Danielle coils into the blanket, making sure it fully envelopes her from ankles to shoulders.  The car begins to slow as they exit the highway, and with each turn Danielle’s heart climbs from her chest into her throat.

Soon the car holts and comes to a complete stop. They idle there for what seems like hours but to probably only minutes. Danielle repeats over and over what her only options left are. It’s only when she hears a metallic click that Danielle realizes why they’ve been waiting, the man is loading his gun.

Danielle feels tears stream down her cheeks and acid burn her throat as the man exits the car. And when he opens the back door and removes the cover Danielle bites down on her tongue to keep the scream rattling through her mind from exiting her mouth.

Without a word, the man pulls her from the floor, hauls her into his arms, and takes her off into the woods.

~

Jackson watches as trees move past, searching for anything familiar in the circle the flashlight illuminates. He spots a few hiking trails as the man wanders through the woods, but none bring forth any memory.

He gazes up at the few stars peeking through the smog of the sky. He’s back near the city.

The man takes another turn and switches off his flashlight. Jackson’s eyes strain to adjust but a light in the distance keeps the pitch from blinding him.

With each step the light grows brighter, and in only ten steps the source becomes clear. They are standing on a ridge and across the street a gas station glows to attract any passersby.

“You took me here.”

The man nods and places Jackson down onto his knees twenty feet from the edge of the cliff.

“I’m not unreasonable, it was a simple request only a few dozen meters from my original location.”

Jackson sits up straighter, his shoes crunching the leaves beneath him and the blanket around him starting to unravel.  In the corner of his vision, he spots flashes of red and blue from the plaza down the street. It’s past midnight, it’s the seventh day, the search party has begun.

“Thank you, you don’t deserve the bad rep you’ve gotten.”

Jackson can’t see the man’s face as he steps in front of him. The man stands ten feet from the edge of the ridge and draws the gun from the holster at his side.

Jackson refuses to look at the sky and instead stares straight into the man’s face.

“It doesn’t have to end like this. You can get credit for your achievements without killing me. They’ll never have to know the murderer was you, if anything, the killings tarnish your accomplishment. You did nothing to hurt me, so I’ll do nothing to hurt you. I won’t tell them.”

The man stops raising his gun but doesn’t lower it.

“I’m afraid I find my game much more entertaining than any award they could ever give me. But, thank you for playing your part and giving me some company.”

All that work and planning for nothing. The plan had been made going off the premise that Jackson was playing mental chess against a lonely and prideful person, but it seems he overestimated the emotional capacity of his opponent.

The man raises his gun.

~

Danielle stifles a sob as the man lowers the hammer. A life full of both misery and joy flash through Danielle’s mind as she stares down the barrel. It can’t end like this.

“Ryan, please!”

The man freezes.

Plan B.

~

Xavier lunches forward. He barrels into the man in front of him, knocking him into the ground. Xavier rolls to the edge of cliff, leaving his blanket behind with the man as Xavier jumps off the edge.

The slope is steep and catches against the loose pieces of duct tape still around his ankles. A rock catches his foot, sending him crashing to the ground, but he allows the momentum to take him. He spins and flips as rocks jab him this way and that until the flat pavement brings him to a stop.

Xavier scrambles to his feet, one leg bleeding and the other wavering. He trudges forward towards the flashing lights in the distance with all of his might but gets tackled to the ground only moments later.

~

Danielle squirms and screams as the man flips her over.  He straddles her and grips his hands around her neck. She kicks and writhes as the man presses into her windpipe. Air becomes scarce and her vision begins to fade as Danielle reaches into her beltline and withdraws the shard she had stored there.

~

Mackenzie stabs the glass into the man’s neck. His grip loosens as his angry growl turns into complete shock. She drives the glass just a bit deeper.

The man lets go and reaches up to his own throat. The same fear that had been in her eyes only moments ago is now filling his.

~

Danielle runs as fast as she can, turning her back on the man now dying behind her. Her knees buckle and her bones threaten to break but she keeps running. It is only when she reaches the plaza, only when she flags down an officer, only when the woman throws a blanket over her shoulders and hugs her in the tightest grip she’s ever felt, does Danielle finally accept that she’s free. They all are.