Drake's P.O.V.

My eyes fluttered open as soon as I started to regain consciousness. My vision blurred and my head throbbed like someone had hit me with a hammer. It almost felt like a hangover, but ten times worse. I hung my head down and saw a few drops of blood on the floor as my vision began to get clearer. My body ached like a bitch, so I guessed that blood on the floor was mine.

Hm, what a pity.

Usually when I see blood, I'm overjoyed. But now, I just feel like shit.

I slowly lifted my head up, trying to scan my surroundings and figure out where the hell I exactly was. All I saw was darkness, except the small flashlight that lay on a stool next to the chair I was sitting on-

Wait, hold up.

What the fuck?

I suddenly come into realization that I was sitting on a chair inside a dark room, and my hands were tied behind my back. Feeling slightly furious, I try to shake my body in order to free my wrists from behind the chair. But to no use.

As soon as I was about to curse, a fist came out of nowhere and punched me square in the face, causing my head to reel left. I give out a surprised grunt of pain as I viciously spit out the blood that was forming inside my mouth from the impact the fist left on my face.

I silently avert my cold gaze upwards, to stare at about three boys standing in front of me. One of them was about fourteen maybe, while the other two were around the age of eleven or twelve.

I curl my lip and bare my bloody teeth out at them, which seemed to scare one of the younger boys.

"You think you can scare us? Think again, you miserable bastard." The older boy seethed at me, his dark eyes gleaming hatred.

However, I merely gave him the smallest smirk. Hatred and fear is what completes me. I love to see those kinds of expressions on my victim's faces.

"Such bad language coming from a little shit like you. Did your mommy teach you them? Or was she too busy fucking other men?" I mocked, making sure I put enough emphasis into every dirty word I spilled.

The older boy froze as soon as the words came out from my mouth. I watched as his body shook, and his hands began to shake with absolute wrath.

As I stared at his trembling form, I laughed with amusement. "I only meant that as a joke, but I guess your mommy really did go out and fuck other men. Tell me asshole, was she a prostitute forced to go out into dirty streets in order to pay for the food that you had on your plate at every dinner? You poor, poor little fuck. I almost feel sorry-"

As I was about to finish my sentence, the older boy lost it and reeled his fist backwards to give me a hard punch in the face again. However, the second his fist pulled back from my face, he began to punch me over and over again.

"Shut up! Just shut the fuck up!" He roared, tears barely forming in his eyes. He kicked my chair over to make me fall on the floor, before proceeding to kick me in the stomach.

The side of my face lay flat against the cold metal floor as my stomach exploded in pain with every kick I received. I managed to keep a tiny smirk on my face, despite every slight moan I gave out from each blow given to me.

As soon as he stopped hitting me, he stood back with his head down. His lips and shoulders were both trembling at the same time.

As blood dribbles down my chin, I let out a painful sigh as I try to move from the position I was in, with the chair still behind me, and my wrists still strapped to the sides of the chair. Normally, I would've easily been able to break free from the rope tying my wrists together, but I was just so weak from all the blood loss and vomiting I went through due to the radiation.

"You throw weak punches," I managed to mutter. "Your mom never earned enough money in order to pay for boxing lessons?"

I gave out a bitter chuckle.

The boy once again glared daggers at me, before kicking me hard in the stomach once again. "When are you going to learn your lesson, freak? The more insults you throw at me, the more I beat you." He spat.

"Do you think I care if you beat me or not? I just think it's funny to ridicule you. Believe me you little fuck, once I'm out of these ropes. I'm going to whip the skin off of you until you cry and beg for your slut of a mother to come rescue you. Then, I'm going to slice you into pieces and make those two little brats behind you watch."

At this, the two younger boys behind him instantly took a step back, glancing at both him and me with fear.

The older boy blinked at me, as if to hide his cringe. However, he continued to keep his glare at me. "You're going to kill me? Really? Have you taken a good look at yourself? You're weak and injured, nothing but a helpless person. I know who you are. The infamous monster of the FAYZ that everyone fears. You're Drake. The one with the whip hand. But believe me, when we're done with you, you're going to be begging us for mercy to stop. And that whip hand of yours will surely be removed. I don't care how many times it grows back, we'll keep cutting it each time."

I held in a laugh, before giving him a sadistic grin.

"You think I'm scared of you? I'm not scared of anyone," I hissed.

"Oh, you think so? Well I don't think you'll be thinking that way much longer," The boy almost casually spoke, while signaling one of the boys to bring him a large bucket of water that was sitting on one of the tables inside of the room.

I raised any eyebrow at the bucket, wondering what he was planning to do with it.

Was he going to pour water on me and hit me with the bucket? Or try and drown me with the water?

Psh, let him try.

I lightly chuckle as he takes the bucket from the other kid and holds it in his hands while holding it above my body on the floor. I see his eyes wince as he holds the bucket, and suddenly I see steam radiating from the water that was inside the huge blue bucket.

My eyes widen as it suddenly came into realization that the water was boiling hot.

He tilts the bucket, making most of the boiling hot water to come in contact with my skin. Once it does, I scream in agony as I hear the steam give a loud hiss when the water drops all over me.

I instantly jerk away as the bucket falls and lands in my head. I gasp for air on the floor, wincing every time I breathe. My skin burned, and red blotches were already forming. I groan and cough out a small amount of blood as the younger boys go and retrieve another bucket of boiling water.

The older boy takes the bucket and holds it over me once again.

I weakly glance up at him, my eyes wavering with anger. "Fuck you," I try and say, but it comes out as a silent whisper.

As soon as the bucket tilts and another wave of boiling water hits me, my screams start to get weaker. My vision begins to darken, and soon all I see is red.

And then I completely black out.

Astrid's P.O.V

As soon as I hear a bloodcurdling scream that sounded a bit muffled, like it was coming from a distance somewhere, I instantly sit up from the bed I was sleeping on.

The scream sounded somewhat familiar.

And then I realized the scream and agonizing moans came from down below. In the basement. Which were most likely from Drake.

I rub my eyes and glance at my surroundings. I was inside a bedroom, and sleeping on one of the beds. I couldn't tell how long I slept. I remember falling asleep in the car, much to my distress. One of the guys, maybe Thomas, must have carried me inside and placed me in bed.

I carefully remove the blankets that were on me, and take a step out of bed. The screams from downstairs were starting to quiet down, this time I only heard soft moans.

I walk away from the bed to open the door from inside the room. As I turn the rusty knob and open the door, a loud creak emits from the door which causes me to wince. I was hoping to exit the room quietly and secretly without anyone noticing, but I guess not.

Quickly before anyone saw me, I silently ran down the stairs that were in front of me, which led to downstairs. The upstairs part of the house wasn't that big. It only had about five rooms, and tight hallways.

As I took each step down, I pressed my body against the wall and tried to peer my gaze outward to see if I could catch a glimpse of anyone. When it seemed to be quiet, I took the last step down and headed towards the kitchen, where the front door was.

Maybe I could escape and get out of here. The people were extremely nice and gave me hospitality, but I didn't feel quite safe here. Something was definitely wrong with these people.

When I walk into the kitchen however, the person I see sitting on one of the chairs beside the table is Christy.

Great.

She's one of the people I wanted to avoid the most.

"Good evening, Astrid." She smiled at me. A smile that wasn't quite sincere or sweet, but more of an insane smile.

I slightly shudder. "Good evening," I replied.

"Well, you sure slept a long time." She commented, before offering me a seat next to her. "Come, sit."

I decided to comply, since the last thing I wanted to do was get on her bad side. However, I sat down in the chair across from her.

"Isn't that sound wonderful?" She closed her eyes for a few seconds and smiled, as if listening to a relaxing sound.

I blinked at her and I suddenly felt my stomach drop for some reason. "What sound?" I asked.

"His screams of pain of course. You don't know how long I've waited to hear him screaming in pain. That monster deserves every wound given to him." Christy explained.

"Oh. You mean Drake." My voice dropped. "Do you hate him just because he's a sadistic psychopath? Or is their reason for your methods?"

Christy frowned. "I have reasons. He killed my younger sister when him and his group of thugs ransacked Ralph's for food. My little sister happened to be in their way, so he whipped and strangled her. Me, of course, was helpless. I couldn't do anything except watch because I was too scared of Drake. Everyone was. I watched as my little sister died right in front of my eyes, because of that monster. Ever since that day, I ran away from Perdido Beach and teamed up with Thomas and the boys. I vowed to get back at Drake. To make him suffer worse than my little sister suffered each time his whip slashed at her skin."

I sighed, feeling slightly sorry for her. "Drake is evil, I know. He made my life a living hell. He's the only person that ever hit me in my life, and he tormented me in front of my little autistic brother. He made me call him-a retard," I nearly choked on words. My heart ached for Petey, and my hands trembled at the thought of that miserable day when Drake tormented me.

Christy put her hands on the table, as if to reach out for my hands and reassure me. "It's okay. He won't ever hurt you again. Once I'm done with him, he won't ever hurt anyone again."

I shook my head. "If you keep hurting him, it's only going to be fire against fire. He'll never learn. He won't care. The fact that you're happy because you're torturing someone proves that you're just the same as he is,"

Christy edged away from the table, nearly glaring at me. "Don't ever say that I'm the same as that monster. And he's not a person, he's a heartless nobody. The world would be much better off without him. He's a deranged psychopath who needs to die," She insisted. "I'm doing the world a favor. Astrid, can't you see? I'm a hero."

"Oh, Christy.." I began.

"No, don't say it." She spat, interrupting me. "I know you're going to say violence is never the answer. That's only a saying for the weak. You won't get anywhere in life with just brains Astrid, you need to learn how to be tough and unforgiving as well."

I opened my mouth to say something, but soon closed it as I realized she had a point. There was some saying to her words.

"I'm sorry, Astrid. But that's the truth," She repeated.

"I don't really want to argue with you right now, I'm just…going to go back to my room." I furrowed my brows, feeling a slight headache coming in. I was tired of arguing with people. I know I couldn't just shove reason and logic down their throat, they just wouldn't listen.

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as Christy struggled to say something, but instead allow me to excuse myself from the table. "Alright," She spoke.

I walked away from the table, still feeling her eyes watching me leave.

I just really needed to get out of here.

Many hours passed and I was still laying in bed, without an idea of what to do. I took a long nap, which lasted about two hours. I kept waking up due to the noises down in the basement. The unspeakable horrors that were going on down there.

I hated hearing those sounds. They made me sick to my stomach.

However the sounds had completely stopped for at least an hour now. And there was absolutely no movement happening down there. Maybe Drake was dead?

Could that actually be possible?

But no, he's immortal. That can't be.

I slowly sat up from my bed to glance out at the window that sat up on my bed. It was completely dark outside, which that meant it was night. Just to make sure, I averted my blue gaze towards the old clock that hung against the wall beside me. It read 11:17.

Since I didn't feel tired at all after sleeping for basically a whole day, I got up from my bed and crept out of the room, guessing that everyone was already asleep. Taking the same route out, I made my way down the stairs and proceeded to walk towards the front door very quietly.

My heart thumped nervously as I made it to the front door. However, as soon as I was about to open it and escape, my blue gaze caught sight of the basement door which was only very slightly ajar.

Curiosity overtook me as I continued to stare at the darkness that emitted within the basement. A part of me wanted to investigate it, but then the other part of me screamed to be free and escape.

I nearly cursed myself as I took my hand away from the knob of the front door.

Stupid, foolish, me.

I just had an overwhelming urge to go inside that basement.

I slowly walked towards the basement door, only opening it a few inches to make sure it wouldn't make the same load creak that it made when I walked downstairs. As soon as I felt that it was open enough, I reached for a flashlight that was sitting on the table before squeezing through the small space through the basement door.

As soon as I made it through, I breathed out shaky gasps as I turned on the flashlight. There was a row of steps down to proceed deeper into the basement. It was chillingly cold inside the basement, and I slightly wished I had a jacket or a blanket. The only thing I had on was an over-sized black t-shirt and dirty jeans.

When I made my way down the steps, I instinctively brushed my long blonde hair over my shoulder in an attempt to avoid it from hitting any cobwebs. There was cobwebs all over the ceiling and within corners. And I swore I saw a small black spider scatter across the step below my feet.

I inhaled and tried to toughen up as soon as my foot reached the bottom step of the stairs. I walked forward and lit my flashlight towards the direction I was headed towards. The basement was actually fairly small, and I the second I stepped off those stairs, I already saw everything I needed to see.

Strapped against a chair was the bloody, nearly unrecognizable body of Drake. His head was slightly drooped down, his breathing was very light and stressed. It seemed every time he breathed, there was a low, strained wheezing sound coming from him. Besides that, there was rope harshly tied around his mouth to keep him from talking. His eyes were hallow, having dark circles around them from lack of rest.

I pointed my flashlight at him, and watched as he slightly stirred. Blood was spilling down his dry lips and falling down his chin.

I walked towards him to stand inches next to his chair. The second I noticed him struggling to breathe or cough, I carefully reached down and removed the rope from around his mouth.

As expected, as soon as I removed the rope from his mouth, he spit out, or rather vomited a large amount of blood. I bit my lip as he vomited the last amount of blood, and watched as his face turned a deathly pale color and his lips began to turn purple from so much blood loss.

"Drake.." I managed to whisper. My voice was filled with sympathy and slight horror.

Without even once looking at me, he weakly breathed in air and slowly turned his head to face the other way. "Don't pretend to feel sorry for me," He managed to weakly mutter.

I was at a loss for words as I stared at his battered body. His skin had burn marks on them, and he had bruises all over his body. When his t-shirt lifted up, it showed the faintest hint of bare skin, which was covered in blood.

I carefully lifted his shirt up, and what lie on his stomach was completely horrific. He had been branded with the words "Psychopath," "Murderer," and "Monster." Those three words were spelled out in his own blood on his stomach.

I nearly wanted to throw up.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Aren't you going to torture me too? You hate me too. Everyone does. Come on. Do it," Drake glared complete hatred at me.

I didn't reply, but merely sniffled.

"Do it, you pathetic little bitch. I dare you! I know you want to do it. I know you want to see me in pain," He spat, baring his shark teeth at me.

"No. I'm not like you, Drake. I don't like hurting people for my own sick amusement, no matter how much I hate them." I coldly replied.

He managed to give out a small chuckle, despite it being laced with pain.

"I knew you wouldn't. You're too weak, too fragile.." He finished off his sentence with the tiniest smirk.

I frowned at him.

"Well, if you're not going to torture me then, quit standing there and untie me." He glared.

I blinked at him. "If I untie you, you'll whip me to death. Do you really think I'm that stupid? Honestly, I think you forget who you're dealing with,"

"Untie me," He demanded again, which came out more as a deranged snarl.

"No." I repeated.

"Astrid," He spoke my name, which came out rather polite.

I continued to stare at him, my blue gaze wavering.

"Untie me, or you're going to wish you were never born," He sadistically ordered.

"What are you going to do to me? Your hands are tied, you can't do anything." I informed him.

"Untie me, you stupid whore!" He roared, before violently shaking the chair he was tied to. "Or I'll whip you're pretty face off until there's nothing left but bone!"

All of the yelling and loud cursing Drake was making caused commotion to stir upstairs as I saw lights emitting from up above. They heard him yelling and they were awake.

"Drake, stop. Be quiet, they'll hear you!" I said in a hushed whisper.

"I don't give a shit, I'll whip them all, if you'll just untie me!" He cursed.

I groaned and grabbed the rope to tie it back around his mouth. He cursed and flailed around the chair, keeping his piercing glare on me.

As I strained to listen to the movement and noises upstairs, I caught notice of Drake's whip struggling around the rope that tied it to the back of the chair. His whip was at least a few inches shorter than it originally was. It also was severely burned, and had scars all over it. They must have tried cutting it off several times, but of course it kept growing back.

When the commotion quieted upstairs, I instantly heard the loud creaking from the basement door and footsteps making their way down the stairs.

As soon as we heard the footsteps, Drake gave off a frustrated muffled sound before withering against the chair.

I nervously shook with anticipation as I waited for the person to appear in our sight. As the footsteps quieted down, the two people that appeared from the shadows of the basement were Thomas and Christy.

The flashlight they were holding tilted forward and beamed in my face. I squinted as I strained to stare at them from the bright light. At first the two of them seemed angry and hostile, however as soon as they saw my face, their expressions quickly dropped.

"Astrid? What are you doing here?" Christy asked with disbelief.

I opened my mouth to say something, searching for a good excuse. "I-got curious. I wanted to see the basement,"

I mentally curse myself for saying such a stupid excuse.

"The basement is off limits to you," Thomas calmly spoke, before turning over and glaring at Drake.

"I heard yelling. Did he hurt you?" Christy nervously glared at Drake as well.

"No. He didn't," I softly replied.

"Good," Christy raised an eyebrow, before making her way towards Drake. "I hope you're comfortable Drake," She seethed with hate.

Drake glared up at her, sharing her hatred with his. He gave out a muffled curse, probably to insult her, no doubt.

She stared at his eyes for about a minute, before narrowing her eyes with complete disgust. "I hate staring at those monstrous eyes all the time. Something needs to be done about them. Thomas, pull his head up."

I watched as Thomas made his way over the struggling Drake, and forcefully grab a handful of his air to violently pull his head up.

"Christy, what are you doing?" I instantly questioned, my eyes wide with fear.

She reached for a sharp needle that was on the table and stood over Drake, before bending over and forcefully opening his left eye.

I breathed in shaky gasps of air as I watched Drake's breathing get heavier and faster. He gave out a row of muffled curses.

"Christy, don't do this." I tried to say, but I knew it fell on deaf ears. She was going to ignore me no matter what I said.

She positioned the needle right in front of Drake's wavering dark brown eye, before slowly moving it forward. Inches before it came within reach of Drake's eye, she frowned and quickly proceeded to push the needle into his eye.

The second that needle pierced his eye, a bloodcurdling scream came from Drake, as well as muffled groans and cries. She twisted the needle, and watched as blood spurted out from his eye and ran down his cheeks like tears.

I felt my knees go weak and my skin grow pale. I quickly turn around and try to breathe normally, as I try not to pass out or cry from seeing someone tortured to this extreme extent.

Once she twisted the needle into his eyes a good few times, she pulled it out. Drake continued to scream and curse, until Christy finally pulled the rope from his mouth. His breathing sounded heavy and raspy as he struggled to close his bleeding eye.

"Fu..ck. You.." He gasped. "Fuck..all of…yo.u. I'll kill..you." He completed his sentence before coughing up an enormous amount of blood.

Christy twirled the bloody needle between her fingers. "Consider yourself lucky that I'm not stabbing your other eye as well," She curled her lip before signaling for Thomas to let go of his hair.

Thomas complied and released his hair.

My lip quivered as Christy moved away from Drake and made her way towards me. She was about at least a foot taller than me, so she placed both her hands against my cheeks and quietly shushed me. "Don't be scared, Astrid. Everything's fine. He deserves it, remember."

I weakly blinked at her, before slightly glancing over at Drake, who was heavily bleeding against the chair. His head was drooped down, and he was continuing to give out horrible, raspy breaths.

I decided to say nothing, since I had nothing to say, nor did I want to say anything to her.

Christy had become the very monster she waited for so long to destroy. She had became a cold-blooded sadist, and only darkness covered her heart.

No matter how much hatred I had inside of me, I vowed to myself that I would never turn as evil as Drake and become like Christy.

I needed to be strong and toughen up through this. For once in my life, I had nothing to say. I didn't want to say anything, not ever. I just wanted to go crawl in a corner and hide myself from the horrors that was going on in this room.

Silence was now my friend.

A/N:

This chapter is very dark and gory if you haven't noticed yet lol. Poor Drakie :( I feel sorry for making him be tortured, but it was just to add drama to the story. Thank you Rowena Marie for reviewing :) hopefully I'll get more reviews on this chapter! Yes? Please? :3