Hunt

 

Despite the horror look upon Joshua’s face Caleb and the pack was none the wiser. They thought Joshua was alright with this and Joshua quickly thought to himself that he would continue to let them think that way. If he let on that he didn’t like them and what they were doing, or even that he was afraid of them, then who knows what danger he would be in.

‘See the game is the same...’ Caleb went on to explain.

‘Only the thing that we hunt isn’t some animal.’ Adam chipped in feeling over excited now; Caleb threw him a look and continued.

‘It’s a person, and trust me when I say; it’s a hell of a lot more fun.’ Caleb spoke to Joshua as if he was completely ok with this and had no uncertainties about whether Joshua would turn against them.

‘This isn’t the first time you’ve hunted humans, all those attacks were because of you weren’t they?’ Joshua said this with as much calm and normality as he could, he didn’t want to sound like he was against what they were doing, even if he really was. Caleb said nothing to deny or confirm what Joshua said; he just carried on smiling his wicked smile and glared back at him.

‘So, you in?’ Caleb asked. Joshua felt sick at his words; it was almost like he wanted him to confirm that he wanted to be one of them and that he was going to hunt Charlie with them. Joshua looked from Caleb to his friends; they all glared at him with a stench of evil and were waiting for him to answer. Joshua wanted to speak but all that came out was a nod. ‘Good, then we shall begin.’

Joshua started becoming really nervous, questioning himself about what he should do. He agreed in his mind that he would go along with it and then pray he would be able to reach Charlie before either of the others could. If he didn’t reach her first then he could never forgive himself. Caleb walked forward and stood in front of Charlie, Adam was still behind her and Joshua made sure he remained hidden behind Caleb so Charlie wouldn’t see him. Caleb then removed the blindfold and gave Charlie an evil look.

‘You know what we can do to you, and we will. We are your worst nightmares. Only we’re not completely inhuman, so we’re gonna give you thirty seconds of a head start. And if I was you...’ Caleb leaned in so that his nose almost touched hers. ‘I’ll already be running.’ Charlie took his advice and began, as fast as she could, running away. As she went the pack started laughing evilly out loud, Joshua grew even more nervous, he speculated how he was going to get out of this.

‘Now?’ Adam asked. Joshua had noticed from the beginning that Adam seemed the most malicious out of the pack; he seemed to feel no humanity and never cared about the things he said or did. Although Caleb seemed to lead the pack, Adam was the real dangerous one; he was capable of anything and he was very unpredictable.

‘Not yet Adam.’ Caleb said.

‘Now?’ He asked again after only a few seconds of silence.

‘Wait for it...’ Adam was indeed inpatient; by the look in his eyes Joshua could tell he wanted so badly to rip Charlie apart. ‘Now’ Caleb announced.

Before Joshua could blink Adam rushed off, alongside everyone else. Joshua hurried behind them; soon however they all separated taking different directions. Joshua began panicking more now that he found himself running through a dark forest alone.

Joshua ran for a while thinking that he was lost, not knowing if he was heading closer to Charlie or further away and if he did happened to be nearing her direction, was it possible that he could get to her before they did?

Joshua stopped, he was out of breath and could feel his eyes start to tear. Joshua could not stop thinking about not making it to her in time, if he couldn’t Charlie would then be gone forever. Joshua looked around frantically but all he saw was the shapely shadows that were the trees, and beyond that was pure darkness. Right then Joshua remembered that he was more than an average person, with all the worrying he was doing he had forgotten that being a wolf came with its advantages. Joshua calmed himself, he then concentrated hard and listened carefully.

Just a few seconds later Joshua started to hear noises, very softly but loud enough for him to recognise it as Charlie. She was sobbing lightly and breathing harshly. Her feet jogged slowly against the ground below. Joshua knew she hadn’t stopped yet and was growing tired. He realised that it was coming from in front of him and closer then he thought, Joshua then began to concentrate through the dark ahead and gradually the scene in front came into view. It was like he had night vision and he could now see in the dark. He looked around and far up ahead he saw and heard what he figured was Charlie rushing through the forest.

Joshua rushed forwards, he gained on the sounds he listened in on. Suddenly a shadowy figure raced past him at an extreme pace and Joshua tried hard to race after it. Soon he slowed right down, he listened hard again and heard sobs coming from behind a tree nearby. Joshua actually sighed with relief as he investigated the source of the sobs. He had guessed right when he saw Charlie sat on the dirt at the foot of the tree trunk and hugging her knees. As he got near her she jumped upon hearing him, but just as quick Charlie realised that the man standing over her was in fact Joshua.

Charlie quickly jumped up, half relieved and half still very scared. She franticly wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace. As soon as Joshua held her back Charlie’s sobs grew louder and she cried on his shoulder, her tears were a mixture of fear and happiness now.

For a second Joshua had forgotten where they were. He held onto Charlie with great emotion, but then he was pulled back to reality as he suddenly heard a noise. It was the sound of running feet behind him now moving towards them, and he now remembered what was happening. Joshua quickly let go of Charlie and tried to quiet her down, but he knew it was too late.

‘Get down...’Joshua said slightly pulling on her arm.

‘What?’ Charlie was confused.

‘Do you trust me?

‘Yeah, of course.’

‘Then get back down on the ground, lay down like you’re scared of me.’

‘Why, what’s going on?’ Charlie was still confused at his strange quest.

‘Just do it...NOW.’ Charlie did as he said and as soon as Joshua turned around he was faced with the appearance of Lola, the blonde girl who always hung onto Adam’s shoulder. She looked from Joshua to Charlie and back again, a grin grew on her face and hunger showed in her eyes. Charlie continued to lay face down; she stared down at Lola and Joshua’s feet trying to understand what was going on.

‘Well done...’ Lola spoke; she wasn’t taking her eyes off of Charlie. ‘Let me have first bite.’ Lola gave Joshua a quick glance as she spoke and then looked back at Charlie as she stepped forward.

‘NO!’ Joshua shouted in reaction. This stopped Lola in her tracks; Joshua now struggled with his thoughts not knowing what he was going to say next. ‘She’s mine.’ Joshua spoke again.

‘Come on, I’ll let the others know you were here first.’ She playfully said as she licked her lips. Joshua couldn’t help think that they all were as bad as each other. ‘They can’t be too far.’ She continued. She was right Joshua thought, the rest of the pack couldn’t be too far away which meant he had to act quickly; he had to do something while he could.

‘Exactly, I was here first...’ Joshua put on the best wicked voice he could do and now pretended to be interested in Charlie as a victim rather than a friend. ‘Which means I want first taste, the girl is mine.’ Joshua moved forward, he got down on one knee as if he were proposing to someone and then leant down so that he was hovering over Charlie.

Joshua looks back up to Lola with an evil grin, Lola returned the evil look waiting for him to do something and then Joshua moved in towards Charlie. His head came to rest next to hers, as if he was about to bite her, he moved slowly and came to stop so that his cheek stuck to her cheek. Joshua was so close to Charlie, fear in her eyes. He took her small hand within his and squeezed it tight.

‘Run.’ Joshua gently whispered. ‘When I say, you run. Don’t look back and don’t stop.’ Joshua whispered ever so softly into Charlie’s ear, he left it for a few seconds before he did anything and then. ‘RUN!’ He shouted. At the same time he jumped up with his one foot and span around, when he turned he brought his whole arm around and hit Lola in the face. Charlie needed no convincing and as Joshua hit Lola Charlie was already up from the dirty ground and running in the opposite direction.

Lola looked up at Joshua with pure anger in her eyes, she growled at him and wasted no time in forcing herself onto Joshua. Lola knocked Joshua off of his feet and fell down on top of him; she clawed at his chest and neck causing him to bleed a little. Joshua held his hands and arms against Lola like you would if a dog was trying to rip you apart with his teeth, but he couldn’t find a way to get her off. He eventually found a way to slide his legs between him and Lola, at that moment he took a scratch upon his cheek, fuelled with anger and with some force he kicked her hard with his feet.

Joshua watched Lola fly up into the air away from him, she came down and as she touched the ground she hit the back of her head on a large rock, knocking her unconscious. Joshua felt the burns from his shallow cuts on his body, neck and the one on his face; his clothes were even ripped a little from the viscous attack. He always knew never to underestimate a woman, certainly one that was a werewolf.

Joshua took this opportunity while Lola was out cold, to run off and catch up with Charlie. It didn’t take him long before he was right behind her, she hadn’t ran very fast. Joshua reached out a hand and placed it on Charlie’s shoulder, this startled her and made her trip over. He held out a hand to help her up, he could hear her heart beating fast and her breath was running low.

‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.’ Charlie didn’t look happy as she grabbed his offered hand and got up.

‘What do you expect? Will you please tell me what on earth is going on?’ Charlie said intensely, but then Joshua really didn’t expect anything less.

‘Sure. You remember Caleb and his friends, well you were right. They aren’t nice people, in fact they’re murderers and they like hunting people, for example you. I had to play along I’m sorry, I didn’t know what else to do, I didn’t want to confront them.’

‘It’s ok, but the cat’s out of the bag, so what do we do now?’ This was a question he hadn’t asked himself yet; Joshua thought about it and came up with nothing.

‘I don’t know, but they can’t be far away, they must be close by and when they find Lola they won’t be happy. There’s five of them and I’m only one person, I won’t be able to protect you alone.’ Joshua saw the fear build up in Charlie again from what he said; he too felt fear creep into his heart, as he started thinking about how he was going to get him and Charlie out of the forest alive. ‘I’m actually surprised they didn’t find you before I did.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Well they’re use to hunting; they’re really good at tracking.’ Joshua then noticed as he spoke that Charlie had some dirt on her neck, she even had dry mud all up her clothes also. ‘Maybe the dirt on you helped to cover your smell.’

‘Thanks.’ Charlie replied sarcastically, Joshua meant nothing by it.

‘You’re welcome.’ He joked. ‘But like I said, they’re good at tracking, so we need to keep moving.’ Joshua then began walking forward with Charlie at his side; they walked fast through the dark forest. Joshua’s mind was constantly on Caleb and the pack being somewhere close and the fact that they could be caught at any moment.

‘We need to get out of this forest.’ Charlie spoke up.

‘I know, but we can’t risk running into Caleb so we need to head further up the forest some more and exit further up. We can come out of the forest on the other side of town.’ Charlie thought this seemed a sensible idea and trusted Joshua. ‘Even if we make it out of the forest Caleb and his friends are not going to stop. They love hunting humans; they get a rush out of it, and now I just created a whole new game for them.’ Joshua looked to his side to Charlie, he felt guilty for getting her involved in this.

‘I’m scared.’ She admitted. Her voice was soft, almost like a whisper.

‘I’m sorry.’

‘For what?’

‘It’s my fault you’re here.’ Charlie could hear the truth and hurt in his voice as he said this, it made her heart sink and a desire to hug him filled her.

‘I don’t blame you Josh, nothing you did caused me to be here tonight and if you had a chance to change every decision you’ve made over the last couple of months, I would still end up here, the only difference is that you’re here with me.’ Her smile warmed Joshua’s heart and made him feel better, but only by a little. Just at that moment Joshua heard a rustle between the trees not too far from them, he wasn’t the only one who heard it either. Charlie also heard this before they both stopped dead at the exact same time.

‘What was that?’ Charlie said.

‘I knew they would catch up with us eventually, I need to lead them away.’

‘How are you going to do that?’ Charlie asked not really caring but hoping to manipulate Joshua into not doing anything rash.

‘Quick, give me your jacket.’ Charlie was wearing a dark grey sip up jacket; after she handed it to Joshua he put it on himself. ‘Now get up that tree, when you’re up there try to stay calm and still, wait until I get back.’

‘You can’t leave me, don’t leave me.’ Charlie pleaded; she didn’t want to be alone.

‘I’ll be fine and so will you; just stay up that tree and everything will be ok.’ Joshua lied. He wasn’t sure what was going to happen, he wasn’t even sure if what he had planned would work. Joshua watched as Charlie made it to the top of the considerably huge tree, he then took off through the forest at a fast run, using his fast ability he gained from being a werewolf. Joshua ran and ran, when he thought he had made it a good distant away from Charlie he stopped and listened through the forest. Joshua concentrated, he eliminated each forest sound until he found the one he was after. Joshua knew his plan had surprisingly worked.

As he listened through the trees he could hear heavy footsteps coming towards him, as far as he could tell they weren’t that far away and sounded like they were running. He had hoped that Caleb and his friends would follow him, thinking that Charlie was with him as he now wore her smell too and it seemed that it had worked perfectly.

Joshua took off Charlie’s jacket and covered it in dirt, he rubbed it upon the ground until it was completely smothered in mud and then he tossed it into the nearest tree to him. Next would be to wipe some more dirt upon his own clothes, this he was hoping would then stop them from tracking him back to where Charlie waited for him.

Joshua was about to take off once more to return to Charlie, only when he turned he came face to face with none other than Lola, and she didn’t look very happy.

‘Your plan almost worked, the rest are a couple of miles away. By the time they would have got here you and your girlfriend could have gotten away, but then you didn’t expect on me being close by.’ Her demented look told Joshua to run but then what would be the use he thought, she could run just as fast as he could and maybe even faster. ‘I was thinking about waiting until the others arrive, but now I have you right in front of me I think I’ll just tear you apart now.’ She growled again like she had done earlier before attacking him. Joshua turned to run but he didn’t get far before Lola came flying over his head and landed in front of him.

Lola was strong, she knew how to fight and fight well. Lola threw a punch hitting Joshua in his jaw, she threw another punch with her other hand across his cheek bone, then a kick to his side and another to his stomach. Joshua took every hit like a champ as he struggled to keep his balance; Lola kept coming at him with all she had until eventually Joshua fell to the floor. He looked back up to see her smiling; Joshua questioned whether he should get up or stay down but decided on the first.

When he stood Lola did nothing, she slowly walked around him while Joshua never took his eyes off her and he wondered what she was going to do next. Then Joshua watched as she turned and bent down. At first he didn’t understand what she was doing, until she picked up a smallish tree trunk that must have fallen down from a storm or something. If it was anyone else then Joshua would be laughing but Lola wasn’t a normal girl, she was a strong werewolf. As she stood up straight she suddenly swung around with the tree trunk gripped in her arms.

Joshua was shocked but quick at reacting; he ducked in time as the tree trunk flew past over his head. The force of the weight of the trunk caused Lola to temporary lose balance. Joshua wasted no time in taking advantage of this, he straightened up and moved towards her. As he did he brought his foot up and kicked her in the stomach. Lola was angrier now and Joshua regretted his decision, again his instinct told him to run but his legs stayed glued to the ground. Lola jumped forward, her hands came in contact with Joshua’s neck and Joshua held his own hands up trying to push her away.

Lola’s power pressing on Joshua’s neck pushed him backwards. He kept his hands pushing against her shoulders as he stumbled back and she continued forward. They didn’t move too far before Joshua’s back came in contact with a tree, he hit the tree trunk with some force and smacked the back of his head. Lola never let go and still pressed hard, Joshua kept thinking about how strong she was and found he couldn’t get her to let go.

Joshua began to push harder against Lola and now she was the one who started moving backwards. Joshua continued to push Lola back; all the while she maintained her hold on his neck. Joshua was in great pain now, his neck turning a red colour along with his face, breath slowly fading from his lungs. Joshua was getting desperate now as Lola’s grip remained tight. He kept pushing her back with some speed now until finally Lola hit a tree herself. As her back hit the tree Joshua felt her grip loosen up. Lola had a shocked look on her face and Joshua now noticed a small bit of blood dripping out of her opened mouth.

Joshua let go of her and stepped back, her hands slid off of his neck. Joshua now understood what had happened, he was now staring at Lola impaled on a thick branch. He could see the broken branch sticking out from the middle of Lola’s chest. She struggled to look down at the source of her pain and then looked back up at Joshua. He watched her eyes slowly close and eventually her head go limp.

Joshua felt a little guilty, but not too much because he knew she wanted to kill Charlie and was only just trying to kill him. But it was enough guilt because he didn’t want to be a killer, he never wanted it to be this way. Joshua knew that the rest of the pack would be here soon and when they find Lola like this there was no way they would let him get away with it. He had no time to wait around to find out and so he forced himself to look away and start running through the forest once more. It was a ten minute run in a complete circle before he made it back to the exact tree that he had left Charlie hidden within.

‘Charlie.’ He called out but there was no instant reply. ‘Charlie.’ He said again with more harshness and then he heard rustling. Charlie struggled out of the tree and stood in front of Joshua.

‘I thought that you might have been...’ Charlie trailed off not finishing the sentence, Joshua knew what she was about to say.

‘Killed? I’m sorry I took so long, I ran into a bit of trouble.’ Joshua noticed the look on Charlie’s concerned face. ‘It’s ok; we just need to get going, now.’ Joshua pushed lightly on Charlie’s shoulder turning her around and then they both began walking through the trees. For a long while they walked in silence but Charlie wasn’t one to stay silent for long.

‘Where are we going?’ She asked. Joshua wanted to find somewhere to hide Charlie, a safe haven if you will, and he had a place in mind.

‘A safe place for you to hide.’ He told her.

‘That’s your big plan, we’re going to hide, and where’s this safe place of yours?’ By now Charlie was trailing behind a little, Joshua didn’t stop for her or even face her when he talked.

‘You remember that really old abandon hotel on the other side of the town? The one we used to play in.’

‘That’s your safe place.’ She shrieked. ‘Great, let’s go and hide out in a scary old hotel that hasn’t been in use for what, fifty years, and then what?’ Her sarcasm pieced Joshua’s ears; it didn’t help their situation he thought.

‘I don’t know.’ He muttered softly, admitting to himself that he really didn’t know what he was doing. Sometime soon after hiking through the woods some more Joshua and Charlie made it to the edge of the forest on the other side of the town. They came out right next to the hotel that Joshua had suggested.

Charlie looked up to the hotel that stood looking battered with its many windows. They walked along the track that led from town. Its odd location sitting right next to the forest was probably the reason it shut down in the first place thought Charlie.

‘Come on.’ Joshua said as he headed towards the front entrance.

‘Maybe this isn’t a good idea, can’t we hide somewhere else?’ Charlie said with a bit fear to her voice.

‘It’s the perfect place, and it’s just until I figure out what to do next.’ Joshua assured her, Charlie reluctantly followed him inside. They easily made it into the building as the hotel wasn’t boarded up. Whoever owned it must have had no desire to sell it, or maybe they couldn’t. Joshua looked and felt around until he found a light switch. The main lights came on and revealed the entrance hall, some sofas and chairs rest on their right and a front desk on the left. There was a large set of stairs up ahead that went up so far and then turned both left and right. Joshua could imagine this place being high class and beautiful when it was new, but now it was dusty and broke down. Strangely however he still felt like it was home in these recent times.

‘So what now?’ Charlie asked. Joshua looked over to her; he didn’t know how to answer her.

‘First we sit, rest up, it may even be a good idea to sleep here tonight.’

‘I’m not sleeping here.’ Charlie argued.

‘Fine then stay up all night but either way we’re staying here tonight, at least then we have a better chance in the morning, when it’s light outside.’

‘Better chance for what?’ Charlie asked curiously, she held her breath for his answer.

‘I don’t know, I have all night to decide.’

Joshua and Charlie settled down on one of the sofas to rest. Joshua had left Charlie alone for a while to go and hunt for food, but after much search all he could find were some packets of crisps and chocolate bars out of a vender-machine, and it took a lot of effort to get his hands on them.

After they ate what could only be described as a bleak meal Joshua suggested they get some sleep. He told her to follow him and Charlie didn’t argue. After a while of roaming through the hallways Charlie began complaining that she didn’t want to be sleeping in some dark and scary room. Joshua told her to trust him and not long after he revealed the room in which he had been staying.

‘I don’t understand, you’ve been sleeping here?’ She asked.

‘Only a few times, when I was having a hard time with all that has been happing to me lately.’ Joshua explained. He went on to tell Charlie everything that has happened when they weren’t talking. He even explained what he had done to Eric but that he meant no harm, and that it was Caleb and his pack who truly harmed him.

As they talked they had been sitting next to each other on Joshua’s made up bed. Eventually they settled back against the bed board, Joshua sat up and Charlie curled up beside him. She soon turned and rested her head on his chest, and for a moment Charlie felt safe. A small part of her forgot about the horrors that she had encountered.

Joshua placed his arm around Charlie and held her close, he rested his head upon the top of hers and he too for a short while had forgotten the troubles they were in. It didn’t stay this way for long, when Charlie had begun to drift off to sleep she was hit by the sudden memory of why they were there.

‘Joshua, I can’t sleep, I’m scared too.’ Charlie said softly. Joshua’s heart sank; he felt bad like it was his entire fault.

‘It’s ok, you can sleep, I’ll be up all night anyway and I won’t let anyone harm you.’ Joshua replied honestly.

‘You promise?’ She said looking up at him.

‘I promise.’ Joshua assured her. Charlie placed her head back down to rest but she didn’t truly fall asleep. Joshua, true to his promise, was sat watching her sleep with his thoughts to himself. During this time he got a gut feeling that something bad was about to happen. Three months ago Joshua wouldn’t have given it a second thought but lately he learnt never to dismiss his instincts. Whether or not it was just his mind playing tricks on him because of the situation he was in Joshua didn’t know, but he couldn’t take that chance. He looked down again to the sleeping girl and tried hard to slide out from underneath her.

‘What’s the matter?’ Charlie said sleepily just as Joshua had made it to his feet, Joshua looked back at her.

‘I just want to check something.’ Joshua walked away and headed towards the window, Charlie watched intensively while worry filled her stomach. Joshua stood close to the window of the room they were in and looked out. He could see someone standing on the outside of the forest staring straight back at him. It was Adam and he wasn’t moving a muscle. Joshua didn’t hesitate; he wasted no time in turning around and running towards Charlie.

‘They found us...’ Joshua said. Charlie’s face dropped at the news. ‘Come on lets go.’ He grabbed Charlie’s arm and exited the room.

‘Where are we going?’

‘I don’t know, but we have to move.’ Joshua headed down the corridor with Charlie in hand, he feared to look back but to keep moving forward instead. They both rushed along the corridor, around a corner and down another corridor passing many hotel rooms along the way, until they reached some double doors that lead to more stairs. These stairs led further up to the next level and to every level in the hotel. Joshua led Charlie right up to the fourth level and half way down the corridor. Here he chose one of the rooms to enter.

As they entered Joshua took a quick look around, surprisingly he found that the furniture remained. It was old and battered but still useable, similar to the room he had chosen on the first floor. The room had everything that you would expect a hotel room to have, except Joshua guessed the TV and other electricity items wouldn’t work.

‘Stay here and keep out of sight.’ Joshua told Charlie.

‘You’re leaving me here?’ She said realising what he meant.

‘I can’t just wait here until they find us and kill us, I have to do something.’ Joshua opened the room door again ready to exit.

‘Joshua...’ Charlie called out stopping him momentarily, Joshua waited for her to say something but she couldn’t find the right words she wanted to say. ‘Be careful.’ She finally told him. Her words followed Joshua back through the halls. How could he be careful when venturing into hell itself, facing monsters that could destroy him without a second guess. Joshua heard a noise as he roamed the second floor and then Adam suddenly appeared around the corner at the far end of the corridor.

Joshua froze, he stared right down to the other end where Adam now also stood still. This was his chance to lead him away from the hotel Joshua thought and then he watched as Adam began walking slowly towards him. Another thought occurred to Joshua, he wondered why Adam was alone and where the others were. Were they in the building somewhere else? Had they split up to cover more ground? Or was Adam truly alone? Joshua thought it was strange if he was alone as the pack always hunted together, so they must be here somewhere he thought.

Joshua began to run back around the corner and Adam did the same. He made it to the stairs and went down a level, then he ran into the nearest room he could find and shut the door behind him. This room was completely empty, beams lay on the floor and hung from the ceiling. The room was a complete mess as though it was torn down before abandoned, or possibly in the middle of being rebuilt.

At that moment Joshua heard a noise of the stairway door slam shut, which that told him Adam was now on the same floor. Joshua stood froze in the middle of the room trying to listen to where Adam was, he heard footsteps heading in exactly his direction and prayed that he would pass. Joshua’s prayers were not answered when he heard footsteps stop right outside his door; acting fast he hurried into the next room and locked the door shut. Upon looking around it appeared that this was meant to be the bedroom. This room was also broken down with some set of drawers scattered around the room all with dirty white sheets over them. In the middle of the room the floor boards were torn up. This meant that there was a huge hole in the floor, to which you could see into the room below.

Joshua stupidly hid behind some chest of drawers, like a little kid playing hide and seek, and waited for his fate. It was quiet for a while and Joshua had hoped that Adam had left, but then the door knob began to shake. Joshua hoped that Adam would see it was locked and leave, but that again wasn’t so. Adam began to bang on the door, over and over again Adam was hitting the door and Joshua worried that he would succeed in knocking it down. He looked over to the hole in the floor, he had no choice he thought but to try and escape through that only exit.

Joshua struggled to get down; he slid so far off whilst on his stomach and then found himself dangling on the edge with his feet swaying in the middle of the room below. He could just see a rusty old bed to the side of him but guessed it was too far away to try and swing onto it. Instead he had no option then to hold his breath, decided to just let go and hope for the best. He hit the bare floor below with a hard blow, his whole body crumbling and rolling to the ground. Joshua took a while to get back up; he felt pain all over but somehow was still able to walk perfectly.

Joshua began walking through the bedroom; he was taking his time because he didn’t want to make too much noise, he didn’t want to risk it. Now he made his way slowly across the main room until he reached the other side. He slowly opened the door to the room and began to step out when all of a sudden he was hit. The last thing he remembered was an iron bar come flying at high speed in contact with his face, and then blackness.