The Ensnared (7 page)

“Here’s the plan.” Keith said
quietly. “If we take a run and jump, there’s a possibility that we might make
it over the fence. Or at best, we might be able to grab the top of it and haul
ourselves over.”

Melissa looked at him in the dim
light and realized he was being reckless. She looked down at where she was
standing and then all the way towards the ledge. There was a small gap between
the building and the fence, but it was still a pretty risky stunt.

“That’s a terrible idea. We could
break all our bones!”

Keith let out an irritated sigh and
switched off his flashlight. “Broken bones will mend, but if they catch hold of
us, they’ll kill us.”

“It’s an absurd idea.” Melissa
said, but in her head if she wondered if it was probably not such a bad idea.
If they were able to get over it, they could run and get help from...

No one. Melissa scratched her head
in frustration. If anyone saw them outside the fence, they might throw them
back in. And once they were inside, they wouldn’t even have a chance to run
because jumping from such a height was bound to break their legs. She stared
down and wondered why she couldn’t hear anything from the other side of the
street. She couldn’t see any lights, no screams no nothing. Where had Jennifer
disappeared and where were the riders? Why weren’t they looking for her and
killing her?

Melissa swallowed. She was really
starting to lose it if she was actually wondering why the riders hadn’t killed
her yet. The faster she got out of this place, the better it would be for her
mental state.

“I think I can do this.” Keith said
with determination. “It’s our only chance to escape from those fiends.”

“We can make weapons.” Melissa said
quickly. “So what if they’re on motorcycles? We can find a way to cut their
brake lines or something.”

Keith shone the flashlight on her
face and she shielded her eyes immediately.

“Are you crazy?” Keith asked angrily.
“They’re not the enemy here.”

Melissa tried to grab the
flashlight away from Keith, but he resisted strongly and pushed her hand away.
“They’re the only ones who can keep us alive and protect us from them.”

“Keith you’re in shock.” Melissa
said and blinked as her eyes got used to the bright light. She backed away a
few steps. “Mark, my boyfriend is one of the riders. He concocted this
ridiculous story about how he and his friend are demons and somehow everyone
believed him.”

“He is brave!” Keith said. “He’s
one of the protectors. He’s the one who’s keeping them at bay.”

“Keeping what at bay? Keith, let’s
try to be rational about this.” Melissa said. “I can’t let you jump off the
terrace and Mark is not protecting us. If anything, he’s the reason we’re in
this mess.”

“You’re out of your mind!” Keith
screamed at her. “You don’t even know what’s going on here!” Keith wiped away
his own tears with his hand. “This happens every year, this very month. It’s
like a curse that’s befallen this city. No one ever comes out of this alive.”

Melissa felt her hands falling down
her side and the table cloth she had been clutching flapped away in the cold
wind before being swept away by it. “What happens every year?”

Keith started to jog on his spot
and took a deep breath as he studied the gap before him. “They!” he said
pointing afar. “They awaken every year and on the first day of the crescent
moon, destroy everything.”

“Who exactly are you referring
too?” Melissa asked. Keith was obviously confused about the riders.

“Those three demons. There are four
now.” Keith gasped. “Their names escape me.”

It was then that Melissa realized who
Keith was talking about. It was ridiculous of course. “They’re your friends.”
She said quietly.

“They’re no one’s friends.” he said.

Melissa suddenly found herself
being unable to breathe. She wondered if she should scream or cry and then
tried to calm herself down. Now wasn’t the time to breakdown. Keith was dazed
and he must have been confusing one with the other. Or worse, the riders had
somehow brainwashed him so that he could lead her to them.

“Keith.” she said and tugged on his
arm. “Rafe, Sara, Shane and Fiona are your friends. The riders are the ones who
are destroying the city. They were the ones who killed Sara and Shane.”

Keith pushed her away. “You’re
crazy.” he repeated. “If you don’t want to come, then don’t. They were only
three, then they killed one and made them theirs. Now they’ve found another
one.”

Keith was babbling and Melissa was
starting to feel everything slipping away from her. Her mind fell in knots and
she wished Jennifer was here with her. Or even Mark.

Melissa bit her tongue as she
thought about Mark. She wanted to believe that Keith was telling the truth so
that it would mean that Mark was innocent. But she knew it was only wishful
thinking.

“Here goes!” Keith said.

“No don’t!” Melissa cried and
grabbed him by the arms. “Please, Keith! Come to your senses. What does the
legend say about this city? What are the demons supposed to do?”

“It’s not a myth.” Keith corrected.
“Every July, on the first night of the crescent moon, the three awaken. They’re
like demons only much worse. They trap innocents and turn them to whatever they
are. Only a chosen few can defeat them and free the city of the evil curse.”

“The graves!” Melissa said. “Who do
they belong to? There are five of them!”

“But they’re only three?” Keith
frowned. “Their graves and the graves of their victims were hidden away.”

“It’s on that islet.” Melissa said.
“If we find them, we should destroy them.”

“You do that.” Keith said. “I’ll make
my escape in the meantime.”

And before Melissa could stop him,
Keith ran fast towards the edge and then jumped as high as he could.

“Keith!” Melissa shrieked as he
fell on the side of the fence and fell down. The fence crackled with
electricity and Melissa looked down to see Keith’s body being electrocuted. She
screamed as Keith quaked violently before falling limp.

Melissa fell on her knees and
sobbed. How could the people in this city do that to them? When had they put up
an electric fence?

“You killed him!” Melissa screamed
and then sobbed loudly. “All you jerks, murdered him! His death is on your
conscience!”

Melissa pulled herself up and
quickly ran downstairs. She flung open the door to the cafe and ran to where
she had seen Keith fall.

She stopped suddenly and the breath
was sucked away from her. Keith was nowhere to be found. Someone had taken his
body away. But no one had been here. How did they move him away so quickly?

“Melissa.” a voice behind her said.

Melissa turned around to see Mark
standing behind her with his helmet in his hands.

“I think it’s time we talked.”

As soon as she saw him, Melissa
thought for certain that her heart had stopped beating. Her eyes travelled all
over him and she noticed with dull surprise that he was carrying various knives
and a gun holster.

Keith was confused and frightened
and so it was understandable that he had the notion that the riders were
innocent. Of course they were not, Melissa thought. How could they be?

She backed away a few steps,
remembered there was an electric fence behind her and stopped. She took a deep
breath and swallowed. This was it- this was her chance. Mark was all alone and
he held no weapon in his hand yet.

Melissa pushed herself in motion
and ran as fast as she could, shoving Mark aside. She could hear his cry of
surprise, but she didn’t turn back. She could feel the adrenaline pumping into
her veins as she ran straight ahead. There had to be a way out of this. There
just had to be! To her relief, she saw that there was a narrow opening in the
fence and she could see Rafe, Fiona and Jennifer standing there looking stunned
as she drew closer towards them.

“Mel!” Jennifer squealed. “Faster,
Mel! Faster!”

Seeing Jennifer alive and well,
boosted her own spirits and Melissa pushed herself harder to run faster.

“Come on!” Rafe goaded and held out
his hand.

“Mel!” Jennifer screamed and before
she could understand why her friend looked terrified  all of a sudden, someone
came up behind her and pushed her away roughly.

“Uff!” Melissa staggered on the
floor writhing in pain as one of the riders tried to restrain her. He took off
his helmet and Melissa saw that he was a guy of her own age with sandy brown
hair that fell to his shoulders.

“Let me go! Let me go!” she cried,
but the boy wouldn’t listen. He held her as tight as possible and Melissa
started to wonder what terrible things he was going to do to her.

“Help!” She screamed and looked at
the opening to where her friends were standing.

“Mel!” Jennifer shrieked, but Fiona
pulled her away.

“Come on.” She could hear Rafe say
quietly.

She saw Jennifer struggle with them
as they pulled her away from the area. Before she could even blink, the three
of them had vanished and Melissa knew then that she was going to die. There was
nothing else to do now. No one was coming to save her. She was caught and the
riders would kill her in the most sadistic way possible.

“Let me go!” she screamed at the
rider and he in turn, slapped her across the face hard.

Melissa instantly tasted blood and
started to sob loudly. This was it. He would remove a sharp blade and stab her.
 She gasped as the rider pushed his knee on her stomach.

“Hey!” she heard Mark call. “Get
off her Kevin!”

“She won’t...”Kevin started to say,
but Mark shoved him away and pulled her to her feet.

“Are you okay?” he asked gently.

Melissa cried when she saw the
other three riders form a small circle around her. She wiped the blood from the
corner of her mouth with her sleeve and sobbed.

“I was only trying to stop her.” Kevin
explained to Mark.

“Nobody asked you to hit her!” Mark
said angrily.

“She’s too strong.” Kevin said
quietly. “You know we can’t afford to lose another one to them.”

“What are you going to do to me?”
she whimpered.

“Nothing.” Mark said soothingly. “I
promise you. Come with me.”

Mark put an arm around her and
gently led her towards the restaurant. Melissa shuddered at his touch but
didn’t pull away. Mark felt nice and warm and she was freezing. As they entered
the restaurant, she noticed that the pieces of glass from the broken door were
cleared out and the door was replaced.

She started to walk towards a
booth, but Mark pulled her away and made her walk towards a door at the back.
She looked at him questioningly, but Mark said nothing and opened up another
door that led downstairs.

She felt a thick blanket on her
shoulders and saw that Mark was smiling at her. She pulled the blanket closer
to her and wondered where on earth he had found one when she found herself
wondering what Mark intended to do with her.

She walked downstairs as slowly as
possible, half expecting for Mark to turn around any second and holding up a
wire to tie up her hands. But Mark did no such thing and instead flipped on a light
switch.

Melissa felt her mouth drop open as
she saw the basement. Instead of knives and weapons and other torture related
things, she saw that the entire basement was as cozy as it could have been.
There were small cots set up in a corner where Mark and his friends obviously
slept, a flat screen television set up on the other side with comfortable
couches and a refrigerator standing idly in the other corner.

She looked up to see air
conditioners on both sides and then looked at Mark who gave her an amused
glance.

“What is this?” she asked. Her head
was spinning after being knocked over and the bright lights were doing nothing
to help her confused state of mind.

“I’ll explain later.” Mark said and
led her to one of the cots.

Melissa sat down and looked up to
Mark who was busy unfolding another blanket.

One of the other riders came to her
with a bowl of soup and Melissa looked at it suspiciously.

“When was the last time you ate?” Mark
asked.

Melissa took the bowl of soup but
only so that the rider would walk away. She saw the other riders walk in and
saw Kevin with a sullen look on his face. The others looked about her age. So
young and they had chosen to live it so precariously.

She spooned at the soup and raised
it to study it in the light. She could see the vegetables swimming in broth and
took a whiff of it. The soup smelled delicious and she could feel her stomach
grumble.

“It’s from a can.” Mark said almost
apologetically and then adjusted the bed sheets. “You can sleep here tonight.”

Melissa glanced at the other riders
and saw them getting comfortable on the couches as one of them switched on the
television. Nobody paid any attention to her and Melissa wondered if she should
be relieved or cautious at this.