Kidnapped [mature content]

[Baby Jake]

Chapter Nine… “The Nightmare”


It was a gorgeous, sunny, warm summer day. There was not a single cloud in the sky. The breeze was calm and cool against Jared’s, and Tyler’s faces while they road freely along a bike trail in the woods in their neighborhood.

They were soaring down a dirt path, hitting jumps and doing tricks on their bikes like the innocent kids they were, free of care and worry.

Eventually, they came to a stop at the end of the path, which was at the edge of a glade. Jared looked over at Tyler, both of whom were sweating, panting, and exhausted.

“That was so awesome!” Tyler said, and Jared nodded.

“Yeah we were going so high off those jumps!” Jared replied, smiling happily.

The boys laughed, and hopped off of their bikes before finally sitting in the dry dusty dirt. They were so happy, and they simply laid there in the dirt and grass, relaxing from the exhausting bike ride.

“…I wish we could do this all the time” Tyler said.

“Me too” Jared said.

“Too bad” Tyler said before finally rolling over and looking over, off into the distance.

“Jared, who’re they?” Jared heard.

Jared peaked up, and before him was a small group of people sitting around a bon fire, off not too far into the distance.

“Oh wow Tyler!” Jared said.

He was suddenly excited about the site of people. Not because they were just people, but because they were his scout troop!

“Tyler, that’s my scout troop!” Jared said, before jumping up.

Jared instantly began to dash toward the group.

“W-Wait!” Tyler said.

But Jared paid no attention.

“Jared, stop!” Tyler called out, but Jared kept running.

Finally, he arrived to the group of scouts that were sitting around.

“Guys, hey!” Jared said.

They looked up, and Jared saw quite a few familiar faces, mostly all friends.

“Jared, is that you!?” one said.

“Yeah it’s me!” Jared said excitedly.

They all looked happy, but then suddenly, their smiles faded.

“That’s not Jared Morris” the scoutmaster said, standing up.

“W-What?” Jared said, backing off.

“Yes it is!” Jared then insisted, but the scoutmaster looked closely at Jared, and shook his head.

“No, you’re not. Jared Morris died May 29th. And if he was still alive, he certainly wouldn’t be wearing THAT!” the scoutmaster said, pointing down.

Jared shook his head, and looked down. He was no longer wearing the shorts and shirt that he was just riding bikes with, but now, only a diaper.

“I tried to tell you!” Tyler said.

Jared spun around, and suddenly, Tyler was the same way.

“They won’t believe us… we’re dead to the world” Tyler said grimly.

Jared looked back, and the scouts were now all laughing hard.

“Now get out of here you imposter, this isn’t a funny prank” the scoutmaster said.

Jared couldn’t believe what was happening!

“No! NO! I’m not dead! Tyler’s not dead! We are alive! We were kidnapped!” Jared yelled, but they all kept laughing at Jared’s, and Tyler’s, diapers.

“What’re you all laughing at!? SAVE US!” Jared yelled.

His former friends all continued to crack up hysterically, calling them names and pointing fingers, all while having a blast.

The sun began to fade. Neither Jared nor Tyler really noticed it but the sky faded from beautiful blue, to a depressing gray. The light within the woods faded from color to a monotone, colorless hue.

But all of that stopped when suddenly, a voice echoed in Jared’s head. The world grew darker, gloomier, and windier... like a storm was overhead.

“There you two are!” they heard.

They looked over to find Sarah standing there, though she had tears in her eyes, and she looked panicked.

Suddenly, Jared’s attention diverted to her, and only her. It was like the cackling children beside them vanished, and in some time, they did. They faded from existence. It was only Tyler, Jared, and Sarah now.

“What’s the matter, Mommy?” Tyler asked.

“Mommy?” Jared thought.

“Since when did Tyler call Sarah ‘Mommy’?”

“Liam! He’s gone! He’s missing! Please help me find him!” Sarah insisted.

“Liam? What?!” Jared said out loud.

“He ran off, I can’t find him anywhere!” Sarah said, before breaking down onto the ground. She was crying hysterically now, out of control. Jared had never seen Sarah act this way before!

At that sudden instant, rain drops were beginning to fall through the trees, and soon, it was showering a great deal on top of them.

Suddenly, though Jared felt a chill go down his spine. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end, and the world seemed smaller. He knew a ghost was coming close, and a wave of courage came over the boy.

“Tyler, wait here with Sarah. I’m going to get Liam” Jared said.

Tyler nodded, and Jared faced the cliff that was beside him. Staring up it, he could see the huge radio tower on top of them, towering. He knew this was where Liam was, and nothing could stop him from getting there.

He climbed the hill, doing his best not to slip from the rain soaked soil, and after a few minutes, he found himself at the edge, and standing on the end of a plateau, directly underneath the huge radio tower.

Anxiety was high… he was getting scared; though for some reason he was felt he was prepared for battle. He felt the presence of Liam was close, and he slowly approached the middle of the clearing.

Then he saw it: directly underneath the center of this plateau, several yards away was a metal drum. It was a lonely, metal, rusty, bent, haggard industrial oil drum, with its top lid half-way on, half-way off. It was spewing the rain water that was overflowing, pouring over the edge of the barrel and onto the ground below.

“What’s this?” Jared asked himself.

Each step he took towards this, he felt more scared, like he was walking to his demise. He knew danger was getting closer, but he did not know from where or why, though he knew he must face it.

Finally, he stood before the barrel, and with a very, very slow hand, he slid the heavy lid off, letting it fall to the ground with a loud, audible splash from the flooding grass.

He looked into the barrel to find a dark, foggy, dirty, oily solution, with some unknown, mossy, thick coating floating on the top. But that was not the thing that made Jared SCREAM.

In that vat, he could see Liam’s grey face, his eyes blackened a bit and diluted. His lips pale blue. His hair was thin, matted, and his skin was grey, wrinkled, and translucent. Jared couldn’t look away as the horrific sight of Liam’s corpse floated in the barrel.

“I can’t let Sarah see this” he thought.

He looked around… there was no one watching as Jared discovered Liam’s remains. He was confused… he didn’t know what to do besides panic. How would his mother react to this sight!?

With a hasty thought, Jared reached into the filthy formaldehyde-like solution, and began to pull out the corpse with effort. He tried and tried, but something was holding his body within the drum.

He pulled, and pulled, until finally, he could see the corpse’s legs beginning to surface. With one final yank, suddenly, the corpse came loose, and Jared fell back with Liam’s body in his arms.

He quickly jumped up, and held Liam up from under his shoulders, up high. He looked up at the lifeless child, and he began to feel terribly sad.

But that’s when it happened… that’s when the most terrifying moment of this nightmare happened.

As he held the fragile body in his arms, slowly, Jared watched and felt Liam’s corpse fall apart in his very hands. Liam’s stomach turned heavy and sagged, before the bottom half of the corpse tore off, and fell apart like ashes, into a bloody pile of gore onto the muddy ground below.

Jared was only holding the upper torso of the body now, as intestines and other organs dangled out. Jared’s eyes widened and he screamed as he held it.

“Ahhh! No! NO! NO!” Jared screamed.

“NOOOO!” Jared screamed out in horror and panic.

He dropped the remaining half of the boy’s body, which fell and shattered to the ground at his feet. Jared shook his head and screamed more, louder and louder.

“What did you do, boy!?” he heard.

He spun around, and Hector stood before him with an extremely angry and exasperated expression on his face. Jared’s mouth opened to say something, anything! But no words came out!

“YOU! YOU KILLED MY SON!” Hector yelled out.

Jared shook his head, tears falling from his face uncontrollably, unable to say anything from his suddenly mute mouth. With one quick movement, Hector punched Jared hard in the face, throwing onto the ground.

“A-Ahh… Ahhh…” Jared muttered out while he tried to stand.

He moved one hand across his face, only to see blood.

“You piece of shit! Kill MY son? You… YOU…” Jared heard.

He fell back down onto the ground, and looked up at the towering man standing before him.

“I’ll kill you!” he said.

“N-No! Wait! WAIT!” Jared yelled out.

Hector looked down at him, and slowly pulled out the gun from his side. He cocked it back, and held the gun out.

Jared tried to get up, but suddenly, Hector’s leg stomped down onto Jared’s chest.

“Ahhh!” Jared yelled, looking up. He couldn’t breathe!

Jared slowly sunk into the muddy soil a bit, as Hector slowly lined the gun up towards Jared’s face, and then slowly, pushed it in towards Jared’s left eye, so close that Jared’s eye lashes brushed off the edge. Jared screamed out in horror!

BANG!

---

Jared suddenly leaped up, SCREAMING bloody murder!

“AHHHHHHHH!” he screamed.

He flailed his arms and legs around, kicking and punching the bars of the crib that he was in! It wasn’t until a few moments later that he stopped, still panting, to look around. He could hear and feel his own heart throbbing in his neck.

He slowly realized he was dreaming, but the images of everything still remained clear and vivid in his mind. He wasn’t alone in that crib for long, though, because before he knew it, the door into the room quickly swung open, the light flashed on, and Sarah was standing within the room in his nightgown with a very concerned look on her face, yet again.

“Jared, what’s wrong? Did you have a nightmare?!” she asked him.

Jared found himself standing in the corner of the crib, pinning himself against the wall in sheer fright. He looked at Sarah frantically… before finally sliding down onto the mattress of the crib, exhaling heavily.

“Y-Yeah… yeah… that’s… all it was… just a nightmare” Jared said.

“Jared, you don’t look so good” Sarah said.

Jared noticed that his hands looked a bit pale, and he was covered in sweat. He shook his head…

“Did I wake you up?” he asked.

“No… actually, I was going to wake you up in an hour or two… its early in the morning. I was already up when I heard you yelling” Sarah said.

Jared simply stared off into space, panting heavily. He could see… feel… hear everything from his nightmare flashing in his mind. Sarah shook her head.

“C’mon Jared… let’s go downstairs. You want to help me make breakfast?” Sarah asked.

Jared nodded his head somewhat sheepishly, and Sarah she smiled.

“Okay, well… lay down then… I’ll change your diapey and we can go start breakfast!” she said.

Jared lay down onto his back, and Sarah approached him with a new diaper. Things were the same as ever, until she unzipped his sleeper…

“Oh my…! Jared!” Sarah said.

“W-What? What did I do!?” Jared asked.

Sarah sighed, and shook her head.

“You flooded your diaper last night… your whole mattress is wet” she said before scratching her head. She seemed frustrated.

Jared, though, blushed.

“I-I’m sorry!” he said.

“No no! Not… not your fault… just frustrated… now I need to wash your things” she said.

Jared received his morning diaper change as usual, though this time, it was of course a bit more of a production. He was taken out of his sleeper, wiped well and powdered well, and certainly taken out of the damp crib (and he was told he would be getting a bath very soon).

The two walked out of the room, and proceeded downstairs. There was a strange atmosphere that Jared noticed… it was so quiet… he could tell that no one else was awake yet. Despite his nightmare… there was calm in the air. The sun wasn’t even up yet, or rising. Not that he could tell anyway.

She led him into the kitchen, and flicked on the light.

“What’re we making?” Jared innocently asked, while taking a seat.

“Well… I wake you or Tyler up… I help make my husband’s lunch for work. Would you like to help?” she said.

Shivers went down Jared’s spine… the thought of helping do anything for that man repulsed him… but, he simply thought of it as helping Sarah… not helping Hector.

“Mm… okay” he said. All he honestly wanted to do at this moment was simply get the visions of his nightmare out.

“Can you get me out some things from the refrigerator? I’ll need some turkey, mayonnaise, and a tomato” she instructed while washing her hands in the kitchen sink.

Jared obeyed, and he opened the fridge, and (with some effort finding things), he gathered the necessary things, before plopping it down on the counter next to Sarah, and then he backed off.

He watched as she grabbed two pieces of bread from a nearby loaf, and slapped them onto a plate. She built the sandwich, but kept it open. Grabbing the tomato, he watched her slide open a specific drawer, and pull out a knife, and slice the tomato, and then take that slice and put it on the bread, completing Hector’s lunch.

Jared went from that, to setting the table, to various other activities. Eventually, everyone within the home was sitting around the table enjoying their meals for breakfast, again. But Jared was mostly quiet… he rarely said anything at all. He had too much on the mind, even aside from the dream.

It’s been several days since Sarah and Ethan all talked to Jared about their past. But ever since then, mostly due to Ethan’s comments… Jared couldn’t stop missing his family. Seeing his friends’ faces in his dream increased that feeling, too. It was becoming unbearable.

He was thinking more and more about the thought of escape… the thought of being with his family… but the last time they tried… it was the worst experience of his life. He didn’t want to do it again, and he doubted Tyler would want to by now.

He knew that Tyler wasn’t happy there. But he also knew that Tyler wouldn’t want to make it any worse for himself.

But breakfast came and went, and was finished. Hector left, and the boys were stuck back in their usual routines. Tyler and Jared were entertaining themselves, which was getting harder to do after this long, though Jared wasn’t acting, or feeling very social.

“How come you’re not talking much today?” Tyler asked.

Jared shrugged, but didn’t say anything.

The two continued playing their videogames for a bit longer…

“Tyler” Jared said, in a sharp whisper.

“Yeah?” Tyler asked, replying in the same whispery manner.

Jared paused slowly.

“…are you happy here?” Jared asked.

Tyler played the game for only a moment longer without replying… before pausing the game completely

“What?” Tyler asked.

Jared put a finger over his mouth, in that “Shhh” motion. The boys would continue this conversation whispering.

“Are you… happy here? Do you like it?” he asked.

Tyler looked down, unable to speak. He didn’t know how to respond.

“I… I don’t know… No!” Tyler said. He seemed confused, and taken off guard.

Jared took in a breath, stood up from the couch, and walked to the door leading into the playroom. He looked back, and signaled for Tyler to follow. Tyler hesitantly followed.

Jared flicked on the light, and walked to the far end of the room, where there was a small kiddy table. He approached the table before thinking to himself silent. He looked around.

Tyler watched in confusion as Jared pulled open a little drawer that was under the surface of the table. He pulled out a box of crayons, tossing it up onto the table, and then a tablet of paper.

“Let’s color, hm?” Jared said.

Tyler nodded… though he didn’t understand.

He stood next to Jared regardless, and grabbed a blue crayon. Jared, though, grabbed a red crayon.

Jared looked down, and quickly scribbled something onto the paper, and passed it to Tyler.

“Camera” it said.

Tyler understood now… he remembered Hector’s cameras that were set up around the house, in unknown locations.

“O.K” Tyler replied.

“I don’t want to be here” Jared then wrote down.

Tyler nodded.

“Don’t be stupid” Tyler replied.

Jared shook his head.

“I know. I’ve been thinking” Jared started.

“Do you ever wonder what happens when Ethan leaves? When we get older? What will happen then? We can’t stay here. They’ll kidnap more kids. We’re being brainwashed” Jared argued.

“But we can’t run” Tyler replied.

Jared stared at the paper, before finally putting his crayon down.

He looked at Tyler in the eye. This time, though, he didn’t write anything down. This was something only words could convey.

“I miss my family, Tyler. I miss them more than I can possibly say. And I think we can see them again… and I think I know a way… but I can’t do it alone… I won’t do it alone” Jared said, in a whisper so quiet that Tyler could barely make out what he was saying.

“…will you do it with me?” Jared asked.

Tyler backed off and stared at him.

“You’re serious about this” Tyler said in an equally quiet voice. He seemed… staggered by the possibility.

Jared nodded.

Tyler shook his head, and his eyes widened. He was getting anxious.

“But… why now!?” Tyler said a bit louder.

Jared walked up very close to Tyler, and put his head next to Tyler’s to whisper into his ear.

“Did you see it outside… the trees are dead… we can see for miles… it’s the only time we can… for another year. I can’t wait that long anymore” Jared said, before backing off.

Tyler stared at him, and then started to pace a bit.

“How though? How?” Tyler said.

Jared shook his head.

“I don’t know… but I will think of something… I just… have a feeling… that if we don’t now… we won’t ever” Jared said.

“But what about –“ Tyler began…

“Do you… or do you not want to see your family again” Jared said, looking at him dead in the eye. He was growing frustrated.

But Tyler snapped back!

“Yes! Yes I do Jared! But we can’t just walk out of here! You know what happened the last time we tried that! We’re lucky that psycho Hector didn’t kill us!” Tyler said.

Jared shook his head.

“I know that! You think I don’t know that, Tyler? But I can’t take it anymore! I’m going stir crazy here! I’m willing to try to run… if you come with me… I don’t care if I die in the damn process… I want to try” Jared said.

Jared sat down, and looked up at Tyler. He could feel tears actually beginning to swell up in his eyes.

Tyler looked down at Jared.

“I’m… I’m scared Tyler. What if Hector… what if he wanted to molest me again? I can’t do it again! We’re becoming too used to everything here… I don’t want to be like Ethan… I don’t to be a pawn. I don’t want to not care about my family! I don’t want to forget them!” Jared said.

Tyler’s mouth slid open, and he shook his head again…

“Jared… I know how you feel…” Tyler explained.

“…but… we can’t just run out! We… we’ll need to plan…” Tyler said.

Jared nodded.

“…are you up to it?” Jared finally asked after a minute’s delay.

Tyler hesitantly nodded.

“Y-Yeah” he said.

“But we need to plan EVERYTHING out…” Tyler said.

Jared looked up at him and nodded, wiping a tear from his eye.

“I know… I know… it’s not going to be easy… we have one chance, right? We have all the time in the world… we’ll take our time… but I think I might have some ideas that could solve most our problems… I’ve been thinking already…” Jared replied.

Tyler hesitantly nodded, and a small, sly smirk grew across the boy’s face.

The boys remained in the playroom for the rest of the day, except when they had to eat, get changed, or go to sleep. But for the next several days, they would meet in the playroom for only a couple minutes at a time, taking things slow. They rarely talked out loud about it, and instead, they’d communicate by writing to each other on the paper, acting like they were coloring in case anyone checked up on them (which was actually pretty rare).

It was a delicate process, and they knew there was no room for error this time. But they were willing to do anything now. Anything.

[Baby Jake]

Chapter Ten... “The Beginning of the End”


Tyler slowly, somewhat nervously, but mostly calmly, ascended the staircase leading upstairs, alone. He peered over his shoulder and watched behind his back, but saw no one… like he expected. He turned the corner, and crept to the door leading into the library.

Opening the door, he found Sarah sitting alone at the table at the far end of the room, on it were a bunch of papers (paperwork, he assumed). She looked up at Tyler noticing the intrusion.

“Oh! Hello Tyler… what is it?” she asked.

He blushed.

“I erm… I need a change” he said.

She smiled kindly, nodded, and put down her pen. Tyler glanced over at the nightstand that was near the black leather chair… the one Jared told him about. On it, he saw the book “Complete Technical Manual and User’s Guide for Standard GPS Devices”, now closed and put under a stack, rather out of the way of immediate attention. He smirked, before finally being escorted out of the room by Sarah’s guidance.

The room stayed empty for several more seconds… almost a full minute. That is, until a familiar boy in just a diaper, Jared, came creeping in, in quite a suspicious manner.

Jared double checked the hallway outside of the room, and could hear Tyler and Sarah in Tyler’s nursery, though he didn’t know where Ethan was. He made sure Ethan was not in the room or in the hallway, before finally picking up “Complete Technical Manual and User’s Guide for Standard GPS Devices”, and then dashing out of the room like a bandit in the night!

Jared hastily made his way down the steps, and hastily made his way through the kitchen, through the dining room, and into the play room.

He did not take a step past the end of the kiddy table that the boys had been using as a desk for so long. He looked over at the shelf that was standing against the wall.

On one shelf, there was an empty void. Jared and Tyler had removed whatever books used to sit there for this purpose. He took the book in his hands, and put it on that shelf in a way that the cover was pressed against the backside of the shelf, and it was not sticking out further than the width of the book.

Looking down, he then saw the books that he and Tyler removed. He stuck them on the shelf like normal, hiding “Complete Technical Manual and User’s Guide for Standard GPS Devices” behind them.

The books that were supposed to be there only stuck out a small bit farther than they used to with the hidden book in place behind them. It was, though, barely noticeable.

Jared backed off… and relaxed as well as he could. He wasn’t exactly sure how much the hidden camera in that room could see, and he definitely wasn’t sure if Sarah would even notice if the book was missing. And he certainly was not sure if him stealing the book out of the library was just caught on camera or not, but it was a risk they were willing to take.

He sighed, rubbed his face with his hands, and exited the room, back into the living room. There, he sat like he was before he snuck up: on the floor, holding a controller to a paused video game on the screen.

In only a short few minutes later, Tyler came wandering back downstairs, and sat next to Tyler.

“Could you get it?” Tyler asked in a barely audible whisper.

Jared nodded.

---

The boys didn’t discuss the book anymore, and they heard nothing of it being missing from Sarah, Hector, or Ethan, and in fact – Sarah, Hector, and Ethan never knew it went missing. The book was long done with by now, and was at the bottom of the stack in the first place, so the boys were free to use it in secret without being found out (as long as they didn’t get careless, which they never did).

Jared stealing the book marked the beginning of the end to the boys. It was their first official move into their second escape attempt. They both felt that, though they could put it back… it was getting to the point of no return. Tension and anxiety was growing. The boys were getting somewhat nervous overtime, unsure if their attempts were being in vain, or if their captors were aware of their schemes.

They waited a few days after taking the book before studying it. They took it because they knew that knowledge is power, and they knew very little of the ankle bracelets they were wearing.

“It has to be in here somewhere” Jared said quietly as he quickly scimmed page after page in the book.

“What if it’s not what you think?” Tyler asked, but Jared refused to believe it.

“It has to be… I could’ve sworn it was… Ah! Here it is!” he said, before putting his index finger onto a paragraph that read:

“Troubleshooting a Poor Signal: Some devices (even the most expensive of GPS receivers) are susceptible to interference, which is the leading cause of a malfunctioning device, erratic behavior, and compete loss of signal. The extremity of the problem varies from device to device, and what environment the device is placed in. For example, some devices, when placed indoors, may have an extremely weak signal or cease to function correctly at all. Other such environments that may cause a lost signal include: dense weather conditions (storms), near radio towers or electric towers, within valleys or dense mountain ranges –“

“Wait” Tyler interrupted.

“Hm?” Jared replied.

“Radio towers?” Tyler said.

Jared nodded, “That’s what it said” he replied.

“There’s a radio tower near here, remember?” Tyler said.

Jared looked at him, and his eyes widened.

“You… you’re right!” Jared a bit louder.

“We could run there… that would practically make us invisible, right?” Tyler asked.

Jared scratched his head and looked down.

“I would think… but I don’t know much about this stuff… but it should” Jared explained.

Tyler shrugged.

“It’s a good possibility… but… that’s the opposite direction of where we should be going” Tyler said.

Jared nodded and took it into consideration, but this gave him an idea.

“…that’s a good thing” he said.

Tyler was taken back… what did he mean!?

“If we followed the road… we’ll be found again… they’ll expect us there, when they notice we’re gone. We’ll travel at night... and we’ll use the radio tower as our guide. We can see the red light in the dark… We’ll run towards it… and when we get there, we should be able to see a lot from where it is! And there has to be a road near it somewhere we could go by…” Jared said.

Tyler understood now.

“And if we get there fast enough… hopefully it blocks out the signal from our ankle bracelets. The only challenge is getting there though” Jared said.

“Well… when could we do this? We’d have to be sneaky… when no one would notice or expect us” Tyler said.

Jared agreed.

“If we leave… they’ll know. Something will alert them when we go somewhere we’re not supposed to… I’m not sure how. But I can guarantee you we will be tracked… maybe on the laptop! That was in the basement!” Jared said.

Tyler agreed.

“You’re right… that’s probably where… or…” Jared began, but he cringed when suddenly he had a flashback.

“…or where?” Tyler asked.

Jared stared off into space, lost in thought, before finally coming out of it, gasping and shaking his head.

“Ugh… I just… had the most intense flashback…” Jared said, rubbing his face.

“…of what?” Tyler asked.

Jared shook his head.

“…I was going to say… the only other place I’ve ever seen a laptop… was in Hector’s garage” Jared said.

Tyler’s heart sank.

“Oh” he said.

Then there was silence, and an uncomfortable feeling spread through the air. Tyler, though, was the one to break that silence.

“…when could we do something like this, though? We don’t just have Hector to worry about… we also have Sarah and Ethan” Tyler said.

Jared, though staring off into oblivion while lost in sadness and thought, nodded gently. His spirits sank as he recalled the events of that unforgettable day. It was months ago… but when Jared thought of it, it felt like it had just happened.

“I know, I know” Jared said.

He sighed, and cleared his throat, snapping himself out of it.

“If I had to make a guess… I would think that if anyone was going to get alerted that we left… somehow… it would be Sarah and Hector. Ethan… probably not” Jared explained.

Tyler nodded.

Jared slumped into a chair, and rubbed his face, growing impatient and frustrated with himself and their situation. He thought long and hard… he knew that there had to be have been a time where one of those two would be gone for an extended amount of time.

“We should do it at night” Tyler said.

“They’re less likely to see us if we run to… that place, right?” Tyler asked, making sure not to say where he meant. Jared agreed.

“So… Hector, when he’s at work… that’s not going to happen” Jared sighed.

“Ethan is always home” Tyler reminded.

“…but Sarah has to leave some time, right?” Tyler then added.

Jared simply looked off into space, and thought some more. He shifted his eyes to Tyler, and just happened to glance down at Tyler’s diaper, which in this case was quite wet and in need of changing.

“Diapers” Jared thought to himself.

And like a punch in the face, another flashback hit Jared like a ton of bricks.

Jared felt his curiosity peak… and he jumped on the opportunity to ask the question.

“…how did you buy all this stuff?” he asked.

Sarah beamed a kind smile.

“Well… usually every two weeks I do my shopping… I buy more diapers, and other groceries and things. That’s where I go sometimes, but you two probably never noticed” she explained.

But that was not all. It was like solving a math problem, which Jared was quite good at (like most other subjects). In one moment everything opened into his mind before. It all made sense. It was enough to make Jared jump from his chair with wide, excited eyes. Jared had an epiphany.

“Tyler!” Jared exclaimed!

“That’s it! I think I got it!” he continued.

“What?! What, what is it!?” Tyler asked.

Jared cleared his throat, looked around, and got closer to Tyler.

“She shops” Jared asked.

“Every so many days… like… two weeks, she shops, right?” he added.

“W-What? What are you talking about?” Tyler asked, shaking his head, completely confused.

“Sarah goes shopping! She leaves Hector and Ethan to look after us… we can’t move now… we can get out of here when she’s gone” Jared said.

Tyler nodded with a smile, but did not share Jared’s enthusiasm.

“But Jared, that leaves Hector… he’s the worst of them all” Tyler said grimly.

Jared sighed…

“I know, I know… but don’t you see? We’re one step closer” Jared said, trying to see the cup as half full in this dark situation.

Tyler sighed…

“I can’t think of any way to get past Hector… he’ll know we’re gone before Sarah would” Tyler said.

But Jared shook his head.

“It’s the only way” he replied.

Tyler shrugged. He didn’t like the idea of getting past Hector instead of Sarah. He would definitely rather just sneak out early in the morning when Hector leaves… but their escape must be hidden by night.

“I know how, too” Jared cryptically began.

Tyler turned around and faced Jared with a confused expression on his face.

“What? What’ve you got?” he asked/

Jared did not respond, but instead, looked grimly at Tyler, and at the same time, sheepishly and hesitantly scratched his shoulder blade by nervous reaction.

“He has a weakness” he said.

Tyler looked at Jared, confused, unsure of what Jared meant at first.

“Not only that, Tyler… but I think I just thought of it all” Jared then said.

In that room that day, the boys spoke longer and more in depth than they ever have or probably should’ve, but neither Ethan, Sarah, nor Hector noticed, and by the end, they indeed actually had a plan.

Jared’s plan spoke of sacrifice, which Tyler didn’t like at all. But Jared explained that it was (and it was) the only way out of things if they wanted to try escaping.

It was a plan of chance. If one thing went wrong then they would fail, most likely. But it was all they had, and all they could do was hope that they would succeed.

But there was one thing Jared had to do to put the plan into motion, and it was the hardest part of all: exploit Hector’s weakness.

---

The following morning came, and after the whole morning routine came and went, Jared and Tyler did not speak to each other in the playroom like they had for that last week or so. Instead, they sat and played videogames like usual.

The whole day went by, and soon, Hector had returned home from work (it was already night time by now, as winter was shortening daylight, which would be the boys’ advantage).

They all sat around the dining room table, and began to enjoy their meals, though Jared could not stop staring at Hector, who was not expecting a thing.

“How was work, dear?” Sarah asked.

Hector shrugged.

“Same old shit… different day” he said.

Sarah shook her head, most likely at the use of the word “shit” at the table.

Jared opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by Ethan who butted in to say something. While he spoke, Jared looked at Tyler with an unsure expression. Tyler shook his head. Tyler didn’t agree with this at all… not one bit.

“You don’t have to do this” Tyler whispered to Jared.

But Jared paid no attention. He knew what he needed to do. His mind was made. It was just a matter of building up the confidence to sell his soul to the devil one last time…

“I hate winter” Jared heard Ethan say.

“Nothing ever to do” Ethan then said.

“I agree” Jared chimed in. It was not uncommon these days for Jared or Tyler to be part of the conversation, so no one thought odd of it.

But no one had anything else to say… so that’s when Jared went through with it, and the moment his lungs took in breath to speak, the escape plan was put into motion…

“Speaking of that…” Jared said, looking at Hector, who stared at Jared with a confused face, but with suspicious eyes.

The room was silent. It was his time to speak.

“…I uhh… I was… kind of wondering something” Jared said.

“…yeah?” Hector asked, unsure of where this was going.

Jared was put in the spotlight. He could feel everyone’s eyes on him.

“C-Can I…” he said.

He looked around, but could not bring himself to say what he needed to ask… not in front of everyone else.

“…talk to you after dinner?” Jared asked.

Hector stared at Jared with a blank, expressionless gaze. This was something different.

“Sure…?” he replied.

Jared cleared his throat, and sat back.

“Okay” Jared said.

But Hector did not break his stare… he was confused, and did not understand what Jared would want with him of all people, nor did anyone else in the room (but no one questioned it out loud).

Tyler’s heart sank, and he lightly shook his head to himself.

“There’s no turning back now” he thought.

“…but it didn’t have to be like this. Damn it Jared… you fool” Tyler thought.

Tyler was sad for his friend, but he simply told himself it was for the best… it wasn’t up to him anymore.

Dinner went by pretty quickly and eventless after that moment. Soon, the table was cleared, and Sarah was off doing dishes, Ethan was off doing whatever it was that he did to pass time… and Hector approached Jared with a stern expression.

“What is it, boy?” Hector said.

Tyler watched as Jared swallowed hard from nervousness, and looked up at Hector. He could not watch another moment, and so, he walked away and retreated into the playroom, where he awaited Jared to return.

---

Minutes went by, and before long the door leading in, opened, revealing Jared with a surprisingly calm expression. He walked in, and shut the door behind him. The two got close, and whispered into each others’ ears.

“Sarah goes to the store tomorrow night… she’ll be gone for a few hours to shop after we are put to bed… he’ll take me into that shop again when Sarah is gone so she doesn’t know…” he explained.

Tyler shook his head. There was no turning back now, indeed.

“I-I did what I needed to do. He thinks that… I… I want to do it again! He could hardly resist… the ****ing child molester” Jared said, speaking between his teeth and under his breath.

“J-Jared… it didn’t have to be like this. You didn’t have to do this again” Tyler said, while letting a tear or two fall from his face.

He was feeling more remorse for what was going to happen in two nights than Jared… though Jared only smirked.

“No… Tyler… I’ll be fine” Jared said. He put his hands on Tyler’s shoulders, like a big brother to a younger brother.

“Remember what we talked about... it IS the ONLY way… and if we do things right… he won’t ever lay a hand on me” Jared said.

Tyler nodded.

“I… just can’t believe we’re really going to do this” he said.

Jared, then, nodded back.

“There’s no going back. In TWO days… less than 48 hours… we’ll be home again!” Jared said.

Tyler smiled. That did sound nice…

“So… let me do my part. Think about yours. You know what you need to do… you know where you need to go. You know what you need to get! I’m counting on you Tyler. Don’t you dare think twice now”

Tyler smirked. Jared’s courage was rubbing off. His pep talk was doing well. He suddenly felt like he was ready… Jared was right.

“C’mon… lets go” Jared said, and with that, the boys walked out of the room, towards bed.

---

The boys were split apart, and Jared was laid into his crib, and tried his best to sleep that night. Though his words with Tyler were words of courage… he truly was troubled.

Lying in that crib, eager and nervous for the morning to follow… he cried. He cried for himself, he cried for Tyler… he cried for simply being scared.

He knew that what he asked Hector to… to molest him again, claiming that he enjoyed it simply to seduce the man… to get under his skin, to distract him… he didn’t know if the plan was really going to work. Sure, if they did things correctly, Hector never was going to actually lay a finger on Jared. Jared felt he was in no immediate danger, provided everything happened. But he feared the worst. He could’ve either just made the best choice, or the worst mistake he could’ve ever made.

[Baby Jake]

Chapter Eleven


There was the sound of an unzipping zipper, and Jared immediately woke up. His eyes sprung open to of course Sarah changing his diaper like any other morning… he had hardly slept the night before from the tension and anxiousness that filled his mind, and rightfully so. He was groggy, and a bit disoriented from the lack of sleep.

He simply relaxed, and let Sarah wipe him clean.

“Good morning” Sarah, smiling sweetly.

Jared smirked, before yawning tiredly.

Once finished with his change, Sarah and Jared wandered downstairs, of course. This time, to Jared’s surprise, Tyler and Hector were already sitting at the breakfast table. Hector, though, scanned Jared’s body like he was prey, and smirked evilly, which sent chills down Jared’s spine.

He sat down, and began to eat his breakfast, though he was excruciatingly tired. Unknown to Jared, however – Tyler was equally as exhausted from a poor sleep. They would have to deal with it however, if they wanted to survive the night that was coming.

Breakfast was finished, and the boys sat in the living room by themselves to pass the time. Upstairs, Ethan and Sarah were in the library going over math work for Ethan to do. Of course, Hector was in the shop preparing for the surprise visit that he was looking forward to.

But that time passed, night fell a bit earlier, and Sarah got ready to leave for her shopping that she did every so often to restock the household with anything they needed. Where she went exactly, the boys didn’t know – but they knew she’d be gone for a few hours like every other time.

“Okay you two, you be good. Ethan is in the living room… he’ll watch over you two while you’re gone. But you knew that” Sarah said.

They were standing within the entrance to the household, near the front door, and the boys were growing extremely impatient… this could in fact be the last time they ever saw Sarah again.

“Okay” Jared said.

“Gotcha” Tyler replied.

She smiled, and finally exited the home. The time for action was now.

Once the door shut… energy and tension instantly filled the air for the boys. This was it. This was it.

The stood there, staring at the door where Sarah had exited from.

“Hector’s waiting” Jared said.

Tyler nodded.

“Let’s go” Jared then said.

The boys turned around, and walked into the living room, where Ethan was.

“Hey guys” he said.

The faked smiles to humor Ethan.

“What’re you two up to?” he asked.

They both shrugged.

“Same as ever” Jared replied.

Ethan nodded his head understandingly.

“Oh – hey… Hector told me to tell you, Jared… to just go ahead and walk over to his shop at 10? Are you two going to work on stuff there?” he asked.

Jared cleared his throat.

“Uh… y-yeah. He wanted to have me help him with working on a car or something” Jared lied.

Ethan glared at Jared and blinked.

“I see…” Ethan then replied, in kind of a suspicious, unconvinced way. It made Jared nervous.

“…I asked to go there” Jared then added.

“Oh… okay…” Ethan then said.

Jared nodded, not wanting to say a single word beyond that. He looked up at a clock that was hanging over the TV.

It read: “9:52”

“Well… hey! While Jared and Dad are hanging out, maybe me and you could play some games or something, Tyler?” Ethan innocently proposed.

Tyler didn’t know what to say! This was clearly not on the agenda…

“S-Sure! Maybe…” Tyler said.

“Okay, cool” Ethan replied.

There was some silence. Time was their first enemy here.

“Okay… well… I better get going now… don’t want to keep Hector waiting” Jared said, looking at Tyler.

He walked out of the room, and Tyler followed. The moment was on them as they walked into the unlit kitchen… the only light that really illuminated the room was from outside.

Peering outside… Jared could see something that he was not expecting… there was snow outside… a lot of snow.

“Wow… look at that… it’s like a blizzard outside” Tyler said.

The young boy was not a liar, or exaggerating. They had not ever considered weather (though they weren’t going to let it stop them). The ground was covered in a thick layer of snow, and it was only getting covered in more as a thick shower of snowflakes fell from a pale maroon winter sky that cast an eerie atmosphere among everything they saw.

Jared looked over at Tyler, and at what he was wearing, and then down at himself. They were both wearing their sleepers, as it was getting chilly at night lately. It was certainly not enough to protect them from the cold outside.

“…are you ready for this?” Jared asked.

Tyler looked over at him.

There was not a single sound, even though Ethan was watching TV down the hall. They could only see each others’ faces in the room. Their eyes made contact… it was like something from a movie while they stared there and built up the courage.

“…as ready as I’ll ever be” Tyler replied.

Jared smiled and shook his head.

“Remember what we talked about…” Jared reminded.

Tyler nodded, though he did not need reminding about the plan they were about to put into action.

“Okay…” Jared said.

He put his hand on the doorknob of the sliding door.

“Jared!” Tyler said.

“What? What is it?” he asked.

“…be really careful… don’t do anything you don’t have to do” Tyler warned, fearing for his best friend.

Jared looked at Tyler, and smirked.

He did not say a word, and instead, took his hand off the doorknob. Instead, he walked past Tyler, and in front of the counter. He smirked continued to smirk while he looked at Tyler, and with one evil glare, he opened a specific drawer (the same one he watched Sarah open not too long ago)… and pulled out a knife.

He held it up to show it off…

“I won’t… I promise.” Jared said.

This made Tyler a bit more nervous… the plan was in full effect. Jared hid the knife on his person, and walked back to the door.

“Okay… let’s do this” Jared said.

Tyler walked over to the basement door, and put his hand on the doorknob of that door. The two looked at one-another… and then opened the door, and they both walked towards their respective destinations.

I

“The GPS unit you have purchased works in a simple manor. There is a GPS chip, the transmitter. That transmitter is just a simple circuit that transmits a signal to the receiver at certain intervals. That circuit is small enough to be placed in any convenient location.

Then there is the receiver. This unit is a special hardware device that attaches to any computer, and has an antenna that receives the signal from the transmitter. This is convenient as the GPS data received may only be read on the special software supplied in this package.”

---

Tyler looked at Jared, and watched as Jared exited the kitchen, out into the blizzard outside. He took not a second longer, and walked onto the rickety stairs, shutting the basement door behind him.

He turned on the light that hung over the stairs, and crept down them into the concrete, ancient basement, doing his absolute best not to make a sound, but to be hasty for his friend.

He worried about Ethan, who was still upstairs. If Tyler took too long, Ethan may notice he went missing! Jared was, of course distracting Hector for him so he could do this… so he wasn’t going to waste time.

Infiltrating the darkness, he turned on light after light, until he found himself standing before a wine rack… the ever-so-familiar wine rack where he discovered the secret room (which was of course his destination).

He suddenly heard a creak upstairs of him… it was Ethan. He could even hear footsteps, but they went in no direction that Tyler could tell.

“Oh no! He might be looking for me!” Tyler said to himself.

Suddenly, he started pulling on all the wine bottles he could see, each one a failure, before finally finding the correct one. He pulled on it, and a loud crack could be heard. Then he pulled on the rack (which took quite a bit of effort for Tyler’s small figure).

The narrow tunnel leading into the room was once again revealed… and he walked in.

The lights cracked and popped, and everything turned on, including the laptop that was one of the reasons he was there in the first place. But on the laptop, he could see no antenna.

“Damn… it’s the one with Hector… it isn’t the one I destroy” he thought.

But he wasted no time, as that was not THE only reason he came down there…

---

“The incredible thing about our product is that these circuits also can be triggered by RFID sensors, which means you can be alerted in real-time! The software included also features real-time alerts, both on the computer terminal, and even text alerts on cell phones (if available) which will tell you if any of these sensors have been triggered. Please note that this functionality is not the true purpose of these units, and does not offer RFID sensor labeling or identification. Therefore, if you have more than one sensor, if one goes off, you will not know which one is going off! A simple solution to this problem would be to simply check the locations of the transmitter with our software. Check the GPS map and check the location of the transmitters.

For example: if a transmitter is placed on your dog, and you have two RFID sensors for your front and back door – if one goes off, simply check the map. Since the transmitter is on your dog, if your dog is in the front of your house – then it was the RFID sensor in the front door that went off. Logical right?”

---

Jared walked into the cold snowstorm that was passing through the area. A gust of freezing wind accompanied by snow hit his face immediately, which made him shiver. He slowly trekked through the snow (which was coming up to his ankle), towards Hector’s shack.

“Please… please… please… let this work” he said to himself.

He was feeling so remarkably desperate… all he had was hope that by some chance things would work out.

Finally, though, before he wanted to… he was at Hector’s door. He waited a few moments, to give Tyler a window… before finally knocking on the door.

It damn near instantly opened, which showed to Jared just how eager Hector was (and how much of a freak he truly was).

Jared wandered into the all-too familiar place. A stench of dog, oil, and sweat filled the stale air – and it gave Jared unwanted, vivid flashbacks.

“Sit down” Hector instructed.

Jared swallowed hard, and made his way to the stained mattress, and sat himself down. He examined his surroundings…

A desk lamp was on, which illuminated half of the room with a pale yellow light. Next to the bed, on the nightstand, was something that Jared recognized: a laptop, which was open, and had on it an antenna (Jared knew this was the GPS antenna that he had read about in the book before).

Below the nightstand, Jared could see Hector’s police belt, still loaded up with everything that could be there… gun holster, handcuffs, a baton, and even a bottle of pepper spray.

Another immediately noticeable thing was the constant barking of the large German Sheppard, locked away in its cage in the corner of the garage. It snarled and barked at Jared from across the room, taunting him like a demon… it was angry… and it seemed like it even sensed why Jared came there.

Suddenly there was a sound that Jared had not heard in what seemed like years, audible even past the large dog barking.

A cell phone’s ringtone!

Jared immediately spun around, and saw Hector standing in the doorway. He looked down at his pocket, and in a few seconds, pulled out a cell phone.

“So THAT’S why there was no phone that day with Tyler… they all have cell phones” Jared thought, assuming he was correct.

Hector opened the phone, and looked down at it.

“Piece of shit” he grumbled.

He then immediately closed it, stopping the call.

“Who could be calling?” Jared wondered.

That’s when Hector walked over to Jared, and then past him. He bent down at the laptop, and looked on the screen. Jared did too, examining from afar what he was doing.

Since Jared wasn’t that far away from the screen, he could see what was on the screen pretty well. He saw a map: an orthographic view of what Jared could tell was the mansion they were living in, from the top, looking down (like a blueprint). As well as what Jared could tell was a popup alert. He squinted to read it:


“Warning: A sensor has been triggered!” it read.

“Yes, yes… I know it has been triggered… stupid junk…” Hector said to the laptop.

He closed the window, but there was already another one under it…

“Waning: A sensor has been triggered!” it read a second time.

Jared knew this was because Tyler had entered the basement. He held his breath… he counted on Hector’s stupidity…

“Mm… piece of shit… I said ‘OK’! Don’t need to tell me twice” he complained, before closing the second window.

Jared took a sigh of relief…

“It worked… you stupid moron… now please be the only one who has a cell phone…” he thought.

Hector grunted, before looking over at Jared, who sat on the bed innocently, awaiting his fate.

“Now… before anything goes on here… let me get something straight” Hector said.

He sat himself down on a wooden, filthy stool in front of his desk. He looked at Jared.

“You… enjoyed… what happened, that night?” Hector asked. He had a blank expression on.

Jared stared back… and it hurt for him to nod to Hector.

“Y-Yes” Jared lied.

Hector smirked.

“Hah… good… I knew you would” Hector said.

Jared shivered, and kept himself from vomiting.

---

Tyler zipped up his sleeper, having finally gotten what he needed. He sighed with relief, and nodded, smiling.

“Yes!” he said.

“Now I need to get out of here… and to Jared…” he thought.

“What are you doing, dude?” Tyler heard.

He JUMPED, and spun around, finding Ethan standing before him, blocking off passage out of the room. On his face he had a sour expression. He crossed his arms like a tough guy, and shook his head.

Tyler, though… did not say a word, for he was too scared to say anything at all. What was there to say?

“Not cool man… not cool” Ethan then said, walking in, away from the door.

Tyler’s mouth hung open, and he stared at Ethan like a deer in the headlights. This confrontation was not expected… he didn’t know what to do.

There was silence as Ethan paced back and forth before Tyler, like a lion on prey.

“You going to say anything, or you just going to sit there like an idiot? What the hell do you think you’re doing, Tyler?” Ethan said.

“…I… don’t know!” Tyler said.

But Ethan cackled.

“Please! This is too good… you definitely shouldn’t be here” Ethan said.

Tyler’s little, helpless heart, was throbbing so hard he could feel it in his neck.

“…well… what are you doing here, then?” Tyler asked, doing his best to turn the situation around.

Ethan gave a look to Tyler so sharp it cut through him like daggers.

“My mother TOLD you… if you come down here… we would know!” Ethan said, before finally pulling a cell phone out of his pocket.

“I was looking for you, couldn’t find you… got an alert… knew Jared was outside… but I wondered, where was Tyler? Couldn’t hurt to look in the basement, right? I thought I might’ve heard the basement door opening, and someone walking down the steps… so why not?” Ethan ranted on. He was going off, like a villain in some epic movie reaching its climax.

Tyler simply froze… but he knew had to do SOMETHING… time was wasting, and Jared was waiting.

It was at that moment that both Tyler and Ethan looked at each other dead in the eye. Tyler knew there was nothing left to defend here. The only way out of this was through that tunnel.

At that moment, Tyler instantly began a mad dash towards the passage’s entrance out of the room, but Ethan was too quick! Ethan jumped in front of the door, and threw Tyler back. Tyler got up on his feet, and charged once more towards Ethan, but this time with fists.

He punched Ethan hard in the stomach once.

“AGH!” Ethan shouted, before gritting his teeth and punching Tyler back, this time though, in the face.

Tyler fell back onto the floor once more, knocking over the laptop and anything else that was on that table. The pain took him over, and he held his face.

“Ahhh…” he moaned, rolling over.

“You… you little shit… you’re done” Ethan said between pants, holding his stomach.

Tyler rolled over onto his back, and watched as Ethan walked over to a table next to him. He leaned down, and opened a small refrigerator (Tyler never even noticed it was there, all this time).

Tyler climbed up to his feet slowly, just as Ethan returned to his, though he was not empty handed.

He held a syringe, and a small vial.

“You need to calm down” Ethan said, looking at Tyler, who backed off.

Ethan stuck the end of the syringe into the top of the vial, and filled the syringe with some of the liquid (which Tyler knew was the drug they had been kidnapped with, and turned incontinent with).

He tapped the syringe, and shot some of the liquid out, before slowly stepping towards Tyler.

Tyler’s eyes widened with fear… if Ethan got this into Tyler’s system… the drug would overwhelm him, and he’d be out for hours and their whole plan would be shot to hell.

“I can’t let him do this to me” Tyler thought.

“…Jared needs me… this is the end” he thought once more.

He needed to think fast, though he continued to back away from Ethan the more he approached. Suddenly, however – Ethan charged Tyler!

He swung the syringe downwards, towards Tyler’s small body, but Tyler jumped back, giving him a second to counterattack! Tyler quickly threw a punch as hard as his body would allow, and cracked Ethan right in the side of the head, damn near the temple, before simply running towards Ethan with that momentum.

The two toppled onto the floor, and they began to struggle. Tyler lashed out as many hits as he could, which seemed to actually do good as he hit a few spots. But Ethan over powered him, and got on top, pinning him to the ground.

Ethan’s anger drove him to hitting Tyler back, in the face and all over, which Tyler’s eleven year old body could not handle well compared to that of an older, bigger teenager’s body.

Tyler’s body went limp again from the thrashing he had received, and Ethan continued to pin him down. Reaching over, Ethan picked up the syringe that he had dropped during the struggle, and aimed it towards Tyler!

But Tyler, though bloody and hurt, continued to fight back. He put up his arms up, and the two were in a battle for strength, as Tyler used two arms to keep Ethan’s back. Tyler forced out all of his strength to compete with Ethan’s as he pushed back, keeping the syringe from plunging down onto him – but despite his efforts, the needle was getting closer and closer to Tyler’s neck or face.

Tyler felt defeat creeping in. He felt the end nearing… and he had visions. Things slowed down. He could see the tip of the syringe drawing nearer… and he could see past that, and see Jared. He could see Jared, caught with Hector – doing things that no child should ever, ever have to do. But this time it would be Tyler’s fault.

The vision gave Tyler more strength… inner strength that he needed. He was willing to do almost anything.

Suddenly, though, in one last ditch effort, Tyler threw his head up with his jaws wide open!

The sudden movement caused Ethan’s hand to jerk, revealing Ethan’s wrist. The needle jerked, and as Tyler pushed his head forward to dig his teeth in Ethan’s wrist, he also consequently dug the needle into his own cheek.

Tyler ignored the pain as the needle continued to dig through his cheek, and simply bit down as hard as he could possibly manage!

“AHHHH! AHHHHH!” Ethan screamed as Tyler bit Ethan’s wrist HARD.

Ethan rolled off, pulling his hand away from Tyler’s teeth, and backed away.

Tyler, though quickly jumped up. He shut his mouth, but bit down on something extremely hard, and sharp, and he could feel something feel like it was pulling down on his cheek.

He quickly put his hand on his cheek, and that’s when he knew what was there… the syringe was stuck in his cheek! It had literally pierced through his cheek, and none of the liquid inside of it had been injected into him. Some had squirted into his mouth, though.

Tyler quickly put his hand around it, and with a moan, he slid it out from the hole in his face, and spit toward Ethan the blood and medicine that had gone into his mouth, and then wiped his face.

He wasted no time, and quickly slammed the needle into Ethan’s body, and let the plunger push the liquid into him.

Ethan pushed Tyler away, but it was too late. The syringe fell back to the ground for the last time, empty. Ethan jumped up, but slowly but surely, he became disoriented, and he stumbled back onto the floor.

“Y-You… y-you’re… dead… you’re dead…” Ethan mumbled.

Tyler watched him as his eyes wandered around in his skull, and he eventually went to sleep.

He was alone, at last. There was no one stopping them now, except for Hector. And as much as he wanted to sit back down, and clean himself off (as he was in pain from the struggle), he couldn’t. He had to go on.

So bloody, and battered… Tyler left the room.

---

Simultaneously, as Tyler had subdued Ethan, it was up to Jared to continue distracting Hector. He continued to sit on the edge of the filthy mattress, and talk filthy lies to Hector, simply to waste time.

“Come on, boy!” Hector said.

And in one quick motion, he yanked on Jared so that he was now on the floor.

“On your knees!” he ordered.

Jared very slowly kneeled in front of Hector, carefully thinking of some way to go about this situation.

“This is it… I’ll kill you right now you bastard… you waste of life” Jared thought.

Hector looked down at helpless Jared. Jared, however – slid his arm inside of his sleeper, and grabbed the knife that he had hidden (it was lying in the sleeve of his sleeper).

He clenched the knife, ready to strike at any moment, whether Tyler was ready or not. This was Jared’s mission… regardless if he had to kill Hector to get him out of the way or not… he was willing to do whatever it took.

Jared shut his eyes, and things went into slow motion. He gripped the knife’s handle with his sleeve, and he built up the courage to throw the knife into Hector’s stomach. He wondered what it was going to feel like… to feel the knife sink deep into Hector’s body.

He felt scared… he was nervous… this wasn’t something he necessarily wanted to do, but knew that he would if he had to.

Then he thought of what would happen to Jared if Hector wasn’t out of commission… and he was not willing to let that happen. Not this time.

The adrenaline began to pour in…

Hector began to unzip his zipper in front of Jared… and just as Jared was ready to throw a fatal stab…

…RING! The sound of a ringing cell phone broke the silence, and the tension.

Jared looked up, and Hector turned his back to Jared for a moment.

“The hell?” Hector said.

He grabbed his cell phone, and opened it up. At that moment, Hector walked toward the laptop. Another popup window was up… someone had just triggered another motion sensor! Hector closed the popup window, and below that was the map that featured a layout of the whole perimeter… he could see a second blip on the screen, indicating Tyler’s location – which was outside of the house!

Their plan was revealed to Hector with the click of a mouse. Jared saw this, and instantly realized that this was THE moment to strike! Pulling out the knife, he jumped up, and jumped at Hector!

Jared cleared all though from his young mind, and with one swift jab, pushed the bone knife into Hector’s back!

“AHH!” Hector yelled, but he spun around.

The man’s size made it out to be like trying to stab a bear to death. It didn’t work, and Hector spun around with his arm out, throwing Jared back (who dropped the knife).

“You little shit!!!” Hector yelled out!

He then ran at Jared, holding his back – but Jared, now scared for his life, dashed the other direction, and led a chase through the garage, all the while throwing things at Hector who was NOT stopping.

“I’ll KILL YOU!” Hector screamed out, finally catching up with Jared.

He shoved him hard, and Jared fell against the nightstand, and on top of the police belt. Jared scuttled, and rolled away as Hector reached down to grab ahold of Jared – which sent plenty of things on the floor to roll all over the place.

That’s when Jared saw it, rolling away from him: a small, black spray can of pepper spray recognizable by the police emblem on it accompanied by the bold words:

“PEPPER SPRAY”

Jared knew that this would be the only way out of this situation, so in a quick dash, he escaped Hector’s slowly moving clumsy grasp once again, picking up the can with a tight grip.

Suddenly, he was lifted straight up from the ground by the neck. Jared could feel Hector’s tight, strong grip wrapping around his neck, and he couldn’t breathe at all. Jared struggled to pop off the lid of the pepper spray, and raise his hand to Hector’s eyes.

Hector, gritting his teeth with a look of rage that Jared had never wanted to see raised Jared up higher, and Jared gasped and kicked. It was hard for him to do anything… but he slowly but surely rose his arm, and pointed the spray can directly in front of Hector’s face… and then pushed down on the button!

“AHHHH!” Hector shouted, dropping Jared to the ground and instead holding his face with both hands.

“****! AHHH!” he screamed, backing off into all sorts of things in his way.

Jared picked himself up as well as he could, choking and gasping wildly, before finally catching his breath, panting from the intense situation happening. Then, in a flash – he remembered that Tyler was still outside, somewhere, waiting for him.

Jared walked carefully past Hector, who was swinging, yelling, and stumbling all over the place in a blind rampage.

“Where was that phone?! Where was it!?” Jared thought.

He searched frantically for it, but it was nowhere to be found, though he did find the knife that dropped. He had very little time to waste, so he gathered it, and kept it in hand. He even approached Hector with the knife… he contemplated killing the man, for everything Hector had done to him.

He clenched the handle, and stuck the stainless steel blade towards Hector, now temporarily blind and helpless… but Jared didn’t want to murder. This was not self-defense, it would’ve been mercilessly stabbing a defenseless man to death – and merciless was not something Jared was despite the horror he had experienced up to this moment.

Despite his mercy, though – he did wish he could somehow tie Hector up, but that was impossible. Hector wasn’t unconscious, and was swinging wildly. He wasn’t going to waste any time… this was his one and only chance to get out of there.

He looked up at the laptop, and saw the antenna which was responsible for tracking their every move, and in one movement, he swiped the laptop off of the nightstand, and stomped on it. The sound of it breaking was loud indeed, but was in fact the main reason why Jared had even showed up there: to destroy what could track them. His mission was now accomplished.

Finally, Jared spun around, and quickly began to run out of the door.

“You better… aghhh! Run you little shit… WHEN I CATCH YOU… you’re DEAD… YOU’RE DEAD YOU SHIT… AGHHHH!” Hector shouted out as he listened to Jared open the door, and run outside, into the snow storm outside.

But Hector was not completely subdued. He was injured, bleeding, and stunned, but he was not helpless. He gritted his teeth, and once Jared was gone, he blindly found his way towards the sound of a dog cage, forcing his burning, watery eyes open for halves of seconds at a time to find his way there.

The police dog continued to bark and growl loudly.

“Get them, boy! Get them!” Hector said as he opened the dog cage.

The dog wasted no time sprinting out of the cage, past Hector – and out the door Jared had foolishly left open. Once the dog was gone, Hector collapsed onto the floor, writhing in his pain. He was not finished. It was only a matter of time before the mace had worn its effect off, and he would be able to catch them.

This was not finished.

---

The wind howled and gusted, and the barely lit snowy field revealed a barely visible silhouette of a young boy: Jared, off in the distance.

Tyler saw him, and jumped up.

“HEY! JARED! JARED!” Tyler yelled, jumping up and down.

But when Jared faced him, he jumped up, and replied:

“TYLER! RUN! LET’S GO!” Jared screamed.

Tyler stopped, and his eyes got wide. Whatever just happened, Tyler didn’t know, but he was going to believe Jared. So he began a mad dash through the snow, which was difficult indeed. He slid and tripped all over the place, but managed to catch up with Jared (who had waited up for a moment).

“W-What’s going on!?” Tyler asked, panting.

“Run! We only have a few minutes! We need to get moving!” Jared said.

They wasted no time, and immediately continued their sprint towards the woods… and just as they were finally approaching the edge of the forest…

“JARED! What’s THAT?!” Tyler heard.

Jared quickly spun around. Off in the not-so-far-off distance, they could see a fast moving silhouette quickly making its way to them.

“What is that!?” Tyler asked.

Jared’s heart sank, and his eyes widened. He was becoming exhausted, and this was their greatest threat yet.

“That’s a dog. That’s Hector’s dog!” Jared yelled.

“W-What are we going to do!?” Tyler asked.

Jared shook his head, and in one courageous step, he stepped in front of Tyler, and looked down at the knife that he had picked up from the floor just a few moments ago.

“I-I don’t know… just get ready! Get ready!” Jared yelled.

Jared knew not to run. There was no use. This was a police trained dog, and they weren’t going to outrun it. There was only one way out of this, and Jared knew that he was holding it tightly in his right hand.

So that’s what he did. He stood in front of Tyler to keep it from lunging onto him, because he knew that Tyler had no chance in fighting it off. Jared was the bigger of the two… this was something only he could do.

The dog caught up quickly, and before either child could fully prepare, the dog lunged at the one closest to them: Jared.

“AGHH!” Jared screamed as the growling dog jumped up and knocked Jared over.

The knife in Jared’s hand, however – stayed in his grip. He went to swing it, but the dog was too big and too agile for the boy to hit it.

Tyler immediately tackled the dog off of Jared, diving on top of it. The huge dog, though, immediately in return, bit Tyler.

Tyler screamed in pain, and the huge dog continued to gnarl Tyler mercilessly – like it was trained to do.

Jared picked himself up, with some effort. The dog had its jaws around Tyler’s leg, and was rocking its head back and forth like it was a chew toy. Jared took his chance, and dove at the dog with the stainless steel knife, and sunk the blade deep into the dog’s body.

The mutt SCREAMED and yelped, and snapped at Jared, but Jared didn’t just sink the knife in, he stabbed it again! And again! Once, twice, three times, and more! He continued stabbing the huge dog, each time it yelped and screamed, stabbing it in all places – until the dog’s yelps had turned to a gurgle, and it’s heavy, bloody body fell over onto the ground, lifeless.

Jared screamed out loud in rage, and continued stabbing it, even though the German Sheppard was far past dead, not once looking over at Tyler to see if he was okay.

“AAHHHHHH!” Jared screamed at the top of his lungs.

“Ahh… Jared! Jared stop! Stop!” Tyler yelled, mixed with a desperate tone.

Jared panted hard… and gripped the knife so hard it felt as though the handle would snap at any moment. It was like he was entranced.

“Jared… ahhh… Help me” he heard.

He looked over, and looked at Tyler.

“Mmmm… aghhh!” Tyler said.

He was holding his calf, and gritting his teeth too. He was hurt, and from the look of things, hurt pretty bad.

“That thing… tore my leg up!” Tyler whined, squeezing his leg tightly.

Jared’s eyes widened and his spirits fell. This was a problem, indeed.

“M-Move your hands” Jared said, getting down to look at the wound.

He cautiously looked behind him to see if Hector was coming out of the shack yet or not, but he saw no man off in the distance.

Tyler painfully removed his hands, and Jared could see (barely in the darkness) that his sleeper had holes in it, shredded, and his leg was bleeding from several deep gashes and puncture wounds. They didn’t look immediately serious, but Jared knew that if they didn’t get treated soon, in this weather… it could be the end.

“Can you walk?” Jared asked.

“I-I don’t know!” Tyler asked, rolling over.

“You have to! I’ll help you. We must keep moving” Jared said

Tyler nodded, and in a painful effort, with help – he was pulled up to his feet.

“W-Wait!” Tyler said.

Jared faced Tyler.

“What? What is it?”

“I… I brought some stuff extra!” Tyler said.

Jared squinted his eyes, confused.

“Huh?”

“Look” Tyler said, pointing to where Tyler was just laying.

Jared looked… and he could see something in the darkness. He quickly went over to retrieve them.

“What is it?” Jared asked as he walked over.

“Two more sleepers” Tyler said.

“What?!” Jared replied, picking them up. One was his own, and the other was Tyler’s.

“Aghh… I thought maybe… maybe we could use those… these are pretty thin… so I ran and got two more so we could have just a little extra to wear” Tyler explained.

Jared was amazed!

“Tyler… you’re a genius!” Jared replied.

“Eh…” Tyler said, shrugging.

“We’ll put these on later. We need to move now!” Jared finished, moving back over to Tyler.

Jared put Tyler’s arm over his shoulder, and the two (at a much slower pace than before) continued onward into the darkness.

---

The two slowly navigated the snowy woods, and despite Hector and Ethan being temporarily subdued, they knew they had little time before at least Hector would be chasing them down.

They were following the trail that Ethan had always led them on, and now that most of the immediate adrenaline had worn off, they were beginning to feel the chill of the weather that encompassed them – but nothing could keep them back from their destination.

“Look! There it is!” Tyler said, pointing off into the distance.

They were coming over a hill, and could see the red beacon of the radio tower: their destination.

“It’s still a good way away… we can’t stop” Jared said.

Tyler shook his head.

“My leg… it hurts… aghhh… one minute… we have a minute…” Tyler said.

As much as Jared wanted to argue, he couldn’t. He was exhausted. Almost a full year of spending time of zero physical activity had taken its toll on their bodies by now. They weren’t nearly as fit as they once were, so Jared agreed.

“We need to try to take these ankle bracelets off while we have time, anyway” Jared said, making excuses.

“And I want to take a look at that leg of yours” Jared finished.

Tyler collapsed onto the ground, and Jared bent down.

“Your leg doesn’t seem too bad… you should be fine” Jared said.

He wasn’t completely sure on what he said… he mostly wanted to just make sure Tyler was calm. He wasn’t a trained medical professional, but he was in the scouts, and he had basic first-aid skills.

“I want to wrap it in something though, okay?” Jared said.

Tyler nodded.

Jared unzipped Tyler’s sleeper, all the way down to his ankle. Fortunately for them both, the dog had bitten the leg which the zipper comes down at (this was a good thing so that they didn’t need to take the sleeper completely off).

Jared then looked at the extra sleepers in his other arm (they were wrapped around his right arm to not get lost).

“Which one’s mine, again?” Jared asked.

Tyler shrugged.

“Mmm… the red one I think” Tyler said.

Jared nodded, and it seemed about right. Jared knew the red sleeper well… it was honestly his favorite one, if he had to pick a favorite. Red was, after all, his favorite color (probably planned by Sarah. Who knew what she knew about Jared).

He sighed, and using the knife, cut the forearm of his unworn, clean red sleeper off – and he used that as a bandage for Tyler’s leg. He tied it over the wound to stop any potential bleeding, and to keep things out of it – the basic reason for applying any bandage to any wound.

Jared then zipped up Tyler’s sleeper back.

“There… now we need to get these ankle bracelets off” Jared admitted.

Jared bent down, and felt the hard ankle bracelet that was secured around his leg. He yanked it once or twice, but it didn’t even budge… and Jared suddenly realized that he had absolutely no idea how to get it off, since it was obviously tamper-resistant.

It was a large plastic box strapped with two hard, tight straps. The only thing he could think of was to use the knife to cut the straps, so that’s what Jared did.

The tight cloth straps slit in half at the knife’s edge, and the ankle monitor fell from his leg into the snow on the ground.

“Alright, you now” Jared instructed.

Tyler nodded, but winced as he unzipped his sleeper once more for Jared to get to the ankle monitor. A gust of wind ripped through the woods, and struck the boys to the bone.

“Ahhh! So cold!” Tyler complained, and Jared agreed.

In only a few short moments, Jared removed Tyler’s ankle monitor, and threw both of the devices far off into the woods, where they could never be found.

“One last thing… we need to get these on” Jared said.

Tyler nodded… Jared was of course talking about the extra sleepers that Tyler had brought. Jared slipped his own on… the partially torn sleeve wouldn’t bother Jared much as long as he kept the arm from getting too wet. Tyler’s went on fine, too. The extra protection was surprisingly efficient… they could feel their bodies holding more heat now – which was definitely needed.

“Okay… we have to keep moving. Hector could be looking for us right now. If we get to that tower, there’s bound to be a road… maybe we could even see a town or something from all the way up there” Jared said.

Tyler, though he agreed, couldn’t help but sigh. His whole body hurt from the fight with Ethan, his leg was injured so he couldn’t walk as well… and he was downright tired; physically and mentally exhausted.

He looked up at the red beacon from the radio tower, off in the distance. It was relatively near, but still a few miles away. The cold was setting in, and the exhaustion too. Neither boy wanted to do it… but Jared just had more motivation to try.

Tyler didn’t stop though – the two rose back onto their feet, and fought the cold. They continued forth, into the night, into the winter cold, and (they hoped) closer to home.

---

Jared used his Boy Scout experience to help navigate the woods anytime they would be moving – and he was doing a pretty good job at it. Time passed, and the boys only stopped once or twice more to take a break, but each time they did, they sat for a little bit longer.

Jared constantly was watching their backs, but not once did he detect a threat. He couldn’t hear or see Hector, nor Ethan (though Ethan surely wouldn’t be awake for a long while) behind them.

And, after an uncertain amount of time later (in reality, it was several hours) – the radio tower that they had walked toward for so long was finally getting closer, and was growing larger in the boys’ sight. Not only that, but the winter storm that had so strongly attacked the boys had finally calmed down.

The wind calmed down, and less snow fell, and ultimately, the storm transformed into a dense fog that surrounded the boys in the woods. This was a double-edged sword for the boys. For one, with less snow, they could navigate easier. But their footsteps in the snow weren’t being filled in anymore.

For two, the fog kept them from being seen from too far away. But this meant that they had a harder time seeing where they were going.

They had of course travelled much farther than they ever had through the woods. They knew not where they were, but in all directions they could see only woods and snow through a light red tint. They were far from the mansion they had escaped from, but they were also nowhere near civilization from what they could see.

Finally, however, they approached the edge of a cliff.

“Look! There it is” Jared said, pointing to the other side of a small valley that they were about to descend into.

He was not lying, or hallucinating. Off the edge of the cliff they stood on, past a very narrow clearing, and on top of another cliff that stood across from them, there it was.

“How do we get there?” Tyler asked.

Jared looked around, and despite the fact that they were looking down a cliff, if they headed to their right, the land descended, allowing them to get to the clearing. That was close enough for Jared.

“Let’s go this way” Jared instructed.

The two then descended a hill, and were now off the cliffs and finally in the middle of the two cliffs… a very narrow valley, which featured pretty small cliffs on either side of it (they were 30 feet high at most).

“What is this?” Tyler then asked. He was full of questions, indeed.

“This clearing? I don’t know. There’s no trees here in a straight line… it’s a road!” Jared said.

He looked in both directions, and he was correct. They were standing on a snow-covered road. But which way led to help, and more importantly, which led away from their captors?

Sarah was surely home by now, and Hector would definitely be looking for them, most likely driving on the roads.

“We shouldn’t be here, though” Jared then said.

“They will be looking for us… if this is a road, they’ll drive down it. We need to stay hidden” he finished.

Tyler did not disagree.

“The real question is though… which way do we go?” Jared then asked.

He looked in both directions, and there was no way of knowing which direction was the correct one. Did they travel left, or right? He couldn’t decide, and he was getting tired, and thinking about it made him yawn.

“Jared… I don’t think I can go on much more without some sleep” Tyler said.

Jared looked at him, shocked.

“Sleep? Where!?” Jared said.

Tyler shrugged.

“I don’t know! But I’m so cold… I’m so tired… I can’t keep going… we need to find somewhere to sleep. Just for a few hours! I just need to… I just need to lay down for a bit… I really don’t’ feel good” Tyler said with a weak tone to his voice.

Jared shrugged. He was tired, too. He was about to collapse… but he couldn’t bring himself to sleeping. They could still be found anytime!

“You can sleep… I’m not. I’ll keep watch” Jared said.

Tyler nodded.

“You okay?” Jared asked.

Jared closely examined him more. He was shivering, and his breathing seemed heavy, and slow. His lips were a bit darker than normal, and he moved sluggishl like he was in a lot of pain. He seemed… sickly.

But Tyler shrugged.

“I’m alright. Just tired… where are we sleeping?” he said, looking around.

Jared looked around, too.

“Higher ground. Let’s go up there” Jared said, pointing towards the tower.

And so, the boys ascended the steep hill, and hid in a ditch as well as they could, staying low to the ground, and behind a tree. Their brightly colored sleepers would give them away by dawn, and Jared knew it. He didn’t want to stop… even though he was so, so tired.

Tyler, though, couldn’t help it. They huddled together for warmth, so they wouldn’t freeze to death overnight (though it felt like they would) – and Tyler instantly fell asleep. Jared, now alone in the darkness, only stayed awake for a few minutes.

Looking off ahead, towards where they had come from, he watched for danger, only to have his eyelids shut, and put him to sleep at last.

[Baby Jake]

II

Darkness faded to white, and soon, the sun rose, casting a bright blue across the snowy landscape. The night turned to day, and the storm itself completely faded and passed over. The winds stayed still, snow stopped falling – and the fog retreated.

Jared slowly opened his groggy, haggard eyes. His bones hurt, and he felt like he was frozen in place. He was so remarkably sore, it was almost unbearable.

He looked around, spaced out. He could see nothing but blue and white, and the blacks and browns of trees and bare ground peaking from behind the snow.

He remembered everything from the night before, and in an instant… he knew they had to keep moving. It was like someone flicked the switch in his head. He went from tired, into ‘work-mode’.

Stretching out his limbs, he moaned deeply, each joint in his body cracking. His nose and fingers were burning from the cold they had endured.

“Tyler” he grunted.

Jared pulled Tyler’s arms apart from around his waist (the two had huddled together overnight to keep warm, and Jared was in front of Tyler, while Tyler’s back was to a tree since he was coldest).

Tyler didn’t respond though.

“Tyler” Jared repeated a bit louder.

He slowly, painfully, rose to his feet (which were numb) – but there was still no sound from Tyler’s voice.

“Tyler!” Jared said yet again, this time much louder.

When there was no response,