This is a continuation of the saga that I started as a little more than 5 minute freewrite and it has turned into much more. I am going to attempt to include today's prompt "Scream" and then include the prompts for the weekend freewrite challenge. I have had to wait for a big enough time window to write everything in one sitting anyway, but it will take a lot longer than 20 minutes to continue the story and include all of the prompts, if I can even do it at all. So here goes for all of you hard core freewrite readers!
If you are seeing this for the first time, the story starts here Prompt: It's what I do at 2:30 in the morning when I can't sleep
Part #2 Prompt: Ooze
Part #3 Prompt: great-grandpa's nose
Part #4 Prompt: a special occasion
... The driver of the limo stepped out and moved into position to open the rear door for what was obviously supposed to be the officer who was currently lying on the floor tied up in the apartment at the rear of the office. He was in civilian attire so I made a snap decision to take the ride hoping that the two had never met, I was now wearing a very smart tailored and freshly pressed uniform from a foreign military service, technically I could be shot by firing squad if caught. The uniform was not an exact fit because I was much more athletic than the owner, but it simply looked like I had gained a little weight since it was last tailored.
With the hard drive in one jacket pocket and my hand near the pistol in the other jacket pocket I stepped outside and moved toward the waiting vehicle with fast crisp steps. The driver never looked up, he opened the door with his head down the entire time, no doubt he had been brutalized in the past for not being subservient enough. As he opened the door I was stunned to see...Legs! Very shapely smooth shaven legs gently curving out from under an elegant high necked lavender colored party dress. As I began to take my seat, palming the pistol at the same time, the dress gave way to s slender neck, jet black shoulder length hair and the deepest blue set of eyes that I had ever seen. There was an instant of shock on the face when she recognized that I was not her date, and at the same time I showed the gun pointing in her direction but not at her. I saw the throat move out and then back in as she straightened, swallowed, and the turned her eyes forward and straightened stiffly as if someone had poured cold water down her back. But she didn't scream or try to give me away, she just sat their stiffly looking straight ahead as the car began moving. We passed through the gate with hardly a glance our way from the guards, this was an expected exit of a familiar vehicle and now I was free for the moment.
The girl finally relaxed a little and looked over at me with the hint of a tear in her eye, she pointed at her purse indicating that she needed to retrieve something. It was just a small bag fitting for a night of dancing, so I picked it up and felt to make sure there was nothing big enough for a substantial weapon and then handed it to her. Thinking that she might pull out a kerchief or pocket mirror I was surprised when she retrieved a pencil and pad. Writing quickly she scribbled on the paper so that the driver couldn't overhear and then held it up where I could see it, "Help me!, My name is Jenna Whitehall and I'm a journalist for the London Times being held against my will for political purposes." It is not that easy to surprise me or cause me to be speechless, but looking up from the paper into those gorgeous frightened eyes I was suddenly like a schoolboy unable to do anything but stutter. Sitting back into my seat again and breaking free from those mesmerizing eyes for a moment so that I could regain my composer, I began to think fast and review my options and the possibilities.
I could no longer signal for a Submarine pickup, I could steal a boat but that was an iffy escape method without a good radio or proper supplies. But there was that safe house, but that meant turning farther inland even deeper into enemy territory. There was a secure phone there and I could report my location and set up a more detailed extraction. It would take longer, but in the long run there was probably less risk and it was the only relatively safe way that I could think of to get the girl out of the Country. So I made my decision, time to stop the car and take over the driving duties.
The girl was fluent in the language and she explained to the driver that I had been a prisoner at the military base and that I had escaped. She explained to him that I was going to hit him in the head with the pistol hard enough to make him bleed, but not hard enough to hurt him bad or cause any permanent damage. She explained that I was doing this in order to keep him out of trouble and that he was to wait in the woods until after dark and then start walking back toward the place where he had picked me up. She told him that he would be questioned and that he was to tell them that he had been knocked out and awoke confused and lost in the woods. She also told him to tell them that I had taken her hostage at gunpoint, at least I think that's what she had said, it was something that I hadn't told her to tell him and the way he had looked at me and then back at her made it seem like he was a little confused. So was I but it didn't seem like a big deal and I'm sure she was just trying to help.
There was a map in the glove box which got us oriented and headed in the right direction, we would stay off of the main roads, which meant that there would be some treacherous driving along the way, and we should make it to the safe house in about six hours more or less. Checking the fuel level I saw that we had less than three quarters of a tank, with luck we should just make it. I would have liked to have changed into a less conspicuous vehicle, but there was not much of a possibility of that so I would just have to put the invisibility shields up on this thing and get us there before they rounded up a posse and got the search into high gear.
We made it to the safe house without incident just before daylight. We had passed several houses and farms but most had their lights off and were probably sleeping, those that were awake could hardly have made out anything as we sped past. The safe house looked more like an over-sized farm storage building than anything else. It was sided and roofed with tin that had been painted painted sky blue and made to look like it had been there for a long time. Actually the landowner had died and there was no next of ken, so the boy's at Langley had made a few bribes and paid some "taxes" so that they could move in and go unnoticed. They prefabbed the building and loaded it on common farm-to-market trucks and trailers hauling it into position piece by piece. When everything needed was on location a crew arrived from different directions, put the house together and were on their way out of the country all in one day.
I found the key and let Miss Whitehall in, then I got the power and the water turned on. There was a built in rocket mass heater to warm the house so I brought in some of the small limbs that had been piled up and put them in the hopper along with some extra in the side bin that was made for that purpose. It was enough to last all night and probably most of tomorrow, those heaters used very little fuel and everything was consumed in the fire except a small amount of fine ash. The "Company" liked to use these at remote houses like this because they expelled almost no smoke out of the vent, the built in re-burner eliminated almost all flammable gasses and soot such that the outside vent had mostly oxygen deficient air, carbon monoxide and water vapor coming out of it.
Miss Whitehall I started to say, but she stopped me, Jenna she said, just call me Jenna. Okay Jenna I said with a slight smile, would you look around for something to eat while I hide the car and have a look around. I need to check the area for any security problems and see what resources we have available, we could be here for awhile before they have an extraction route prepared for us. Of course she said, I'll see what I can find in the house that we can use while you are out playing boy scout she said with a whimsical smile.
Finding a gap between some trees I backed the car into the woods pointing towards in the road, then I carefully walked out a path through the woods and between trees large enough for the car to pass between and I ended up about a hundred feet away from the entrance driveway, it was a long curved drive and I didn't want to take a chance of getting blocked in. If we had to leave in a hurry we could bolt through this trail, there were small trees and bushes but I was certain the car could plow through if needed. I hope the boys had stashed some gas around here somewhere I thought, otherwise we would not be able to run for long on what was left in the tank.
After hiding the car under both some dead branches and some fresh limbs that I cut with a bow saw that I found in a tool shed, I started a 360 degree reconnoiter of the area around the house. I found the marker that located the position of the hidden satellite phone for me. There was no way the hide could have been located by sight or with common metal detectors, but for those who had been trained to know what to look for it was a simple task to retrieve it, install the batteries and set it up. I made the call and entered my unique code, in less than two minutes I was talking to the command center and in another minute I was on a loudspeaker giving the details of the mission and my present status. Captain Marshall was present, my immediate supervisor, and I was wondering how he was going to react when he found out that the mission had been botched and that I was now shacked up with a British reporter at a top secret safe house. The more I talked the less comfortable I felt, for the first time I realized that I might have more than just a little explaining to do when, if, I got back home.
Ending the call and completing my security round I headed back toward the house. I had located some fuel but decided to get some food and some rest now, I could deal with that later this evening or tomorrow. There was not much chance of us being located here anytime soon unless we had been observed coming in, and I found that highly unlikely. As I made the last leg and was on my way back I found a large patch of Tulips in full bloom, way out here in the middle of nowhere? But checking around I found that there had been a home here once long ago, the house had rotted down and anything worth taking had been scavenged or hauled away. But here was bright yellow and red almost wax looking flowers, so out of place. I took a few and headed back, I was being corny and school boyish again, was I really bringing flowers to a girl that I had just met? To brighten the place up a little is what I would say.
When I came in there was a fire going and I saw for the first time that the rocket mass heater had been fitted with a viewing window so that an observer could watch the swirling streams of fire dancing around inside like tiny tornadoes caught in a never ending waltz. The table had been set for two and there was a spread of food laid out. It was mostly out of cans or reconstituted freeze dried meals, but Jenna had done her best to make it look like a home cooked dinner. I handed her the flowers and told her that I thought they would cheer the place up a bit. She looked me in the eyes for a second, and turning said I'll get something to put them in. When she returned she had a drinking glass half full of water and the Tulips deftly placed so that most of the blooms were visible and the different colors were balanced. We chatted as we ate but I didn't mention the phone or the call that I had put in, nor did I give her any indication of when we might be leaving. In fact I was not sure yet myself, I was to call back tomorrow at 1400 hours for further instructions and until then we were to hang tight here.
After all that we had been through we were both exhausted, so after eating got we some pillows and blankets out of a closet and leaned back against the built in bench that was the mass part of the heater. This was what stored up all of the energy from the fire and it would release it into the house hours after the fire had gone out. It was warm on the outside and Jenna prepared some tea to warm us up on the inside also. I know you Americans don't drink a lot of hot tea, but it was the only thing in the house to drink besides water she said. We sat with out backs to the wall and talked while sipping the tea, it was very relaxing and Jenna had a soft soothing voice that was delicate and comforting. I don't remember falling asleep, in fact the last thing I remember is Jenna talking about her sister in Berkshire and about cats, and...
...When I woke up it was still light outside, my head felt dull like after a hangover. I got up slowly and staggered a little, what the hell? I looked around but didn't see Jenna and started to panic, had they caught up to us so quickly? No, no that was all wrong. Wait, it's light outside but my watch, it's earlier now than when we sat down here where it was warm, I had been asleep for nearly twenty four hours! I searched the house, the hard drive was missing and so were the keys to the car. Running outside I could see right away that the limbs used for camouflage had been moved and the car was gone, with Jenna at the wheel I presumed. If I survived this I was never going to live it down, I had been taken in by a pretty face, me, the best judge of character and the least gullible on the team. What was going on, who was this woman, and how had she been so convincing that I let my guard down? Those answers would have to come later, right now I had work to do.
I took a quick shower in cold water, I needed the shower but I needed to clear the cobwebs and think even more. I retrieved the phone and reported in, that was the hardest call I've ever made in my life. I took the phone with me this time, no use leaving it here this place was no longer secure or of any use. I also got the gas can and a coil of rope out of the shed and doused a little gas in each of the rooms in the house, then I found the backpack that I had spotted in a closet and fit the gas can in it. About a third of the gas can was sticking out the top of the backpack, so I took the coil of rope and looped it around the top of the gas can. I would be a strange sight walking down the road like that, but at the moment I didn't care. After making a last check of the house I put tulips under all the pillows, and then I set fire to the house...
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Ha ha ha, I can't complete the weekend freewrite today, I tried to include it all but I could only do the first one. Maybe tomorrow I'll do the other two prompts.
The photo is from the Public Domain Pictures web site
Prompt: scream
Set your timer for 5 minutes.
Start writing
Use the hashtag #freewrite
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If you don't know what a freewrite is, here is a link to the introduction post.
Thank you @mariannewest