Hey, here's another chapter and sorry for the wait!

Also, read the author's note at the end. Thanks.

Read on~

When John woke up, he was in a dark room.

Trying to sit up, he found his hands were chained above him, and his ankles were bound with another set of chains as well. He began to panic, trying to move his hands and break free, but of course he was no match for the metal. Freezing up, he heard footsteps approach his room and he stopped moving.

"I see you're awake, John." A teen, who looked around 18, walked into the room and knelt at John's feet. His harsh green eyes were similar to Dex's, but without the cold calculating side. These eyes were just plain evil.

"Who are you?" He asked in a hoarse voice, swallowing thickly.

"You can call me Jake. I'm your caretaker, chap." He laughed, his accent sounding absolutely terrifying to the chained up boy.

"Let me go. You're one of Dex's thugs, aren't you?" John asked fearfully, trying his best to glare at the brunette, who grinned widely.

"I wouldn't call myself a thug, but yes. I work for Dex. And I was sent to bring you in. Apparently, he has some big plans for you. But I get to 'break' you first~"

John didn't have time to even ask what that meant, because Jake was unchaining him and letting him stand free. He looked up in confusion at the brunette grinned even wider, punching him in the jaw. The ravenette fell back with a loud cry of pain, stumbling and hitting the wall.

"Come on, let's see what you got, Johnny boy." Jake's voice was cruel and mocking as he kicked John's ankle and then kneed his stomach. The boy fell to the ground and curled up, trying to protect himself from the beating he was getting.

"Get up, John. This is the time where you prove yourself." Jake spoke in a sing-a-song voice, crackling. His green eyes flashed in anger when the boy whimpered, and he kicked him hard before grabbing a fistful of his messy black hair and dragging him to his knees.

"I said, GET UP!" He yelled and threw John against the wall.

John winced and covered his head, which luckily didn't hit the concrete wall. He quickly got to his feet, wiping tears of pain from his eyes, and faced Jake with fearful blue eyes. The older male smiled cruelly.

"That's much better."

By the time Jake was done with him, he was curled up on the floor, his lip busted and bleeding, bruises covering his chest and legs, and his ankle twisted at a very unnatural angle. Crying and whimpering, he tried to move away as Jake stepped on his leg, resulting in a pained cry.

"Well, I'll tell the boss I'm done with you, Johnny boy." The green eyed male leaned down and grinned in the boy's face before kicking him a last time and exiting the room.

Trying not to let any more tears fall, John curled up in a corner of the room and let his pounding head rest against the wall. He wanted Dave. No, he wanted Karkat. He just wanted to get out of here, and have someone save him. But no one knew where he was. Dave would be worried at this point and look for him, right?

"Well, well, well. If it isn't John Egbert." Dex entered the room and closed the door behind him with a loud bang.

John pressed his back to the wall and bit his lip hard, trying not to panic as the blonde approached him.

"Let's get down to business, shall we?"

Dave was in a state of panic and chaos right now. It had been three hours since he had left John at the coffee shop, and the teen still wasn't back. He had tried calling his phone, but John had left it at the apartment in his rush to get out. He dialed Karkat's number and waited for him to pick up.

"Hello?"

"Karkat, I can't find John anywhere. Have you—"

"First you break his heart and then you lose him?! What kind of irresponsible—"

"Yell at me later! How did you know he was upset with me?"

"I saw him at the coffee shop when I went with Sollux. He left soon after, I don't know where he went."

"Shit." Dave cursed under his breath.

"Meet me at the coffee shop in five minutes." Karkat spoke before hanging up. The blonde hurried and slipped his shoes on before he locked the apartment, heading out to the coffee shop. He met the troll there within a few minutes, both males looking equally distraught.

"Maybe he went downtown?" Dave mused as he looked around, starting to walk down the sidewalk. Karkat followed him, growling under his breath.

"This wouldn't have happened if you had controlled your hormones!" The troll spit out venomously, and Dave winced, knowing the words were true.

"I was drunk, ok." He caught Karkat's expression and went on. "Not saying that's reasonably ok, but I would never hurt John intentionally."
"We need to find him. I feel like something bad has happened to him." Karkat bit his lip and let out a small sigh, an uneasy look in his eyes.

John's breath caught in his throat as Dex pulled out a gun from his trench coat, pacing back and forth in front of the boy.

"I've thought for a while, John. You've caused me a lot of trouble. I had so many run ins with the police because of you. I almost got you that day in the alleyway, remember?"

The blue eyed teen's eyes widened. So it had been Dex's fault he had almost died and had been taken in by Karkat…He swallowed hard and looked up at the blonde with fear in his eyes.

"But now…now is the real time where I show my true colors. You're going to die, John Egbert, and it's going to be a painful, slow one."

He leveled the gun at John, who squeezed his eyes shut, terrified, trembling.

And Dex pulled the trigger.

Wow. I love cliff hangers, huh?

Review?

ALSO! I have a new story on my page, called You Make My Kokoro Go Doki Doki. It's JohnDave and I'm sure you guys will love it! Give it a read, yes?

~samx