“In the Back of the Truck”

Author’s Note: This is a Take Ten to Write story and has not been proofread for errors. If I feel inspired or if there’s interest in the story, I’ll post a revised, edited, and extended version at a later date. Happy reading!

“Ow,” Frank mutters. I wince at the sound of the back of his head hitting the side of the truck.

“You good?” I ask, leaning over as far as I can in the darkness. I yank at my wrists; stupid handcuffs have me attached to the wall across from Frank so I can just barely lean close enough to make out his form.

Silence, then, “Yeah, I’m fine. How are you holding up?”

“Not great,” I scowl. My wrists jerk my entire body as the truck goes over another bump. “Where are they taking us anyway?”

“Who knows,” Frank sighs. Still, I hear him pulling at his own restraints. “I hope they have food there though.”

Even though I roll my eyes, his joke comforts me. I let myself go limp so that I can bounce with the truck.

We run over another particularly large rut in the road and Frank lets out a yelled curse. “I swear, they’re driving like that on purpose!” he screams.

He continues shouting, but I block out his voice. If only I had my knife. We could’ve gotten out of here in two seconds flat. But no, they knew about it somehow. They knew about everything. The initiation, the village, the daggers.

Me.

The truck continues, hitting every possible bump in the road and causing Frank to lose his voice. Finally, it stops.

Frank and I wait in silence. The door opens.

Blinded by the sudden sunlight, I can only feel hands as they unhook my handcuffs from the side of the truck. Frank kicks and screams, but a muffled grunt tells me that he’s been brought to the ground.

A similar blow lands to my stomach and I crumple next to Frank. As my eyes adjust, boots come into view.

Those boots…

My blood boils as I let out a scream. Feet around me frantically try to hold me down, but I won’t be subdued. Not again.

But try as I may, I’m not strong enough. Something hard hits the back of my head and I meet darkness once again.

Final Comments: I’m not sure why I thought about this, but while I was writing this, I realized that I don’t often write about stranger interactions. Maybe I’ll try being more conscious of that in the future to get in some practice.

Overall Rating: 😲