Beg Harder by Artemis Dianne (new reading .TXT) 📗

22

BABY

 

Stress and mental tiredness have depleted the adrenaline that my body has released. My body has been entirely overtaken by tremendous fatigue. The paddling in the cold water really took a toll on my body eating up my energy. 

Exhaustion. 
 

Is the last thing I didn't want to happen right now, as I drive rapidly, my lids are suddenly closing on their own.

I almost crashed the car, I have no choice but to pull over to the side of the road and take a proper snooze. I changed into a new shirt as I'm feeling cold and put an alarm on the watch I took from Astor. 

But I knew that once I had enough energy, my body would naturally wake me up. As I was trying to set the alarm with his heavy watch. 

 

A little laser shot out of it, piercing the passenger seat all the way through the vehicle door. I'll be able to use this to trim back tiny shrubs for easier access. I made a point of wearing it again and locking the dial so that there would be no more mishaps.
 

When I awakened from my four-hour snooze, I quickly returned to the high road, turning on his laptop to locate the lodge's precise position. Fortunately, he still had the same lengthy password, so it took me another hour to go back into the woods and dump the vehicle in the same area as Astor had. 

I'm relieved that all of my efforts have paid off. I spotted the footprints on the mud as well as the road we traveled to escape. 

 

I have been walking around the woods in circles for almost an hour. I'm already panicking as the woods can be confusing. 

"I celebrated way too early," I say out loud.

The lodge was strategically located in the area where Astor can install his famous camouflage system. I'm now experiencing how hard it is to find the way in and couldn't help but get mad at myself for not thinking this one through. 

Just when I thought I'm completely screwed, I see something just a few feet away.

I'm thrilled to have discovered the garment piece that had been snagged from my top earlier. Starting from that point, it was already easy to get to the lodge. Just a few more turns and one more climb. I was one kilometer away from the lodge when I stepped on a bomb.

I want to smack myself in the face. How could I have forgotten about all the boobie traps my Aunt Madonna loves to put up? This isn't how I plan to die. 

I tried lifting my foot to see if I could dismantle it but the mud on my shoes was so thick and sticky that it was impossible to even touch it without it blowing me into pieces. 

I crouched down and took a deep breath to think for a while when I heard ticking coming from the bomb. I gave out a panicked cry and just closed my eyes in despair, but nothing happened. 

Perhaps it was a flop, I raised my foot to inspect it but before I could see I felt a hard twist on my earlobe.   

"I should let that bomb just blow you off for not listening to me." She yells while she puts more pressure, pinching on my ear. 

"Aunt Madonna." I smile happily seeing her. I jumped hugging her. " I thought that's the last time I'm gonna see you." My emotions had all poured in. From getting lost and now stepping on this bomb. 

"I'm not letting you die just like that so you might as well kill me now," I say as my tears are flowing again. 

"Oh Baby, you were supposed to be the obedient one." She says while hugging me back.  

"I'm not even gonna ask what happened to Astor," she says while she pulls away from our hug. Her facial features were suddenly serious. "We only have a few hours, We need to get out of here." Her nose suddenly starts to bleed and she suddenly fainted. I felt her skin and she was warm, I concluded that she has a fever. 

I carried her on my back, while I was careful on my path not to step on any of the traps. She must have gotten tired from setting all those traps by herself.

I carefully laid her on the bed and checked her vital sign, Her blood pressure is really low, she must've forgotten to eat. I gave her a fever reducer and tucked her in to let her body rest but not before wiping her body with a cold towel. 

I'm trying to think of ways on how I could get in touch with Charles then I remember my conversation with Astor about the chip on her neck, I can just burn it and they will know my location. I got the laptop, I had to look for the scanner to burn it. Once everything is done.  

I waited anxiously. 

My thoughts are whirling around in my head. My mind wanders back to all the time I spent with him. I feel the knot in my stomach thinking of all of the misery and torment I've been through, as well as my life these last several weeks away from him. 

Post-traumatic stress disorder, paranoia, and the sense of helplessness. The truth is that no matter what decisions I make in life, I will always end up back where I began because Charles was successful in infiltrating himself into my subconscious mind and body.

 

I'm well aware of my messed upstate. There's nothing I can do but submit to him. It's the easier way out.

As I sit outside, I thought about what to bargain. The only reason why he let me go is to find out who I'm connected to. I have nothing else to give when he's already taken everything but my loyalty.  I can pledge my life to him willingly.  

That's it, it's worth a shot; I have nothing to lose but a few hours of my life in the process.

After another hour, I could hear them approaching. When I felt a powerful wind blowing from above, I realized it was the helicopter, but what shocked me was that there was more than one simply hovering overhead. The blades were loud as they spun; even if I yelled, they wouldn't be able to hear me. I raised my hands to show that I'm not going to fight back.

 

When suddenly, additional men with weapons emerge from the woods, all dressed in dark blue with their faces concealed, a change from the customary black that Charles requires his troops to wear. My hands are still up, and their guns are still aimed at me, so I back up. They had fully surrounded me as I glanced around. 

 

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