Chapter Eight

Blinking my eyes open, all I can see is blinding light and if it wasn't for the excruciating pain screaming from the base of my neck, I would assume I am dead. I continue blinking my eyes open rapidly as shapes begin to form around me. The room I am in is all white, the walls, the floors, the ceilings; everything but the black-clothed, Blood-soaked silhouette of Billie. A choke surfaces in the back of my throat as I realize he is still unconscious. His head still droops limply, I can see his wound better now; a cut from the centre of his forehead to the bottom of his jaw, still oozes blood. I look at his chest, hoping to see a rise and fall to indicate he is breathing; only the faintest, shortest breath tells me he is alive. The pain at the bottom of my neck unexpectedly flares in an all-consuming explosion of heat and contracting muscles. I cry out in sheer pain, knowing no other way to let it out, I try to move, to run away from the pain, but the bindings around my wrists and ankles keep me planted in my spot. As the pain eats at me, filling my whole body my eyes blur with tears and Billie begins to stir. Panic and pain consume me in an overwhelming rage and I let out another roar, I lurch my body into the air hoping to snap the bindings, to escape my pain, to help Billie; but all I do is increase the hurt.

"Oh you are awake finally," A soft tingling voice, laced with an English accent makes its way through my burning ears, "Please, no need to stand."

"Help him!" I shout even though I don't know who they are; I can only take a guess.

"He'll be fine," a blonde haired, blue-eyed woman stands in front of me; Bella.

"Help him; he is not fine look at him!" I can hardly talk through the pain radiating from my neck and shoulder, but I don't care, "He is hardly breathing!"

"Oh," Bella looks at him, her eyes scan him with a mockery of concern, "My gosh, you are right, what was I thinking?" She turns around and yells at a cracked door, "Bring in the doctor."

She backs away from me and over to Billie, she traces her finger along the side of his face. I look to the door and nobody comes in, looking back at Bella she has moved over to a table covered in different knives and sharp implements. The door cracks open with a loud crack and Bella and myself turn to face the person now entering the room; Alex. Bella greets him with a sadistic grin and a kiss on the cheek. I try to suppress the pain that is threatening to take me back to the dark night in the land of the living dead. Billie lets out a weak moan, immediately grabbing my full attention; He moves his head tilting it to the side. Blood starts to seep from his wound and slide down his face and into his eyes.

"Will you two stop your sickening love fest and help him!" I snap, no longer being able to handle seeing Billie like this. Alex and Bella snap their heads to look at me, Bella looks offended and Alex looks down right pissed off.

"This bitch!" He drops out of Bella's embrace and grabs a knife without taking his eyes off me, "I am going to have fun now."

"Oh Alex, calm down, you know you are going to have more fun when Billie is conscious." Bella chimes innocently as I flinch away from Alex's knife which he is holding to my throat. He drops the knife to the floor and grabs a syringe from his back pocket and walks over to Billie. Alex stabs the needle into the left of Billie's chest, and I let out a scream. Alex lets out a menacing laugh as he injects the serum in the vial attached to the needle directly into Billie's heart. Billie opens his eyes instantly with a pained scream.

"What did you give him?!" I scream, while Billie sits tied to the chair convulsing as the drug fills his system.

"Adrenaline," Alex laughs as he watches Billie's body fight the drug in his heart. Billie's body falls completely still and I let out some kind of squeak; Please, oh please do not be dead Billie, fight it you idiot, stay with me Billie. As if Billie hears me he lifts his head up and tries to open his eyes but the wound on the left side of his head stops his eye from opening properly, "You wanted me to help him Nora, now he is alive and can't feel a thing," To prove his point Alex balls his hand into a fist and drives it straight into Billie's face, smashing Billies head into the wall next to him. Billie lets out a yelp of pain as his head cracks against the white bricks, leaving a fresh trail of dripping blood on the wall. "Well maybe he can still feel it a bit."

"Stop it," Bella interrupts Alex as he raises his fist again, he turns and looks at her, "Fix Nora," We both look at her with disgust in both our faces; I do not want this man to touch me, "You shot her it's the least we can do for her."

Wait what… shot me?

"She doesn't deserve that from us Bella," Alex advances towards her in a rage leaving me to see the side of his face which I had cut open with the glass, "Look what she did to me!"

"You can still move your face, Nora can't still move her shoulder because your bullet tore out her tendon; we aren't bad people Alex, please fix her shoulder." Well that explains the pain in my shoulder and neck. Alex reluctantly obeys Bella's order and comes towards me, taking a needle and thread and a few bandages from the table.

"Don't fucking touch her, you sick mother fucker." Billie growls, his voice dangerous and infuriated.

"Or what," Alex laughs as he preps the needle and thread, "You'll write a song about me?"

"You don't deserve that honour," Billie spits, "I beat you once and I will do it again just as easily."

Alex throws everything on the floor, his face red with anger, and storms over to Billie. He throws his fist into Billie's face, slamming Billies head into the wall again. He repeats his attack another three times before Bella interrupts again. Alex comes back over to me picking up the needle and thread again. Without any warning he shoves the needle through the skin starting at the nape of my neck; I scream out as the metal pierces though me. Billie shouts at Alex but I cannot hear his words over my on scream. Alex, frustrated, drops his medical supplies again as he walks over to Bella, he holds his hand out expectantly to her and she hands him the scarf she was wearing. Alex walks behind me and brings the scarf to my mouth; he pulls the scarf back hard against my lips until I am forced to open my mouth, instantly Alex ties a knot at the back of my head with the scarf so I am now gagged. He picks up the thread and needle and continues to stich up my bullet wound. Billie is very quiet and looking over at him I can see him fighting to stay conscious. Bella is walking over to him a smile on her face so fake she might as well be Paris Hilton in a dump.

"So Bill, how are things?"

"Are you fucking serious Bella," Billie spits blood at her, she gasps at his vulgar behaviour, "You send this psychopath after us, abduct joey and my friends, fake your own abduction and then you sit me and make me watch your boyfriend stitch up my lawyer; how the fuck do you think things are Bella?"

"We all know this bitch over here is not just a lawyer to you Billie. Were all your tour whores as pretty as her?"

"What are you on Bella? You were the one who cheated on me! I was fucking faithful to you. And do not ever call Nora a bitch again, or so help me god I will-" Billie doesn't get the chance to finish his sentence as Bella places her lips on Billie's. Billie tries to move his head away from her but he can't the wall, chair and his wound stop him from being able to remove his lips from hers. Alex stabs the needle through my skin harsher than before and I let out a muffled cry. Bella flies back from Billie bringing her hand to her mouth to wipe away the blood Billie had drawn by biting her lip. Bella slaps Billie across face as Alex finishes the stiches.

"Bella, think you could keep it in your pants for a few minutes?" Alex spits his voice as acidic and venomous as a snake's fang.

"Sorry Alex, that was just too fun,"

"Listen to your boyfriend," Billie spits, his voice slowly slurring together as the adrenaline starts to wear off. "Where is joey?" Billie asks her, trying to get to the point before he loses consciousness again.

"Why should I tell you? It amazes me you even care, Mister Evasive."

"Of course I bloody care Bella, he is my son!"

"Your son? Billie, you left me two weeks after his birth for a tour, you finally come home and he was walking. He is not your son; he never was and never will be."

"Answer my question Bella!" Billie shouts, I can tell he is outraged by Bella's words, but I am not sure if it is because she said it or because it was true.

"Safe, you twat, as if I would put him in any real danger."

"Why the hell are we here then? What do you want?"

"The files Billie, where are they?" Alex fills us in, part of me is relieved that we were right about the files but a bigger part of me can sense the gravity of this situation and knows there is no positive outcome from this whole situation.

"What files Alex? My old school report cards? I can promise you there is nothing there but a few failures."

"Your dad's files, he stole them from me and I would like them back."

"What fucking files?"

"I don't like your tone there Armstrong," Alex picks up another knife and brings it up to Billie's throat, "ever heard of the C.I.A?"

"Ever heard of me not giving a flying fuck about the government and its chess pieces?"

"Contain your bravado you asswipe, I want the files your father took from the C.I.A."

"And if I don't give them to you?"

Instead of answering with words, Alex looks at Bella who grabs a gun from out of her boot and puts it against my head. I hear her load the gun and prepare it for fire. I gulp and look at Billie as I try to cry out to him to save me, that the gun is loaded, but nothing aside from a few muffled noises escapes me. Billie's facial expression doesn't faze at all at the sight of the gun cocked and ready to fire a bullet straight through my skull. I whimper, no longer knowing what to do, but still Billie doesn't seem to care about the danger I am in. A nervous Bella steps in closer to me to try to show that she means business; trying to evoke some emotion out of Billie, but in doing this she frees the strap on one of my ankles. I don't hesitate to throw my leg out sideways and kick her straight in the shin. She drops her gun and jumps back, Alex and Billie watch stunned for a moment as Bella tries to put weight on her leg but just falls straight to the ground in a heap of pain. Alex regains himself and comes striding over to me, knife in hand ready to strike. I look at the ground near me and see a knife that Alex had dropped before; I wait for him to get closer. I only have one shot at this, I kick the knife's handle and the blade kicks up and slices the back of Alex's heel, cutting the tendon, making him fall to the ground. Alex falls unconscious after a scream as the pain takes him to a darkly peaceful place of the unconscious. Bella cries out Alex's name and yells a few insults at me as she tries to bring herself back to her feet.

I begin to kick the other buckle that holds my leg to the chair, until the buckle finally gives way and both my legs are free. Looking at the straps around my wrists I notice that my right wrist's binding is loose enough to slide my hand through. Only problem is that I cannot move my arm to free it without causing myself extreme pain. I suck it up and move my arm back enough to slip my hand through the binding. I cry out in agony as pain spreads inside me like a wildfire, tears spill over the brims of my eyes. I don't stop there; I use my free hand to unbind my other hand, trying very hard to see through my blinding tears and the seething pain. Finally free though I get to my feet and stride over to Billie, with one hand I undo Billie's wrists; he is watching me with amazement. Something snaps him out of his daze.

"Nora behind you!" I turn around and see Bella has found her gun again and is pointing it at me. I leap to the side quickly, jolting my arm and sending a fresh wave of agony though me, but her gun follows. I run over to her and kick the gun out of her hand before she can use it. I kick her in the chest trying to wind her so she is still long enough for me and Billie to make an escape. A hand grabs my good shoulder and I turn half expecting to see Alex.

"Come on Nora," Billie takes my hand in his and starts for the door, his other arm wraps itself around his other side and he winces, "Leave them, we have to get out of here."

I follow him but something is wrong, Pain begins to shoot up from my ankle and I can no longer put any weight on it. Falling, landing harshly on the tiled floor on my shoulder I cry out; still muffled by the gag which I have forgotten to remove. Billie takes the scarf from my mouth and I breathe in a refreshing gulp of air and try to push myself back up to my feet. My shoulder screams in protest as I move and suddenly my vision is a blur of doubles and black silhouettes.

"Nora, stay with me here, come on," Billie throws my arm over his neck and he winces as he shifts my weight onto him. The panic and fear in his eyes is all I can see as his hand slides around my waist, taking all of my weight, "stay with me Nor-"