Chapter 2 Survive and Live

Zuzzy woke up with a blindfold over her eyes and her wrists bound together with duct tape behind her back. She could hear male voices, and they were in the middle of a discussion about something. "Such a waste to kill a cute lady like her," said one man. "Too bad they have instructed us not to touch even a single strand of her hair. Otherwise, it would have been fun to play with her a bit before we kill her. But now we just have to wait, dude," said another one, followed by a crazy laughter. "Did you manage to make a cute video of her?" asked another one.

Yera's face paled in horror as realization dawned upon her that this was not a dream. This was real. She had really been abducted. She quickly tried to loosen the duct tape on her wrists. She must find a way to escape. "Yes, we got her. What do you want me to do next? Alright, I understand," she heard another man speak. She presumed he was talking to the person who was behind her abduction. "Let me go! What do you want? Is it money? I will give you three times the amount they're paying you. Or you can name your price, just let me go," she spoke louder, making sure she was heard. "Shut up, another word, and we will kill you!" A man shouted. "I need to pee!" Yera shouted. She felt a hand abruptly pull her up and lead her to walk. "You have to remove my blindfold and untie me!" She hissed. Then the voice which she had confirmed to belong to the leader of the group said, "Just do what she asked, she can never escape anyway." "Do it fast, or I'll barge in without a warning, milady," the man jeered after he removed her blindfold and ripped the duct tape off her wrists with a knife. In a sudden surge of anger, Yera's face reddened and her muscles tensed, but she managed to control herself. Inside the restroom, she quickly checked the blazer that Lyndon had put on her. And she almost jumped for joy when she saw a keychain knife attached to the car keys inside the blazer's pocket. She took it out and clipped it inside the back of her tight slack pants where she could easily pull it out if needed. "Time's up!" the man shouted and barged in. He taped her wrists together and put the blindfold on her again. Several hours had passed, and the surroundings had become quiet. Except for the loud sounds of snoring, Yera could not hear anything else. She immediately sat herself up and pulled the keychain knife out from the back of her pants and tried to slit the tape that was binding her wrists with it. She made sure to be careful enough not to make a sound. After she succeeded in freeing her hands, she removed the blindfold and moved furtively to look for an exit. She was right, three men had passed out drunk on the floor. She noticed that one man was missing because she was sure she heard four distinctive voices before. She became alert. With trembling body, she tried to walk as quietly as possible. She knew that the missing man was probably just roaming around the place. She succeeded in getting out, but it was too dark. Then she heard shouts and pursuing footsteps from behind her. Yera dashed as fast as she could. She felt as though she was running in an endless forest of trees and darkness. She fell and tripped several times but hurriedly got back up. She heard gunshots from behind. And she fell. She felt a burning pain in her body, but she ignored it and continued her speed, but then she tripped once more... "No, I won't die like this!" She clenched her teeth and got back up to run again. The banging sounds roared in her ears, but she did not stop. Even if she slipped and staggered, and had to drag herself through the rugged terrain, she never stopped. She always got up and ran again. It was so dark. But all that was on Yera's mind was to keep running until she got away from those men. She didn't even notice that she was already near a mountain river. Her breathing was ragged, and she was limping slowly. She could feel that her legs were giving up on her, but she tried to run even faster. She could smell her own blood mixed with the musty and earthy scent of the river. "It's so cold," she murmured. She felt the stinging of her wounds, as the cold covered her now soaked body, both from water and blood. "Oh God, please spare me and let me live," she prayed silently as she continued to move forward because she could still hear the loud voices nearing from behind. They were all shouting at her to stop, or they will shoot. "Darn those bastards! Aren't they already shooting at me?" She hissed scornfully. She never stopped and continued to move. Based on what she heard during their conversations, she knew they would kill her anyway, once their big boss succeeded with his plan. Someone influential and close was behind her abduction, and his target must have been their family business. "Once I survive this, I will make sure to hunt you down, whoever you are!" She was already too weak to proceed, but she knew she must keep going. 'I have to survive this! I must live! Yera, you must survive and live!' She raised her own morale before she totally passed out and fell down a waterfall. "F*uck! F*uck!" cursed the man who had reached the end of the river to look at Yera's body that had fallen down the waterfall. "Boss, what do we do now...? We will be dead meat because of this mess," the man who had fired the gun at Yera stammered.