"No," she screamed out to Garrett ahead of her. "I am not OK. How could you even ask me that?"
Garrett seemed to barely pay any attention to what she said. Why even ask the question if you didn't want to hear my answer, she thought.
"Did you hear me? I'm not OK, not with any of this." Garrett seemed to be moving even faster down the hallway and around the corner. It had gotten a little bit lighter in the hallway, but not much. Not like there was an open door she could see with light streaming in and a refuge they could run to.
"Just keep going, honey, I think we're almost there."
What the hell is he talking about? We aren’t close to anything. We're right back where we started before we ever set foot on the cruise. Right back to being miserable and desperate.
Then Holly tripped over something she couldn't see in the dark. It sent her sprawling, hands out, trying to catch her fall and prevent herself from smashing into the darkened floor with the added weight of the pack pushing her even further downward. Garrett stopped instantly, without even looking behind them. He'd heard her fall. He was back to her in a second and pulling her up to her feet quickly before she even had a chance to check herself.
"Come on, Holly; we'll get out of this. Trust me. We're almost there."
Not like she had much choice, did she? The alternative was whatever was in the minds of the men behind her. And that had to be far worse.
Then suddenly, Garrett stopped running. She slammed into his back as if she'd hit a wall. He stopped moving—they both did—as he fumbled around in the dark, hoping against hope for a way out. The footsteps behind them grew louder, as did the yelling and hooting of the men giving chase. This was not the way Holly had hoped things would end. Then Garrett's hands found the long silver bar and pressed against it. It wasn't a wall in front of them, it was a door, and it flew open into the bright light of the day. The light blinded them as they emerged from the dark, tripping over each other and landing on the hard pavement. They quickly got to their feet and resumed their race, then Garrett grabbed her arm.
"Hang on, just one sec. Give me a hand with this," Garrett said.
Chapter 6 ~ Beaten
"Help you with what? We need to get going, Garrett, those guys are coming, and they're coming fast."
"The dumpster, help me pushed the dumpster in front of the door so we can block them in. Otherwise, they'll catch us for sure. They're moving faster than we are and they don't have all these packs and suitcases to slow them down." Holly looked at him skeptically. Just for a split second. "The dumpsters are on wheels and should move easily. C'mon, help me."
Garrett was already to the side and pushing the dumpster. It creaked slowly and started to move. Holly took a deep breath in exasperation, but clearly there was no stopping Garrett. Their pursuers weren't going to let up, and she needed to do something. She joined him on the side and pushed the dumpster, which moved ever so slowly. Gradually, it gained some momentum, inching along. Just as it was about half covering the door, it stuck, jammed in place. Garrett ran around the dumpster quickly, looking at all the wheels.
"It's not working, Garrett; we need to move. They'll be out that door any instant."
Garrett dropped to his knees and reached under the dumpster, grabbing a stick and metal pipe and throwing them to the side.
"That's it. It should move now. Hurry up, just another foot or two."
Holly channeled her exasperation into physical exertion as they pushed the dumpster till it fully covered the door and a little bit beyond. The dumpster was now squarely in front of the door.
"OK, let's move." Holly started heading down the street, but Garrett hesitated. He picked up the stick and pipe he had removed a few moments ago and dropped to his knees. Holly rolled her eyes and fidgeted nervously like a ticking bomb. Garrett fiddled under the dumpster, jamming the stick and pipe into the wheel, then stood up.
"Just let me get the other wheels and we'll be good to go."
Holly had had enough; she yanked him to his feet, then pushed him in the direction leading down the street. Garrett started to protest, but quickly saw the look in Holly's eyes and realized it was time to move. She wasn't going to let him back anywhere near that dumpster.
She took the lead this time, racing ahead of him till they passed the next building, then took a quick right then a left. Garrett kept up as best he could as his wheeled luggage climbed over curves and cracks in the street. They took one more right, hoping they'd made enough turns that even if the men did find their way past that dumpster, they'd never track them down. They couldn't be more wrong.
There, standing and waiting for them, not even out of breath, were three of the men that had been pursuing them down the halls. Every one of them had a weapon of some kind. A baseball bat, a pipe and a handgun. Holly and Garrett turned quickly around to head back in the direction they'd come, but suddenly there were two more behind them. Both of them were armed as well, with a shovel and a golf club.
The man with a golf club spoke first. "Did you really think you could get away from us? Do you really think we didn't know where you were going and all the exits out of that building? I can't believe you two took the long way."
The man with the pipe spoke next. "Yeah, at least the last bunch of newbies that we chased found the first exit before stumbling through the dark."
Holly and Garrett stood frozen, not sure which way to turn. They huddled next to one another as if that would protect them from the five men. They didn't have a lot of options at the moment. Fight or flight? The man had them surrounded so it was unlikely they'd get far running. Fighting didn't seem like a good choice either, considering the weapons the men held. Negotiation wasn't one of the two basic human instincts when presented with a dangerous situation, but it seemed like the only one they had at the moment.
"You can take what we have," Holly offered meekly as she took the backpack off her shoulders and dropped it in front of her, slowly backing away. Garrett followed her lead and swung the suitcase around next to the backpack.
"You can have them both," Garrett added. "Go ahead, just let us go, please."
The man with the handgun spoke. "So polite now, but where were all your manners when we tried to talk to you inside the mall? All you wanted to do was make us chase you. That hardly seemed very neighborly. Considering how new you are to our fine city, I would've expected better manners."
Holly and Garrett tried backing away, but the men tightened the circle around them. The second man with the baseball bat grabbed the backpack and threw it outside the circle, then did the same with the suitcase.
Golf Club spoke. "Sure, we'll take your stuff, since you offered so nicely. Not that we really needed it; we were the first group through that mall when this shit storm hit. We've already got all the good stuff stashed away somewhere safe. Don't you worry about that. We've got something else in mind though for you two. A little party, to welcome you to the neighborhood."
Lead Pipe and Baseball Bat chuckled to themselves. Golf Club looked directly at Garrett. "You're not invited though. The invitation was meant for the lady. It's a special kind of party, you know; we really don't think you'd enjoy it."
Lead Pipe and Baseball Bat grabbed Garrett from behind. Garrett struggled like a lassoed wild horse, but the men had a firm grip. Golf Club moved in close to Holly, who tried backing away but ran into Baseball Bat.
"No need to rush off, hon. The party's just getting started."
Garrett did his best to struggle and break the clasp of the two men who were holding him, but to no avail. They were clearly stronger and more determined to keep a hold of him than he was to break free. At least for the moment.
Garrett couldn't remember the last time he'd gotten into an honest-to-goodness brawl with someone. He had to think all the way back to high school to even remember. And that one wasn't all that serious, especially since it was with his best friend and of course, there was a girl involved. A lot of the guys who worked construction liked to maintain a
tough guy image, but generally they were more talk than action. That's not to say there wasn't an occasional brawl on the construction site, but Garrett was smart enough to talk his way out of any potentially violent situations. Most guys who worked construction had an abiding respect for the foreman. That wasn't the case with these two though. They had other things on their minds.
"Leave her alone," Garrett demanded. "You people have no business with either one of us; you've got our stuff, now let her go."
The men barely took notice of Garrett, with the exception of the two holding him gripping even tighter. Their attention turned to Holly, and Handgun slowly approached her, invading her personal space. He was the biggest of the group and the most heavily armed. That seemed like overkill to Holly. Didn't it make more sense for the smallest guy to have the biggest weapon? Handgun seemed to be the leader of the group, as he escalated the situation by placing a hand on Holly's throat.
"I don't think I like the way you're looking at me," Handgun said. "It's not your place to be staring at me like that. My ex-wife used to look at me like that." He waved the handgun in the air in front of her face with his free hand. "I'm pretty good with one of these, but I haven't had much of a chance to practice lately." He grabbed Holly's left hand and lifted it up to examine. "No wedding ring, I see. So I guess this must be your boyfriend then?"
Handgun smiled maliciously over his shoulder at Garrett, then directed his gaze back to Holly, looking her up and down. "Either that or maybe you just lost the wedding ring temporarily to step out with buddy boy over here." He nodded back at Garrett without looking his way. "Thought maybe you'd have a little romantic getaway in big old Atlantic City, did you? Maybe do a little gambling and have a few fancy drinks before hitting the sack. You look more like a cocktail kind of girl. Probably wouldn't lower yourself to let a beer cross your lips, would you?"
Holly grimaced. "You've got no business presuming to know anything about me," she said. "Just because you and your dogs chased me down some back alley with my husband, doesn't mean you know anything about me."
"Your husband? Really? That's your story?"
"Not everybody wears wedding rings."
Handgun leaned in close to Holly and drew in a deep breath. "You don't smell so good for such a pretty lady." He ran his hand through her hair and Garrett fought furiously to free himself from the grip of his two captors.
"You back the fuck away from her," Garrett demanded.
Handgun barely gave him a glance but nodded to Lead Pipe standing behind him. As Lead Pipe smashed his weapon across Garrett's back, Handgun leaned in one more time, closer still to Holly. "All the married people I know wear wedding rings, so either you're lying to me, lying to your husband, or there's something very strange going on between you two. Marital troubles maybe?" Holly tensed and Handgun mistook her reaction for having found out the truth. "Aha, that's it. You two are having troubles."
Garrett was cursing under his breath from the pain inflicted by Lead Pipe. This both distracted and annoyed Handgun. He turned back to say something to Garrett and Holly struck. She didn't tense because Handgun had hit any kind of nerve, she tensed because she was preparing herself to kick Handgun as hard as she could in the groin. And she did.
Handgun dropped to his knees, cupping his privates too late to protect himself from the pain. Just a reflex. Garrett struggled once again to break the bonds of his captors and managed to shake one hand loose. Lead Pipe didn't need the prompting of his boss and this time struck another blow to Garrett's midsection. Garrett keeled over as Lead Pipe prepared to bash in his skull.
"Stop!" Handgun ordered from his position on the ground. "That's enough. Don't kill the man." Handgun slowly stood up and at first did his best to stifle a laugh but he failed. Eventually what started as a small chuckle broke into uproarious laughter. The other men looked around, dumbfounded, asking each other what was going on.
"You really do remind me of my ex-wife now," Handgun said to Holly, gently patting her on the cheek. "She tried doing that to me one time too, but never got away with it. I caught her in mid-kick and sent her crashing into a doorjamb. The cops accused me of spousal abuse. Typical, right? Always taking the woman's side of the story."
Holly smiled. "Typical, yeah right. Typical for some jerk that gets his rocks off threatening women. I'm sure you had it coming, both from your wife and from the cops."
"You know, I really like you two," Handgun said, nodding his head up and down. "You two have spunk. All the other newbies we rolled just gave up and took their beatings. But now you two, you all got some fight in you. I think I could use you two."
"I doubt that," Garrett chimed in. He'd stopped struggling against the other two, who seemed to have an obligatory hold on them. They weren't really trying that hard to keep him in place.
"Let him go," Handgun ordered the two restraining Garrett. "Her as well." The men followed his orders. Holly and Garrett rushed to each other's side but were still surrounded by the circle of five. "I'm gonna make you two a deal, just because I like you so much and I want to help in your little reconciliation attempt. I'm a bit of a romantic, you know. I like it when the guy gets the girl." Holly and Garrett glared at Handgun. "Now, now. Trust me; it won't be that bad." He looked over to Golf Club. "Go get me the package. I need to send these two on a little mission."
Golf Club started to head down the alleyway, then hesitated and turned back. Just for a second, as if he wanted to say something but didn't know quite where to start. Handgun look at him, all agitated, and shook his gun then pointed it back down the alley. "Go get the damn package," Handgun insisted.
"But I don't understand why you want me to get it and give it to them," Golf Club whined.
"I don't give a shit what I told you before, just go and do what I asked you to do. Bring the damn package back here and give it to me. Don't worry; I'll find something else for you to do later. For now, it just makes a whole lot more sense to let these newbies deal with those assholes."
Golf Club reluctantly turned and went back down the alley. He was clearly pissed off, as he took a couple of swings with the golf club at garbage cans along the way. One can went flying, but he totally missed the second one. He kicked that one over, scattering the rotted garbage.
Handgun turned his attention back to Holly and Garrett. "So like I was saying, I got this little mission that I want you guys to take care of. It's no big deal, and as you can see based on my colleague's feeling about the whole situation, I'm quite sure you're going to enjoy doing it."
"Are you insane?" Holly said, taking a step towards Handgun. "I don't know what kind of sick little game you and your clown friends here are trying to play, but we want no part of it." She looked at Garrett, who just nodded and urged her on. "If you really like us as much as you just said you did, then let us go. We can both get back to minding our own business."
"And if it's OK with you," Garrett said, "maybe you wouldn't mind if we took one of those bags with us." He motioned to the backpack and the suitcase full of items that they had managed to scavenge from inside the mall. "We did spend a lot of time collecting that stuff and we kind of need it. It doesn't sound like you guys really wanted them anyway."
Handgun moved menacingly closer to Holly and Garrett, pointing the muzzle at Garrett's midsection. "Don't mistake this situation for something more than it is. Sure, I'm impressed by your gumption and your tenacity here. But that doesn't mean I'm just gonna give you a free pass. Things don't work that way around here anymore. They may have at one time, for all you Richie Rich, uppity elite types, but not anymore. Everybody has to earn their keep, and that's what you two are about to do."
"I don't understand what it is this package is all about and why you feel it's necessary to involve us. Your buddy there is obviously gung-ho to take care of it and having us do it is just gonna piss him off. Why not just let him do it?"
"Like I said," Handgun continued. "Everybody needs to earn their keep now; there's no free pass. Besides, why sho
uld I risk my guys who I know are loyal to me when I can hang you two from the hook? Plus, I like motivated employees and who could be more motivated to keep me happy than you two. Especially when you consider the alternative." Handgun gave Holly an unwelcome look from head to toe.
Holly and Garrett looked at each other as if they had something to say, but couldn't. It wasn't like they had a lot of options here and maybe this guy would actually do what he was threatening to. Neither of them were convinced that accomplishing this little task would get them off the hook. Garrett started to say something, but just then Golf Club returned with a package in his hands and spoke up.
"You know, boss, I'm really more than happy to do this for you. What's the point of letting these losers have all the fun?"
"Just give me the damn package," Handgun demanded as he took it from his grasp. Handgun turned his attention back to Holly and Garrett. He now held in his hands a shoebox-sized package. It looked ornamental, made out of bamboo with some carvings on the sides and a lid with a bronze clasp that held it in place. There was a tiny lock on it that looked like something that could be easily broken with a screwdriver. It was there more for decoration than security.
"So, if you two are willing to accept this mission …" Handgun chuckled to himself. "I don't suppose you two ever watched much TV when you were younger, did you?" Holding the package in one hand, he waved his other in the air, reminiscing. "Did you ever see that old show Mission Impossible, you know, the one that they turned into a movie franchise with that overly dramatic schmuck of an actor. I can't even remember his name."
Holly and Garrett just stared blankly at the man as if he had twelve heads.
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