Chapter Two

Unfortunately, I was still behind a crate on a rooftop being stalked by scary gunned men in black. And you expect me to stay calm. Hah!
My hands shook as I tried to get to my backpack. I managed to shrug it off silently and pull two knives out. Since I couldn't run, I'd fight. Somewhere inside, I probably knew I couldn't take them all at once, but my stubborn streak prevailed. I'd wait until I was found, and as soon as I was, I'd take them by surprise.
I almost nodded to myself before remembering exactly how many dangerous people I was surrounded by. I worked on steadying my breathing using a meditation method that I had read about. It was amazing that I still remembered it.
The tension was too great. I abandoned my five second meditation and opened my eyes. I was greeted by a rather disturbing sight: the underside of my foot.
OK, it's not that I don't have personal hygiene. No. I do. I just happened to be running over asphalt, telephone poles (very splintery mind you), gravel, glass, and mud all night away from bullet crazed maniacs with expensive cars.  
My foot was bleeding, which I was sure left perfect tracks, and had several large shards of glass embedded in the skin, not to mention the smaller, microscopic size shards and splinters. Where my foot wasn't covered in cuts, there were about a million blisters on my heels and toes. The blood was mixed with mud, presumably from the large puddle I had run through to get here. If there were a foot hell, this would be it.
I reached over, as still as possible, and yanked a piece of the glass out.
It took everything in me to keep from crying out. After a couple seconds of breathless gasping, I bit the top of my knee, my eyes shut, and pulled out yet another glass shard.
At the last yank, a small whimper escaped my tightly clamped jaws.
I pulled all my limbs in close and peeked though a crack between two crates.
Several of the men were now looking at the many crates scattered on the floor. Or roof, to be exact. This included their leader, a tall, muscular guy who stood in the middle and watched everyone else do the work. Some leader. Now that he'd turned around, I could see his— Oh my God, he was hot. Hot in a Matthew Bomer sort of way, with the brown hair and his face, but his hair was curlier and messier, and I couldn't tell what color his eyes were, even though he didn't wear head gear like the rest of—
I mentally chided myself for thinking about something so… trivial, and at a time like this! I rolled my eyes at myself, partly because of the embarrassment of being such a girly girl, and partly to stop myself from staring at him. Which wasn't very possible when—Okay, okay, I'll let you get to that part yourself.
I hated him at sight. Well, after my little "hot guy" brain clunk, but still. Even the way he stood was arrogant. He looked like the type to kick a lost puppy for fun, or throw a cat out a window to see if it landed on all fours.
He squinted, scanning the rooftop for any signs of me. One of his goons started towards my crate, but the leader put up his hand. Arrogant son of a… probably also arrogant man.
I watched him walk over to a crate far to his left, being my right, of course. Once he reached it, he kicked it over with such force it fell apart when it hit the ground. Err, roof. I jumped at the loud clattering noise, making a sound between a gasp and a squeak, like a choking mouse.
His head snapped up and glared in my general direction. I vaguely wondered if it was even possible to see through his eyelids.
Slowly, he pulled out his gun and aimed it. I could only watch as his machine gun totally demolished several crates, the path of destruction traveling from his crate, toward mine. I gulped, readying myself for action in the sparse moments that followed.
When the gunshots got so close I couldn't stand it anymore, I leaped out and struck the man in front of me with a hard, well-placed kick to the jaw. The gunshots stopped abruptly. I couldn't bring myself to actually hurt the poor guy, so I kicked him behind the knees and he fell on his elbows.
Another guy reached out to grab me, but somehow, I ducked just in time. Then, I ran. Towards their leader.
Shock painted his face for a millisecond, and then he composed himself and just stood there smugly. As soon as I got close enough, I rammed into him with my shoulder, channeling my momentum so that I could elbow his neck.
I would have, too, if he hadn't gotten his arm around my ribcage first. I kept going, and spun him around just enough to slip away.
He had an impossibly strong, vise-like grip. I small part of my brain wondered, Is... Is he like me?
I lost no time with thinking. I kicked out, hoping to knock the breath out of him, but he caught my foot with an infuriating calm. I stumbled, and he pushed my foot away, laughing.
Not breaking my ankle beyond healing was probably the most merciful act he had ever done in his life.
I wasn't about to let the brainless excuse for a human being just stand there without a challenge. I spat to the side and charged at him again.
"Daniel, watch out!"
Instinctively, I turned my head towards the sound, but forgot to tell my feet to stop moving. I rammed into him, Daniel, with no warning. He was caught off guard and let out a nearly inaudible "oomph".
After a moment of dazed nothingness, I decided to put my knee between his legs. Daniel doubled over, but managed to grab my waist. My hand, now freed from its prison between me and Daniel, swung up and knocked him in the jaw.
Was I doing this? It had to be someone else.
Daniel's face jerked up with the impact, and I saw a terrifying flash of rage in his eyes. I backed up, flitting out of his arm range.
He cracked his neck, like in the movies. I was very tempted to laugh, if not for the murderous look he was giving me. Oops? (Freak Lesson #1: Never piss Daniel off, especially in front of his friends, especially when he's holding a goddamn GUN. Rant over.)
Lifting his gun, he pointed the barrel straight at me, and for one scary moment his finger twitched on the trigger.
I knew my eyes were wide open in fear, even though I did everything in my power to keep a relaxed and carefree stance. My hair, wet from the constant rain, now pouring in sheets, was stuck to my face. A ruthless guy named Daniel is pointing a gun at me, and I'm thinking about how much I'd love to have my hair in a ponytail. I have great survival skills.
The moment dragged out. All I could hear was the rain, and heavy breathing. Finally, it was too much for me.
I dropped into a crouch, and Daniel fired well above my head. To scare me, I thought. I lashed out with my leg and hit shin, which didn't seem to bother him much. Then I leaped, not at him, but under his arm, righting myself just behind his shoulder. A little shakily, I slashed at his upper arm with both knives, making two gashes about as long as my finger start oozing blood.
Even though I knew I wouldn't have hurt him if I hadn't had to, I felt sick to my stomach.
He turned around, his hand clenched in a fist. I dodged his punch and slashed at him again, he was too fast, though, and grabbed both of my wrists. I glared at him for a few seconds, struggling to free my hands. His nails dug into my wrists and a let out a short cry, my knives clattering to the floor.
I looked at him, my face scrunched up in pain and fury, the hate in my eyes renewed.
I managed to twist my hands hard enough to grab his wrists as well, then pulled myself upward so I could land a good kick again. He saw it coming.
Daniel flexed his arms, crossing his wrists so fast that I was forced to painfully turn my back to him. Then in one fluid move, he had his arm around my neck, pulling my head back so I looked at the clouds helplessly.
In the silence, I gulped at the rainwater that ran down my lips and gathered in the back of my mouth, out of thirst and also possibly the need for something to do other than listen to my pounding heart.
Leaning forward, he whispered softly in my ear, "I worried there for a second, darling. It seems like you were just about to escalate to 'annoying pest' instead of a 14 year old school-girl who's never been in a fight before. "
DARLING?! Oh, no he did NOT just call me darling.
I struggled against his hold, only causing more damage when he twisted both of my hands behind my back and yanked them downwards.
"Aah!" I yelled, and fell to my knees. "Stupid British a—"
"Sh-sh-shh… Ladies don't curse, now do they?"
"Shut the freak up."
OK, so maybe I was wrong when I said my dad was the most infuriating man in the universe. Daniel was a million times worse, especially with that snobby British accent. Yes, as amazing as British accents are, they can also be extremely annoying.
He pulled handcuffs from his belt while his comrades stood chuckling, and slapped them on my wrists with one hand.
"Show off…"
  I was hauled up to my feet and shoved toward the guy standing closest to us. Since I happen to be one of the stupidest people in this world, and since I'm apparently also that bad at not humiliating myself, I spoke.
"I'm not cattle you know..!"
Laughter commenced to erupt.
Right then and there, I could have beat up a million Daniels with my hands tied behind my back. Which they were. Damn. I looked to the skies and counted to ten.
"Walk," said the owner of the hand on my shoulder, in a monotone, cold voice.
There was nothing I could do except utter string after string of profanities I'd heard only on TV or the occasional gang on the streets as I was led off the roof, through the corridors, back outside the school, and to what seemed like a convoy of Jeeps and Land Rovers and other similar types of vehicles.  I groaned. I was wet, miserable, and chilled to the bone. On top of that, I was being kidnapped by the evil British muppets.
Only half awake, since my adrenaline rush had worn out, I was lead by Daniel to an armored car that was bigger and clearly more expensive than the others. Even though I was tired, it didn't keep me from inventing a couple of nasty phrases every time someone happened to look at me.
The next person to look at me was Eldric.
"Well, well, who do we have here?"
Me: "Go to hell."
Daniel took my side. "I agree with the girl, Eldric. It's time for you to go back home," he said drily.
Wait, Daniel took my side? I narrowed my eyes. Did I sense tension? Oh, yes.
Eldric laughed stiffly. "Ouch, nice one brother."
Even better, brotherly tension. I livened up at the prospect of messing with Daniel's personal life.
Eldric asked, "Do you have the file?"
I glared pointedly at Daniel. "The cattle thing… Remember?" I wanted to fold my arms, but that's a little hard to do with handcuffs, so I settled for a nice long death stare.
"Feisty one here, eh?" Eldric patted Daniel on the back, and Daniel beamed, but only for a second, and then we were back to our game of Taunt the New Girl again.
"No, no, I don't think it's cattle anymore. More a like a mean fiery-tempered mare."
"Ugh!!!" I stomped my foot at the insult.
I think the straw that broke the camel's back was Daniel's poor impersonation of a horse. "Neigh!!!"
I stood helplessly for a few seconds, as Daniel and Eldric engaged in a fit of the giggles, and then about a thousand light bulbs went off at the same time.
I took one step towards them, and then, with a faint "Oh my," I fell to the ground.
I must have been pretty convincing, because as soon as I was down, Eldric was standing over me, yelling at either Daniel, who had frozen up, or some apparently invisible person to "Check her pulse, damn it! Check her bloody pulse!"
I wanted to laugh at that pun so bad.
I had to make a move, before whatever excuse they had for a paramedic got here. I rolled over on my side several times, elapsing into darkness as I passed under Eldric's car, and out through the other side.
I ran.
But then of course I wasn't very far before Daniel caught up to me. My super speed ability had abandoned me, and had seemingly transferred itself to him.
I had absolutely nothing to say. But then again…
"You do know how much I hate you, right?" I said, slung over Daniel's shoulder, some 100 meters into the woods.
"Yeah."
Silence.
"Who are you?"
"Classified."
"OK, then, Mr. Classified."
My attempt at a joke fell flat on its face.
I tried again. This time, I'd be ruthless.
"What's up with you and Eldric?"
Sudden intake of deep breath = Score.
I also found out it could mean that the person carrying you would fling you against a tree. Daniel: 1. Me? 0.
Daniel was a sight. He looked even angrier than when I kicked him in the, uh, err, ahem. Moving on. His jaw was clenched so tight it looked white, and his brown eyes flashed.
He had my back, or actually, backpack, pressed against a big oak tree, his hand tangled in the front of my shirt. My throat burned and the lumps in my backpack were digging into my back. So far, the only bright side I could see was that it was drier under the tree.
"Look, just because I need to bring you back alive doesn't mean I need you bring you back fully conscious, yeah? So I advise you mind your own business, before I make sure you don't have any to mind." Daniel spoke like a machine gun. "You shouldn't have run away, you can't run from us. We always get whoever and whatever we want, and you stand in the way, you get flattened like a biscuit under a lorry going ninety kilometers per hour. Understand?"
He jerked me toward him on the last word for emphasis. I nodded silently.
"Good." He picked me up roughly by the waist and I got the bouncy shoulder ride treatment again.
Voice trembling, I asked, "Who's 'we'?" Yes, it was stupid; very, very stupid.
"Fortunately, Daniel decided it wasn't worth throwing me against a tree again. Instead, angrily, he said, "And shut your mouth so I don't have to stick your face in a beehive to shut you up for the last time."
I sighed, looking at the road ahead and listening to footsteps on dry leaves.
Long night, here we come.