21 Gone

Falcon snorted at Autumn's annoyed look. She was angry and threatened at the same time. But it was a satisfying feeling to see her expression, she was not dismissing him as no match for her. She knew he could stop them if he wanted to and she didn't want to take the chance.

'If it was just me,' she said, 'you would have been dead by now.' She finished her sentence with a sweet smile, as if she hadn't just given him a death warning.

Falcon didn't doubt her for a second. He knew the girl was good at what she did, her posture, her attention, and her stance spoke for her abilities. If they engaged in a fight here, both of them would emerge with more than just scratches on their bodies.

It happened in the snap of a twig outside the cabin. For an eternity, time suspended as Falcon and Autumn turned their heads in slow-motion towards the source of the sound, the cracking of the branch as if someone had stepped onto it.

They hadn't even tried to hide it, the sound obnoxious and clear, like a loud challenge to do whatever they could before the calamity struck the cabin. Falcon saw the dark silhouette through the window, a dark figure with the sun at their back, hiding their face.

The person raised their hand and threw something in through the window.

'Get down.' Autumn yelled, pulling Cyan down by the arm as they crashed to the floor. Falcon raised his pistol and aimed at the figure, firing instantly, but they were gone in the blink of an eye and his bullet hit a tree truck, ricocheting off into the woods, just as the smoke bomb exploded.

Acrid, black smoke filled the small cabin, immediately going into his lungs and making his eyes swim from the toxic fumes. He coughed wildly, which was a mistake, he should have held his breath instead of inhaling the fumes. Cyan had made the same mistake, his violent coughing and retching echoing in the cabin as it filled with smoke, blurring his entire vision. He could only see blackness through his tears, Autumn and Cyan just distant forms in the dark.

No. He groaned, holding out his hand for Cyan. Save him. The attacker will try to get to him.

Something strange was happening to him. Surely smoke bombs did not make you feel dizzy, as if you were losing your hold on reality and slipping into unconsciousness. No, he couldn't afford to go out right now, Cyan was in danger. He screamed internally at the smoke, before blundering over to where he thought Cyan had been.

Falcon crashed head-first into the chair he had tied Cyan into, hitting the floor with a thundering sound. He felt a limb hit his abdomen and grabbed it, but the soft skin of the fingers that reached for him belonged to her, as she pulled at his jacket in question. He knew she was asking if he had gotten his hands on Cyan, which, technically, she should have because she had been nearer to him than Falcon had been.

He traced an X onto her palm with his finger and felt her move away, where her blunderings met his ears. There must be something in the grenade, he thought, as dizziness overcame him that he hit the floor, his head banging on the wood. Smoke bombs do not normally knock you out, do they?

His eyes were closing, he could feel Autumn stilling next to him too. Through the smoke, he saw a dark figure emerge, their presence just a faint shadow in the back of his eyes, as the chasm of unawareness pulled him down. Struggling to keep his eyes open, he trained his gaze on the figure.

'453.' He groaned. 'It's you.' The words came out in an incoherent jumble, the moan of despair catching the figure's attention.

He saw them come near him, standing close to his body so that he could see their shoes on the ground where they stood next to his limp body. A foot came down onto his fingers and he sobbed in protest, the sole threatening to break the bone of his hand. The person slammed another foot onto his back and he doubled, the remaining energy leaving him just as they turned away, leaving for the door. They must have jumped in through the window, he hadn't heard the door open.

The figure raised his arms and Falcon saw a body cradled in them like a lover's. Cyan's right hand was hanging loose, swishing in the air, while his head was twisted at a painful angle against the person's chest.

The pose reminded him of how he had carried Cyan in the morning from his truck to the cabin, with which came the ugly realization that he was no different than this man. Both of them had attempted to kidnap Cyan, in which this unknown person had succeeded and now Falcon would forever be the one who had brought Cyan to this fate, quite literally.

No, his mind protested, teetering at the brink of unconsciousness. Don't take Cyan away.

He saw the two of them disappear as his eyes shut, the hand he had raised in a weak attempt to get hold of the abductor falling fruitlessly by his side. He watched with teary eyes as the person kicked open the door and took Cyan away with them, a faint sound of an engine reaching his ears as a vehicle drove away after a minute.

The silent guilt and frustration finally caught up to him and he surrendered, allowing the chasm to grip its vice-like arms around him and pull him down, welcoming the unconsciousness like a blissful curtain that had crashed down onto him to take away his pain, where he could enjoy a few dreamy minutes before being pulled back to reality.