The Hostage and the Runaways

Niall sat with his foot firmly dug into the hard surface of the van, Emory helping him keep Isabella balanced and against his arms securely.

“Thanks.” Niall muttered, watching as Harry was tossed into the side of the van for the second time. They were currently circling the large patch of land, trying to confuse the opposition – Niall personally thought the only people they were confusing was themselves.

“No sweat, you look like you’re having –OOF!” Niall chuckled but it was bemused. Liam had bumped none too gently into the slightly older guy.

“Sorry mate, we’re having a bit of trouble not getting INJURED BACK HERE!” Liam yelled the last part up to the front, only to hear Kellie chuckle.

“Don’t worry we’re zip lining, we lost one of them already!” Kellie yelled back before cutting a sharp left and nearly avoiding an unseen tree

“Turn up here through this way and cut a sharp right, we should manage to lose half of them, from there we can head toward New Orleans. There’s an abandoned six flags theme park, the exit before is another abandoned hotel. We can cut the traffic feeds and hunker down at the hotel, it used to be a five star luxury. It was abandoned during Hurricane Katrina and never had anything done with it. Once we can, we’ll switch and you can use Emory’s laptop to kill the traffic cameras and satellites from picking up our location. Need to probably switch cars too.” Killian suggested as Kellie cut the sharp right through the narrow space of road, avoiding the potholes and headed off toward what he hoped was civilization.

A beeping started to sound in the back. It was continuous, coming from a laptop that was nested underneath a jacket toward the front of the van.

Harry opened it.

A face peered back at him with the most unsettling of brown eyes and a smile that could freeze water.

“Howdy, who might you be?” The guy asked in a friendly tone, tipping the front of his head like one would tip a hat.

“Harry, who the bloody fucking are you?” Harry snapped, the van throwing him off a little as he growled and slammed his hand against the side. “Kellie! Fuck! I’m going to have bruises on top of bruises, mate!”

“Sounds like you been having a rough time, Harry. Perhaps I can do something to help? Like skin you all from your very skins when I catch up with you.” The man smirked, his eyes reflecting a sort of subtle sadistic pleasure.

“No thanks, I like my skin where it is, mate.” Harry responded back without missing a beat as Zayn was looking at the screen from the back.

“To answer your question gentlemen; my name is Elliott Lancaster. I’m from Lancaster Oklahoma, I enjoy long walks –“ He chuckled, enjoying the look of pure hatred to cross the British men’s faces. Looking past Harry he spotted a sleeping Isabella. “Is that the girl Saudimere is after? She is a pretty little penny. Aw, she looks almost rape-able asleep like that. My cock is getting hard at the mere thought.” He closed his eyes for a moment to let out a moan, watching their reactions carefully.

“You will never touch her, you will never have her! We’ll run to the ends of time to keep her safe. Away from Saudimere, away from you and anyone else trying to harm her.” Niall growled, his arms tightening around the unconscious girl while Emory’s frown deepened. He was beginning to see a whole new side of what was happening. It made him feel sorry for his former best friend and the group that surrounded and protected her.

“Well, blonde, I have a job to do and you have one to do yourselves. I take no offense of your delusions because whether or not you know this, I am the best hacker the world has seen and will ever see. I can track you from here to a small village in West Africa with no technology. Believe me, gents, you won’t be getting out of this alive this time. I will finish what I have been sent here to do and Isabella will die –just as she is meant to do. It’s a cruel cycle but a cycle none-the-less. I will catch up sooner or later but if I wanted I could simply bring this foolery to an end and do this –“He smiled slyly and looked down, pressing his fingers against the keys.

A few seconds later, the van engine died abruptly.

Kellie swore as he lost temporary control of the vehicle as it came to a screeching stand still.

“May the bloody piss rain down upon your fucking dead maggot eaten corpse!” Kellie snarled from the front.

Elliott tsked and the keys were heard typing again.

“That’s not very nice Kellie. Perhaps a little spin in the merry go round will make you see things from my point of view. It won’t stop until you apologize. So, apologize and I might consider stopping the vehicle. According to your gas tank you have a full tank. How fun for me, entertainment for a few hours at least.”

Kellie was confused until the engine abruptly started again but this time Elliott had control of the steering, the gas petal pressing down to the floor and the wheel cut all the way to the right.

“Oh fuck me! Mates, hold on, he hijacked the steering!” Kellie yelled, trying to unlock the doors but discovered that Elliott had also locked the signal so they wouldn’t open.

The van started going in circles, the speedometer rising and the velocity of the van picking up.

“Oh fuck.” Niall and Emory said in unison.

“Someone get me the other laptop!” Kellie demanded but the force of the van was going too fast already and the stuff in the back was moving all over the place, the boy’s bodies tumbling from one end of the van to the other, bumping into one another as the van went around in a circle at a hundred and twenty miles an hour.

Niall and Emory had moved to the corner of the van when it started and tried to hold tight, the other boys were yelling and bumping into one another.

“Bloody pig pissed fucktard!” Niall growled, feeling his footing start to slip as Emory tried to steady Isabella on the left, his foot stretched out to the other corner, flinching when Zayn grabbed a hold of it. From there it was all a snowball effect.

Killian was bemused, calmly holding onto the passenger strap up top by his door. Kellie’s had a death grip on the wheel, his muscles tense, trying to slam his foot on the brakes – only to discover that the sadist from Oklahoma had also killed the signal to them too.

Niall felt a tear trail down his face, realizing he was losing his grip. He looked at Emory, seeing the poor hostage lose his footing thanks to Zayn’s panicked grab.

They could clearly hear Elliott’s manic laughter through Ethan’s computer, his face floating around as the laptop moved with the other stuff and persons around the van.

Harry managed to grab ahold of his footing and slam it down hard on the floor, pushing Niall back, steading Isabella’s lower half as Emory was forced to the side of the van.

“Gents, stretch your bodies out sideway, press yourselves from one side of the van to the other, do it sideways!” Harry yelled, swearing as a box hit him in the face.

“I need the fucking laptop!” Kellie exclaimed, knowing how to block signals, he just needed the laptop that Elliott hadn’t accessed yet.

“Then come back and get the fucking thin –OUCH! Jesus fucking hades.” Zayn yelled, someone’s shoe hitting him in the nose.

“Just think, all you’d have to do is apologize and I would cut the power again but of course your pride won’t let you.” Elliott laughed.

“You want an apology? Alright, I’m sorry your father cummed into your mother and didn’t shoot you out onto the floor!” Niall yelled, his fear and temper at the max.

“Sadistic? Nah, this is me being friendly –kidding around, ya know? I’d like to think of us as friends. If I wasn’t and if we weren’t, the van would have exploded by now. Considering that is in my area of expertise. Now, one last chance, apologize.”

“Fine! We’re sorry you’re an asshole! Now turn the bloody engine off!” Harry interjected as they felt the van slow slight so they were able to get their footing and make sure Isabella was alright.

Killian used that moment to his advantage and throw his seatbelt off, diving back to the back and grabbing the laptop, throwing it on Kellie’s chest before feeling the van increase again.

“I’ll check back with you gentlemen in an hour. Have fun!” Elliott chuckled before the laptop went blank and the van started to accelerate again.

Killian grabbed Isabella, the boys desperately trying to make sure she was okay. Unfortunately she had maintained a small hit on the head.

He hurriedly swung her body to the front.

“Kellie, grab her feet!” Killian shouted, holding her for all he was worth while trying to balance as the force of velocity picked up once more to a high speed.

Kellie swore but did as he was told, pulling the girl unevenly into Killian’s seat as he struggled to set her up, locking his body between the driver and the passenger’s seat.

He managed to set Isabella upright and throw the seatbelt on her, keeping her face from hitting the window before situating her seat down further and diving in the back to help the other poor boys who were all but swearing death upon Elliott -but most of them were just yelling from banging into one side of the van to the other.

“Good luck, bro.” Kellie called, a fire in his eyes as he opened Emory’s laptop and started typing as well as he could, considering the van was doing circles faster than a thug in a parking lot, all they were missing was the blaring rap music.

It was as though Elliott had thought of everything –or his sense of humor was just that accurate because not even ten seconds later, the radio to the van turned on and ‘who let the dogs out’ started blaring at the loudest volume.

“I’m going to bloody kill the bastard!” Harry screamed but his voice was lost, the bass and music shook the van.

Kellie kept the laptop as steady as possible against his lap, typing in as fast as he could, his eyes scanning boxes and opening windows, closing them. He was trying to get a touch on the signal but nothing seemed to work.

“Having a fun ride guys? Do you want me to stop the merry go round, yet? I’m sure that didn’t do little Ella any favors.” Elliott chuckled, his face appearing on the screen again.

“Fine! We’re sorry! Now turn the fucking thing off!” Killian yelled but his voice was drowned out by the music.

“Huh? What? I’m afraid I can’t hear you with the music blaring like that! Oh well, enjoy your ride!” Again he was gone.

Killian groaned but managed to get the boys held tight in the corner, each of them grabbing onto one another while Killian gave them a firm place to hold on, his hands straining in the other boy’s hand but he held tight to Harry, his eyes wide.

“I got you, mate. We’re okay!” He assured him, while pressing Niall’s body securely to the van walls. Who was then able to grab onto Emory. He was able to connect his hand with Niall and Zayn. By the time it was done, everyone was connected securely to the side of the van and held firm.

“Thanks Killian!” Harry yelled, the music cutting before smooth criminal began to blast.

Zayn groaned.

“I’m going to kill him.”

“Join the bloody club.” Killian agreed, hitting his head against the wall and closing his eyes.

Kellie was calm, finally finding the source of the signal before terminating it.

Just like that the music stopped, the van stopped and the men in the back all let out sighs of relief.

Kellie turned toward Isabella.

“Your girlfriend, mate, she seems to miss out on all the fun, though she’s going to wonder where she got that huge knot in her head.”

“Shut up and drive, bro. We need to get the fuck out of her.” Killian said, crawling to the front and sticking his body between the seats.

“Oh, we are but first – but first…” Kellie smirked, cutting the engines to the other vans and blocking the locks to prevent them from getting out. He also managed to delete Elliott’s signal from the other computer so they could no longer be traced.

With that done he sped toward New Orleans and hopefully better luck.

Notes