LAST TIME-

Her answer was her father ripping the knife from her shoulder. Her eyes grew heavy as her body went forward, her shoulders dropping. The only thing keeping her upright was her father's firm hand around her throat. She could feel the blood flow stronger down her arm, dripping from her fingertips.

"I may be a monster, but you were always fun," he let go of her neck, lettering her drop.

She slid to the floor, the wall keeping her upright as her feet fell out from under her. Her shoulders slumped, her chin resting against her chest as her eyelids dropped, her breath heavy, her back resting against the wall. Her fathers voice echoed through her head, making him seem a great distance away, "And I might have to go back to jail for all eternity, but I'll be content…because you'll be dead."

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

He couldn't help but feel an overwhelming sense of dread as silence washed over the forest. He could see the cabin from his hiding spot, a bright floodlight illuminating the ground in front of the small cabin. His hand reached for a thick fallen tree branch that rested beside him.

A beast roared inside of him as Mr. Montez strolled out of the cabin and onto the front porch. He was wiping his hands with a rag that had once been white. It was now stained red. Any number of his friends would have been against Troy next actions, but he would have ignored them anyway. Nothing mattered but saving Gabriella, and if that meant going through her father…so be it.

He stood, swaying on his feet for a moment, his right thigh complaining with the action. He shook his head, his hand tightening around the tree branch in his right hand as he stepped out into the open. He was shrouded in darkness, the moon above him the only light that let him see. He was getting closer to the cabin perimeter, and was only inches from entering the light when Mr. Montez spoke.

"Troy boy," he looked up, a smile on his face. He threw the blood stained rag to the ground as he took a step forward, off the porch. "I knew you would come back."

"Where's Gabriella?" he asked through his teeth.

"She's inside sleeping," the smile on the older mans face made Troy's blood burn. "So I guess it's just you and me."

"I wouldn't want her to see this anyways," Troy took a step forward, limping a little.

"You going to kill me Troy?" Mr. Montez smiled as he asked the question.

"I make a habit of not breaking my promises," the two started circling each other. "And I did swear to God."

"That's a little dark for you," Mr. Montez withdrew the blood stained K-Bar. Troy's eyes went wide. The last time he had seen the monstrous blade, there hadn't been any blood on it.

"What did you do?" he growled as the father smiled.

"Calm down, Troy," Ethan Montez took a step forward as he gave Troy another impish smile. "I just had a little fun."

Troy roared, swinging forward with the tree branch. Ethan sidestepped, slicing at the teen's head. Troy's blue eyes went wide and he pulled his head back as he saw the flash of steel. He backpedaled, falling away from Mr. Montez. He reached his hand up towards his right cheek, feeling a small sting with the contact as he found the shallow cut.

"Dose it sting a little?" Troy's eyes flashed with anger as Mr. Montez taunted him. "Now you really look like an action star hero."

"You're just so full of yourself," Troy spat, taking a limping step forward again.

"I have my moments." Ethan shrugged, matching Troy's step forward.

"It makes me sick." Troy swung forward again. Ethan smiled and caught the branch. It was then that Troy realized he was to close, and the father struck. Troy rolled away, but the tip of the knife caught him at his left hip and was dragged across his chest to his right shoulder. He let go of the branch and staggered backwards, looking up just in time to see Mr. Montez kick out at him. The foot hit him square in the chest and he went sprawling to the ground. Mr. Montez snapped the tree branch in half, throwing the two useless pieces to the ground.

"You want to know why I prefer knifes over guns, Troy?" Mr. Montez circled him, pitching the K-Bar in his hands from left to right.

"They're shinier," Troy laughed as he looked down to his chest. His shirt was cut, the shallow gash running from hip to shoulder. It was bleeding, but was too shallow to cause any real harm.

Mr. Montez ignored him and continued, "Anyone can kill with a gun. It's easy. You point, aim and fire. No effort and you've just extinguished a life. It's not very fun." he crouched, his arms resting on his thighs, the bloody K-Bar hanging loosely from in between his hands. "But with a knife, you have to get close. You have to be close enough to feel your target, to smell them. And then when you stab them, you can witness the life drain from their eyes. You can watch as they slip into an unbeatable darkness." The older man pointed to Troy with the K-Bar, "Killing with a knife is fun."

"You're out of your mind." The father was crazy, and Troy had no idea how Gabriella was related to him.

"Out of my mind?" it was said with a smile. "I have never been so clear headed in my entire life."

"You're going to hell." Troy lifted his head up to glare at the father. He moved his left hand to run along the shallow cut across his chest. He had managed to twist away, and didn't dare think about what he would have looked like if he hadn't.

A roaring laugh filled the space in front of the cabin, "Hell?" he walked towards Troy. " Is that supposed to scare me? Boy, I have seen hell. I have lived in it. Hell does not scare me."

Troy laughed, "I didn't realize how much of a moron you were."

Mr. Montez sneered, walking closer until he was towering over the teen. His dark eyes turned sinister. "She screamed your name. I know you heard it. You wouldn't have come back if you didn't."

The smile on Troy's face dropped. Then, the helplessness hit him. He could have prevented her pain if he had just stayed with her. But he had left her alone, at the mercy of her deranged father. The screams he had heard in the forest rushed through his mind. He could have prevented the screams; he could have prevented her pain.

"She screamed your name when I slid this knife clean through her shoulder." The father flashed the K-Bar in front of his face. "I've been told that bleeding to death is a very painful way to die."

"She's not dead," he was denying it, crawling backwards and away. He caught the broken tree branch out of the corner of his eye and a plan flashed through his mind.

"Deny all you want," Mr. Montez followed him, taunting. "But I can assure you, what you find in that cabin, I don't think you will like."

"I forgot to mention something," Troy laughed, the broken tree branch just within reach. "I called the cops. They should be here any minute."

Surprise and shock flashed through Mr. Montez's eyes, but he blinked it away. "You run away fast." He stepped forward, raising the knife. "Then I guess I should finish this up. It's been a pleasure torturing you Troy Bolton."

Everything slowed in Troy's eyes. He rolled to his right, his hand grasping around the broken tree branch as Mr. Montez thrust downward. The blue-eyes boy shot to his feet, dodging as his thigh nearly collapsing on him with the effort. He gritted his teeth as he shoved the broken end of the branch into Mr. Montez's stomach.

The sound was gruesome, something Troy never wanted to hear again. Solid wood meeting soft flesh. The gasp from Ethan Montez made Troy move forward again, his anger overpowering him. "The pleasure was all mine." He growled, staring into the father's surprised eyes.

The two fell to the ground, Troy's hand still wrapped firmly around the branch sticking out of Mr. Montez's stomach. "I believe you told me in the beginning that it was futile to put up resistance. That there was nothing I could do?" Troy paused and relished in the fathers fear and astonishment. "Allow me to correct you somewhat. The situation in which you find yourself in right now," he paused for one last time. "This is what we call futile."

"True words," Ethan Montez coughed, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. "Spoken from a man who has nothing left." He smiled, showing bloody teeth. "Spoken from a man who has lost everything."

"…no…" He barley heard the sound of sirens as he pushed himself off the ground. He limped as fast as he could to the front porch, slipping and falling to his knees when he tried to go up the stairs. He pushed himself back up and burst through the door.

He froze at the sigh of her body, propped up against the far wall. Then his eyes saw the blood. It stained the wall above her bowed head, and he could see where her father had stabbed through her shoulder, a bloody circle at her respected height. The blood trail from her shoulder slid down the wall, and there was even a small stain from the wound in her lower back.

The screeching of tires on the dirt road snapped him back to his horrible reality. He limped forward falling to his knees in front of her. Her head was bowed, her black shoulder length black hair covering her face. His hand hesitantly went to her cheek, lifting up her head.

He choked. Her eyes were half lidded; a dead woman's gaze that held none of the fire that defined her as Gabriella. Troy felt like crying. A dry moan escaped his throat as he looked into her dull chocolate eyes. He clenched his teeth and turned his head, another roar escaping his mouth. He looked back down to her, his breath catching. His eyes flickered to her chest as he caught movement, he waited, and again it rose!

He reached up his other hand, cupping her face in his hands. "Come on baby," he pleaded in anguish. He stared into her half open eyes, willing her to respond. He waited, seconds crawling by as he waited. It was only then that she blinked, her heavy eyelids closing and then ripping open, her mouth falling open as she dragged in a deep breath.

He cried out as she toppled sideways, her eyes threatening to close again. Troy caught her around the shoulders and pulled her head in his lap.

Then the tears came. The pain Gabriella was in made his heart clench and the tears flow like a running stream. How could this one girl have so much power over him? And yet he knew the answer even before asking it, he loved her. The proof was his sudden collapse, his emotions overflowing as he looked into her pain filled chocolate eyes.

"You came back," she smiled despite her condition, one of her hands reaching for his.

"Of course I did," he smiled down at her, his eyes going to her still bleeding shoulder. "Jesus, Gabriella…" he trailed off, his hand skimming over the wound. She flinched and he pulled away.

"I'm fine," it was a weak pant that didn't succeeded in convincing him. Just by looking at her, he knew she was in trouble. He whipped his head around as he heard car doors slam shut and loud yells, he could also hear sirens in the distance. Cops. Ambulances. Help.

"IN HERE!" he yelled, and then heard heavy boots on the front porch. "HURRY!"

The cop that entered skidded to a halt, his hand reaching up to cover his nose. "Jesus Christ." Troy looked down, a smile on his face as he was about to tell her everything was going to be ok.

Everything fell apart after that.

It was the one thing that had the power to make him panic. Her eyes were closed. "No. No. No. Gabriella, open your eyes!" he pulled her up into his arms. "Come on, baby. Wake up."

Her eyes dragged open. "…sorry…"

He took a deep breath. "Don't scare me like that."

A firm hand on his shoulder made him look up. "Are you Troy Bolton?" The cop who had entered asked.

"Yes," Troy answered almost rolling his eyes. No, I'm fucking Chuck Norris!

"The ambulances are just pulling up," the cop stated kneeling next to him, his eyes glancing down to Gabriella's body. Troy nodded his head and glanced back down to Gabriella.

"Just hang on for a little longer," he stroked her cheek.

"Hurry…getting tired…" it was a low mumble, her eyes sliding in and out of focus. One of her hands reached up and found the slash in his shirt, her eyes scrunching together. "Are…you…ok?"

"I'm fine," he choked out. Here she was bleeding to death and she was worried about him. He looked to the cop next to him. "The man out there, what are you going to do with him?"

"He's the one that did this to you?" Troy nodded. "He's going to jail for a very long time."

A voice buzzed over the radio on the cops shoulder. He reached up, "We're in the cabin, all medical units needed now!"

Troy would recall it as sounding like a stampede. Two paramedics burst through the door, their red jackets blinding his blue eyes for a second. The cop next to him stood and backed away, leaving the EMT's to their jobs. A third EMT walked through the door with a shock board in both hands.

"You're going to have to let her go, Mr. Bolton." One of the paramedics instructed, and Troy reluctantly nodded. The moment Gabriella was out of his arms, he panicked. Wes and Logan, the two EMT's that had entered first went to work. Wes caught Troy's sweatshirt tied around her waist and stopped the others.

"Possible back wound," he waved his hand and Gabriella was rolled to her side. Wes inspected the wound. "No damage to the spinal cord, we can move her. One. Two. Three." The two lifted her onto the shock board, a breathing mask being placed over her mouth. The third paramedic caught sight of Troy, his brown eyes going wide.

"Mr. Bolton, are you ok?" Troy ignored the question and followed the paramedics carrying Gabriella outside. He didn't know if it was a good thing that he couldn't feel his body. He was slowly going numb. He hauled himself into the back of the ambulance, his hand wrapping around Gabriella's. He barely felt someone untying the belt from his thigh, and it was only when the cloth wrapped around it was removed that he yelled out.

"I can't get the bleeding under control!" Troy turned his head to look at Wes. The paramedic's eyes were frantic, his hands switching a bloody gauze pad for a clean one.

Gabriella started to tremble, "She's going into hemorrhagic shock!" Landon yelled, his voice panicked. Troy could hear the erratic beeping of the EKG monitor hooked up to Gabriella.

He was getting disy, blood loss taking its toll. But in his last moments of concesness he looked to her eyes, the deep chocolate brown that he had fallen in love with. They were staring right at him. Her mouth was open slightly beneath the breathing mask, her breaths coming in desperat gasps. He could tell she was fighting, for him, for Taylor, for everyone else she would leave behind. Then, her eyes slowly closed and his world fell to complete and utter darkness.

The noise and following sentence that accompanied him into oblivion was something he prayed he would never hear.

A long, unchanging, high-pitched tone.

And.

"Get the defibrillators, she's flat lining!"

.-.-.- Insert Dramatic Music -.-.-.

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