How is everybody? I hope better than me 'cause it's so cold in my dorm the only thing keeping my fingers from falling off is typing. Lucky for you all right? Ah, I updated my profile, it has the titles of my future chapters and future stories so think of it as a teaser.
Donna nnov: Trust me, you're not :P I dunno I feel bad for every chapter after the last.
RandallXSpinelli: Yeah, usually I spend the first few chapters setting everything up, but I didn't need to this time! Yeah.
"Ugh….what happened..?" With a terrible throbbing in his head, Gus slowly opened his eyes. He was greeted with a blindingly bright light coming from above. To block some of it out he tried to use his hands, but found that they were tied behind his back. Looking around he realized that he was sitting in a chair, and along with his hands, his feet were tied together as well. Looking to his left he could see the others in the same position, beginning to wake up.
"My head's killing me…." Said Vince.
"Where are we?" Asked Gretchen.
"What I wanna know is who were those guys…" Said Spinelli. With his headache still strong, Gus found any talking done on his part only added to the pain. So he looked around the room for anything that might be useful. From what he could see, there were lights above each of them and the rest of the room was still draped in darkness. No windows or doors. He started to worry; they had all been kidnapped by some guys and had no idea what was going to happen next. He knew that once everyone's parents find that they aren't home tonight that they would call the police and that it would be in the news. But how many times in the news did they report that a missing child was found? It frightened Gus that at this point anything. Looking back over at the others he counted them all, but came up short of the number he expected.
"Hey Guys," He said gently.
"Why'd you think they take us?" Asked Vince, not hearing Gus. "Did we know them?"
"They didn't look familiar.." Said Mikey.
"Guys," He said louder.
"That doesn't matter," Said Spinelli as she pulled on the ropes binding her hands together. "They just better let us go!"
"Guys!" Gus yelled getting everyone's attention.
"What is it Gus?" Gretchen asked him.
"Where's TJ?" They all looked at Gus then around the room as far as their eyes would allow. Squinting, they tried to look forward in the dark, but couldn't.
"You think they've got him?" Spinelli asked the group.
"Probably," said Gretchen. Before any more could be said the sound of a lock turning filled the room. Then a door was opened from the side of the room, letting light pour in. They watched as a six foot tall man walked in, dragging a still unconscious TJ by the leg. The man closed the door and turned on the light, illuminating a large circle around them in the room. Once he was in front of the group he dropped TJ on the floor and faced them.
"You know," The man said. "I'd really rather not have you all here."
"Then why'd you take us all here?" Spinelli asked him.
"I don't want you all," He said. "Just him." He turned away from them a kneeled down to TJ who still wasn't awake. Grabbing him by the collar the man lifted the boy up with him as he stood back on his feet. "But you all stayed together all day, and I want to get this over with. I got another job to do."
"….Where am I…?" TJ mumbled as he started to wake up. "…What's going on..?"
"It's about time you woke up kid," The man said. "I was gonna get started soon."
"Start what?" Asked Vince.
"What are you gonna do to him?" Gus asked.
"That's a good question," Said the man. "A really good question….." He brought one hand to his chin, thinking about what he should do next. His next job wasn't for a few more days, so he thought that he might as well drag this one out until then. He pulled back his hand, balled it into a fist, and gave the child he was holding up a strong punch in his stomach. TJ cried out in pain as the man continued to punch his stomach with each punch being harder than the last. The rest of gang screamed at the man, telling him to stop and that he was hurting him. The man ignored them, and once he was done, dropped TJ back on the floor where he balled up and held in stomach, crying.
"Day one, kid," Said the man as he walked to the door. "Day one." With that he closed the door leaving the children to themselves.
"TJ are you okay?" Gretchen asked him.
"Y-yeah.." He said, trying to stand up. "I think so…." He walked over to his friends and started to untie their ropes, beginning with Gus. "You guys okay?"
"We're fine." Said Gus. "We've gotta find a way out of here…"
"Yeah, before he comes back—" Spinelli was cut off by the man coming back in the room, now with a stool and a hammer.
"That's going to be a problem," He said sitting down the stool with the hammer on top. "Can't have you untying them." He grabbed TJ by the arm and pulled him away from Gus then he tied his ropes again. He dragged the boy back in front of his friends and grabbed his left hand forcing it on the stool. "I'm out of rope, so I can't tie you up like your friends," He said, tightening his grasp on TJ's wrist. "I'm just gonna have to improvise." He lifted the hammer in the air, and forcefully brought it down on TJ's hand, breaking his bones. He let out a scream and tried to pull away as the man continued to break his fingers. His friends watched in horror as blood dripped from the hammer and onto the floor. He continued, grabbing his other hand and repeating the process until both of his hands were twisted and fingers bent out of their normal shape. "Now don't you try to untie your friends alright?" The man said kindly as he walked out the door.
"He's crazy…." Spinelli said. "He's crazy!"
"Why is this happening to us?" Mikey asked.
"I can't move my hands…." TJ said as he looked at his hands. "We've gotta get out of here, guys."
