reverie.
“Ready.”
Saralee heard strange sounds followed by the door opening and closing. ’One of them went to investigate’ she thought. It wasn’t long after that that she heard a struggle going on in the other room. The door opened and there stood Hunter.
“Come on, we don’t have much time.” He held out his hand, which she took, and off they ran. They got to the stream where Hunter had gotten his supplies last night before Saralee had to stop.
“I can’t go any farther.” she panted.
“We can’t stop here- they’ll find us for sure.”
“Then go on without me. If they come I’ll find a place to hide. I’m not your problem anymore, so thanks for the help. I greatly appreciate it. Good-bye.”
“Wait, wait, wait. Not happening. I can’t just leave you here to be found. You are my problem until you are at home or until you are safe and sound. So you’re welcome, but come on. I’ll carry you if I have to.” With that he swooped her up onto his back and took off at a run.
He didn’t stop running till he reached a secluded pond. The area was surrounded by trees, so you could walk right past it and not know it.
“We’ll rest here tonight,” he panted, as he set her down.
“Thank you.” There was an uncomfortable silence.
“Well, um, I’ll go look for something to eat. Don’t move.”
“Where would I go?”
He unzipped his pack and gave her a knife. “For emergencies.” With that he was off.
Taking advantage of his absence, Saralee used the pond to get cleaned up. Despite the fact that she was wearing dirty clothes, she felt refreshed and clean. Her hair was almost dry when Hunter came back with food and firewood. As he was cooking she asked, “Not to sound ungrateful, but why did you help me?”
He shrugged. “You saw me, I couldn’t just leave you. And if you recall, you asked for my help. I couldn’t very well say no, now could I?”
“Oh, so it was for a clear conscience?”
“You could put it that way.”
“I did. How old are you?”
“19. You?”
“17What is a 19 year old doing out here?”
“I’m here to help someone I know get back what belongs to her.”
“A girl friend.”
“She is a friend that is a girl, yes. Not the kind of girlfriend that you speak of.”
“Do you always do that?”
“What?”
“Say only enough to answer the question, and make it clear with no explanation of any sort.?”
“Depends on the question.”
“So only personal ones.”
“Exactly.”
“Why?”
“It’s no one else’s business. Here, eat this.” He pushed the plate of fish and berries toward her.
Hunter thought about the things that had brought him to this point in time. Two days ago his “aunt”, or the person who had become like an aunt to him in his life, had sent for him. He walked up to her mansion, and talked to her. She had sent him on a mission, she needed him to get a pack back from Flara’s men. It held some special information that Mara needed. He had gone off almost immediately, only stopping by his house to say good bye to Cara, his mother. He ran off, not bothering with a horse, they were too much trouble. He found Flara’s men and the pack fairly quickly, and easily. He had seen Saralee, something in her face reminded her of someone he knew, he got her out safely, and was taking her back to Mara, she’d know what to do with her.
Close by Jordan and Jessie were setting up camp for the night. Jordan was the first to see the smoke rising from the trees.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“Probably another camper’s campfire.”
“Let’s check it out.”
“Fine, help me clean up.”
After they had cleaned up the campsite they headed over to see the other campers.
Hunter heard a twig snap and automatically went into survivor mode, as only a person who spent most of his life in dangerous places can do.
“Who are you and what do you want?” Hunter asked, a gun pointed at each one of them. Their hands flew into the air.
“My name is Jordan and this is Jessie,” Jordan said, jerking his thumb towards his sister.
“We saw a fire and came over to investigate. We mean no harm.” Jessie said.
“Hunter, put the guns down,” Saralee said as she hobbled toward the newcomers. Slowly he lowered his guns, ready to raise them at any moment. Cautiously the newcomers put down their hands.
“My name’s Saralee. The guy with the guns is Hunter.” She held out her hand and each of the twins shook it in turn. “Have a seat.” Saralee gestured them in. As they sat down she asked, “What brings you out here?”
“We are heading to South Dakota to see a family friend.” Jessie said. Jordan looked over and glared at her.
“So you walk up a mountain and into a forest without your parents?” Hunter asked skeptically.
“Truth be told, we ran away, our parents and us didn’t get along, so to speak.” Jessie, again, replied. Jordan kicked Jessie, trying to get her to stop talking, he wasn’t comfortable with people he didn’t know, knowing so much about him, it made him feel vulnerable, like his whole world was an open book.
“What about you two?” Jordan asked,
“Well, I was kidnapped, and Hunter ended up saving me, I don’t know his story.” Saralee said.
They turned expectantly to Hunter.
“Saralee, I told you, I’m here to bring back something that belongs to a friend of mine.” he said.
“What is this something?” Jordan asked.
“It doesn’t involve you,” he said curtly.
“Well, maybe we could help.” Saralee replied.
“I doubt it. I’m going to get firewood.” With that he left.
“Why don’t we join forces, we’re all pretty much after the same thing, a way home.” Saralee proposed.
Jordan and Jessie put their heads together.
“We should,” Jessie believed.
“How do you know we can trust them?”
“I just do, they seem nice and there’s safety in numbers.”
“Fine but anything goes wrong and we leave, ok?”
“Ok,”
“That’s a good idea,” Jessie said, turning to face Saralee.
“Good.”
“How did you break your leg?” Jordan asked.
“I was shoved in a room, and ended up falling on it which broke it.”
It was getting cold and the fire had died. Jordan and Jessie, who had planned their trip, were warmly dressed with jeans, t-shirts, sweatshirts, and jackets. Saralee was dressed in what she was wearing when she was kidnapped; blue running pants and a light, white tank-top. Noticing she was shivering, Jordan gave her his jacket. At that moment Hunter came back with firewood.
“Staying the night.” It was more of a statement than an actual question.
“Actually they’re going to join us.” Saralee said.
“As long as they keep up and don’t get in my way.” With that he started the fire.
“You’re going to need some different clothes if you’re going to survive traveling in the mountains,” he said to Saralee, as he went to his pack. He handed her some jeans, and a t-shirt, a sweatshirt, and a jacket.
“Here, try these on, they’ll be big, but they’ll be better than what you have on now.”
She took the clothes and hobbled behind a bush to change, then walked back to the group, pulling up her pants.
“They’re huge on you, you look so little,” Jessie laughed.
“They’ll be ok, but a belt would be nice.” Saralee smiled.
“Here, my clothes will be a better fit, but you’ll have to keep the sweatshirt and jacket.” Jessie handed the clothes to Saralee. They fit nicely, and with that they all went to bed.
Saralee lay huddled in a cold dusty corner where she had been thrown. Her leg, which was twisted at an odd angle underneath her, throbbed in pain. She thought back to the hours that had brought her to this point.
It had started out as a normal sunny, breezy summer day. She had woken up and went on a jog around her block before breakfast. It had all proceeded like normal until she went out for her afternoon run, which she did right before her dad came home. She ran to a little running trail by her home. It was five miles long, and went around in a circle. All along the trail there were trees, for shade. It ran right by a small little stream that gurgled happily most of the year. The grass was a lush green and just perfect for lying in to daydream. As she was running along the trail she saw a big man following behind her. Suddenly the man caught up to her and grabbed her from behind, covering her mouth with his strong, calloused hand. He dragged her to a big white van that was waiting on a turn-off of the trail. She was shoved in and the van squealed away. They drove up to a mountain, full of trees and clearings for campsites, and on deep into the forest. She was tossed about like a rag doll as they drove up and about the rocky terrain of the mountain’s forest. By the time they stopped at an old, run-down cabin, she was black and blue. The place wasn’t much to look at. It was dark and dusty. The roof was falling down in places and the walls were crumbling about the place. It was in sad shape, and looked about ready to give up and topple completely to the ground. A tall towering figure with a dark curly black beard and hair to match opened the door as she was dragged up the walkway. He took her other arm, and then they shoved her into a small, almost closet like room that had only one small window, that didn’t get much light, it was almost totally dark. They threw her in and left her where she was now.
She could hear sounds coming from the other room. Pushing herself up onto her hands and knees she slid across the room to where she could make out what was being said.
“Now what do we do with her?” asked a young sounding voice.
“We wait until we get our orders before we do anything,” a deep voice boomed.
“When will that be?”
“Whenever our boss decided to call.”
“But...”
“No buts’, now be quiet.”
Then silence encased the cabin. Exhausted she fell asleep. When she awoke she was shivering with cold, and she could hear the sound of the TV but couldn’t make out what it was. Her stomach growled, reminding her that she hadn’t eaten since lunch.
How long had that been? “What time is it? What day is it?” she thought to herself. As her stomach growled again she started to bang on the door.
“What do you want?” a voice growled and she recognized him as the booming voice from the previous night.
He opened the door abruptly, he smelled of cheap beer, and had food particles stuck in his beard, he had a husky voice, like he’d smoked too much cigarettes in his life, and now he couldn’t talk right. His brown eyes seemed to pierce her to the wall, making her afraid to even breath, let alone say anything, but she started it and needed to finish it, so she spoke up, trying not to make him mad.
“C...can I have something to eat?” she stammered.
“Why?”
“I...I haven’t eaten for a long time.”
“You’ll get fed when I decide that you’ll get fed.” With that he slammed the door, narrowly missing her nose.
She pulled herself up, using the door handle, and tried to walk to the window, but as soon as she put weight on her left leg a fiery pain shot up her leg and she crumpled, losing consciousness before she hit the floor.
It had been a bad day for Jessie and Jordan. Their parents had come home drunk from gambling all afternoon. Jessie was called downstairs almost immediately. Jessie looked at her twin brother with fear in her sky blue eyes. Jordan despised his parent, how they could do this. He noticed how his sister’s shoulders slumped as she walked downstairs, her curly blonde hair grazing her shoulders. Today he held his breath, waiting to be called downstairs to see his parent’s wrath, but nothing happened, today was a day that their parents had seemed to forget about him.
The afternoon was turning into evening by the time Jessie came back upstairs to their room. It wasn’t much, just two beds and a dresser that they shared. They had no decorations, nothing to make the room state that they lived there, just a room that seemed to be forgotten at the end of the hall.
Jessie walked slowly into the room. Her hair was a mess, and her clothes were dirty, probably from cleaning the house Jordan thought. She had a huge red mark on her left cheek, and she cradled her left arm. She sat cross-legged on her bed, and didn’t say anything.
“What did they do to your arm?” Jordan asked gently.
“Dad got mad that I wasn’t working fast enough for him, he grabbed my arm and twisted it behind my back.” she whispered quietly.
“Let me see it,” he walked over to her bed, and kneeled beside it. “It looks like it’s just twisted, it should be fine soon, at least it’s not broken.” he said after he had examined it.
They got changed and got into bed, and fell asleep. Jessie woke to someone shaking her. She stared out into the darkness, and sat up, using her right arm to prop herself up.
“What?” she asked sleepily into the darkness.
“Get, up, we’re leaving.” Jordan whispered.
“What do you mean? Leaving? Where are we going?”
“I packed a bag for you. We are getting out of this house, we’ll walk to South Dakota, we have some family friends there, and they’ll help us.” Jordan put a pack on her bed.
Jessie got dressed quickly and then the sneaked downstairs, and out into the night
“Hurry up, will you?” Jordan shouted to his twin sister, Jessie, who was falling behind.
“I’m trying, but this stupid log tripped me!” she shouted back.
After she had caught up with him he said, “Come on, we’ll sleep there tonight,” pointing at a clearing straight ahead.
There were no trees, and a little stream bubbled happily through the clearing. It was the perfect place to sleep for the night.
The fire was blazing comfortably as Jessie cooked up the fish they had caught earlier that evening.
“Do you know where you’re taking us or are you just wandering around?” Jessie asked as they were eating.
“Yes, we’re going this way so we don’t get caught and taken back to our parents.”
“Okay,” she said with a hint of suspicion in her voice.
Jordan cleaned up camp as Jessie laid out the sleeping bags, and fell asleep.
Hunter, dressed all in black so as not to be seen, scurried up the nearest tree and looked down at the picture he below him. Three men sat, fishing by the river. Their things were scattered all over the place, making it look like a tornado had hit just that one spot of the forest. He scanned the sight carefully, looking for a bag that was in their possession. After locating it by a tree in the vicinity, he climbed stealthily down the tree and snatched it up- but not before one of the men saw him.
“Hey you! Bring that back,” a tall, strong, big boned man yelled with a Texan accent called out to Hunter.
Hunter ran harder as the men got up and chased after him. He hid in a tree, and waited for the pursuers to pass him. When the road was clear he jumped out and ran in the other direction, picking a beaten up, dilapidated, old woodshed to fall asleep behind.
Saralee sat up groggily. Her once curly, shiny brown hair was now a tangled, dirty mess. Her clothes were full of dust and dirt, and ripped in several places. She looked like a street urchin in a movie she had seen once.
She was sliding across the room, towards the dirty window when the door opened and a stealthy young man came in. As he walked towards her she drew back with fear. Memories of what had happened last time were still fresh in her mind, and she didn’t want to find out if he was as mean as his partner had been.
“I brought you some food.”
She nodded her thanks, as she reached for the plate of mush that he had brought in. As she started to eat, he knelt down and examined her leg. As he touched it she winced in pain.
“Ah, that doesn’t look too good. Let’s fix this leg.”
Again she nodded, unsure of how to answer.
“What’s wrong? Can’t you talk?”
“Why are you doing this?” she asked as soon as she was able to find her voice that had been hiding from her since the man had come in.
“The boss wants you healthy before we take you to her. Now, other than your leg, anything else need attention?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Good, now let’s fix this leg.”
He had brought in some wraps, and some wood in order to splint her leg with. She screamed in agony as he gently tried to set her leg. Fire was shooting up her leg and into her brain, making the world go black around the edges. He gave her some pain reliever to help ease the pain as he carefully wrapped her leg and attached the two pieces of wood to her leg. She was drifting in and out of consciousness as he worked, but she could hear his tuneless humming. After he was done he picked up the plate and all his equipment that wasn’t being used, and left the room.
Hunter opened the bag and gently took out each item. It had: weapons, food, a laptop, a flashlight, extra clothes, a note, and a map. Everything he needed to get. He was able to go home now. Quickly and gently he put the stuff back, slung the pack over his shoulder and was about to take off when he saw a girl’s face through a cabin window.
She had dirty brown hair, and emerald green eyes. Her face was streaked with dirt and contorted with pain. He walked towards her.
She was standing by the window- looking out into the world she was now no longer a part of- when she saw him.
He looked like a normal teenage boy, with black hair and green eyes. For some reason he had stopped and was looking right at her. Before she knew it he had walked up to the window.
“What’s your name?” His voice revealed a slight English accent.
“Saralee. Who are you?”
“Name‘s Hunter. What are you doing here?”
“I’ve been kidnapped. I don’t know what they want, or where I am, or who they are or anything,” she said in one long breath.
“Anything else?” he asked, a hint of laughter in his voice.
“Yes, I’ve broken my leg.”
“Well, seems you’re in a bit of a pickle.”
“Thank you Captain Obvious. Are you going to help me or not?”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thank you.”
“Wake up,” Jordan said, shaking Jessie awake.
“What?” she asked as she sat up.
“We should get a move on.”
She got up and started packing up camp, while Jordan went to look for something to eat. After she was done she sat down to wait for her brother.
She saw her brother walking back, with his blonde hair shining in the sun, looking more gold than blonde. Both of them were like that, golden blonde hair and sky blue eyes, they had gotten it from their grandmother on their mom’s side. Thinking about that made her mind go off on their parents. It had all started when they were twelve. They didn’t know what had happened to change them, but one day they started to drink, then it went into gambling, before Jordan and Jessie knew it their parents had changed into monsters. They would neglect them for days on end, leaving them to fend for themselves, or they would beat them, or treat them like slaves, forcing them to do anything that came to their mind. It seemed like they lived to come up with something new to do. It was like a drug to them. Then one day Jordan and Jessie had had enough, they packed up some bags, and headed out of their home in Idaho and headed to a family friend that lived in South Dakota.
“Ready?” Jordan asked, shaking her out of her reverie.
“Ready.”
Saralee heard strange sounds followed by the door opening and closing. ’One of them went to investigate’ she thought. It wasn’t long after that that she heard a struggle going on in the other room. The door opened and there stood Hunter.
“Come on, we don’t have much time.” He held out his hand, which she took, and off they ran. They got to the stream where Hunter had gotten his supplies last night before Saralee had to stop.
“I can’t go any farther.” she panted.
“We can’t stop here- they’ll find us for sure.”
“Then go on without me. If they come I’ll find a place to hide. I’m not your problem anymore, so thanks for the help. I greatly appreciate it. Good-bye.”
“Wait, wait, wait. Not happening. I can’t just leave you here to be found. You are my problem until you are at home or until you are safe and sound. So you’re welcome, but come on. I’ll carry you if I have to.” With that he swooped her up onto his back and took off at a run.
He didn’t stop running till he reached a secluded pond. The area was surrounded by trees, so you could walk right past it and not know it.
“We’ll rest here tonight,” he panted, as he set her down.
“Thank you.” There was an uncomfortable silence.
“Well, um, I’ll go look for something to eat. Don’t move.”
“Where would I go?”
He unzipped his pack and gave her a knife. “For emergencies.” With that he was off.
Taking advantage of his absence, Saralee used the pond to get cleaned up. Despite the fact that she was wearing dirty clothes, she felt refreshed and clean. Her hair was almost dry when Hunter came back with food and firewood. As he was cooking she asked, “Not to sound ungrateful, but why did you help me?”
He shrugged. “You saw me, I couldn’t just leave you. And if you recall, you asked for my help. I couldn’t very well say no, now could I?”
“Oh, so it was for a clear conscience?”
“You could put it that way.”
“I did. How old are you?”
“19. You?”
“17What is a 19 year old doing out here?”
“I’m here to help someone I know get back what belongs to her.”
“A girl friend.”
“She is a friend that is a girl, yes. Not the kind of girlfriend that you speak of.”
“Do you always do that?”
“What?”
“Say only enough to answer the question, and make it clear with no explanation of any sort.?”
“Depends on the question.”
“So only personal ones.”
“Exactly.”
“Why?”
“It’s no one else’s business. Here, eat this.” He pushed the plate of fish and berries toward her.
Hunter thought about the things that had brought him to this point in time. Two days ago his “aunt”, or the person who had become like an aunt to him in his life, had sent for him. He walked up to her mansion, and talked to her. She had sent him on a mission, she needed him to get a pack back from Flara’s men. It held some special information that Mara needed. He had gone off almost immediately, only stopping by his house to say good bye to Cara, his mother. He ran off, not bothering with a horse, they were too much trouble. He found Flara’s men and the pack fairly quickly, and easily. He had seen Saralee, something in her face reminded her of someone he knew, he got her out safely, and was taking her back to Mara, she’d know what to do with her.
Close by Jordan and Jessie were setting up camp for the night. Jordan was the first to see the smoke rising from the trees.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“Probably another camper’s campfire.”
“Let’s check it out.”
“Fine, help me clean up.”
After they had cleaned up the campsite they headed over to see the other campers.
Hunter heard a twig snap and automatically went into survivor mode, as only a person who spent most of his life in dangerous places can do.
“Who are you and what do you want?” Hunter asked, a gun pointed at each one of them. Their hands flew into the air.
“My name is Jordan and this is Jessie,” Jordan said, jerking his thumb towards his sister.
“We saw a fire and came over to investigate. We mean no harm.” Jessie said.
“Hunter, put the guns down,” Saralee said as she hobbled toward the newcomers. Slowly he lowered his guns, ready to raise them at any moment. Cautiously the newcomers put down their hands.
“My name’s Saralee. The guy with the guns is Hunter.” She held out her hand and each of the twins shook it in turn. “Have a seat.” Saralee gestured them in. As they sat down she asked, “What brings you out here?”
“We are heading to South Dakota to see a family friend.” Jessie said. Jordan looked over and glared at her.
“So you walk up a mountain and into a forest without your parents?” Hunter asked skeptically.
“Truth be told, we ran away, our parents and us didn’t get along, so to speak.” Jessie, again, replied. Jordan kicked Jessie, trying to get her to stop talking, he wasn’t comfortable with people he didn’t know, knowing so much about him, it made him feel vulnerable, like his whole world was an open book.
“What about you two?” Jordan asked,
“Well, I was kidnapped, and Hunter ended up saving me, I don’t know his story.” Saralee said.
They turned expectantly to Hunter.
“Saralee, I told you, I’m here to bring back something that belongs to a friend of mine.” he said.
“What is this something?” Jordan asked.
“It doesn’t involve you,” he said curtly.
“Well, maybe we could help.” Saralee replied.
“I doubt it. I’m going to get firewood.” With that he left.
“Why don’t we join forces, we’re all pretty much after the same thing, a way home.” Saralee proposed.
Jordan and Jessie put their heads together.
“We should,” Jessie believed.
“How do you know we can trust them?”
“I just do, they seem nice and there’s safety in numbers.”
“Fine but anything goes wrong and we leave, ok?”
“Ok,”
“That’s a good idea,” Jessie said, turning to face Saralee.
“Good.”
“How did you break your leg?” Jordan asked.
“I was shoved in a room, and ended up falling on it which broke it.”
It was getting cold and the fire had died. Jordan and Jessie, who had planned their trip, were warmly dressed with jeans, t-shirts, sweatshirts, and jackets. Saralee was dressed in what she was wearing when she was kidnapped; blue running pants and a light, white tank-top. Noticing she was shivering, Jordan gave her his jacket. At that moment Hunter came back with firewood.
“Staying the night.” It was more of a statement than an actual question.
“Actually they’re going to join us.” Saralee said.
“As long as they keep up and don’t get in my way.” With that he started the fire.
“You’re going to need some different clothes if you’re going to survive traveling in the mountains,” he said to Saralee, as he went to his pack. He handed her some jeans, and a t-shirt, a sweatshirt, and a jacket.
“Here, try these on, they’ll be big, but they’ll be better than what you have on now.”
She took the clothes and hobbled behind a bush to change, then walked back to the group, pulling up her pants.
“They’re huge on you, you look so little,” Jessie laughed.
“They’ll be ok, but a belt would be nice.” Saralee smiled.
“Here, my clothes will be a better fit, but you’ll have to keep the sweatshirt and jacket.” Jessie handed the clothes to Saralee. They fit nicely, and with that they all went to bed.
