| Fan Fiction |
by DTLCT
Joey turns around to Jacky. “Want to split up or toss the coin?”
“Go right,” Jacky said. “We can’t afford to split up anymore.” He sees Joey’s expression. “We’ll lose battery faster the more split up we are. And what if we can’t get out and meet up at the other end in time? Two are better than one against these…” He gestures around him. “…traps.”
“Okay,” Joey said, her eyes soften for the first time – at least towards Jacky. “Let’s go right.”
So they go. Jacky starts humming mid-way through the path.
“Jack, stop,” Joey said, annoyed.
“You’re not talking to me so I have to do something,” Jacky said.
“We have to keep it quiet so we can hear every single sound in here. I thought you know these basic stuffs already.”
“There’s a bend to the right coming up and then there are five traps and then we turn left after that, which leads to a fork. We keep going straight since Gallen and the others are at the left one. The right one is a dead end. Then….”
Joey stops and cuts him off. “How do you know all of these? And you didn’t tell them?”
“They’ll call me if they get lost.”
“Are you out of your mind? We’re doing serious work here.”
“Gallen’s smart, he’ll know. Besides, Kenny isn’t bad either.”
“Can you be serious about your work for one minute?”
“Are we going to discuss this here or are we moving before someone catch us?”
Joey continues to walk down the path again but she’s still mad at him.
“The bend’s coming up. Be extra careful after that.”
Joey’s alertness has been up since the beginning so she doesn’t bother to pay attention to Jacky anymore. She focuses 100% on listening to every sound that she could. They’re walking in silence for a minute. Then she notices that Jacky’s following her closely, so close that she could hear his breathing. She doesn’t want to turn around because she knows that she will be inches away from his face if she does that.
“Could you back off like a foot?” She asked.
“I’m not doing it on purpose,” Jacky said. “We’re getting to the danger zone. We don’t want to separate.”
Joey knows he’s being caution but she feels very uncomfortable with him so close. But she doesn’t want to argue anymore. She continues to walk until she hears a wind-like sound.
“Hear that?” She asked him.
“Shhhhhh…..” Jacky said back.
They stop walking at the same time and listen for a moment. The sound is coming closer and……closer……and……closer. It’s not a wind-like sound anymore but it’s a waterfall by now.
Jacky grabs Joey’s left hand, pulling her out of the path and into an opening area to the right. He lets go of her hand and puts his left hand out, shielding in front of her body, reaching towards her left shoulder and presses it down to make her stay. That only happens in a few seconds. Whatever it is seems to be quite large. It’s still rolling by them. Jacky uses his penlight to shine at the object real quick.
Joey utters a sound. Not fear, but realization. It’s a big rock rolling by. They must have triggered it when they were walking before. Joey lays her head back towards the wall to wait for the rock to go past. When she sees that it’s done, she takes a step forward. Jacky pushes her back.
“Jack!” She cried out in frustration.
“There’s another one coming,” Jacky told her. “Hear it?”
Joey listens carefully and she realizes that Jacky has very sharp ears. Or is it because Bryan and Derrick told him? She couldn’t be sure but they wait for the next one to come in silence. But for some reason, Joey couldn’t stay silent. For once, it’s she who speaks up first.
“They told you exactly how many rocks were coming?” She asked.
“No,” Jacky replied. “They’re not that dumb. And I didn’t want to ask too much. They’re going to smell cop. I just went by what they told me.”
Joey realizes that he’s still shielding her with his left hand. “You can let go now. I won’t do anything rash.”
Jacky lets go, not realizing it either that he still has his hand on her shoulder.
They walk the rest of the way in silence with only Jacky giving directions once in awhile when they’re at a turn. Joey knows it’s a dangerous place so she should be focusing on being vigilant instead of arguing with Jacky. At the last turn, the path becomes even narrower that they have to go one before the other. Jacky volunteers to go first since he doesn’t want any surprises greeting Joey if she is to go first.
“This is the last trap we have to face,” Jacky told her. “The others are so easy to spot but it’s because we have our ‘hawk-like’ eyes. This one won’t be like that.”
“Of course it’s not easy,” She said.
Jacky turns back to look at Joey. “Miss Meng, I’m trying to be helpful here.”
“Stop stating the obvious then.”
Joey smiles so Jacky knows she’s kidding.
Jacky smiles back. “You’re starting to learn how to loosen up now.”
“Go already!” Joey urged, shoving him.
Jacky turns to face front again, smiling to himself. “All right! Pushy, aren’t we?”
Then they hear some talking somewhere in the area. Jacky and Joey both stop any movements to figure exactly where the talking is coming from. Jacky switches off his penlight in time when he sees some shadows approaching them. He grabs his cell phone from his pocket and puts it on vibrate in time. They’re in total darkness now.
A few minutes pass by before someone from the other side speaks up again.
“Do you think that Zack will kill them soon?” The first guy asked.
“How should I know?” The second guy asked back. “It’s crazy how he gets involved in this in the first place. I mean we’re just going to make this one bust and leave but he just have to involve us in kidnapping. If we get caught, I swear I will bail out and cooperate with the cops. At least I’ll just get several months to a year. Kidnapping is serious. I mean….”
“Sh….” The first guy said, cutting his companion off.
“What?” The second guy asked.
“I thought I heard some noises.”
“Are you kidding me? It’s probably one of our guys from back there. No one knows of this place but them.”
“We better be careful.”
“You’re chickening out now? We’re already in this. So who cares now? Getting caught is the worse. Like I said a minute…”
“I’m serious! Someone’s coming.”
Jacky wonders what is going on since he couldn’t hear anything. Maybe the other guy just has “very sharp” ears? Or is it because….
Before Jacky could finish his thoughts, he hears Joey shrieking from behind him. Jacky turns around to cover her mouth, but too late. The guys already heard them.
“What the world?” The first guy asked.
Jacky finally realizes what’s going on.
“Calm down,” Jacky whispered. “They’re only rats.”
“There are lots of them!” Joey yelled out, her voice shaky.
“Just kick them off.”
Jacky grabs Joey’s left hand and rushes forward into the opening front so they could move more freely. He tries to fend off the rats for her while reaching into his pocket with his left hand to get his penlight again.
“Get them!” The first guy shouted out. “Freddie! Turn on the light!”
After the word “light” is uttered out, they see bright lights shining all above them. Now that the whole place is bright, they could see the view clearer. It’s even scarier since they could see the rats more clearly and how many there are. Joey gives out another shriek after that, clinging onto to Jacky’s right hand.
“Stop! Stop!” Jacky urged. “They’re just rats. Come on.”
Joey wouldn’t listen to him. She increases her pressure on his arm even more.
“Okay, close your eyes. Don’t look at them. Calm down.”
Although their conversation seems a long time, but it’s only couple seconds in between before the other guys are coming towards them.
“I could still feel them,” Joey whimpered, her voice still frightened.
“Don’t worry,” Jacky said softly. “I’m here.”
Joey doesn’t know why but she feels a bit safer hearing him say that.
“What in the world are you guys doing here?” The first guy demanded.
Jacky smiles and clears his throat. “We’re trying to take a walk but apparently we got lost after going into the elevators so we’re trying to find our way out.”
Now Joey knows why Jacky had lowered his voice and spoke so softly to her. Couple taking a walk, huh? Clever move, Mr. Chu, she thought. Although she’s thinking all of these, but she still has her eyes closed, not wanting to see another rat.
“Ridiculous!” The first guy shouted out. “Even if you got lost, you couldn’t make it here. There are lots of traps here.”
The second guy has been quiet while observing the two, now he speaks up. “I smell cop on both of you.”
“This place stinks so bad I don’t know how you can smell anything,” Jacky shot back.
“Are you mocking me?” He starts walking towards Jacky.
“Freddie, don’t come any closer,” The first guy told his companion. “He might capture you and make us lead him out. We can’t lose people now.”
“Uh…you have a very creative mind, Mister,” Jacky said, still faking innocent. “But we only want to find a way out. Since you know, my girl…” He holds onto Joey’s right hand tighter. “…is scared of all these rats. Why would I want to go here in the first place if I already know she’s scared of them?”
“The way you talk is so calm, you’re a cop all right,” Freddie – the second guy – said.
“If talking calm means I’m a cop, then half of the guys who are trying to be brave in protecting their girlfriend in this world are cops too.”
“Stop the talk, Freddie,” The first guy warned his companion. “He’s messing with your brain. It’s not worth the effort. Let’s just capture them and we can question them later.”
Jacky knows he shouldn’t but he goes for the last straw. “I thought you said earlier that you don’t want to be brought in for kidnapping, Freddie.” He looks straight at Freddie while he says that.
Freddie looks towards his companion again.
“He’s trying to rattle you,” The first guy said. “So he’s definitely a cop like you suspected. Let’s just get him for now. We can’t let him get in the way of our plan. One more hour until show time. Do you want to blow it?”
Freddie still looks unsure.
Jacky takes this chance to seize Freddie by the neck in one quick forward motion. However, he doesn’t realize that there’s someone else around. Before he could react, there’s a big net from above swooping down towards him and Joey. Freddie has moved out of the way the moment Jacky moves forward. Although Freddie seems hesitant before but he recovers fast. Jacky knows as soon as he looks above that the net is made out of material that can’t just be rip apart. He can only do one thing. He turns towards Joey and shields her from it while it’s tightening around them. After that, he feels someone hitting him on the back and then darkness.
© Monday, June 11th, 2007
Re-posted: Sunday, October 11th, 2009