CHAPTER ONE — “kidnapped”
Nic couldn't hear herself shout, but everyone around her was yelling the same words anyway.
"No justice, no peace!" she shouted repeatedly, waving her sign in the air. She couldn't see much ahead of her, what with the balding man standing in her way.
The protesters were so crowded Nic could feel other people's sweat rubbing off on her. They started out pretty much social distancing, until the cops came and they all pressed together out of what was probably collective fear.
"Oh!" she exclaimed as she stumbled forward, throwing a glance back at the person who hadn't even noticed they had pushed her. Sighing and rolling her eyes, Nic steadied herself and decided to make her way to the front of the crowd. She cringed and she slinked between people, feeling their back sweat rub onto her arms. One of her hands was still up in the air holding the poster, leaving her in an awkward position as she moved.
God, D.C. people were so sweaty.
Nic slowed to a stop as the full White House finally came into her view. She glared up at it, imagining the president sitting in there, typing out some racist tweet to make peaceful protesters look like criminals.
Her brown eyes dropped to the pigs in front of her. Some of the cops were on the other side of the gate, but some of them were lined up, staring straight ahead as if they didn't notice the hordes of people.
She scowled at a particularly tall one, tilting her head to try to look at what she could assume were his evil eyes from behind the shield of his helmet. "What's with the getup?" she sneered, eyeing his riot gear up and down. "What, you're scared of a twenty-year-old girl?"
The cop didn't say a thing or even look down to her, but Nic swore she saw him shift uncomfortably.
"You're a piece of shit," she said under her breath, looking around at the people near her. Most of them were white or white-passing, keeping a barrier between the cops and the black protesters. However, one of them was a black man—no, a black boy. He looked like a teenager, though it was a little hard to tell with the yellow bandana tied around the lower half of his face. His finger was practically in a cops face, and though Nic couldn't hear anything over the chanting, she could practically imagine the impassioned speech he was giving.
Shooting one last nasty glare at that tall cop, Nic sidled over to the teenager, straining her ears to hear his words. She barely got within two feet of him when the cop he was talking to suddenly grabbed the teenager's hand.
Panicking, Nic froze for a second, watching the cop tug the poor teenager away from the rest of the crowd. The next thing she knew, Nic had lunged for them, tugging the teenager away as much as she could. A few other protesters realized what was going on and started pulling at the teenager too, but the other cops had stepped in as well. Some were trying to pull Nic off of the boy, and she was about to turn and push the cop holding on to him, when something hit her over the head. Hard.
Everything felt fuzzy when Nic finally started waking up.
Her head felt fuzzy. She so desperately wanted to lift her hand and feel the throbbing spot in the back, but her body refused to move. From what she could tell, she was sitting up. Her hearing was a little fuzzy. There was a distinct humming in the back, but it didn't sound human. Though she did hear some voices, but the words weren't clear. Nic tried to pry her eyes open, but it seemed like her body just wanted her to go back to sleep.
Her hearing was starting to clear, though, and people seemed to be arguing with each other.
"It's not too late to put her back!" The voice was male, gruff.
"Put her back?" Another male. "No way. Anyway, we're already an hour out. We're almost there."
"Then we never should've picked her up."
"Is that a joke?" a third voice asked. "Because I'm the funny one for a reason."
Though Nic was still frozen, she could feel herself beginning to panic. Her heart started speeding up, blood rushing through her ears. Her body tensed up a little as she racked her mind trying to remember how she might have gotten into this situation. All she remembered was that teenager and then blacking out. Were they the ones that hit her over her head? Her breath got caught in her throat—what were these men planning to do to her?
"Can you guys stop arguing for one minute?" Nic nearly let out a sigh of relief hearing a woman's voice from in front of her. "Anyway, we'll be there in fifteen minutes, so you better change unless you want to walk into the apartment looking like that."
"Change... in the van?" the second male spoke, his voice clear but confused.
Van. That explained the humming.
"In front of the girl?" the third voice piped up.
There was a moment of silence before the woman spoke. "She's knocked out. Now strip."
The girl forced herself to stay still and "asleep" as she heard rustling from around her. She tried not to flinch every time someone made a loud noise. As far as she knew, these were her kidnappers and were looking for some money from her family.
Something that felt like cloth fell on Nic's foot. Instinctively, she pulled her foot away, only realizing what she did far too late.
Immediately, the van swerved to a stop. Nic braced herself, expecting a crash, but felt nothing. After a few awkward moments, she forced her eyes open. She had to blink a few times to get rid of those spots, but slowly she lifted her head to see two of the male voices she heard beside her.
Nic honestly didn't know how she didn't scream. Her jaw dropped, though, when she saw them. They were dressed head to toe in riot gear, complete with helmets that left literally everything about them to her imagination. She shifted her eyes to the front, seeing the third male in the passenger seat and the woman in the driver's, all four people dressed the same, though the woman didn't have her helmet on.
"What's your name?" the man closest to her bent down just slightly, probably because he was too tall to stand in the van. As he bent, his long brown dreadlocks fell over his shoulder.
Mouth opening and closing like a fish, she finally blurted out, "You won't get much of a ransom out of me. My family isn't that rich."
The man stared at her—or at least that's what Nic was guessing, considering she couldn't see his eyes. He glanced at some of his friends before looking back at her, hands up in surrender. "We didn't kidnap you. Well, not really. You passed out or something and nobody else was picking you up."
"Did you go alone?" the man behind the one with dreadlocks spoke up.
Nic nodded slowly, letting her tense body loosen up. Her eyes rapidly switched between each helmet clad person before glancing out the window, realizing just how late at night it was.
"So what's your name?" the dreadlocks man asked again, his voice respectful as he sat back down. Even sitting, he towered over Nic.
"Anica," she croaked, before clearing her throat. "Anica Jean."
"Okay, well don't worry Anica. You can stay at our place for the night. You got a nasty hit on your head," the man said, and his voice told Nic that he was smiling.
"Call me Nic," she replied quietly, shrinking away from him.
"Oh, for goodness sake," the woman sighed, turning around so Nic could see her face. She looked around Nic's age with her black hair worn naturally, dark brown skin blemish-free, and brown eyes fierce. "Are you dim? Take the helmet off, you're freaking her out."
"Is that a good idea?" the man asked somewhat nervously.
Nic watched cautiously as he took his helmet off, trying her best not to react when she finally saw his face. He was attractive, no doubt, as he brushed a dreadlock out of his browned face. He had a little stubble on his jaw, but it looked good, not gross. His hazel eyes searched her, as if trying to gauge her reaction either his face or the entire situation.
The other two men took their helmets off as well, though Nic didn't catch a great look at them as the van started up again.
"You promise you're not kidnapping me?"
"Believe me, this is the last thing I wanted," the man in the passenger seat muttered.