Chapter 17 - Survival

"For our cover story tonight, we have news that was just announced at a press conference approximately one hour ago.

Yesterday afternoon, 2 members of the pop group Illusion disappeared from Pier 31, in San Francisco, California. San Francisco police believe them to be kidnapped.

The girls, Kristen and Korin, had the day off from touring and were spending it shopping with the other 3 members of the group, Elissa Null, Karen Abad, and Alta Miles. They went into a store and came out of it with two men. The men had guns and forced the girls to cooperate. Null, who had been sitting on a bench near the store, saw them leave the store and told Abad and Miles. The girls told a policeman but by the time they arrived at the scene, the kidnappers had already left. There is very little information concerning the suspects and the whereabouts of them. We now bring you a message from Null, Abad, and Miles."

The 3 remaining members of Illusion appeared on the screen, their faces tear-stained. Alta did the speaking, because she appeared to be the only one that could.

"Please, if you have ANY information concerning Kristy and Korin, call the 800 number. We've lost not only our groupmates, but our best friends as well. Any help would be appreciated."

The screen changed again, going back to the news anchorman.

"Thank you, Alta, Elissa, and Karen. To give you a little more information about Illusion, the group has been the opening act for the popular group the Backstreet Boys on their United States tour for the last 5 weeks. Their album has not yet been released, but their first single, Just An Illusion, was released 3 days ago and is already topping the charts. For more information concerning the disappearance, stay tuned to Channel 5. Thank you for watching Channel 5 News."

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"Don, I gotta talk to you, NOW!" Joe yelled as he stepped into the room.

"But the girls-" Don started.

"Leave them. They've got no way of escaping and we'll be right here anyway."

"Alright, boss."

Don left the room and Joe pulled him aside.

"We've got problems. The news of the girls disappearing just hit nation-wide. I wasn't planning on this happening. I figured the managers would want to keep it quiet, but they didn't. So this means we have the entire country looking for us."

"SHIT! What are we gonna do?"

"We're gonna move. If we stay here too long, we'll get caught."

"Isn't that risky?"

"Do we have a choice?"

"Good point. When are leaving?"

"Tomorrow night. Be ready."

"Alright."

Korin and I heard this, and we immediately exchanged looks of fear. The police were mainly searching San Francisco. If we moved, the chances of us being found before they asked for ransom were extremely slim. We had to get out - before tomorrow night.

"Korin, we gotta get out of here," I whispered.

"Yeah, but how?" she asked.

"I don't know. There's got to be some way, though."

"Yeah, we just gotta wait until the time is right I guess."

"DIDN'T I TELL YOU NOT TO TALK?????" Joe's voice yelled as he ran back in the room.

He pointed his gun at us and started to pull the trigger. I held my breath and prayed to God over and over. He changed his mind and put the gun back in his jacket.

"One more time and it's all over," he warned.

We nodded. I had never been this scared in my entire life, and neither had Korin. You can watch kidnapper movies a hundred times, but you don't know what it's really like to have a gun held to you, to be in a situation where if you make one wrong move you die, to wonder if you'll ever see your loved ones again. You don't know what that's really like until you experience it.

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~*~The Next Day~*~

We've been here 2 and a half days. It feels like 2 and a half years.

It's like prison, but worse, so much worse. They barely give us any food, if you can even call it food. All we get is 4 slices of moldy bread and a glass of bad tap water each day. We eat it because it's all we have. They told us that since we're going to die anyway, it doesn't matter. Today the bread was so moldy that Korin and I both ended up throwing it all up into the hole in the ground that's supposed to be our toilet.

So far, Korin and I have managed not to get raped. That's the only sign that God is still watching over us. That and the fact that we're still alive. I guess maybe all our praying has gotten us something. Hopefully, it will get us out of here.

I never realized what's it like to survive until now. I mean, I've had a good life. I grew up in a middle-class family, my parents were always well-off, I had a good childhood, my parents cared about me, etc. I never knew what it was like to survive because I had never had to survive. But now I knew.

Joe and Don were leaving tonight. We could go with them, and we would almost definitely die in the end. Or we could escape somehow before then. If we did that, we would definitely die if we got caught. But if we made it, we would get to see everyone again and get on with our lives. Both options didn't give us very good chances of survival, but Korin and I figured that the best one was to escape. It was just a matter of when - and how.

Chapter 18 - Escape