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Milo and Melissa sit in a ditch, picking themselves up after a Murphy’s Law incident. “That bull just came out of nowhere!”
“Yeah, and then there was that helicopter!” Melissa agrees. “It was a good one.”
Milo stands up. But before he can climb out of the ditch, he hears a noise. It sounds like a time machine. He peeks out, then gasps and ducks back into the ditch. “It’s them.”
“Who?”
“Sally and Penelope. They’re here.” Milo whispers.
“What?!” Melissa pokes her head out, then ducks down. “Oh god. What are they doing here?”
“I don’t know, and I don’t want to.” Milo murmurs. “We need to get out of here before they see us.”
They clamber out of the ditch and start running. But some fallen trees, the return of the bull and a river end up separating them. Milo hurries through the forest, alone. He isn’t sure exactly where he is in relation to Sally and Penelope, but-
“Well, well, well. Look what we have here.” That voice rubs against Milo’s skin like sandpaper, making the hairs stand up and goosebumps appear all over. “It’s good to see you, kiddo.”
Milo immediately starts sprinting away. But something collides with him. Ropes. A net, pinning him to a tree. He squirms, but it holds firm. And Sally approaches, grinning with a glint in her eyes.
“You know Cavendish and Dakota aren’t time travellers anymore, right? There’s no point in you doing anything to me.” He tries, even though he doesn’t expect it to work.
“Oh, I’m aware. And that’s why this is perfect.” He really doesn’t like the look in Sally’s eyes. “I’m really not happy with them, after our last little meeting. No, I’m not happy with them at all.” She keeps her usual soft smile plastered on her face, but Milo can feel the bitterness boiling in her. He remembers when Sally hurt Zack, and tried to kidnap him, after he and Zack outwitted her. Sally seems to be a sore loser. And Milo is very scared of what she might do.
She paces around him. He is unable to move away as she ruffles his hair, entirely trapped in the net. He shivers when she touches him. “So I need to deal with them. I’ve been caught up with work, recently, but I have some time. And a golden opportunity, because you’re right here.” Another head pat, a painfully affectionate gesture.
“Milo!” Melissa skids around and dashes over. She is stopped when Penelope points what Milo assumes is a gun (it looks very futuristic) at him. He flinches, and Melissa freezes in place. “Leave him alone!”
“And why would I do that?” Sally’s voice grates at his ears, light and teasing but dripping with threats that don’t need to be said. “Now, here’s what we’re going to do. You are going to pop over to Cavendish and Dakota’s apartment, and ask them to meet us here tomorrow at 10 in the morning. Alone, and unarmed. And if we get them, we’ll give back this little one.”
Melissa scowls. “Or maybe I’ll call the police and your sorry asses will finally go to jail?” Her hand drifts towards the phone in her pocket.
“You could also do that! And then I’ll put a bullet through your best friend’s head, and you can watch him bleed out. Up to you!” Sally smiles, and Penelope presses the gun against Milo’s temple. He winces. He looks frightened. Of course he looks frightened. But Melissa hates it. She hates seeing her fearless friend frightened.
Those women hurt him so much. And they will do again, she’s sure, if they take him. She needs to keep him away from them somehow.
She has an idea. One that she knows Milo will hate.
She slowly raises her arms in a gesture of surrender. “Take me instead, let Milo give Cavendish and Dakota the message.”
Everyone stares at her.
“No!” Milo squirms, even more frantically than before. “Melissa, no!”
Penelope rolls her eyes. Sally, however, looks intrigued. “Take you? That’s an interesting offer. Why exactly should we do that?”
Melissa’s legs are shaking. Her heart is pounding like a drum. But she is determined. “You get the same result whichever one of us you take. And besides, if you take me then there will me a much lower chance of property damage. No Murphy’s Law, right?” This needs to work. They can’t take Milo. Not again.
“You’re making a compelling offer, kiddo.” Sally puts one finger on her chin. “Do you understand what you’re getting yourself into?”
Melissa clenches her fists to hide her shaking hands. She does understand what she is getting into. She saw the physical effects of Milo’s captivity. She heard what they did to him, and even his attempts to tell a less horrifying story was horrific. She has seen his tears, his nightmares.
She’s willing to go through all of that to stop him from doing through it again.
“Yes.”
“Aw, this is adorable! Well, I’m convinced.” Sally claps her hands in glee. Melissa holds back he urge to vomit. Or punch her.
“Melissa, no! Melissa, you need to run! You can’t let them take you, you can’t!” Milo struggles helplessly in the net. She can see the ropes rubbing against him, leaving red marks. Can see the panic in his eyes. “Sally, take me! Cavendish and Dakota will come for me, not for her!”
“Your nose is growing, kiddo. Nice little boys shouldn’t tell lies.” Sally tuts.
Penelope hands the gun to Sally and marches over to Melissa. Melissa doesn’t resist when Penelope grabs her arms, forces her hands behind her back and binds them together. Normally she would fight. She would never comply with these people. But she needs to keep Milo safe.
Penelope’s hands are cold, her fingernails sharp. Melissa wants to squirm away, wants to fight. But she can’t fight. She glares at her captor, but she can’t fight.
“Right, kiddo, we’re just going to take your friend away for a little bit. All you need to do is get Cavendish and Dakota to meet us here at ten in the morning, and you can have her back in mostly one piece.” Sally chuckles. Melissa really is trembling now. “Just in case you plan on trying something funny, we’ll just leave you like that. I’m sure that Murphy’s Law will get you out of there soon enough.” She pats him on the head. “Off we go.”
Penelope drags Melissa away. Her fingers dig into her arms, bruising, and she is uncaring of any obstacles that hit Melissa.
Melissa is forced into the back of the car, held down by Penelope’s foot. As the car starts to move, she can still hear Milo yelling. He sounds terrified. She sends him a silent apology which she hopes that he can sense.
———
They force a blindfold over her eyes before they take her out of the car. She tries to fight back, now Milo is safe, but they are stronger and she is tied up.
She is dragged from outside to inside, down corridors. She tries to keep track of turns, but she loses track eventually. Maybe they are deliberately trying to disorient her. Or maybe they live in a warren.
She hates being blindfolded. She hates being disoriented, she hates not knowing what is going on or where she is.
She hears a door open, and she is thrown against a hard floor. She grunts as the wind is knocked out of her, and her face collides with the ground. With her hands behind her, she can’t do anything to stop it.
Her face stings, surely grazed and bruised, and her nose aches. She thinks that she feels blood trickling out of it.
She flinches when she hears a footstep slam against the tile next to her. The blindfold is yanked off, and she blinks in the bright light. She is in an empty room, which looks somewhat like an interrogation room with all of the furniture removed.
Penelope pockets the blindfold. “This is the last room you’ll ever see, take a good look at it.”
“What, you’re not expecting Cavendish and Dakota to come?” She is sure that they will have a plan to rescue her. They can’t time travel, and she is in the future, but surely they will have some plan…
“We’re expecting them to come. They’re just as stupidly loyal and self-sacrificing as you are.” Penelope says coldly. Melissa doesn’t like being crumpled on the ground underneath her, so she sits up and shuffles away to press against the wall. Still vulnerable, still trapped, but with a false sense of safety. “But we’re not letting you go. The five of you thought that you could make fools out of us, but I’m afraid that you’re sorely mistaken. And now you are facing the consequences of that.”
“We will be giving you back to your friend.” Sally chimes in, smiling that awful smile. “But you won’t be alive to see that. How do you think he’s going to feel, knowing that it should’ve been him?”
Melissa’s heart thuds. Terror floods through her, making her shrink away. But she is even more relieved that she traded herself for Milo.
“Well, kiddo? How do you think he’s going to feel?” Sally marches over and nudges her with her foot.
“Why don’t you use your imagination?” Melissa growls.
“I want you to say it. How is Milo going to feel when we kill you?” Penelope kicks her. She cries out, curling up in a futile attempt to protect herself.
She glares up at her captors.
“Why do none of you children know how to behave?” Sally wonders. “Well, we’ll give your parents- oh no, it’s just dad, isn’t it?- a little helping hand. Even if he won’t get to see the results.” She cackles. “Poor man. You may be annoying, rude and not particularly intelligent, but I’m sure he’s going to miss his only daughter.”
Melissa’s heart aches. She saw her dad’s reaction when she nearly died before. And now this… no, she will get out. She isn’t going to die in here, no one is losing her. Not her friends, not her dad. “Fuck off.”
“Language! Well, you’ve really earned this now.” Sally sighs, looking mournful in the falsest way possible. Melissa curls up in a tighter ball.
———
Melissa is bruised and sore, curled up in a tiny ball on the hard floor of her cell. Sally and Penelope are standing over her, surveying her smugly. She wants to punch them. But her hands are tied behind her back, and she is far too sore to move right now. “Let’s try again. How is Milo going to feel?”
Melissa scowls up at her. When she spits, she sees it stained slightly with red. “You went through a lot of effort to get the same answer. Fuck off.”
She knows exactly how Milo would feel. She knows that he would be devastated. She knows that he would blame himself. That he would never forgive himself.
She can’t bring herself to think of him like that.
“Oh well.” Sally sighs. “We’ll come back later.” They leave, slamming the door behind them. Melissa doesn’t uncurl. She breathes shallowly through the pain, wriggling her hands against the ropes digging into her wrists.
She hates this. She is in pain, she is terrified. She just wants to go home.
But she can’t regret her decision. Her being here is so much better than Milo being here.