by Ryan King
Chapter 17 - Captured
Nathan was nervous. They could have gone around the big prison, but people were obviously living there and might help Nathan and his family…or whoever these people were could sneak out behind them after they passed and ambush them. Nathan decided it was better to meet them on his own terms.
He arranged everyone in pairs out of sight. Bethany and the boys had been through this plenty of times before and knew their roles, but the others were new, so Nathan went over everything in great detail. He used a makeshift model on the ground to illustrate individual location and duties.
Following the briefing, Nathan wiggled under one edge of the fence-line and walked up to within thirty yards or so of the wall. He noticed several pairs of eyes watching from above during his long exposed approach, but none of them said anything…only stared. Nathan thought that was probably a good sign. Disciplined men were not normally rash.
Nathan was determined to let them make the first move now that he was in position. He would stay still and quiet until they said or did something. He did not have to wait long.
After about ten minutes, two men appeared at the top of the wall, one huge and menacing-looking, the other older and smaller in comparison. The second man wore an eye patch and was likely in charge. He saw the big man earlier giving directions to the guards before walking away. Big Man now pointed Nathan out to Mister One Eye, who regarded Nathan calmly. He then turned and spoke to the other men and several moved off quickly. One Eye turned back and watched Nathan silently.
Soon four men returned to the top of the wall, spoke together and then spread out. Nathan began to grow uneasy. He thought of taking off his hat in order to give the signal, but there were too many for Joshua to hit and Nathan thought it best to play this scenario cool. The four men reappeared along the length of the wall together and brought up short stubby guns. They were not pointing at Nathan, but high and to his rear.
There was just enough time to recognize they were grenade launchers and that they were aiming towards his family before they fired with four muffled thumps. Nathan spun around to look and could track the projectiles in the air, but they went high and came down only about forty yards to Nathan’s rear, far short of his family’s positions. Not explosions, he noticed, but grey smoke came billowing out.
No, thought Nathan a moment later as his eyes started to water and his nose burn, not grenades…tear gas.
They had effectively isolated him from his support. Nathan realized with a flash that they wanted to take him prisoner without getting shot by his family, whom they had obviously spotted despite Nathan’s efforts to conceal them.
These guys are good, thought Nathan with combined admiration and fear.
He considered making a run for it. They didn’t want to kill him and once he got on the other side of the tear gas, it would cover his escape and work in his favor. Going through the tear gas wouldn’t be pleasant, but he knew it wouldn’t kill him, and he had endured much worse.
He turned to look at the gate to see how much time remained for him to escape. Sure enough, there were two men waiting there looking at him through an open door. One held a riot gun aimed straight at Nathan. He saw the flash from the barrel at the same time he felt a blow to his stomach, like someone hitting him with a baseball bat.
Nathan fell to the ground and looked up at the sky with wisps of tear gas floating overhead. He tried to place his hands over his stomach to stop the bleeding. He must stay conscious to survive.
Stay awake...stay awake...stay awake..., he kept telling himself over and over, as he slipped into blackness.
