Chapter 54: Chapter 54

Natalie Heartman

Natalie was lying on a cold, hard floor in a small room.

Her eyes shot open as she was suddenly roused from her slumber by one of the kidnappers.

She was being pulled out of the small pitch black room, disoriented and confused. Her head throbbed with pain, and her vision was blurry.

She had been kept in the cold, dark room for the past few days she and Heartman have been kidnapped and being dragged out into light made her eyes ache. Closing it immediately and opening again she finally got used to the light, looking around to study her environment.

It was a big room more like a pack dining room, and the kidnappers were few feet away from her. She rubbed her arms, and was grateful for the furnace that warmed her up.

Looking back at the kidnappers, she noticed they were in a state of panic, and she could sense the fear in their voices.

They were discussing about something, but Natalie was having trouble making out what they were saying. She moved a little bit closer so she could pick out what they were saying. They were engrossed in their conversation, and didn't notice Natalie had leaned closer to them.

She listened closely and realized that they had not caught Heartman, and she couldn't help but feel a sense of relief that he was safe. She knew help was on its way.

"If he isn't dead and we didn't see him, it means he must have escaped to his pack," The smallest in size said.

"This part is lonely and mostly roamed by rogues so reverse might be the case," replied him the rough looking one amongst them.

"What if he didn't get home and was captured by the rogues?" The third amongst them who was usually quiet asked.

"But we can't take chances, if he gets to the pack territory he'll surely tell them about us and our whereabouts," The smallest in size said

"He wouldn't know the way back," the rough looking guy replied again.

"Let's just leave before anything else happens," the quiet one among them suggested.

"Are we taking her with us?" The smallest in size asked.

They all turned to him.

"That's the mission. Are we supposed to leave her behind? Where's your brain?" the kidnapper with more physique said, hitting the other on his head.

The kidnappers then concluded to evacuate the building. Natalie returned to her sleeping position, squeezing her eyes shut.

"Get up," said one of them, grabbing her roughly by the arm. "We're leaving."

Keeping her head down she followed them, praying to be rescued.

Natalie stumbled to her feet, her ankle still sore from the injury she had sustained when she and Heartman tried escaping. She tried to keep up with the men as they hurried through a dark corridor, but she was too weak and too disoriented.

They poured water on the fire in the furnace and dragged Natalie along with them as they hurried out of the hideout.

The kidnappers knew that they had been compromised and needed to restrategise their movement and then decided to go far into the forest, wiping out all traces of them being in the building, and all traces that could lead anyone to their new location.

Walking deep into the forest, they came to a clearing with sharp rocks that were buried slightly into the the ground. She missed her step, and fell on a sharp rock. It pierced deep into her skin and she winced in pain.

One of the kidnappers pulled her up roughly to her foot, causing the rock to go deep into the already pierced skin and cutting it out, making her bleed.

They walked on for what felt like hours, and Natalie was barely able to keep up. Finally, she fell to the ground again, clutching her injured leg and sobbing uncontrollably.

Natalie could feel her energy waning. She was exhausted and in pain, and she knew that she couldn't keep up with the kidnappers for much longer.

She was pulled up again by the now angry kidnapper, but Natalie couldn't stand properly but after some few trials she was able to get hold of herself and walked for a few minutes before she stumbled and fell to the ground again, holding her leg and crying out in pain.

This only angered the brute who was pulling her, "Get up!" he yelled.

Natalie tried, but her legs gave up on her.

He raised his hand to hit her, but his colleague intervened and dragged him away from her side.

"Let's just kill her she can barely stand on her own, how will she be able to keep up with us?" One of them asked, chilling Natalie's blood.

"She's too valuable to kill," the one that had saved her said.

Murmuring, the brute asked,

"Was this how she was as a Luna or is she pretending to be weak so we'll have pity on her?"

"She's wasting our time and delaying us."

"We can't risk being caught or seen."

"I said she's too valuable to kill, didn't you hear what I just said?" The kidnapper with more physique shouted at the others.

After some time, they stopped arguing and fell silent.

They all seemed to be listening to something coming from a distance.

They all looked at each other.

"Did you hear that?"  The smallest asked, looking worried.

"Sound of something approaching," the quiet looking one amongst them answered.

"What's it?" The rough big one asked.

"How am I to know what sound it is?" The smallest answered him, looking disgusted at the question

"Those are the sounds of footsteps," one of them replied.

"Quickly, you all know what to do."

Natalie strained her ears, trying to figure out what was going on.

It was then that she heard it too, the sound of footsteps approaching them. The kidnappers quickly grabbed her and pulled her into the bushes, hiding her from sight. They waited, their hearts racing with fear.

As the footsteps grew closer, they could see that it was Alex and his warriors, coming to rescue her.

The kidnappers were caught off guard, and in confusion of how Alex and his warriors found them this fast.