Ch. 2 of Life of a Hunter

Even though I wished against it, the day went by very quickly. I missed lunch so I was starving when I started to walk home. I stopped by a gas station to buy couple of snacks. As I left the gas station I realized that I was being followed by a car. To be sure I took a right off my route home and the car did as well. I turned around to head back to my route and the car made a U-turn.
Why was I being followed and what does this freak want? Suddenly the car stopped beside me. I made a dart for the sidewalk but a hand from the backseat pulled me into the car and I fell onto the floor. The door slammed shut behind me and the car screeched away.
When the car started to slow down I tried to figure out a way to escape. I was on the floor of a tiny car with a strange but dorky man who blocked all the exits. So I couldn’t use strength to get out of this so I’ll try my brain.
I forced myself to look up at the man, he was eyeballing me. I took a deep breath and I took a shot.
“You know kidnapping will get you in jail”
The man smiled at me “That’s only if I get caught, and I won’t get caught”
“I can scream loudly”
“Your mouth will be taped shut”
“My parents will call the police”
“We left no evidence”
I was all out of words. This freak was obviously a trained professional. He had an answer for everything I threw at him. I started to get worried. What will he do to me? Will he kill me?
He saw the horrified expression on my face. “Don’t worry, you won’t be alone. There are other kids waiting for you.”
Suddenly the car jerked to a stop and the man looked up and peered out the window. A smile crept on his face as he opened the car door, pulling me out with him and in a second I was facing the one place I wanted to avoid, Ocean Breeze Middle and High School.
I was upset that I had been taken here but I was even more upset to see a familiar figure walking from the school and right toward me. It was the brown-haired brat that I wanted hurt with all my might. Isabelle.
She walked over as if she had control of me, of everything that was happening to me and that only made me angrier. I struggled under the man’s grasp but he wouldn’t let go of me.
When Isabelle approached me, she seemed not to have remembered me. She looked straight at the man and asked “Which one’s this?” I was furious, how can she forget me. “I’m Ginger you idiot”. She looked as if she was surprised I had spoken but she continued “Well, then put her with the boy”.
There was no way this creep was going to put me anywhere. I turned around and kick the guy in the shin. He let out a scream and released his grasp on me. I turned to run but right behind me were three big men with whips. How could I not have noticed that? One cracked his whip and it hit me in the face, making me fall on the concrete. I raised my hand to my face, too surprised to say anything. Another man with a whip grabbed me and roughly and pulled me up. My hand dropped and I saw my hand was covered in blood.
Too shocked to say anything the man pushed me toward the school and as I passed Isabelle a cruel smile crept on her face. She remembered me.
As the man pushed me toward the school, I remembered why I hated Isabelle so much. We were best friends as kids, always in contact in some way. We would go to my Aunt Tina’s house and play there all day and at night we’d call each other and talk ourselves to sleep. I was eight then but a week before my ninth birthday Isabelle started acting strange, she never called me and every time I invited her over she make up an excuse about why she couldn’t come. Then the eve of my birthday she screamed at me, telling me that she didn’t want to be friends with me and she did it in front of the entire school during recess. I thought something was wrong at home so I forgave her the first time but she just kept on getting angrier and angrier. Finally I gave up and when I found she was going to Ocean Breeze I begged my parents to admit me in any other school but that one.
The man pushed me through the school gates which were old and getting kind of ugly looking. I was pushed into a courtyard with many flowers and plants and a big sign that said "Reading is Great”. Beyond the courtyard where five big buildings and a little building. The man pushed me toward what seemed to be, the biggest building. It was about three-stories high and very expensive looking. The man pushed me through the main doors and the horrifying stench of fresh paint entered my nostrils. I tried to cover my nose but the guy with the whip pushed my hand down. He took me up to the top floor where there was only a hallway with five doors. The guy started pushing me down the hallway and I heard crying from the first room we past. The guy with the whip banged on it and the crying immediately stopped. The man with the whip took me to the end of the hallway, to the very last room and took a key from his pocket. He placed it in the keyhole and opened the door.
The room was dark and I couldn’t see a thing since the huge man was covering the door, allowing no lightt to enter. He pushed me in and slammed the door shut, locking the door behind him. I threw myself against the door pounding on it with all the strength I had left. I heard a chuckle from the other side of the door and heard footsteps walk away. I quit pounding and slide down to the floor, forcing myself not to cry.
All of a sudden a beam of light blinded me, and I covered my eyes. It was a flashlight beam and Isabelle’s words repeated through my memory “Put her with the boy”. I felt relieved that I wouldn’t be alone but freaked out because the boy was trying to blind me with a flashlight.
I stood up but the flashlight beam followed me face up. “Hey” I screamed “Do you mind?”The beam moved to the side of my face, no longer blinding me. “Thank you” I screamed, lowering my hand from my face. Then the flashlight beam moved away toward the other side of the room, shining on a plate of fruit. I was confused as heck “Who are you?”
Then the beam was moved to his face. He had black hair in need of a haircut and a dirty face. He was a little taller than me but I don’t think he’s much older. “My name’s Corey. What’s yours?” I felt that it was fair since he told me his name that I deserve to tell him mine “Ginger”. Corey nodded and placed the flashlight on the table, allowing me to see the whole room. It was a tiny room with ten little desks and one big desk. There was a chalkboard behind the big desk and the rest of the walls were covered in cheesy posters about how wonderful school was. It was a classroom. I looked at every wall. There were no windows.
As if reading my mind Corey said “It’s an abandoned classroom. All the rooms on this floor are. The reason the students don’t know about us is because aren’t allowed up here.
I couldn’t believe it but I guessed I had to. Then the boy put his hand into his pants pocket and pulled out a piece of cloth. He tore part of it off and walked over to me. Then he placed the cloth over my face making my cut sting. “You need to put pressure on it” he whispered. Now that he was closer I saw his eyes. They were as black as the nighttime sky. Being careful not to gaze in them I raised my own hands to my face, indicating that I would take over. He let go of the cloth and I quickly grabbed it, pushing down on the cut. He turned around and walked toward the plate of fruit, tossing me an apple which I caught with my free hand. “Eat it slowly” He grunted, "We don’t get tasty food very often." I nodded and took a tiny bite.
It wasn’t very sweet but I ate the whole thing with Corey watching. When I finished I tossed to apple core in a small wastebasket and sat on top of one of the desks, using the chair to prop my feet up. I took a glance back at Corey and he was still watching me, he was really freaking me out. “Hey, what’s your problem?” I screamed. The boy frowned and turned his back to me “Nothing, it’s not important” he whispered.
I shrugged my shoulders “Well if you won’t start a conversation, then I will” Corey turned his head and looked at me still frowning. I knew he was against it, I could tell from the look in his eye but instead he said “Shoot”
I was kind of surprised he took me up on the offer but I refused to show it. Instead I got up and moved closer so we could talk. He turned is entire body so that he can stare me right in the face. I took a deep breath and started my string of questions.
“Why are you here? Why am I here? Why don’t they feed us properly? Why is Isabelle in on this? There was crying behind one of the doors I past on my way here. Who’s in it?”
Corey took in a deep breath. “You are here because of something that is hidden deep inside you. These people known as the Black Warriors are after it. I’m only a prisoner so I don’t know why. I also don’t know why they usually won’t feed us properly but it makes me sick. And behind that door are triplets, all girls, who have also been captured by the Black Warriors.
I was trying to let all this sink in but unfortunately a new string of questions jumbled through my head giving the worst headache I ever had.