"Stay down, or I'll shoot you again." He waited for a few seconds, but the prospect of getting more rubber pellets was enough to keep her from squirming.
They were only halfway the level, he couldn't see past the edge yet. There was some movement below. I need to restrain her first, or she'll just slip by. But my cuffs are back there. Strips will have to do then. He got some zip wires from his pouch. She struggled a bit, but eventually held her arms behind her.
"Warren! Help!" She yelled, Derrek mumbled an obscenity and pulled the zip around her wrists, tight enough but not too, that was a danger with these zip ties. He got up and walked to the edge of the platform.
No sounds came from below, but as he saw over the edge he spotted someone in the door's opening. Watching him. He only remained for a second before running out, which was enough to catch an impression. It was a skinny, tall guy with a pumpkin mask. He wore a dark blue overall with, hopefully, fake blood patches covering it. He had left the back door open.
"Lovely guy, your Warren. Real gentleman." Derrek said as he returned to the girl. She scuffed at him. The light from Derrek's flashlight glittered around her eyes. They really do hurt… Come on, Derrek, you can't feel sorry. She was trying to scare you shitless here. But he did feel regret, no one wants to make a girl cry.
"Here, I'll help you sit up."
"No." She said quickly, sniffing her nose after the snap. "Please don't touch me." She turned herself over on her back and pain lanced over her face again. "You didn't have to shoot me three times, I'm putting in a complaint on you."
He couldn't hold back a laugh at that. "Missy, first, you don't run when an officer tells you to stop, second, I don't think you'll have a lot going on for you when I bring you in." Her eyes found his at that, wide open. Derrek let it sink in as he went back to retrieve his cuffs. She stayed seated this time. Hard getting up with your hands bound.
Derrek sat down on a crate beside her, set his flashlight to only a tiny beam and set it on the crate beside him. "So, let's start at the beginning. Name?" He asked.
"You're gonna leave me on the ground here? Who questions someone lain flat?"
"Hey, I couldn't touch you, remember?" She looked at him with frowned eyes.
"All, right, but please don't hurt me anymore." He got up again and helped her sit on an opposite crate. He noticed her looking toward the ladder one more time.
"I wouldn't try that with bound hands. It's high enough to break your neck, especially if you don't have your arms to break the fall. You could try jumping for the hay bales but bound like that they aren't gonna soften your fall, they'd just bounce you off, and break your neck on the next part." He said, she looked at him with a horrified expression. Derrek gave her a matter-of-factly shrug. She looked at the ladder again, blinked a few times.
"Ashley."
"Nice to meet you, Ashley, I'm Derrek. I'd shake your hand, but hey." He said, grin on his face. He still felt a lot of adrenaline coursing through his body, but this helped.
She wasn't laughing.
"So, what brings you here this evening? Just hanging about with your friends?"

He said with a grin. She looked at him with the stale expression again, she wanted to say something but thought better of it. [Move up] He took out his little notebook and gave her a new page behind the neighbor's words.
"Warren and I were just in the woods here when we saw you coming up to the house. Just wanted to pull a joke on you." She said. Derrek pinched the spot above his nose.
"Ashley, don't be like that. This is not going to help you. I don't think you're of age yet, but you can still get a few though years. Just be honest with me, and I'll make sure not to make a big deal out of this." He said, his wanted to it to sound convincing, but he actually was serious about it. He knew how it was to be a kid, you have to test boundaries to grow into yourself.
She hesitated, but continued: "That's all, just Warren and me passing by." Derrek cringed. I won't be getting a lot out of her.
"You're from around here then? Or just hanging about in a random forest, scaring random people?" He said.
"Yes, we're both from [village name], out for a little stroll."
Derrek started jutting down, mumbling his words. "[village name], Walking with boyfriend." From the edge of his sight, he saw her react.
"He's not my boyfriend." She interjected. Derrek waited for her to add anything. He kept staring without changing his expression. "Just a friend." He faked jutting down some more.
"And you always go and walk in your Halloween outfits?" He said, pointing his pen at her white, now a bit dirty, dress.
"Practice." She smiled. Derrek fought down a sigh.
Her phone buzzed from a pocket in the dress, it lit up through the fabric. She tried acting like nothing happened, shuffling about. Derrek got up without a word.
"Don't touch me! That's my property!"
"You are breaking and entering, don't talk to me about property." He made sure not to touch her too much, she was still a young girl. He got the phone out easily from the side pocket. The phone lit up from the movement. On the lockscreen, he saw the last few threads and their last messages. They read:
1 unread - Warren - Sorry - 20h47
6 unread - Farmoween - Yves: Ash, you out? - 20h45
2 unread - Mom - Dinner's in the fridge, don't be late x - 18h22
"You leave your mother on unread? You just lost some more respect points." She sat with a confused look, trying to look angry. He tried unlocking the phone.
All right, hacker man. Work your magic. 1-1-1-1, nope. 1-2-3-4, nope. 9-8-7-6, nope. Not locked yet, phew. 3-2-1-0, nope, what locked now? What device locks at four attempts, should be three or five… Locked for a minute. He looked at her, she sat smiling at his attempts. He checked the phone again, no fingerprint icon on the screen.
"Farmoween? You know we can inspect your devices fully once we bring you in?"