Sorry for the delay in posting! I planned to work on this every Friday to Sunday, just so you have an idea of when updates will come around. Things are going to start ramping up from here on out, make no mistake!
I pulled out of my parking spot as Gunnar roared past on his motorcycle, wondering if he really needed my hand getting that shirt off the other night considering the stretch he was doing with the handlebars. The thought left me smirking smugly as I followed him further into the city and its older housing areas. We ended up in an area that was decidedly run down and unfriendly looking, Gunnar pulling up to a garage style door and stepping off the motorcycle to tap in a code on the security pad before striding inside as it rose up.
Assuming that to be my signal to stop here I pulled up in front of the garage and parked beside the curb. Stepping out and locking up the vehicle I quickly jogged in past the sliding door, pausing to watch it slide down with an odd finality. I was left standing in utter darkness and looked around worriedly for a minute before calling out "Gunnar? Some light perhaps?"
There was a grunt of assent and heavy footsteps echoing around me for a short time before I heard an industrial style switch being pulled into place, the overhead lights coming on and revealing a surprising sight. It really was like a low ceiling warehouse, but it had been refurbished into a living space. Smiling at the thought I looked over the old couch shoved up against a wall in front of a tiny TV which sat on an old bucket.
Off in the far end of the warehouse where Gunnar had stomped off to after turning on the lights was a walled in area that I assumed was his bedroom, maybe the washroom too as I didn't see any other place for one. There was a pool table, a small bar setup and a circular table with one chair sitting next too a mini fridge.
At the opposite far corner across from his bedroom was a lift going up to the next floor which left me curious. There really was no indication of Gunnar's profession here, maybe it was for the best I didn't see anything. Did I really want to get associated with that? "You already have." My inner voice reminded me, to which I frowned slightly.
During my period of inspection Gunnar had been busy. He came out of his room with a large black duffel bag that appeared to be stuffed and a black pair of heavy looking boots. Tossing the duffel bag over his good shoulder and holding the boots by their joined together strings while looking at me expectantly. Seeing his pause as my queue I intoned good naturedly "I was just thinking to myself this is a lovely man cave you have here. Want that in the car?" Pointing at his duffel bag briefly before he nodded in confirmation "Sure. And of course it is."
Stumbling backwards as I caught the bag, arms wrapping around it before I rebalanced and shouldered it, seeing him smirking at my struggle I smirked in return. "Bit heavy for just clothing I think." I gave it a small heft to punctuate my statement and received no forthcoming answer in response. "Get the light would you?" Shrugging at him in response I strode over to the light switch as he tapped at the keypad, getting the sliding door open again.
I had to put some muscle into switching the lights off, feeling a little more emasculated by the moment. As the building fell into darkness again I moved towards the light outside, brushing past Gunnar quickly and getting his duffel bag into my trunk. Closing the trunk door I proceeded to lean on it and look at him as he sat down on his motorcycle, pondering. "Hungry?" It didn't take him long to think about it before responding with a decidedly smart-ass tone "Yeah, lets get back to your place so you can make something for me." I raised my eyebrows and gave him an incredulous look "Look here, Swedish Chef, I ain't your maid... But you're lucky I just want some spaghetti anyway."
His laugh gave me a smile and a laugh of my own before I shook my head and got back into my car, quickly taking us back home. I admit I took the scenic route back, enjoying the air flowing through my windows, the music from the radio and watching Gunnar in the rear view mirrors. As we finally pulled up to my house however, the tranquility was shattered, just like my front door. Gunnar was at my car door before I had even turned it off, tapping the door slightly to get my attention. "Open the trunk, quickly."
The tone of his voice brought my thoughts back to reality and I felt the rise of adrenaline bringing my mind into sharp focus on the situation at hand. Popping the trunk I stepped out and watched him open up his duffel bag, quickly pulling out a hand gun and his huge knife, the holster and sheath he each clipped to his belt before striding towards the house. I stood by the car, not sure what to do and if I had to admit to myself, afraid too.
Remaining beside the trunk of my car I was only able to watch him for a few moments as he stepped into the house and, with gun drawn, step out of sight as he went upstairs. A few minutes passed before I gathered my nerve and slowly crept into the house myself, straining to hear any indication something had gone wrong, it was far too long to spend just upstairs as far as I was concerned. Grinding my teeth every time I heard the stairs creak angrily as I walked up them, I partially crouched and took a tentative peek into the hallway before freezing up.
I could see Gunnar's foot sticking out of the doorway, indicating he was prone on the floor and I couldn't see anything else. Before I could rationally approach the situation I leaped into action and sprung up the stairs with a sharp panicked whisper "Gunnar!" Stumbling into the doorway I almost didn't register the butt of a rifle coming at my head before it made solid contact, leaving me falling down on top of Gunnar's body equally unconscious.
"Easier than I expected really." Ed looked at the nurse and grinned, to which she gave him a bored look and gestured down at the two prone figures. "Get moving, boss needs them in place and I want them in a more controllable position when they come to." He huffed and started the process of dragging Gunnar by his ankles down the stairs while I laid on top of him.
I was laughing and elbowing Gunnar as we played Call of Duty on my x box. "Gotcha!" I wiggled in victory after stabbing his character in the back and t bagging him a couple times for extra effect. His lack of response caught my attention and I turned my head to look at him, seeing the face I saw that night when he looked at me after kicking the snot out of that little gang leader, it was disturbing. "It's not like that in reality." He intoned gravely.
"I know, it's just a game. Take it easy." My confusion mixed with fear gave way to a sort of pained disorientation as I heard him whisper "No, it's not." the scene falling away from me as I found myself staring into my eyelids and my whole body throbbing in pain. Letting out a throaty gasp I physically jerked as the memory of my home and the brief image of the rifle butt coming at my face came back in a flash, forcing my eyes open to face whatever it was that awaited me next.
I only managed to open my left eye a crack, my right eye felt swollen shut and the effort of attempting to open it left pain shooting across that side of my skull too. Taking a slow breath I forced my left eye open and looked around. I was on my knees with my face on the floor, ankles and hands heavily chained. To my relief I slowly turned my head and saw Gunnar almost directly beside me, but already conscious and with much shorter chains by the look of it.
He looked apologetic, but remained quiet for the time being. Lifting my leaden arms I slowly pushed myself up and crawled back to the wall, stretching my heavily bruised legs out in front of me and leaning against the wall, closing my sore eyes. "We were both knocked out in the house and I did not see who did it. I should have known better when I saw your foot, so stupid." My mouth tried twisting into a frown but I was just too tired.
It only took a few minutes of deep self loathing before I turned my head to look at him again, surveying his own physical status. He had a bruise near his right temple too, lucky for him it didn't get his eye by the look of it. "You alright?" I knew the answer but I felt the need to ask anyways, if only to break the oppressive silence. "Wonderful" He grumbled sarcastically, looking back at me and frowning.
Sighing I reached up and touched my swollen face gingerly, quickly regretting the move and taking in a sharp breath and removing my fingertips immediately. "Great" I mumbled, my voice gravelly from lack of use. I was left wondering how long we had been there as I looked over the room itself.
There was one dim imbedded light in the ceiling, each wall was concrete and so was the floor. A drain in the center of the room drew my attention, the floor was gently sloped in its direction so that liquid would flow into it. The dark stains worn into the cement around the drain also made me wonder, my gut clenching in worry.
"Any idea how long we have been here?" I mumbled, resting my head against the wall and tilting to look in his direction, my neck too tired to hold my head up. "No, only been awake for a few hours." He looked back to me from his own inspection of the room and gave me a serious look "Come here." Sighing, I ground my teeth and slowly made my way to him, closing the few feet between us on my hands and feet until I crawled under his lifted arm and wedged myself to his side, my left foot and hand pulled across to my right side as I met the end of the chains.
His arm resting on my shoulder was a painful comfort, but I didn't mind, it made me feel better. His hand gently tilted my head so he could take a look at my face, to which I gave a wince and a slight jerk away from his fingertips with each poke. "I'm like a bruised apple, take it easy." at the thought of my bruises I let out a little gasp, lifting my hand quickly and looking at my bruise covered arm. "the bruises, of course!"
He was surely giving me a confused look as his hand slipped down and rested on my thigh while I poked at the bruise on my arm, thinking deeply. "Yellowish, it has been around 24 hours, maybe longer. Coloring of bruises changes as they form and heal, you see?" I pointed at the sickly yellow surrounding the bruise that covered most of my forearm. To which he let out a soft chuckle "Smart, but how come mine are green?"
I looked at his own bruised up arm and considered it for a moment "Everyone is different, but I know my own healing process, I get bruised often." Sighing and leaning into him for warmth I let my arms rest on my legs and closed my eyes. "Well, we're waiting all the same." he muttered and I nodded slightly in response.
At some point I drifted into an uncomfortable sleep, switching between consciousness and the pain relief of slumber frequently. This continued until I was lured awake by the sharp grinding of rusty hinges and steel scraping against the concrete floor. Blinking slightly I straightened and felt Gunnar give me a reassuring squeeze on my shoulder before hearing a familiar feminine voice.
"You know, normally only people with actual proof of their relationship to the patient get to see the patient. I knew you were just an average civilian when you didn't catch that. So, Gunnar, how do you feel now that your friend here is as neck deep in shit as you?" her tone just oozed smugness and I felt a deep loathing, partially at myself for already knowing that situation was too easy to begin with, civilian or not. "Honestly? You should have kept this professional, because now it's personal." His tone of voice was completely sober and serious, it was both touching and unnerving to me.
"Two out of three people in this room are chained to a wall, and just in case you got hit a little too hard- I ain't one of the chained ones. You had best be open to what my boss has to give you Gunnar, or the situation in this room will change dramatically, I promise." Her snide tone annoyed me, raising my head to look at her through my eye, I smirked "It's personal for me too, bitch." Looking at her now I saw the nurse that had lead me around, but dressed in a sharp black business outfit and with her dark hair in a tight bun. I was a bit slow on the uptake and didn't register the sharp slap she gave me until I blinked again, my face planted into Gunnar's shoulder.
"I hope he doesn't cooperate, I look forward to seeing you suffer you mud slogging cretin." I chuffed at her, that was about all I had the energy for at that point. Satisfied the both of us had nothing more to say to her she sauntered out, heels tapping against the pavement sharply each step of the way. As the door closed I felt Gunnar's fingers sliding through my hair and pulling it out of my face slowly, I could feel his frown hitting the side of my face without even looking at him. "You shouldn't have done that. They might have even let you go."
"Heh, yeah right Gunnar. Believe it or not I have accepted that I was most likely going to get tangled up in shit at some point or another for associating with you, I've been at peace with that for a while. If I wasn't, I wouldn't have come to the hospital that day."
Feeling his hand stop in my hair, it felt like he was waiting expectantly. Always willing to please, I continued while closing and resting my eyes. "Speaking of being embroiled in shit. They weren't expecting me at the hospital, so you gotta ask yourself, who were they waiting for? I bet they have been following you and me since the day you left there." Curling my legs up I waited for his response patiently as he finished combing my hair with his fingers, bringing his forearm across my collar bone and resting his hand on my opposite shoulder, drumming his fingertips on me in contemplation.
"I have a few ideas of what they were really looking for, yeah." He finally intoned after some minutes of thoughtful silence. "And they will find them, not the way they expected to though. My bike has a tracking device in it and when I don't show up for our meeting, they will come looking and pick up our trail. Just a matter of surviving in the meantime."
While I was pleased to know that Gunnar had friends who would come for us, I was left cringing as his sentence came to an end. My attempt to reach across and get closer to him was jerked to a halt by the chains on my wrists, leaving me lowing my hand back down to my leg with a sigh. "I'll survive, just don't do anything stupid." I felt silly as I said it, between him and me I was sure both of us knew who would be the first to do something stupid if put in a stressful situation. "And I'll do my best not to as well." I added as an afterthought, earning a chuckle.
We sat there in deep silence, which my stomach started to fill with angry grumbling. Sighing, I took it upon myself to start up the conversation again, since he was intent on being the strong silent type through this it seemed. "Why did you follow me the night I first ran in to you?" He seemed a little caught of guard but recovered smoothly "I had enough drugs in me to kill an average person, it's a bit hazy. But I saw the guys following you after you ran."
Nodding slowly I smiled, licking my cracked lips as an afterthought. "Was good of you, even if you're a scary motherfucker." We both chuckled in good humor for a few moments before silence loomed again. "I wonder why they gave me so much more chain than you." I looked down at my shackled wrists through my one partially opened eye as he remarked "You're not a threat." I could feel his smirk without even needing to see it, his voice oozed a kind of smug satisfaction that left me feeling emasculated if I had to be truthful about it.
"Thanks, jerk. Maybe I'll make them regret it." My fingertips rubbed at the thick chain links thoughtfully. To which he replied, giving my shoulder a small squeeze "Even if you could, it is important to not agitate them. We're playing a waiting game and the more time we're given the better. You have no idea how many of them there are, what weapons they have, or even where we are. Breaking free from the room just puts you in another level of trouble." I smiled, another puzzle piece falling into place.
"So that is why you didn't grab her and break her lousy neck when she came close enough to slap me. You've got more patience than me, I'll give you that." I felt him nodding slightly in confirmation. "Worst mistake of her life, and I don't mean getting too close either. She'll pay for hitting you, among other things." I smiled, looking up at the ceiling thoughtfully "I know, because I'm gonna be the one makin' her pay."
Both of us fell silent as we heard a sharp voice behind the door, muffled but loud enough to understand "WILLY! Fucking move it!" Quirking a brow I listened curiously, but there was no more words, just the grinding of the door opening and possibly the biggest fat man I'd ever seen stepping through the door. I restrained myself from laughing, not only because that would really hurt, but because he had a bottle of water in his hand and a single paper plate of food I could not discern the identity of.
Free Willy, that is what I thought of as he lumbered over and with care placed the paper plate and bottle just slightly ahead of my feet, extra sure that Gunnar couldn't reach him or the food. With great restraint I tamped down my urge to laugh and quickly asked the man "Hey... Where do I go to the bathroom here, man?" He smirked at me meanly as he stood up and stepped back, gesturing to the drain in the middle of the floor, leaving me with an incredulous look as he stepped out and closed the door.
"Really? For christ sakes." Sighing I swatted Gunnar's hand off my shoulder so I could reach forwards to grab the plate of food and water bottle with no small amount of pain. Huffing from the exertion I plopped the plate in my lap and cracked open the water, taking a small sip and savoring it before looking at what the food actually was. "Potatoes... looks like green beans or something mashed up in them.. It'll do I guess."
Receiving a tap on my shoulder I looked up at Gunnar with a confused expression "I can't reach my own face, you'll have to feed me some." in a moment of levity I smirked and waggled my one eyebrow at him since I lacked control of the other "You're completely at my mercy?" He snorted and looked up at the door before looking back at me "I'll remember that."
"Please do." I said sweetly as I held the bottle up as far as I could towards his face, the chains limiting my reach so that he had to lean forwards too. It took a little bit of coordinating but after spilling some water on his face he finally got enough in his mouth to do for the time being. Putting the cap back on and setting it aside I sighed and looked at the food. "No fork or anything, well at least we have something to keep occupied with for the time being."