Chapter 2
Chapter 2
Ever wake up from a night of drinking in a strange place and you spend the next few minutes trying to piece together the night before? Maybe you had a vivid dream and you’re wondering how much of it was real, then you realize you’re not in a strange place, you were just passed out on your bathroom floor. Turns out, this was not one of those times.
The side of my face throbbed, and was definitely swollen, I could still taste the coppery tinge of blood in my mouth. My head swam, and ached like noone’s business, which was definitely from the pipe, and had nothing to do with all the drinks I had. More details slowly crept into my consciousness, my hands were bound, and my shoulders felt like they were being ripped out of their sockets, as it turns out that’s because I was in fact not lying down, but was semi-suspended from the ceiling. My shoulder pain was relieved a bit when I managed to get my feet under me, my legs weren’t exactly cooperating, again I’m blaming the head wound, not my drinking.
As the pain in my shoulders receded the fear started to settle in while I took stock of my situation. I was chained up, in pitch darkness, underground, no windows darkness. Worse yet, I’d been around enough of them in my time to know what a dead body smelt like, and there was definitely at least one near by. So, that eliminated the small chance that this was all some kinky sex thing on Annie’s part. At least I really hoped it did, she was hot, but she wasn’t that hot. This was all turning out to be a really shitty end to what was other wise a pretty good day.
Shifting my legs around I could tell a few things, one my wallet was still in my back pocket, so whoever had taken me hadn’t even bothered to rob me, that did not bode well. Two, the ground beneath my feet was uneven, so I guessed I was in a cave of some sort, not a basement, which again added to the oh shit factor. All in all I was pretty sure whoever had grabbed did not have any intentions of me walking out of here. This grand revelation did two things, it turned that creeping fear up to eleven, and it told me that negotiation was probably not my best course of action when they came back.
“Well shit.” I said to myself, and let me tell you the pucker factor was real when someone answered back.
“Who’s there?” A deep voice that had a tinge of familiarity to it, the jingle of chains clued me in that whoever it was was probably in the same boat as I was.
“Name’s John, and don’t worry, I’m gonna figure out a way out of this.” I tried my best to sound confident, as much for myself as for the other guy.
“My hero.” I could hear him grunt, and then his chains go taught, “Shit, must be losing a step.” It finally dawned on where I heard that voice before.
“Miles?”
“Yeah. How’d you know? Oh, that John. Huh, figured you’d be too scrawny for them to take.” Miles must have shot his arms out again causing the chains to rattle loudly, followed by a curse.
“Hey they got you t---wait scrawny? What does that matter, you saying these people plan on eating us or something?”
“Pretty loose interpretation of people kid, but yeah we’re currently on the menu.” a low growl emanated from Mile’s direction, followed by a creak as he pulled down hard on his chains.
“What the fuck man?”
“Yeah, it’s pretty messed up. Shit, these restraints are no joke.” I could hear him settle into a more comfortable position.
“What the hell makes you think that?”
“Been tracking these uh...guys for a week or so now.”
“What? You some kind of bounty hunter or something?”
“Or something. Listen, don’t worry kid, this is all part of the plan.”
“You getting captured and chained up was part of your plan?”
“Yep. Alright sure, I didn’t expect actual chains,these...guys aren’t usually that sophisticated.”
“Anyone ever tell you that you come up with some shitty plans?”
“Two ex-wives and I’m sure more than a few officers.”
“Great. So what’s the next part of this grand plan?”
“Wait for back up, then kill the fuckers before they grab anyone else.”
“That doesn’t exactly sound like a legally sanctioned plan.”
“I just told you these shit heads are going to eat you, and you’re worried about legal?” Miles let out a short chuckle, “You must be real fun at parties kid.”
“Just trying to figure out what the hell is going on here.”
“Trust me kid, you really don’t want to know. Say, you ever hook up with that bartender?”
“Been a little busy.” I jingled my own restraints to accentuate the point.
“See? Told you that you had the wrong attitude, probably wouldn’t be in this mess if you had just manned up, stayed at the bar and brought her home.”
“I---” It’s hard to argue with a guy when he’s right, “Fuck you.”
“Man, you say a lot of the same things as my ex-wives, you know them or something?” I couldn’t help but give a chuckle.
“So, then Miles, when is this backup supposed to show up?”
“Soon as they ping my phone for an exact location, shouldn’t be long.”
“Your GPS works underground?”
“Huh. Well. Shit.”
“You have got to be kidding me.”
“Ah, don’t worry about it, it’s a live tracker, my crew will be able to find where I dropped off the grid, won’t be a problem.”
I stayed quiet for a few moments, thinking about how monumentally fucked this had all gone, when I heard the distinct sound of bare feet slapping against the rock.
“Miles, you hear that?”
“Yeah...not gonna lie kid, ‘that’ might be a problem.”