JINX

EPISODE 25 [pt.2]

"I'm going to f*cking kill you; you *sshole!" Miguel screams in rage as soon as he laid eyes on the man that captured him before. He starts striding towards him. Briar, known to be as Mister Clock, stood there like he still has more power than anyone else. But then, as soon as Miguel stands in front of him, his hand balled in a fist undoubtedly flies across his face, hitting it hard on his cheek.

"Ow, what the f*ck!" He complains as he stumbles into his steps as he ended up falling into the cold, cemented ground.

"Hey, hey, hey! Back off!" Mister Valentine calls out as he approaches them, trying his best to separate the two when Miguel is determined to take another hit on the man. But as he struggles to keep them apart, he expects that the others would take a hint of helping him out.

But everyone seems to be enjoying the fight rather than stopping it.

That made Mister Valentine throw a glance at them; his hands are still fighting Miguel's claws to scratch on his prey. "What the hell are you all doing there? Help me separate these two!" He snaps them.

"Well, that Mother's*cker deserves all of our hits because he's the reason why we're here. . ." Blake shrugs as he explains and then folds his arms around his chest like he's got no interest in separating them at all. But then, Kyle sighs as he approaches them and lends a hand. Blake's mouth is now agape open, thinking that Kyle would take his side and agree to what Blake just said. Chris then soon takes action as he helps Kyle pull Miguel away from his target.

"Let me go, you guys. . . Let me force him to taste his own medicine because I am SO DONE WITH THIS SH*T!" He complains, but then the two men holding him decided not to free him. "Guys, what the f*ck!"

"MIGUEL, THAT'S ENOUGH!" Mister Valentine shouts as he thinks that raising his voice would only be the solution to at least make them stop. Miguel, even if he's mad, the itching anger of searching, hitting, punching, and even head-butting MISTER CLOCK is betraying his patience, decided to shut up.

"We won't be able to escape here if we don't set our grudges aside. . ." Mister Valentine stated as everyone keeps quiet. "Look. . . If we want to get out of here, can we please try to contain ourselves from killing Briar?" He says as Kyle nods.

"He's right, you guys. . . Until we haven't secured our safety yet, it's better if we focus first on escaping rather than thinking of ways to kill this son of a b*tch here because I've already listed mine in how to hurt him the most." Kyle agrees as he decided to be the bigger person, pointing at Briar. Mister Clock then nods in Kyle's direction as a sign of his thanks. As soon as Kyle returns the nod, he quickly averts his eyes into Briar, who decided to talk.

"Yeah, that's right. It would be best if you all just listened to Valentine because hurting me would do you no good! And besides, why would you? You're just a bunch of kids—"

"AND YOU, Briar, can you please just shut the f*ck up!?" Mister Valentine decided to interrupt him as his irritation grows.

"How dare—"

"Just because you've been Mister Clock anymore doesn't mean that title would be permanent. Don't think that you're more potent in any way than these kids or me because clearly, you're not as powerful as you think you are anymore. You need me, and soon enough, you'll need them too. So how about you stop raising your chin like you're way above us when clearly, you're back to game zero. Got it!?" He asks that Briar wants to defend himself, but he decided to zip his mouth shut.

"I don't want us to be against each other. I want us to fight for one another. . . This place we are in right now has only one way in and one way out if we travel by land. Bodies of water surround us, and I don't even know where it will lead us if we swim. What I'm trying to point out is that if we don't get in there before the sun rises, then we are most likely to get back in that prison and die for ourselves. Now, are we all ready to go?"

They all look at each other as they measure each other's gaze to come with one decision before nodding. Miguel now has cooled off, and that he needed to hide his feelings up for now.

"Yeah, I guess killing this freak would be worth it if we're already out of this f*cking cell," Miguel says before sauntering towards Briar as he keeps a straight face and a death glare. As the rest starts to approach them, thinking that they'll be cat and mouse again, Miguel grabs him by the collar. "I may not be the toughest man in the world, but I can assure you that I'm going to chop your head off and pull out your evil eyes. I'll smash your skull and feed your body to the lion that it will leave NO TRACE of you. . . So, better brace yourself because I'll make sure that I am going out here with you, alive because I'll be the one who's going to kill you. You understand!?" He gritted his teeth before pushing him away from his.

It was a threat that Briar doesn't want to look up to. All eyes are on him, and he's sure that everyone wanted a piece of his meat for themselves like a souvenir they'll have to carry back home. Briar gulp before they start entering the van. Since he's not on good terms with everyone, he decided to sit in the passenger's area to only deal with Valentine.

The long drive is intense, suffocating, and awkwardly silent. Everyone didn't and couldn't say a word to break the silence because all are worried about their lives. This is everyone's game, and that all they have to do is wait for the moment.

On the other hand, Ash is seated between Miguel and Kyle, as Kyle sits beside Miguel. Melissa's perched beside Chris, as Chris is resting his head on Joseff's shoulder. Ash then looks at Miguel and examines him for a few seconds before talking.

"You know. . . the moment they took me here against my will, my only mindset is that I should only look after myself. How should I escape by myself? How will I beat the others to attain freedom? These questions were the plans I have because clearly, I was thinking all about myself. . . I said to myself that I should never trust anyone because I know that building bond with the person who's dealing with the same situation as you would be tricky. It could only lead you to two choices: YOU MADE THE RIGHT CHOICE, OR YOU CHOSE THE WRONG ONE." She says as she starts playing with her fingers in a slow matter. Her talking in a low voice is enough for the three of them to hear it.

"But when I met you guys? My perspective changed." She says as she decided not to lift her gaze because of the urging tears to come out of her eyes. She doesn't want them to see her as a weak kid and easily underestimated because clearly, her parents disciplined her for being the tough one.

"We all have that mindset that we want to live without pitying the others. We were selfish at those times, but as the days pass by too brutal and too slow, I never expected that I would feel this way about you guys. . . Especially you, mister Miguel." Ash pauses as this time; Ash decided to thrust up her gaze to meet Miguel's. "And I'm so thankful that I've met you."

But then, as they were still processing the situation, Ash decided to wipe the trail of tears into her cheeks. She chuckles as Miguel didn't say a word; instead, he pulls her near him and hugs her tight. He's starting to feel emotional because of it, but he doesn't want to cry as well. Not that he's afraid of crying, but because he wanted to be tough for Ash. But then, as he hugs her, Miguel secretly slides something inside the pocket of the jacket Ash is wearing. It is not big, nor it is heavy, making Ash feel nothing as he slips it inside.

"And don't worry, we WILL get out of—"

*Vroom!. Vroom!. .*

The sense of hope and calmness soon disappears when they hear the loud noise of a car tailing, not from afar. They all look back as they try to figure out what and who it could be.

"Sh*t! They found this out too early than expected!" Mister Valentine exclaims as he starts feeling the heat. He then theirs a glance at the side view mirror to familiarize the second car. He cursed under his breath when he noticed it was one of the French guys that are driving. That made Mister Valentine theirs a glance over the rearview mirror.

"Buckle up, guys! Things are about to get ugly!" He declares openly to warn them and get ready. Briar then looks at him as he's also as worried as everyone else. Fastening his belt, he still managed to talk.

"The CCTV's!" He exclaims and snaps his finger as if he managed to answer the behind reason. "Did you double-check if they were able to manipulate CCTV's completely?" He asks Mister Valentine, who shakes his head.

"Of course I did! I even played the same disk twice, and they weren't able to notice it!"

"Then if you're saying that they came here earlier than expected, then they must be able to put an alternative solution secretly to continue spying on us without them getting caught with it!" He says as Mister Valentine snaps him shut. He then throws a glance at the teens at the back.

"You guys ready?" He asks as he increases speed. When he receives nods from all of them, Mister Valentine smirks. "Then brace yourselves. . . NOW!"

He unhesitatingly stomps on the accelerator as the car runs faster, doubling the speed for the next few seconds. The noise of screams and gasping for air are the only noise he could hear as he is almost attaining full speed. But then, the persons tailing them doesn't want to go down without a fight, as they thought themselves a little help. As Briar watches the next car on the side view mirror, his eyes widen to see the other guy takes out a gun that could end their lives in just a piece of round metal, enough to snatch the life away in a split second.

"Everybody, DUCK!"

Everyone quickly follows as a rain of bullets pours into the vehicle. Shattered glasses continue to fly as screams of anger and fright envelops the tension rising.

"COVER YOUR EARS!" Blake shouts in the middle of the noise, but loud enough for them to hear. They did as they told as they start to feel the vehicle getting faster and faster.

"Everyone okay!?" Mister Valentine asks as he's about to throw a glance at them when suddenly, at that exact moment, a bullet comes targeting his seat, rapidly penetrates right into his shoulder and into the windshield. "Argh sh*t!" He screams in sudden pain as he instantly drifts the car into the right direction, aiming at the edge of the cemented ground.

"Oh my God! We're going to die!" Melissa panics as Mister Valentine could feel the weight on his injured shoulder. Briar notices his pain, making him had a stand and take control of the tiller.

"Keep stepping on that f*cking has pedal!" He shouts over at Mister Valentine as he controls. Suddenly, the persons on their tail stop firing guns, making them almost shout in victory. But all is lost when they hear a sound similar to an explosion but less noisy. The car abruptly moves in an imperfect parallel. That's when they all realize that they already targeted the wheels.

All starts to panic as Briar still tries his best to control the car, but it's only getting worse. They're still a bit far away from the exit, and that they're only left with two options— die inside the car, or make an escape into the water.

The person tailing them starts shooting again, which makes everyone panic even more. As Miguel turns to the back to catch a glimpse at the car behind them, and they're not far away. When he turns to face the front, his eyes widen as a sudden bullet hits Briar's arms, now making him forcefully turn the steering wheel into a solid—

"Watch outtttt!" He screams as he pulls Ash closer to shield his body from the impact.

As the car makes a collision on the tall old tree, everyone could feel their souls quickly separates from their body, as they all gasp for air. Luckily, everyone is wearing seat belts, and the inflated airbags are coming out at the right time for the front seaters.

Miguel opens his eyes as he feels his ears numbing and, at the same time, hearing a brown noise due to the crash. Be cups his head as he sighs in relief that there's no blood dripping out of it. With a blurry vision and head aching, he decided to push himself to check up on the others. All were conscious, but they are as well as exhausted as him.

"Everyone okay back there?" He gasps in solace when he sees Mister Valentine still alive.

"I think I'm fine. . . How about you?" He asks back as he scans at Ash, Blake, and Kyle, close to where he is seated.

"I'm losing blood, and that's all I can f*cking remember.", he chuckles as he coughs before snapping the others.

"Sh*t, you're bleeding Ash!" Miguel exclaims as he sees a drop of blood coming from her head. Ash manages to reach out to her forehead as the blood quickly soaks her fingers in. Suddenly, they hear Chris panting heavily.

"Chris. . . Chris, what the heck is going on!?" Melissa exclaims as she checks upon him. But before everyone does, the door violently swings open.