Paradise Entrance

Chapter 3: Escape attempt

Lara grunted as she hurt herself when she fell backwards on the ground, “I have gotten in trouble because 

of you!” Eban said as he was about to slap her when suddenly, Lara grasped as she tried to cover her face 

and curved up into a foetal position as she was on the ground, when suddenly, there was a strong male 

voice heard, “Eban!!” a man grunted and yelled at him. Lara removed her hands and looked in the distance 

at the gate of the camp, and saw a man walking towards them slowly, Tall, handsome with dark brown 

eyes that could pierce and see through the dark…. His gaze was sharp as he looked up at both Eban and 

Lara…. Lara was taken back at such a sight… “He’s… both beautiful and… scary at the same time….” Lara 

thought to herself.

Lara’s heart pounding ever so heavy within her, as her heart rate increased with every step he took closer 

towards them, as Lara crawled back slowly with nowhere to go…. 

Eban turned around and lo and behold, it was Ulrick, leader of the hunter tribe, as he walked towards Eban 

and Lara, “What did I tell you about laying a hand on women?” he glared, speaking in their language, Eban 

smirked at him, “speak for yourself….” Eban smirked when suddenly, Ulrick back slapped him, “shut your 

mouth or that will be the last thing you ever say to me!!” Ulrick grunted and sneered in anger at Eban for 

being disrespectful to him, then he looked and glanced at Lara, speaking to her in his language, Lara 

grasped as she crawled backwards suddenly,  “well, well, what do we have here?” he said curiously, “…. I 

don’t speak Amare Island language…. please… don’t hurt me…” She said almost trembling, waving her 

hands at him as if he could not understand English, seeing the way he slapped Eban. Ulrick could see that she was scared, as he scanned her from top to bottom, “looks like she isn’t seriously hurt…” Ulrick thought to himself.

Then the Colonel and Drake came next to Ulrick, “long story….” Drake said in their language., as Ulrick turned and glanced at them both, then he looked at Lara, “I will take her and make her my woman…” He smirked, with a slight broken English accent. “What?! No that’s crazy!” Lara said covering herself in fright. Ulrick pulled her up by the wrist and pulled her close to him as he pulled her to himself as he held her in his arms as he bent over and held her, and whispered in her ear, “if you don’t do as I say, the other men may rape you…” he said as he glanced at her from the side. Lara grasped at his words, “just do as I say and you won’t be harmed… trust me……” he whispered as he took her by the hand to his hut type lodging, which was like a house which had steps, overlooking the entire village and the forest. The men laughed as he took her and wooed them, thinking he was going to make love to her.

Ulrick sits her on the bed and checks her to see if she has any wounds, “are you hurt?” he asked as he checked her hands, her shoulders, her legs, “No, I am fine…..ouch!” she said blushing, as he touched her leg where she fell backwards, as she bruised her leg. “Here, put some ice on that…” he said to her. “your accent, is not as broken as the others….” She said to him. He glanced at her after he applied the ice pack to her leg.

“My mother, was a pure English woman, while my father was from Amare, so technically, I am half Amaren and English.” He said as he got up and walked to the other end of the room, then turned around to face her. “So, what’s your story?” Ulrick asked her, as he laid back on the table crossing his arms, waiting to hear her story. Lara told him what happened. At the end of the story, Ulrick laughed at her story which was both at the same time stupid and pure coincidence that she was in the wrong place at the wrong time in the right moment for this to happen, is what he thought, “…. Talk about being in the wrong place, at the wrong time lady….” He said shaking his head at her crossing his arms in a cool laid back casual manner.

“please… I just want to go home….” Lara teared slightly. Ulrick took a deep breath, “I am sorry but that can’t be helped. Don’t try to escape or else the guards on the towers will shoot without holding back and they will fire at first glance they see you escape and there is nothing we can do to stop it. For now, it may be safe for you to stay here until things settle down and we put you in more suitable…. Accommodation until we sort things out….…” he said with a serious expression on his face.

“Don’t leave my hut, or else you will be shot…” He said sternly and left the hut and locked the door behind him. Ulrick glanced at the guards outside his hut, “No one gets in our out, understand?” Ulrick commanded the guards outside. “Yes sir.” The guards responded.

Lara just sat there and laid on the bed and tried to get some rest. At least, this hut had a shower, basic living amenities. “at least there’s no snakes” she thought to herself.

Ulrick’s point of view:

I can’t believe those idiots; they caught the wrong woman! Out of all people, a civilian at that! What are they trying to do, sabotage our entire operation!? I thought to myself stomping to the colonel’s office to discuss this serious situation that they got us into, now what do we do with this civilian? Poor thing did not know this was going to happen to her today, she’s probably a westerner on holiday….we’ll get to the bottom of this once and for all… I thought to myself as I walked into the colonel’s office but he was nowhere in sight, and it was late at night too… where is the old man?” Ulrick thought to himself.

As Ulrick walks into the Colonel’s office in the camp, Ulrick met up with the men that evening at Military compound, “Another failed mission in kidnapping Carla Mendoza” Drake said to the men, including Ulrick as he walked in. “You think?” Ulrick responded in sarcasm as he sat there with the military men at the round table in this compound.

“if you would have gone with my original plan in the beginning this would not have happened.” Ulrick said with a stern tone of voice, leaning back crossing his arms as he put his legs out to relax in the chair.

“As if your plan would have worked!” Eban said. “And your plan did any better, kidnapping the wrong woman” Ulrick said with a sneer. Eban got up out of his seat and was just about to punch Ulrick when he got up and grabbed Eban and held his face on the able, “you kidnapped a civilian and they are the ones we don’t target, we are trying to win their approval, not ruin our reputation with them!” Ulrick grunted, as he pushed Eban’s face in the table more, as Eban screamed from the pain in front of the entire crew, no one dared to step in to help, as Ulrick was he most feared and respected warrior among them, as the men trembled watching Ulrick teach Eban a lesson.

 “now word is going to get out we kidnapped a civilian and fear of us are going to fall on the villagers and civilians….do you realise what you have done!” Ulrick said as he banged Eban’s head against the table and walked off for a bit. Eban, being weak and exhausted from the hits and being pushed in to the table like that, his head bleeding from the injury incurred.

Drake put his hand on his lips as he took a deep breath, suddenly the Colonel walks in and the men salute their leader, as the whole room goes quiet and all men stare at the colonel as he walked into the room.

“I see you’ve heard what happened?” The colonel said to Ulrick glancing at him. “a failed attempt yet again.” Ulrick shrugged crossing his arms at the Colonel leaning back against the wall.

“What do we do with the prisoner?” Drake asked. “We should kill her, destroy any evidence.” The colonel said. “We don’t kill civilians….Colonel…” Ulrick said as he glanced at the Colonel. “If we release her, she will tell the world it was us!” Drake said. “even if she did, shouldn’t she tell the world how good we are?” Ulrick said with a smirk on his face.

The Colonel responded, “even if we did release her, the road has been blocked by the rainy season, it’s begun to rain on the other side of the border so even if we did, there’s no way except by air, but the jungle is too dense for any aircraft to land here… the only way out is through the bridge at the border… and we can’t access the mainland for another month. The colonel responded sternly. “Yes sir.” The men said.

Ulrick looked up across the room and had an emotionless expression on his face. “This is going to be interesting…” he thought to himself.

Drake goes to Ulrick’s hut, with food and water, and sees Lara sleeping on his bed, Lara woke up suddenly, “relax, I am not going to hurt you” he said as he brought her food and water.

“I know we met in unfortunate circumstances, but we people of Amare are very hospitable people” Drake 

said. “Yeah, I can see that….” Lara said as she took the tray of food and water. “Yeah, well… have a good night sleep and rest well. Ulrick will be back by morning…” Drake said and left the hut.

When Lara heard this, she thought, “Wait, he won’t be back till morning… I could try and escape….” Lara 

thought as she ate the food. About an hour later, being about 11pm at night, she could hear the guards 

snoring outside, and she looked out the window of the hut discreetly and never saw many people walking 

around, other than the guards on patrol at the gates and the snipers on the towers.

She looked at the back of the hut and looked like there was open forest, so she snuck out through the 

back door of the hut, under cover of night and escaped through the forest, however when she did, she 

stepped over an alarm which alerted the snipers on the tower that she had escaped, they shot at her as 

she ran through the forest, just missing their shots as they shot at her. She screamed in fright as she ran 

for her life.

Lara’s point of view:

I have to get out of here or else I am going to die here!! panting for breath as I am running as fast as I am 

from the camp, but I have no idea where I am going… my heart’s racing as I am running with fear through 

the dark dense jungle forest, the leaves and trees swishing across my body as I am running through the 

woods. I can hear water but the river rapids are too dangerous for me to cross to the other side, oh no, 

now what am I going to do? I can hear the alarm sirens from the camp behind me, I am about ten minutes 

ahead of them but it is too dark for me to keep going, but I have to try! I don’t want to die here! I panicked 

as I ran and ran as far away from that place as possible.” She thought as she ran for her life.

Lara wondered through the woods of the forest for about half an hour when she got far enough, until she 

heard trucks and men coming after her on foot with search dogs. The adrenalin kicked in and she ran for 

her life. A short distance as she was running, she looked behind her to see how far the men were away 

from her, when suddenly, not watching where she was going, she bumped into someone who caught her, 

she screamed and staggered in fright as she struggled to get free, “let go of me!! Help, somebody help!!” 

she cried and screamed but no one came to her rescue as the man held her and pushed her against the 

tree when he caught her. She grunted and grasped as she was pushed against the tree, “Please… don’t 

hurt me…” she cried. The man had a mask on his face so she didn’t get a good look who it was, as he 

loomed in closer and looked closer into her eyes as he loomed in as flashes came from the forest from the flash lights with the army not far from them. 

“You don’t take warnings seriously, do you?” he questioned her as he removed his mask and it was Ulrick, as he stabbed his long machete knife in the tree on the side of her, holding her by the throat, “I told you not to escape didn’t I?….” He leered at her, looking at her sternly as he held her there.

“Helppp!!! Someone please help me!!” she screamed for help, Ulrick just looked at her, “I’m not going to 

hurt you!!” he grunted at her as he put duct tape on her lips and tied her up and took her back to the camp, 

hands tied, as the men caught up to her, “Don’t shoot, I got her…” Ulrick commanded the men.

As he walked back to the men holding Lara all tied up, he glanced at her and took a deep breath, “you 

really are a handful, aren’t you?” he said to her, but she just glared at him with her hair all dishelved from 

running through the forest being covered in leaves.

Ulrick sighed, “lets get back to camp… sunrise is upon us…” he commanded the men as they took Lara 

back to the camp together in the truck heading back to the military camp.

Drake wanted to give her some water, “Don’t bother, Drake” Ulrick commanded him, and Drake put the 

water back. Lara looked at the water as she was thirsty from running through the dense forest. She was

 dehydrated and tired from running and the hit against her back from the tree when Ulrick pushed her, hurt 

her shoulder. “Will anyone, come and save me?” she cried and thought to herself as they returned to the 

camp.