Reclamation

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER ONEMallory

June 26, 2007 – Dusk

I knew something felt wrong as soon as we got into the car at the temple, but I ignored it. I wanted to show Jenna how easy it could be to just go with the flow and let things happen.

Why did I ever keep going with that charade?

My head throbs where I must have fallen against the side of the van. I open my eyes to see one of the men standing above me, shouting in a foreign language. He’s holding Jenna’s phone and is shaking it at me.

Oh f**k! Are they going to kill me for trying to keep the phone with me?

The man pulls me up by my arm and my legs feel like they are going to collapse. My wrists are still bound by the plastic ties. I look around for Jenna. Maybe she’s still in the van, but I can’t see through tinted windows. All I see is another man pacing in front of the van and talking on a phone. Then a large delivery truck comes over the small hill in the road and slows down.

Oh God, please let this be someone to rescue us.

The truck starts to turn around in the middle of the road and then backs up behind the van. Two larger men get out and yell something at the man on the phone.

I scream from behind the tape that muffles my mouth.

They talk harshly to the man grasping my arm. I wish I could understand what they are saying. One of them walks up to me and stands very close. He looks at me with dark eyes and a sour look on his face. He pulls me away, dragging me toward the large truck. Is he saving me? Is he taking me? What is happening?

My mouth is on fire under the tape. Tears and sweat sting my eyes. I kick my feet, trying to grip the ground and attempt to run, but this strange man is pulling me too fast. The gravel scrapes my legs. Then he stops and hoists me up, making me balance upright. He shakes me by the shoulders and yells something at me. My body trembles, and my esophagus burns like I might vomit.

I shift my focus to regain control of my legs so I might be able to run. I look at the man who keeps yelling at me and then, almost by reflex, my knee hits him right in the groin. He bends over in pain. He says something while almost laughing, and then his face works its way into a sneer with sharp eyes, and his hand strikes my cheek. My head is ringing, and I swear I just lost my sense of hearing in my right ear. Stumbling backwards, I fall to the ground only for the wind to be knocked out of me as the man kicks me in the stomach. My body folds in on itself with agony and shock.

Breathing heavily through my nose with mucus and tears covering my face, I manage to loosen the tape enough to gasp for more air. As I look up from the ground, a hazy fog clouds my vision. Am I passing out?

Another man comes over and grabs my arms, yanking me toward the larger truck. With a chain in his hands, he loops the zip ties on my wrists and then hooks me to a large bar on the side of the delivery truck. He pushes the tape back around my mouth with his dirty hand and then says something under his breath as he walks back to the van.

My hearing returns quickly as the screeching sound of the door slides opens to the back of the truck. To my horror, two of the men start pulling the women out the side door of the van. The women are still unconscious. One man takes the feet and another takes their shoulders, and they lift the women up and into the back of the delivery truck. The larger man who hit me is able to carry a woman over his shoulders and load her into the truck like a sack of grain, ready for delivery. There is shuffling inside the back of the truck, but I can’t see anything.

Then they pull Jenna out of the van. Her body looks lifeless as they carry her. Her reddish-blonde hair drags on the dirt road. The two smaller men toss her up to the back of the truck. I hear her body hit the metal floor, and it makes me yell under the tape.

No! No! No! I wonder if they will kill me instead of putting me in the truck too.

A hand grabs my shoulder, and I can’t turn around all the way. I try to pull myself away from his grasp, but there is no possibility of getting loose. He rips my head back by my hair and then something cold grazes my neck, maybe a knife.

This is the end.

I squeeze my eyes shut. Images of my mom and dad flash in my mind. I see myself with Jenna boarding a plane just days ago, full of excitement and anticipation. I see Ryan’s face, his kind face with his trusting heart, as I wait for the worst.

I scream under the tape again. I’m sure I’m dying right here, right now. But I have to find a way to save Jenna. I can’t let them kill me.

The sun has almost set, and I’m unable to make out much on the road. Only a few moments have passed even though it has seemed like an entire lifetime in those horrific seconds. Someone tugs on my hair and shoves a cloth in my face. In a breath, everything goes black.