I was going crazy. By the date on my watch, it was Monday…two days after I had been supposed to die.
For two days, the only time Zac and I had seen light was when food was brought. Our eyes had adjusted to the total darkness fairly well now.
Zac was curled up on the floor, asleep. I quietly moved over to him and ran my fingers through his unbrushed hair. I'd noticed the drug they'd put in my drink had worn off, but Zac's face was awfully bruised.
The door flew open, and a girl dragged me to my feet. Zac didn't stir. He needed to sleep. I wondered if I was about to die.
I was thrown into a hard chair in a small room, facing a girl. "What the hell is going on?" I demanded.
The girl laughed. "Isaac and Gabrielle need more time to get the money."
I breathed a sigh of relief. So someone had been in touch with them.
"Tell me about you and Zac."
"What do you want to know?"
"You're his girlfriend?"
"Yes," I hissed.
The girl sat back and looked at me. "He shouldn't be with you. He should be with me."
Uh oh…
The girl stood up and yanked me to my feet. "You have five days left. Then Zac will be mine."
"Never," I said.
The girl's face lit up with anger and shock. She lifted her hand and slapped me.
Reeling with pain, I grabbed the girl's long hair and gave it a good yank. She pounced on me, and soon we were rolling across the floor. We were fighting over Zac, but, more importantly, I was fighting for my life. If I could knock her out, I could get out of here!
Two girls ran in and grabbed me. They pulled me off the other one and forced me down the hall. I landed on the floor in our "cell", skidding across the floor and slamming into the wall. I felt pain in my side. It was so severe that I could barely breathe, and I couldn't move. So much for not getting hurt…
"Ellie, are you okay?" Zac asked, kneeling beside me. I gasped for air. "Ellie?!" I shouted breathlessly as Zac rolled me onto my back.
"Okay, so we've narrowed it down to two places," I said. "It could be this abandoned building down the street from the bakery or this building near their school."
Taylor scratched his head. Through extensive research, phone calls and cooperation from the police, we'd managed to narrow down the spot where Ellie and Zac were.
"Why did you let me sleep?" an angry voice yelled at us.
I whirled around and saw Gabby yanking a brush through her curly hair. She still looked tired.
"Gabby, it's not going to do you any good to be exhausted…" I started.
"We only have 3 more days!" she screeched. I turned back to the papers on the table.
"We've narrowed down the choices where they are," Taylor jumped in.
Gabby yawned and came over to us. "Let's see," she said.
I stood up and motioned for Gabby to sit down in my chair. She accepted, and I stood behind her. "They could be here or here," Taylor said, pointing.
Gabby leaned forward. "The only way we're going to find out is going ourselves."
"I don't think that's a good idea…" Taylor started.
"How else are we going to find out?" Gabby asked.
"Which place do you think they are?" I asked.
Gabby looked over the map. She was silent for a few moments. "I don't know," she answered. "I need some caffeine."
"What do you want?" I asked.
"Doesn't matter," she said, still studying the map.
I walked out of the room, where Celine was leaning over a pot on the stove. "Smells good," I commented.
"Thanks, Isaac. I figured we should have a good dinner."
"Good idea," I said, grabbing a Sprite and two Cokes from the fridge. "Call us when it's ready."
"Okay."
I went back into the study, where Gabby was talking on the phone.
"Mia, calm down," she was saying. "We're getting closer…no, you don't have to come down…I'll call you later." Gabrielle hung up the phone and sighed. "Thanks, Isaac," she said, accepting the Sprite. I leaned over to give Taylor his Coke and sat down beside him.
Before anyone could speak, Celine called us for diner. Gabby followed us out the study into the dining room. The lights were dimmed, and candles were lit. The table was decorated with bowls and the room had a romantic atmosphere to it.
Gabby and Celine left the room, and I turned to Taylor. "Do you we should change?" I asked.
"Yeah. Celine went to a lot of trouble!"
Quickly, we went to our room. We changed out of our t-shirts into collared ones and went back downstairs. We decided to wait at the foot of the stairs for the girls.
I heard footsteps and looked up to see Celine coming down the stairs, dressed in a elegant black dress. "Hi, guys. Gabby's coming."
"You didn't have to go to all this trouble," I said.
"I figured having a nice dinner may help everyone relax," Celine shrugged.
Another set of footsteps sounded on the stairs. We looked up to see Gabby coming downstairs. I looked at her, my heart melting a little. She was dressed in a long black dress with sparkles. Her hair was piled on top of her head, and she wore faint makeup. She truly took my breath away.
"Ready?" Taylor asked when Gabby reached us. She nodded shyly. Taylor glanced at me and smiled. "Shall we?" He offered his arm to Celine, who laughed and took it. Taylor looked expectantly at us.
I turned to Gabby, who looked up at me. I wordlessly offered my arm to her. She put her arm through mine, and we walked to the dining room.
"What do you think, Celine?" I asked.
"I can send Eric to one place to check it out," Celine offered.
"Wait." Gabby put her hand on my arm. "I know it's the building by the bakery."
"Why?" I asked.
"It makes sense," Gabby said, getting up to look out the window. "The one beside the school is too realistic. Practically no one knows about that bakery."
"That does make sense," Ike said.
"I'm going to bed," Celine said, standing up. "Not too late, guys."
"Okay," I answered.
Ike went over to Gabby. "You really think so?" he asked gently.
Gabby turned from the window, tears in her eyes. "Isaac, I'm so close to Ellie. We think alike. Many times, I know exactly what she's thinking. We're connected somehow. I just know she's there…and I know we're running out of time…and I know she's hurt."
"Are you sure?" I asked. I didn't understand how best friends could be that close. Sure, Ike and I were close but only half of the time was I close to knowing what he was thinking.
"I'm sure." Gabby nodded firmly.
Ike glanced at me. "Well, I think it's time for bed."
"Sounds good." I followed Ike out the door. Ike suddenly turned around.
"You coming, Gabby?" he asked.
"Soon," she said, still staring out the window. Ike looked at her and reluctantly turned away. I knew Gabby wouldn't sleep tonight.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Ellie asked me from her place on the floor. I looked down at her.
"Ellie, today is the day they are going to come for you," I said gently. "Gabby and Ike did well enough to buy us another week to figure out how to get out of here. I don't want you to die. We need to get out of here. You're hurt really badly."
"It's nothing serious…"
"Ellie, you can't even move!"
Ellie looked up at me. "Hurry back," she pleaded.
I went over to her and kissed her forehead. "I promise." I let go of her and turned away.
The air conditioning vent was on the ceiling. I figured I could climb the pipe I'd been tied to, open the duct and drag myself into it. Feeling terribly weak, I managed to climb the pipe and push up on the duct. "Damn," I mumbled. I pushed again. It didn't even budge. I slid down the pole and collapsed onto the ground.
"Zac?" Ellie asked.
"I can't open it," I mumbled. "I have to kick it, but I can't."
"Let me help."
"No!" I cried, but Ellie was already struggling to her feet. I caught her before she fell. "Ellie, you're hurt. Just relax."
"Zac, I don't feel so good…" Ellie mumbled. Mercifully, she passed out.
I put her on the ground and looked at her. The last time she'd been dragged away, I hadn't noticed the red on her shirt. Obviously she was hurting more than she knew. Carefully, I lifted up her shirt. The side of her stomach was bruised and bloody. I wondered what they'd done to her.
"God, please let us out alive," I prayed. The door flew open.
"Your presence is requested," the girl said. Another dragged me away from Ellie. Was this it? Were they dragging me away so Ellie could die?
Tears blinding me, I flung my hand back and slapped the girl hard across the face. She stumbled and immediately two more were holding me.
"No funny stuff, Zac," one said. Ellie was beginning to stir. The girl standing in the doorway moved so another could come in. She bent down beside Ellie and waited for her to come around.
"Zac," Ellie groaned.
"Please?" I begged the girls. They let me go, and I fell by Ellie's side, taking her hand.
"Zac," Ellie smiled. God, she's delirious! She managed to turn her head. The person she saw made her scream.
"Are we ready?" Isaac whispered. We all nodded.
It was the middle of the night on the day we were supposed to be handing over the 50 million dollars at noon. We had spent all week discussing and planning. I really hadn't spoken at all since the day I had almost killed myself. Surely this couldn't be the effects of love! No…it had to be something deeper. Luckily, I hadn't done anything crazy. But that would've been hard to do with Isaac and Taylor constantly around me. Celine had no idea what was going on.
The abandoned building we had tracked The Scream Squad into loomed ahead of us, almost melting into the blackness of night. Isaac led the way, followed by Celine, me and Taylor. We crept around back.
"Guys, we need to split up," Taylor whispered. "I'll go with Celine."
Oh, no…
"I'll go with Gabby," Isaac said. "We're bound to meet in there somewhere." Isaac put his hand out, Taylor put his on top, Celine followed and I put my hand on top of hers.
"Good luck, everyone," Celine whispered. Taylor grabbed her hand and they left.
"Come on, Gabby," Isaac whispered. He reached out for my hand, but I shrunk away. I reluctantly followed him.
I really didn't want to be here, looking for Ellie and Zac. I wanted to be alone with my misery. If only I'd never met Jeremy Kramer!
Isaac spotted an open door and peeked through it. The hallway was dark, but no one was in sight. He motioned for me to follow him inside. I walked beside him as we felt our way through the darkness. Thank God we were wearing black!
I heard some laughter up ahead of us. Isaac heard it too. A few more seconds, and they would find us!
Isaac grabbed me and pushed me against the wall, covering my body with his own. The laughter and footsteps passed, and Isaac moved away from me. We started down the hallway again.
"Isaac, how are we going to find them?" I whispered. Before he could answer, a bright light shined on us.
Isaac cursed under his breath. We froze. "Ahh…Isaac and Gabrielle. It's about time you got here."
"Celine, this way!" I whispered, pointing. We were going to take the old-fashioned way to get in: the front door. Celine peered around the corner.
"Okay, it's clear." I followed her inside.
"Where are we going to find them?" I whispered. Celine shrugged and tugged on the door to her left. It came open, but nothing was there. I tried the next door. It came open, but there was a table, chairs and paper all over. "Celine!" She ran through the door to the table. I closed the door behind me.
"Taylor, look." I leaned over the table and saw a room with an X in it. "That's where they are!"
I did some quick calculations and found they were on the second floor. "Celine…we've got to get to them! We have 15 minutes before they kill them!"
