As night time approached for the village of Clear View, the village was unusually bright. As the alarm bells kept on ringing, all the men gathered around the plaza with torches in order to figure what to do about the situation. In this tense atmosphere, all the villagers were on alert and as soon as they saw four figures coming down the hill they all faced them and prepared to fight.

“Whoa, whoa. Calm down it’s just us four.”

As soon as the villagers realized that it was just Clive, Rob, Richard, and Dylan the atmosphere loosened just a bit. They lowered their weapons and gave them torches so they would be identifiable and help with searching for the intruders.

“So what is the situation right now. Do you guys know where the intruders are or how many there are?”

As Clive asked the question to the villagers, they answered what they knew about the situation. One of the villagers had seen four people dressed in all black and one of them had a sack slung over their shoulder. He had tried to fight them and get back whatever was in the sack but had to retreat because they were skilled in fighting. He had decided to run and ring the alarm bells to notify that there were intruders. All of the events that the villager had described had mention happened about twenty minutes ago.

“Do you guys have any lead as to where they went.”

“Yeah we do. When I was fighting them earlier I saw them rush into the forest.”

While Clive was asking the villager for details another villager urgently came running to the group. He was out of breath and was gasping for air. From head to toe he was drenched in sweat.

“Hey did you check every house and see if anyone was missing.”

“Haaah,Haah,haah. Jane. Jane. Jane is missing.”

Although Jane was not born in the village and had no blood relatives in the village, everyone was still worried for her. She had already been with the village for over ten years and had helped out a lot around the village. Whenever anyone was hurt in the village or was giving birth in the village, Jane was always the one they relied on. Besides being skilled in medicine, Jane was also a very kind woman. Every week she would always check each house to see if they needed any help even though she didn’t have too. She would check up on the health of the wives who have just given birth and the children to see if their conditions are stable.

‘Fuck, why would they go after Jane. Don’t tell me it’s those bandits again but didn’t we get rid of them. Damn!'

Clive thought to himself and was infuriated at the prospect that it was those same bandits that once violated Jane. He was prepared to rush into the forest and search for those bandits but his train of thought was then interrupted by the voice of the mayor.

“I want two groups to be made. Half of them men will stay behind and protect our village while the best fighters will go into the forest and search for Jane. For those going into the forest, create groups of four to five men and find Jane. This is not the first time our village has faced difficulty and it will probably not be our last, but every time we have always come out on top. Find Jane!!!”

“YEAHHHH!!!!”

As the village men were roaring and invigorating themselves in finding Jane, Clive turned around to look at Rob, Richard, and Dylan.

“Are you guys ready to go. We are going to go straight into the forest and look for Jane.”

“Yeah, I’m ready.”

“We are definitely going to find Jane.”

“We found Jane eight years ago and we’ll find her again.”

“Ok, let’s go then.”

......

Somewhere in the forest, the rustling of bushes and the cracking of branches could be heard. The sound came from the four men who were rushing through the forest as fast as they could. On the shoulder of one of them was a sack and in that sack was Jane.

“Do you think we are far enough yet?”

“Not yet. We’ll take the girl out to interrogate when we find a spot to hide in.”

While they kept running they reached a small hill and on this hill was a cave that could fit all of them. Entering the cave one of the men used a magic spell that allowed him to scan the cave. It was a simple spell that could only sense a hundred feet where the user looked at but it was good enough for this situation.

“Take her out of the sack.”

When Jane was taken out of the sack their was visible fear in her eyes. Her body was shaking, her face pale as ash, and cold sweat dripping down her body. She was afraid. Afraid that the events eight years ago will repeat itself.

“Ungag her. If you dare to scream or call out for help i’ll kill you.”

“Hey boss. Before you kill why don’t we have some fun with her first.”

The four men started laughing at the prospect of having a toy to play with for the night but Jane was shaking even more. Although Jane was shaking in fear there was a determination in her eyes. The determination to not give in to their whims.

“What do you want?”

“Good girl. I just want to ask you some questions. After you answer them I may let you go.”

“What’s your question.”

“Do you know of a Claire Renner?”

‘Claire Renner?’ ‘Wait are they talking about Claire.’ Jane thought to herself and was surprised but tried her hardest to not show it on her face. ‘If they are looking for Claire then I’m not going to tell them anything. I’d rather die than betray Claire.’

“Oh. What was that. I think I just saw a glimpse of hesitation in your face. So you do know Claire.”

‘Shit, I couldn’t hide my expressions.’

“I do know a Claire but she is probably not the same one you are looking for. She has always grown up in this village and has never been outside of it. She has never done anything to offend anyone so this isn’t your Claire.”

“Hahahahaha. Thank you very much. We were searching for a Claire who has grown up in the village of Clear View.”

Jane’s face turned even paler. She had accidentally confirmed the intruder’s suspicions on Claire.

“Jane! Jane! Answer if you can hear us Jane! Jane!”

“Shit. They already caught up. Cover her mouth and we’ll hide in the corner of the cave.”

“I’m…”

Jane’s attempt at calling out to the villagers was interrupted by one of the black clothed figure hand. Jane was grabbed and they started to drag her towards the back end of the cave.

‘I have to yell for help. This is my last chance. I can’t let these people get away and harm Claire.’

Jane was set and determined to risk her life to alert the villagers. As Jane was being dragged from behind, she struggled and wiggled. With her struggle she had loosen the man’s grip on her body. She then pushed him back with her body to get out of his grip but she did not have enough momentum to push him further. As the man was starting to regain his grip on her, Jane opened her mouth and bit down onto his hand then she dipped her body in preparation to jump and headbutt his chin.

“Fuck, this bitch.”

“I’M RIGHT HEREEEEEEE!!!!!!”