[1] Hunted at the Sandtrap

[Sage]

About an hour had passed in the squalid little room the two sisters shared. Sage was on her bed, sitting up against the headboard with her pillow propped up behind her, reading a book. It was a short story anthology, which sought to group together all of literature’s great short works. Wether it had succeeded or failed wasn’t really for Sage to decide, but she was interested enough to keep reading it despite her ambivalence toward the text.

The azure haired girl heard a faint shuffling from outside her door. Her cracked, faded, peeling door. She tilted her head, slipping a her bookmark between the pages before closing the text and carefully setting it on her bed beside her. “Zena?” she inquired.

No response. The girl knitted her brows with growing concern. A sickly feeling of dread crawled up in her throat, and it felt as though she were on the verge of vomiting but couldn’t. She was just about to get up when the door was kicked open with a mighty crash.

Sage shrieked in fright as four men in black jump suits and matching balaclavas pushed their way into her room. She scrambled backward, across her bed, tumbled off of it and scurried away, until her back pressed tightly against the wall. “No!!” she exclaimed, shielding herself with her arms as they approached, tears welling up at the corners of her eyes, “Go away!”

One of the bigger thugs grasped her wrists and effortlessly hauled her to her feet. “Come on, Sage. You’re coming with us,” he grumbled. She struggled fruitlessly against the man whose iron grip didn’t waver in the slightest.

“Just co-operate,” quipped another of the suspiciously-dressed thugs. He wore a pair of dark sunglasses instead of a balaclava, and fiddled with a toothpick in his mouth. “If you co-operate, we don’t have to hurt a pretty girl like you.”

The veiled threat was enough. With a whimper, Sage’s pitiful defiance melted away, and she was forcefully led out into the hall and down the stairs. Immediately, Carl intercepted. “Hey! Hey, you can’t-!!”

The big one who had picked Sage up silenced the overweight hostel manager with a brutal punch to the jaw, knocking him out cold. The girl gasped in shock, and watched the man who had taken it upon himself to act as a guardian for Sage fall to the ground. A pang of empathetic pain shot through her body as she was pushed outside toward a car.

For an instant, the world fell away, and through her mind flashed Aurelius’ wicked grin. She stiffened, pushing against her aggressors. She tried to run, but a hand clamped down around her upper arm and yanked her back toward the group. “Let me go!” she shouted, and received a vicious backhand slap in response. The force spun her around, and nearly toppled her over.

Her cheek was fire red, and her lip had split open. Blood trickled down her chin, and Sage could only stare, with horrified eyes, transfixed on the man who had struck her. “Get- in- the- car,” the man with the toothpick growled, as one of his associates opened one of the rear passenger doors for her.

With tears streaming down her cheeks, she did as she was told. “Move over,” he ordered, and entered the vehicle as the girl slid away from him. The door slammed shut with her inside, and the men then clambered into the car. She was trapped between two of them, and two more sat up front.

“Say goodnight, sweetheart,” said the man to her right, before swiftly wrapping his arm behind her back and pulling her firmly toward him. While he had her in his grip, he pressed a strong-smelling rag against Sage’s face. She struggled violently. With her arms pinned to her sides, she kicked wildly, but to no avail. The chloroform overpowered her, and soon, she rested limply against the man, and the world faded away. Just before she passed out, she could hear something, something rather faint. “When are we coming back for her sister?”

- - - - -

Sage woke up to the horrifying world she had been cast into. Her hands were bound and a heavy bag blotted out everything around her. She trembled with fear, and it was only fear that kept her from bursting into tears. Just a few hours ago - she thought it was only a few hours, it was hard to say - she was on track to start a new job at a hospital, to continue her medicinal career. No, to start again.

All of that had crashed around her. And to top it off, they had threatened to come after her sister, too. Zena! her heart sank. They hadn’t been too rough with Sage, but she hadn’t put up much of a fight. The diminutive girl could only imagine what had happened to Zena, when suddenly, her hood was pulled off and the realization set in that she was but one in a group of several victims. And to her intense dismay, her sister was not among them.

“Where are we!?” came a voice to the hybrid’s right. “What’s going on!?”

A quick explanation ensued, something about money. They were supposed to... to kill people. Sage’s breath quickened. Was Zena in the other group!?

Some other things were said, and ultimately, the men left. Later, their cuffs all detached, releasing the captives. Sage took a quick glance of her surroundings. Desert. Desert was everywhere.

There were others with her, too. A beautiful, pale haired woman, the one she heard speak earlier. She seemed quite frightened by the situation, too. She saw three men, as well. There was another one, there, too, that she failed to notice. Perhaps it was for the best.

The azure haired girl sank into the sand, sitting on her knees. A faint breeze trailed sand over her, but she didn’t care. Her coral eyes were empty, and she stared straight ahead, unmoving and unspeaking, almost catatonic, while the others spoke among themselves. A deep frown scrawled its way across her face. Her heart raced. She didn’t know any of these people! What would she do? What could she do?! Sage bit her lip, and winced. It was still tender. She watched the others, praying they wouldn’t turn on her. But did she need them? Could she afford to shy away from everyone as she would have preferred to do?

Her eyes turned down onto the sand before her. “Zena... I'm... I'm scared. I wish... you were here. Please... come find me...” she murmured.