Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE **Angela's POV** I jolted awake quickly when I suddenly felt my head bump painfully against a cold metallic object. In pain, I pried my swollen eyes open, rubbing at my now throbbing head and gasped in shock when I noticed that I was lying on my left side in something that looked like a cage while ericalaid in front of me, fast asleep. I sat up slowly, scrutinizing the environment and from where I was, I discovered that we were now in the clutches of those scary looking men; and to make matters worse we were currently inside a dark cage while the other girls laid haphazardly around us. 'Camille, wake up!" I called out in hushed whispers, violently shaking ericaawake. As soon as she pried her eyes open, I placed my index finger against my lips just so that she wouldn't make any noise and pointed to the cage just so that she knows we've been trapped. 'Where are we?" She asked quickly, looking around the room with a frightened expression on her face. In hushed whispers, I quickly explained our current situation to her while we laid side by side and watched her eyes go wide with worry when I filled her in on my plans to escape. 'I already got two stones…" I whispered, showing her the smooth medium sized stones in my hands. 'I am going to try breaking that lock the way I break locks normally and after that, I would start a fire so that we can all run away from here before we get caught." I said in hushed whispers and was surprised when I heard the sounds of agreement the other girls made as they looked hopefully at me. It sounded like a bright plan, but a dangerous one altogether. They seemed very interested in it though, and even tried helping out by stacking hay and a few other discarded wooden materials together just so I could start the fire with them. We quietly helped each other untie the ropes around our wrists and feet and waited patiently for the perfect opportunity to strike without easily getting noticed. It didn't take us too long to find one though, because only a few minutes later, the bodyguard guarding our cage walked off and I immediately started with the locks. It didn't take long for me though, as almost a few minutes later, it sprang loose. Immediately I was done with the lock, a girl named Natasha brought me the stones and I started the fire. The heat blazed angrily and we screamed out, acting like the fire started on its own, but as soon as the bodyguard ran back into the room, we pushed him to the ground and fled. We kept sprinting through a path, panting but unsure of where the path headed to. A loud noise from a far distance made us run faster as we realized that it was our abductors and that they had realized that they were running after us. 'They're coming at us!" erica cried out in fright as she sprinted forward. I would've asked that we shifted into our wolf forms to enable us to run faster but I couldn't. As if reading through my thoughts, a few of the girls began changing and sprinting forward away from us while the younger ones who hadn't met their wolves were stuck with me. Our abductors' noises were beginning to sound too close. It scared me. I didn't want to be taken back into their den; I didn't even want to be caught for I already knew what would become of us if they caught us after we'd tried to escape and even started a fire. Just as I had almost given up, thinking they would catch up to us, I heard a loud feminine voice yell out at us, which made us come to an abrupt stop. 'What are you doing here?" She snarled, staring down at us with a brooding expression on her face. From the way she was dressed, I could tell that she was a soldier, but what I didn't understand was what a soldier was doing in a forest as thick as this by this time of the day. 'We are escaping some men who want to traffick us." I quickly rushed out, glancing worriedly behind me just in case they were still coming after us. 'Traffic?" She asked in confusion, cocking her blonde eyebrows at us. 'Yes, human trafficking, they want to traffick us!" I quickly said, glancing around frantically as my heart beat erratically against my chest. I could still hear their voices from a distance and the sounds of their feet against the floor, and I knew that they were still coming after us. I noticed a few more soldiers strutting over to us and without waiting to be asked again, I repeatedly told them of how we were being pursued by traffickers. They immediately provided us a place to hide amongst some overgrown bushes and stood protectively in front of us until the ugly men from earlier arrived at the scene. 'Did you see some little girls run past?" The bulky guy asked the soldiers rudely immediately he arrived at the scene. 'And do you know you're in a pack's territory?" The female soldier replied just as fiercely, obviously ignoring the man's rudeness. 'How would I know if this is some pack's territory if the only thing I see are bushes?" He snapped, glaring at her. …silence. 'Okay, I'll be out of your hair before you know it only if you would tell me if you saw some girls run past here!" He said. For a brief moment, I almost thought she would give us away. I could literally hear my heart beating in my ears as I waited for her to point out where we hid until she said. 'No we did not, but I sure heard some shuffling sounds earlier coming from that side of the forest." She said, pointing at a distance. 'Thank you!" I heard the man say, and watched as he immediately ran in the direction which the female soldier had pointed. In relief, I quickly let out the breath I didn't know I was holding earlier and smiled warmly at ericawho in turn smiled back. 'We're free from them." She whispered happily to me and I could only nod as several waves of relief coursed through my veins. She quickly rushed away from us to go find a spot to urinate while the rest of us sat on the floor, sighing in relief. We hadn't stayed for a few minutes when we suddenly felt something hovering over us. Looking up, we gasped when we noticed that it was the female soldier who was staring down at us with the abductors standing closely behind her.. I don't know why but I suddenly had a weird feeling settle at the base of my stomach. They immediately grabbed forcefully at us while we screamed and trashed helplessly in their hands. I couldn't believe that we had been successfully fooled. Before we were dragged out of the bush, the least thing I saw was Camille. I quickly brought my finger to my lips in order to drop her from making any sound that would lead to her being taken alongside us while they dragged me away with the rest. A single tear dropped from my eyes, but at the same time, I was glad that ericawas safe…at least for now.