- 11 -

                                    

                                          
I don't scream this time.
                          
I snap to awareness, all my senses bombarding me at once. I bite back a yelp but manage to keep my eyes closed and my muscles slack. There's something digging into my back, metal and cold. I'm still wearing the scratchy jumpsuit. I'm not quite free yet.
                          
With a lurch, I realize I'm being dragged along the ground on some sort of contraption I can't identify. Metal isn't a good sign. There's the crunching of more leaves and the flat surface pitch under me. A slight twitch of my arms and legs tells me I'm not strapped down. Even my head is starting to hurt less, though my ankle still throbs. I keep my eyes firmly screwed shut. I need to find out if the two human bioelectrical signals near my feet are threats or not.
                          
"So, ya think she's the devil?" A voice asks. It's similar to Jax's, but both the odd drawl in his speech and the fact that his mind is nothing like the hyperactive energy of Jax's makes me realize it's a stranger, although young.
                          
"The devil?" Someone exclaims. "Heh, yeah. The devil came up to Michigan lookin' for a soul to steal, and instead he just found this girl abandoned in the woods." This voice is a little deeper, perhaps a few years older, but the pair laugh at his words.
                          
"Don't ya think it's a little weird, though?"
                          
"I mean..." the second kid sucks in a breath between his teeth. "Yeah, but I don't know what else we can do. I kinda feel bad for shooting her."
                          
"It should have killed her."
                          
"Yeah, I know, you idiot. She's going to die anyway." So these people are enemies, I think. "She's going to overdose on an anesthetic. Not the ideal way to go."
                          
They fall back into a cryptic silence, leaving me with time to contemplate their words. Did they try to kill me? Telazol must've been the drug in that dart that made me pass out. At the same time, they could have just cut my throat for good measure, as there was obviously no guarantee the dart would work. I twitch my good foot and feel the weight of the knife pressing against my bare skin. It's still there. Good.
                          
In the same fluid motion, I propel myself backward, skidding along the ground and tearing the knife from my boot. I glare up at the boys as they spin around, confused and surprised. I kick the flat thing I was lying on up at one of them, forcing him backward. With my other foot, I shove off the ground and come to a stop behind the second boy, knife pressed against his neck. It's a few critical seconds, but it's clear I've got the advantage.
                          
The first clambers to his feet, wiping his nose free of blood and only succeeding in smudging more across his face. I make vicious eye contact and he glances wide-eyed between me and my victim, who currently is standing stock still, breathing shallowly.
                          
I don't have time for them to stare at me, slack-jawed. I know what I look like, and I bare my teeth. "Where am I?"
                          
The boy in front of me stutters for a moment. "Black... Blackrock Forest. Uhm... are you okay?"
                          
My ankle throbs, and I'm fully aware of the deep scratches on my face and hands. I'm sure I'm one hell of a bloody mess. "I'm fine. Where were you taking me?"
                          
"Back to our place. Home."
                          
I sneer and the boy I'm holding flinches as I dig the knife into his skin. It only permeates the first few layers and I make sure to keep it that way. The other kid notices and draws his lips back, but I recognize it to be a nervous gesture. Good. They should be scared. "So you're taking me back to your lab?"
                          
The other boy's eyebrows furrow in confusion and terror. "We don't... we don't have a lab."
                          
"Don't lie to me."