"Listen, we have to spilt up" Luke whispered, we had just sneaked out of the heavily guarded, rapidly burning supermarket and had skillfully made our way back to the shadows of the trees that lined the forest. Dried twigs crushed a short distance from us and I flinched. The men in black were closing in.
"Are you crazy?" I questioned nervously, knowing I couldn't make it on my own "Isn't it like your job to protect me"
He snickered "I am not a shadow, I devote my life to no one. It was Rowan's job to protect you and he's dead"
His words sliced the flesh from my bruised heart and my anger erupted. I slapped him hard across his face. He winced, glaring at me through his big green eyes- much like the man that tried to kidnap me from the library. On that note, I had no idea what happened to them or why they even tried to abduct me. Ray never really told me about them. He was so secretive. So distant. So… Just so.
"We have to keep moving" Aleecia appeared, holding three smart watches and I tried shoving all my anger, sadness and anxiety back into their cages. "I stole these. They tell where each Shadow is situated at all times. It will get us out of here alive"
She handed one to each of us before pressing a button on hers, lighting up the small screen "I reprogramed these to show where the three of us are differently. The blue is us and the red is them. These also tell the time. There is also a mini map. Remember we need to be at the other end of this forest by Monday morning 3:30 Am sharp." She insisted strapping the watch to her hand.
I took a deep calming breath and she made an effort to look at me "You've trained hard but do not try to fight one of these people. You won't win and they won't hesitate to kill you. Hold your hand in the air and scream pregnant for Rowan Xavier Wellers. You hear me?" she begged and I looked away. There was no way in hell.
She sighed "It's unorthodox. Trust me. I know. You yourself was immunity at one point... I also lost my child to this company. So I know."
I curled my eyes to look at her "I was what?"
"Yea. Mia. Your father is a shadow"
"What?" I asked confusedly, my mind becoming an unsorted jumble. I shook the thought from my head. This was too much to handle at the moment. I shrugged putting up a hand to stop her. I didn't want to hear anything more, yet. All I needed to focus on, was getting me and this fetus out of here.
"I'm ready. Let's survive this weekend" I prompted and she nodded. I looked over at Luke, his face had softened and something about him didn't seem so jerky. He buttoned the watch to his hand and I mirrored his actions.
"Why do we have to split up again?"
"Because. Mia." Luke began in his usual asshole tone and I frowned at him. His eyes wondered up to mine "They can see our little dots on their watch as well. These people only travel in ones and twos, mostly ones, as you can see on the screen. It would draw attention to us if we traveled in threes" He blinked twice and I rolled my eyes and shook my head.
"Let's go" Aleecia demanded and they both disappeared in opposite directions, leaving me standing in the middle of tall trees, alone. I turned on my watch and sighed a breath of relief when I realize the only shadows close to me were Aleecia and Luke both moving rapidly away.
"I better get going" I whispered underneath my breath. The sky had begun to lighten and the trees swayed slightly with the wind. It was exactly four o' clock in the morning and I needed to find somewhere to wait out the entire day. I started moving in the direction I thought would carry me to the other end of the island. I looked up into the weary sky before focusing my attention on the path in front of me. I halted as a man came waltzing from behind a tree meters away. He had his hands behind his back and he stared right at me with playful death in his eyes. He didn't appear on my watch which meant, he wasn't a shadow. I had also never seen him on the island before which meant he was here for me.
He scanned me over and I stopped breathing, having no idea what to do. I remembered the night at the library. Two persons tried to kidnap me, for a reason I was deeply unaware of. I frightfully scanned my surroundings for a second person before returning my attention to the man. He was gone. I swallowed hard, I was aware of this type of technique. It happened quite too often. Seconds later I felt hot breath fanning my neck and fear and terror crawled throughout my body; I struggled to keep my breathing even and steady.
I waited for him to make his move and as soon as he did, I elbowed him in the stomach before spinning around and punching him in the face. He fell to the ground in agony and I took that brief moment to run. I ran as fast as my feet allowed. Tree limbs tore at and bruised my exposed flesh and sharp edged rocks threatened to rip my shoes open but I didn't care. I needed to survive.
Before I could comprehend what was happening the man appeared with a piece of branch and slammed into my abdomen, sending me flying to the ground. Pain circled my blood cells and I struggled to push myself from the dried leaves on the ground. I groaned in agony as the man stood proudly above me.
"I've been waiting for this day a while now." He smirked "I get to return home after I kill you. Isn't that swell"
I grunted. That never gets old. Honestly.