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Chapter 3: Abducted

  Falling!

  It happens so quickly that I don’t have time to scream. I land in the arms of a waiting person who immediately puts his hand over my mouth and then another guy tapes my lips together with clear, thick tape. Fighting, scratching, and trying to escape any way I can, I’m no match for the two guys who rapidly tie my hands and legs with strong rope.

  “Sorry,” the one with the tawny hair and hazel eyes tells me as he sits me on the ground and pulls out a sharp knife. “But I have to do this.”

  Is he going to kill me?! I start fighting harder but can’t get myself loose.

  “Can’t we drug her?” the dishwater blonde asks as he looks at the bloody scratches on his arms.

  “You know what our orders are.”

  “It would be so much easier,” Blondie groans, “this one’s a feisty one.”

  “We can’t drug her. Do you understand?!”

  “It would be better for her if we do it. That knife is going to be painful.”

  “Why are you arguing with me,” Tawny growls. “We can’t.”

  “The other one was much easier to take care of.”

  The other one? I wonder. Who are they talking about?

  “We have to keep her clearheaded—those are our orders,” Tawny snaps.

  “That Andrew was easy compared to this one. We were allowed to drug him.”

  Andrew? Are they talking about the Andrew I know? Did they abduct him too? Why?

  “I’m sick of your complaining. Get it through your head once and for all that we can’t drug Madrigal.”

  It’s strange that they know my name, but I don’t know them. Who are they?

  “That knife is gonna hurt.”

  “It can’t be helped,” Tawny murmurs, “I’m so sorry, Madrigal.” The sharp point digs into the flesh on my wrist. It doesn’t hurt as much as I thought because of the drugs already in me. My abductor pushes out a tiny, silver microchip embedded in my skin.

  “Got it,” he announces as he takes it in his fingers with disdain and throws it to the ground where he smashes it with his foot.

  My body contorts as much as it can with it being bound and gagged. The pain going through me is excruciating, but it’s not the throbbing of my wrist that has me twisted in knots—it’s the realization that a great big hope has been dashed. My captors have just destroyed the tracer that was supposed to lead the authorities to me. All the citizens of our United World have it—all except for me now. Arthur! Arthur! I cry out in my head, but nothing comes back. Nothing!

  I’m all alone.

  “No one will be able to find her,” Tawny announces, speaking the thoughts from my head aloud.

  “Nope.”

  “We need to get going,” Tawny declares. “Let’s get out of here.”

  Here? Where is here? I wonder, and I look around me for the first time. I’m in what seems to be a sort of a hallway under the library. The only light is an old fashioned flashlight. Blondie grabs me, and I start jostling. He groans loudly.

  “You sure we can’t—”

  “No, George,” Tawny snaps. “Just do as I say, and let’s disappear.”

  Their faces are uncovered. I can see every freckle and mark on them, and they’re not afraid of saying their names. That can’t be a good thing! I fight harder.

  “Stop it,” George groans, “or I’m going to hi—”

  “Hit her?” Tawny retorts. “You’re going to hit her—especially her? Are you kidding me, George?”

  “I was just trying to scare her, Peter.”

  “Stop playing games.”

  I keep struggling as the one named George helps the one named Peter carry me. They take me through a dark hallway. When the light of the flashlight goes to the walls, I see that they are dirt. In other words, a tunnel was dug underneath the library. Who would go to all of this trouble to abduct me and maybe Andrew too?

  Sweat pours from them as we arrive at an opening. George kicks the shrubbery away—probably used to conceal the opening, and I see we’re in the middle of the thick forest outside the school. A van is waiting—a government one. Of course, those are the only vehicles allowed, so either the leaders of the planet are kidnapping me, or these dangerous criminals stole the van. It could easily be one of the two options since our government is not beyond anything in my opinion. But what puzzles me is if it’s not the guardians doing this then why would anyone risk such a daring move in a controlled society like ours? They’ve got to know that they are going to eventually get caught and punished with death. There’s a zero tolerance for any criminal activity. Crime is practically non-existent in our United World order.

  Who is abducing me?—the government or private citizens?

  Either way, I am in very, very deep trouble.

  After being transported in a windowless van, I am blindfolded and pulled out of the vehicle where George and Peter carry me as I furiously kick and jostle. They suddenly take the wrap off my eyes, and I see I’m in some kind of a bedroom. There is nothing in the room but a brass bed and a covering for it. An old fashioned wood door is opened on one side of the room into a bathroom. I can see a bucket by the toilet. What’s the bucket for? I wonder.

  “What do you want with me?!” I demand when the translucent tape is gently pulled off my mouth.

  “Calm down, Madrigal,” says Peter, his eyes deceptively kind. “Everything is okay.”

  I refuse to be fooled by his caring manner. “Okay?! Are you crazy! You just kidnapped me!”

  “We aren’t going to hurt you,” mumbles George.

  “And I should believe you because…”

  ”We haven’t killed you, have we?” Peter asks, his lively hazel eyes on me.

  “You may be saving me for later,” I retort.

  “It would’ve been much easier to have done it already,” grumbles George, pointing to the deep-bloody scratch marks on his arms.

  “What are you planning to do to me?” I demand to know, my voice betraying the enormous fear I’m feeling.

  “You’ll know soon enough,” Peter states.

  “Why are you keeping me in suspense? Just tell me,” I plead angrily.

  “We can’t—not yet.”

  “Why can’t—”

  “I’m going to loosen the rope from your wrists, and you can unbind yourself after we’re out of the room,” Peter informs.

  I’m left confused and rabid when they leave. After untying myself, I try the door to the outside, desperately pushing on the button next to it but nothing happens. When I try to kick it open, I practically break my foot. These new doors that come down from the ceiling are made of invincible metal. Out of desperation, I grab the green plastic bucket from the bathroom and smash it onto the steel door. It makes a lot of noise but of course, it doesn’t work. The bucket breaks apart. I was hoping for a miracle but didn’t get one.

  I’m stuck!

  For the first time I put my head in my hands and big, fat drops of water shoot out. I’m angry, scared, and unable to figure out what to do. I’ve never even imagined a situation like this. How could I? The leaders of our new order sold the people on a crimeless world where structure is of such priority that it makes it impossible for criminals to break the rules or even to survive. But it isn’t impossible after all. Here I am! And what’s worse is that I can’t get a hold of Arthur. I’ve always been able to call him, but he’s disappeared. I can always feel him in my mind when he’s around. All that’s left in my head is an empty void where his voice is usually at.

  Where is he?