Just Keep Running

Chapter 22 A phone call

I was awoken by the sound of passing cars in front of me honking at each other. I groaned and stood back up on my feet using the lamp I fell asleep on for support. I walked down the street for a good twenty minutes before I reached a gas station. I was starving. I checked my pockets to see that I had four dollars in my pocket and some change. I walked into the gas station and walked down the small isles looking for something I could buy with my four dollars. I grabbed a small candy bar and a bag of chips and brought them to the cashier. I set my items on the counter and the cashier scanned them. "Your total is $3.75." She told me. I took the four dollars out of my pocket and handed it to her. She took it and gave me my 25 cents back. I put the change in my pocket as the cashier put the chips and candy bar in a small bag and handed it to me. I said thank you and walked out of the gas station. I walked out and found a nearby bench on the sidewalk and I sat down on the bench and started eating the bag of chips. I layed back on the bench and watched as the cars drove by and other people walked past.

Luke walked until the sun rose looking for me. He walked past the lamp I slept on. "Come on Maddie." He repeated to himself over and over again. "Where are ya kiddo?" He mumbled to himself as he walked. He walked in the direction of where the gas station is and saw me sitting down on the bench. He rushed over to me and sat down next to me. He pulled me in for a hug and I hugged him back. "You actually found me." I said still hugging him. "I told you I would." He said back. I broke the hug and pulled the candy bar out of my bag and handed it to him. "Here." I said. He took in from me and laughed slightly. "Thanks kiddo." He replied, unwrapping the candy bar. "You're welcome." I said and leaned back against the bench. "Wait, where did you get this?" He asked, smiling. I pointed to the gas station. "Over there. I got a bag of chips too but I ate those." I replied, making Luke chuckle. "You had money?" He asked. "Yeah I had about four dollars and some change so I got some food with it." I told him. He nodded and leaned back into the bench as well. Luke finishes the candy bar and I take the wrapper and my empty bag of chips and throw it out in a nearby trash can. As I walk back to the bench I see Luke stand up. "Maddie, I know you hate this and I do too, but we have to keep running." He informs me, the smile he had on earlier was fading. "I know but what happened to John?" I ask curiously. He sighs and looks at the ground for a moment before looking back at me. "We-uh, we don't have to worry about him anymore." He says truthfully. I instantly knew what he meant and why he felt so ashamed about it. Luke walks towards me and smiles sadly. "Maddie, I know I've killed a lot of people for the wrong reasons but killing John, Chris, Charlie, and Adam, was the right thing to do, and I know I said I wasn't that person anymore but I need to be that person one last time." He apologized. "I know Luke, I killed Adam not you." I responded. "I killed everyone else well besides Charlie." He replied. I nodded. "We need to go now Maddie." He states, as he starts walking away from the bench. I catch up with him and walk next to him having no Idea where we are going.

Daniel walks away from the edge of the roof dragging Annie behind him. He then pulls out his phone and tries calling John's cell phone. It rings and rings but there is never an answer. Daniel tries again and again to call John but fails each time. "Damn it John! Answer your goddamn phone!" He yells, then tries calling John's cell phone again. No luck. He gets mad and jams his phone back into his pocket and sighs trying to calm himself down. Annie just stays silent. "You can speak Annie, you know that, right? He asks her, pinching the bridge of his nose with his fingers then looking in her direction. She just nods and sits down on the ground. They sit in silence for a while "Why do you have to do this Daniel?" Annie finally speaks, looking at the ground. Daniel sighs and walks over and sits down on the cold ground of the roof of the hospital next to Annie. "Annie honey, I am doing this so I can finally spend time with my daughter, and so I can teach her what I know to prepare her for life, and I know that you would never let me do that willingly and I know for a fact that Luke wouldn't either." He said and looked at the ground with somewhat sad eyes. "And do you know why I won't let her spend time with you?" She asked. "Yeah because I kill and hurt people and you don't want her around that but, I don't care Annie we adopted her together which means I still want to be in her life, she's still my daughter and I still love and care for her, and I know you don't understand that because of my line of work but maybe you should consider it from my side of the story." He pleaded. "Daniel, I don't want Maddie to have to be forced to kill someone because you made her do it, I don't want her to kill anyone at all, I want her to live a normal life and have friends and not have to worry about her getting hurt or killed, which is why I left you in the first place." She told him. Daniel sighs. Then his phone rings, he gets up, walks away from Annie and answers the phone. "Hello?" He says. "Daniel, I'm surprised you answered." Came Luke's voice on the other end of the phone. "Where are you?" Daniel asked immediately. "A payphone somewhere." Luke responded vaguely. "Do you have my daughter with you? And what did you do to John?" He snarled. "Maybe, and she's not really your daughter, and Lord knows you haven't been there her whole life. And I killed John, you should really get some better security." Luke replied with a small smirk forming on his face. "Let me talk to my daughter." Daniel commanded. "No can do, unless you tell me where you are, then there could be a possibility of that happening but you'll just have to tell me to find out." Luke responded. Daniel hesitated before putting the phone back to his ear. "Fine." He said. "Okay, then where are you? Also is Annie with you?" Luke asked sincerely. "The roof of the hospital Annie works at, and yes she's with me, now, let me talk to my daughter." Daniel demanded. There was the sound of static on the other end of the line before a small, "Hello?" Came from the phone. "Maddie, honey I am truly sorry for all this and I apologize for making you do this that you never wanted to, like stabbing Luke, and kidnapping you and making you feel pain." Daniel apologized, sincerely. "If you're really sorry, then let Mom go." I responded into the phone. Daniel sighed before answering. "Maddie, Sweetheart, I can't do that." He told me. "Well then I don't believe that you are truly sorry." I replied, trying to sound confident. "Maddie-" Daniel was cut off by the phone being hung up. "Damn it!" He yelled and threw his phone on the hard concrete ground of the roof. He sighed and paced around the roof with his hands on his head in shame of all the things that he had done to his family, his wife, his daughter. Daniel then walked over to where he had thrown his phone on the ground and picked it up seeing the screen all cracked and scratched and the case of the phone broken. He sighed and set the now broken phone down on the concrete floor and sat down on the ground and rested on arm on his knee while his other hand held his head. Annie saw this and sighed as well she wished that she could do something to help him, which she could but she didn't know if she wanted to after everything that Daniel has put her through these past few days and before that. She decided to stand up and walk over to where Daniel was sitting. She sighed and sat down next to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Daniel." She said softly. He looked at her with sad eyes. "There are other ways you can get her to like you and spend time with you that don't involve killing people." She told him. "If you asked maybe I would've let you see her on the weekends or something but you never reached out, you just disappeared from our lives." She said truthfully. He sighed. Putting his head in his hands once again. "Annie, you don't understand what it's like knowing you have a daughter and that you can't spend time with her or even talk to her because of your job." Daniel admits. Annie sighs and gives him a hug.

As I hung up the payphone I looked at Luke. "He won't let her go." I said, a hint of sadness in my voice. He sighed and put an arm around me. "It'll be okay Maddie, you know why? Cause we know where they are now so we can get Annie back, okay?" He asked. "What if when we get there he hurts her, or you?" I asked, then looked down at the ground. Luke crouched down in front of me. "Hey Maddie, Look at me. Everything is going to be just fine, we'll get through this, and we'll get Annie back too." He told me, sounding convincing. I sighed and looked at him. "I don't want anyone else to get hurt." I said sadly. Luke stood up back on his feet as we walked on the sidewalk that was now filled with more people than before, the sound of cars passing by getting louder then quiet as they passed. "Nobody else will get hurt, I promise. Except maybe Daniel." Luke mumbled the last part under his breath but I could still hear it. I just nodded and kept walking. We got to a crosswalk and waited for the cars to pass. We crossed the street and walked towards our apartment complex. "Why are we going back here?" I asked. "I gotta get some stuff but it wont take very long." He responded as we walked into the parking garage, then up the stairs and towards our apartment. The cops and my neighbor's dead body were gone now but there was caution tape around both of our apartments. "Shit." I heard Luke mumble then he turned to me. "Maddie, I need you to stay here while I go get some stuff, okay?" He asked and I nodded in response. I watched as Luke carefully walked over the caution tape around his door before walking into the apartment. I heard him rustling through drawers and walking around into every room of the apartment. I then heard what sounded like a safe open then close. Luke then walked out of the apartment with a black duffel bag and a pistol stuffed into his belt. "Come on, we gotta go." He said as he walked towards me. I nodded and followed him down the stairs and out of the parking garage. "What's in the bag?" I asked, as Luke slung the duffel bag over his shoulder. "Money. A lot of money." He responded vaguely. "For what?" I asked as we continued walking down the street towards the direction of the hospital. "I'm gonna try and bribe Daniel into letting Annie go with it. It's 10 out of the 20 million dollars that he wants so bad." He told me. I stared at him in shock when he said that, he stopped walking and turned around and looked at me. "This is what he wants Maddie, it's why he took you in the first place, he wanted me to give in and give the money to him, or he would kill me and try to find it himself. He's a selfish man Maddie, I know you might not get that now and that's okay, but you will one day. I'm trying to get Annie back, he is planning to kill her and if giving him the money is the one way he won't then so be it. It's like I said before about John, it applies to everyone in this form of work. Everything that comes outta their mouth is bullshit." He stated, quoting what he had said earlier. Then turning back around and walking towards the hospital once again. I took a deep breath and started walking with him.  

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