A/N: This chapter is extra long, to say thank you to the ones that left a review. Thank you guys, you keep me motivated!. I'm sorry it takes me too long to update, I'm trying my best.

Chapter 36: Heartbeat

Joseph was running on his own through the forest. He still didn't know if he was supporting this idea, so he did not run fast or looked well around him for he didn't know what he had to do if he found one of the Bella's. He put his hands in his pockets as he slowed his step and walked through the woods. If he only would stay gone long enough, everyone would think that he had been searching as well. He wiped his forehead with his tank top as it still was incredibly hot. He had seen a change in Bumper's attitude when they had found the Bella's. This was the same Bumper who had humiliated the Bella's before they had run off. This was another person than the person who had taken care of them for weeks. And honestly, this Bumper scared the crap out of him.

He suddenly heard a soft sound, a sobbing sound coming from his right. Slowly, he walked over to the source of the sound. It was still hard to see what was lying 10 feet before him, but he could make out shades and recognized the figure of a woman sitting against a tree with her legs curled up to her chest. Her head was rested against her knees. Joseph's heart pounded faster now he had found a Bella, even if he didn't know which one it was. What should he do? Should he capture her? Force her back to the new camp against her will? That thought disgusted him. He had changed when he got here, but he had not sunk that low. Should he just walk by and pretend he didn't see her? But what if another one of them would find her and was captured anyways? No, that could not happen on his watch. If he could rescue her, he would.

When he took a step closer, a twig snapped under his weight. The girl's head shot up and he looked into her eyes. Her whole body was trembling in fear. Her breathing became hoarse and faltered in panic.

"Hey… Easy… I'm not here to hurt you." he said softly.

"Please don't take me… I can't… I-..." she cried.

"I'm not going to take you." he said as he came closer, but that only scared the girl more.

"I can't go back to your camp… Please… If you're gonna take me, please kill me…"

"Hey, I'm not gonna take you. And I'm definitely not going to kill you." he dropped on his knees in front of her. "But others might, so we need to get you to a safe place."

"I don't believe you… Please, kill me if you want to, but please don't rape me again…"

"What are you talking about?"

"Bumper… And Jesse… They…"

"Did they really rape you?" he said softly.

"They did. When you and the others were gone."

"Listen, I'm not going to harm you. I'm gonna get you back to the others. I know the others treated you bad, but please understand," he sighed, "I would never, ever hurt you."

"Promise?"

"I swear… Please, I'm Joseph." he said offering her his hand. "The Trebles call me Unicycle, but that's just a nickname."

The girl shook his hand.

"You're Chloe right?" he asked. Chloe nodded. "Can you stand? Are you injured?"

"Why are you doing this?"

"We all need something watching over us."

About an hour later, Stacie was still waiting on the beach. She was sitting down, next to Ashley and Amy who had found her and they were all looking for signs of the missing girls. Of course, Stacie had not told the other girls what had happened before Aubrey had left. But that didn't mean that what happened did not repeat over and over in her head. They had all decided that they would look for them if they hadn't returned by daybreak.

When Stacie heard something coming from the forest, she stood up and pointed her gun at the source of the sound. Amy and Ashley moved behind her.

"Aubrey, is that you?"

But instead of Aubrey, Chloe walked out of the vegetation, being supported by Joseph. But instead of putting the gun away, Stacie pointed the gun at the Treble.

"You! Stay away from her!"

He raised his hands. "You're getting the wrong impression here. I brought her here."

"Just so you could take us all to your Treble buddies."

"No, no, not at all." Joseph sounded a bit offended. "Look, Chloe told me what happened and I do not at all approve what Bumper and Jesse have done. I'm on your side."

"Prove it." Amy said, still suspicious.

"He's telling the truth, he helped me." Chloe said softly.

He turned around and lifted his top a bit to show his waist.

"See, I'm unarmed."

When Stacie put her gun away, Chloe ran towards her and hugged her.

"Are you okay, Chlo'?"

"Where's the rest of the group?" she asked concerned.

"Aubrey…" she said, but didn't finish her sentence.

"Aubrey went looking for you." Ashley said plainly.

"But where is Beca, she was with you wasn't she?"

Chloe hesitated. "I… I lost her."

Moments later, they were sitting on the beach together with Joseph, discussing what they had all went through the last couple months.

"... So life has been generally good in the Trebles camp. Bumper calmed down eventually after you escaped." he looked at Chloe.

"But what the hell is wrong with him! Why does he hates us so much…"

"I think that this has to be about domination… I heard from stories that he had a very difficult childhood. Now he is on his own he needs to be in control of someone, anybody."

"But isn't this extreme?!" Amy said.

"I know it is and I'm not defending him or anything, I'm just trying to understand his voice of reason."

"Do explain, because I don't see it."

"Look, ever when we were back home, he always has been the bossy one. He was very suppressed by anyone in his family, his mother, his father, his brothers as he is the youngest. Like, not somewhat suppressed, but really suppressed. Ever since he moved out and came to Barden, he felt the need to prove himself to himself. To prove that he was able to take control. That he is controlling something, so the people around him. So when the crash happened he felt like he had to regain control of the situation."

"I've heard from people that he started hating you when Bumper was coronated as the new Treble leader at the party last year. Something happened to a Treble, John."

Chloe felt her heart drop when she thought about that party. They had all been there: the Trebles, the Bellas, the High Notes and the BU harmonics. They were celebrating the last few weeks of the semester, with also the finals of the competition somewhere the week after the party.

"Do we really need to go?" Chloe whined. "Can't we just stay home and have a movie night or something?"

"Uh-uh." Aubrey said putting on her flawless makeup "we need to be there to show the Trebles we're not going down without a fight."

"But can't we do that, like, during finals?" she sighed "Why do we need to do that at a party."

"Just because! And if we go, I might get even closer with the captain so she will give me the captain scarf when she leaves in a few weeks."

Chloe rolled her eyes.

"Please, don't bail on me." Aubrey begged.

"Fine."

"Now, let's get you in something more… impressing." she pointed at the sweatpants her friend was wearing.

"You're lucky I'm such a good friend." Chloe mocked her.

A few hours later, they found themselves dancing in the yard of the Trebles house. Some people were swimming inside the small pool in the back. Music blasted through the enormous speakers on a table.

"I still can't believe they got this house when they first won the championships!" Chloe tried to say to her friend, but the music was too loud.

"I think I see Claire, give me a sec." Chloe said and she left. Aubrey watched her friend leave for the table with drinks, when she heard a voice behind her.

"Hi, you're Aubrey right?"

When she turned around, she looked into a pair of sparkling green eyes. The locks of his dark brown hair were held from his face with pomade in some modern pompadour haircut. A matching dark brown stubble was fixed around his smile showing his perfect white teeth. The muscular guy in front of her was wearing a plain black sweater on his ripped jeans.

"Hello?" he smiled and waved his hand in front of her eyes.

"Hi…" Aubrey stammered. "Hi, I'm sorry." she blinked a few times.

"I don't believe I introduced myself properly before with all this competition going on between our teams." he joked. "I'm John."

"Aubrey." she said as she shook his hand. "You're a Treble?"

"Definitely." Aubrey's stomach dropped. "So how come you never get to solo?"

"Oh, I am actually soloing for the first time next finals." He looked impressed.

Aubrey was pushed by some guy who wanted to pass her, so she fell forward, spilling her drink on herself and over John who caught her from falling.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry."

"Don't worry about it." he laughed. "I'll get you another drink, what did you have?"

Soda, she wanted to answer, but she did not want to be that kind of girl at a party.

"Anything's fine." And with those words he left to get her a drink.

When she turned around she stood face to face with Chloe.

"Oh my aca-Gee, was that cute guy John talking to you?!" she asked excitedly.

"Yes and no, Chlo, he's a Treble, I can't."

"Ugh, stupid oath." Chloe complained. "You really need to get laid."

"Who needs to get laid?" they heard John's deep voice behind them. "I'm joking, who are you?"

"Hi, I'm Chloe." She said. He quickly put the three drinks in his left hand so he could shake her hand with his right.

"John." he said "So when I saw you talking to miss pretty over here, I decided I'd get you a drink as well." Aubrey blushed.

"Alright." Chloe tried to sound cool when she looked at the dark blue drink in her hands "What is it?"

"It's my special mix, called 'John's secret'. The secret won't come out until you chug the drink."

Aubrey glanced over at Chloe, who just shrugged.

"Cheers." he said as he drank the liquid in one gulp. John crushed the plastic red cup in his fist and threw it over his left shoulder. Aubrey and Chloe did the same.

"Alright, now let's party!"

A few hours later, Chloe found herself dancing on a table with some girl from the High Notes. Her vision was blurry, although she did not drink much alcohol, as the Bella's captain had prohibited now the finals were coming up. She did not remember how she had gotten there or what had happened between their encounter with John and the girl she was now grinding against, but she felt fantastic. She had the impression she could take over the world, together with… Where was Aubrey?

Aubrey was heavily making out with John. He grinned as she clumsily tried to stay on her feet. There was a part of her brain telling her this was wrong, but the major part of her brain could not resist the temptation. She did not remember anything what had happened and what was happening she could not comprehend. She felt John's hands roaming from her butt to her breasts. But his movements were aggressive and he was hurting her with his strong grip. But her mind did not let her protest.

"Why don't we continue this upstairs?" he said nipping her earlobe.

"Yes" she said. "No." She thought.

She did not resist when John guided her to the stairs, pushing their way through the crowd. When Aubrey glanced to the toilet, the door was standing open. A red haired girl was sitting on her knees, puking her guts out. Her mind was too corrupted to see that that girl was her best friend Chloe.

Chloe did however recognize her friend, although she was on the verge of passing out. She saw Aubrey leaving with that boy and somehow, in her clouded brain, she made the connection that that was wrong. They were not supposed to hook up. Something was terribly wrong. She tried to stand up, but she immediately collapsed again. The feeling of euphoria had disappeared and she was panicking now. She had to get to Aubrey.

On her hands and her knees she tried to climb the stairs, but her limbs resisted. Her eyes fell on a pair of candles standing on the stand in the hallway, that spread their fiery glow across the walls.

Meanwhile, John had locked the door behind them. He was drunk, but not too drunk to forget what he was doing. He was undressing Aubrey quickly until she was left in her underwear.

"No…" she stammered. "I don't want to do this."

But her body did not match her words. She did not resist when John pushed her onto the bed. He got rid of his sweater and his pants, before he laid himself on top of her.
"What did you do to me?" Aubrey slurred.

"It's gonna be okay." he shushed her and he kissed her again. "Don't talk now. This won't hurt a bit… You'll never be a Bella again."

"FIRE!" someone shouted from the first floor. Immediately John got up and looked around. "FIRE! EVERYONE GET OUT OF THE HOUSE!"

This moment of panic, Aubrey jumped up from the bed and took a, surprisingly, quick sprint to the bathroom. When she saw John behind her, she quickly locked the door.

"Aubrey! Let me in!" She heard him scream faintly. "Goddammit Aubrey!"

Everything made sense. "You see, I never liked you. I never liked you, Aubrey, I never liked the little dyke group you are pretending to be." He raised his voice again. "AND YOU GUYS SCREWED THINGS UP EVEN MORE. THAT. Is. Crazy." Chloe remembered Bumper screaming to her and Aubrey. "IT'S YOUR FAULT IT HAPPENED LAST YEAR! DON'T DENY IT YOU CUNT!"

"His death wasn't our fault." she said. "Someone tipped over the candles, the fire was an accident."

"I wasn't there." Joseph said. "But Bumper said that he saw you near the candles when it happened. But he also said that Aubrey locked him up on purpose. He's convinced that you set fire to the house to harm the reputation of the Trebles. John's death was just a convenient side effect."

"That's… That's not true." she said. But honestly, what happened that night was a blur. She did not remember what she had done. They had found traces of Rohypnol in their blood when they got checked the day after. That was the only reason they were not kicked out of the Bellas. But nothing could be done when the culprit was dead.

"Bumper thinks it is and he has been angry at you both ever since."

About an hour before the sun came up, Joseph decided to go back to the cave.

"Why do you want to go back?" Chloe asked.

"I still have people there who I care about." he answered. "And I need to make sure if there are not any of you hold by us."

This is how at sunrise, he arrived at the cave again. Everyone else had already came back before him and they greeted him.

"Welcome to our new home, Uni!" Greg said. "Look at the beds the girls made, this is amazing! We have everything, fresh water, beds, shelter for the rain…"

Joseph's breath faltered when he saw the unconscious blonde laying on the ground with her hands and feet tied together with tape. There was dried blood on her forehead from a gash above her eyebrow.

"Oh her!" Greg said excited "this is the best part! We got her! We got the captain!"

He glanced over to his best friend Donald, who caught his gaze while he was talking. He quickly said something and stood up and walked towards Joseph.

"I'll see you later." Joseph said to Greg and he understood that he needed to leave.

"What's wrong Jo?" Donald asked. Joseph started walking outside, so they could talk privately.

"What's wrong? Think about that unconscious girl lying there, dude!"

"Chill man, we're only keeping her to force the Bella's to surrender." he said.

"Do you hear what you're saying?" he said angrily. "We're keeping her to force the Bella's to surrender?"

Donald only looked at him questioningly.

"Did you find a Bella, Donald?" Joseph said eventually.

"No, I did not."

"Well, I did and the girl was fucking terrified that I was about to rape and torture her!"

"Wait, you found another Bella?" Donald asked, lowering his voice.

"Listen to me." he said seriously. "Jesse and Bumper raped the girl…"

"That's bullshit, Jo, and you know it."

"It does explain why I saw the most horrified woman I've seen in my life. She begged me to kill her instead of doing something to her. I'm telling you, she has been tortured by them. This is not fooling around anymore, or keeping her to force surrender. This," he pointed to the unconscious girl, "this is what a girl looks like when she gets found by the police in the abductor's cellar. What is happening here, is changing all of us. The girl I found looked at me as if was a psycho killer-rapist. This is not who I am, dude. This not who we are." He was angry that his friend did not believe him.

"Do you trust me?" he eventually asked. Donald nodded.

"Then trust me if I tell you that hunting them and keeping them like animals is not humane."

They did not speak for a moment as Donald let the words sink in.

"So imagine that it is true. I'm not saying that it is, I'm only saying it because you're my friend. What do you want me to do?"

Beca woke up at some time in the morning. Of course, it was raining. She found herself laying on her stomach in the grass. Before she opened her eyes, she noticed she felt incredibly sick. Her head pounded as if she had a massive hangover. Her whole body hurt as if she had been hit by a train. When she opened her eyes, she was shocked to find herself somewhere else than the cave.

"What… What happened… Where am I?"

When she looked around her, she saw the familiar jungle, but she did not recognize anything. Where was everyone?

As she stood up, she had to lean against a tree to not fall over immediately. She licked her cracked lips as she tried to remember what had happened, anything at all. She noticed how thirsty and hungry and above all nauseous she was. She needed water first. Then she would figure out what happened and where the other's were.

She tried to collect some rainwater with a large leave she plucked. But as soon as she had drunk some water, she threw it right up again.

"Alright, slowly…" She sat down as she tried to hydrate herself again, ignoring the nausea. After she had drunk a bit, she felt her stomach ask for food, but she ignored it.

"Chloe?" she asked to the trees around her. Her voice was hoarse. "Aubrey? Stacie?"

"She's getting away!" someone yelled behind her. This only motivated Aubrey to run faster, even with her hands still tied behind her back. She heard cries of the men running after her. She was not fast enough. While trying to keep her balance, she looked around her to look for a place to hide. Her mind was blank and disabled her reasonable thinking. But at the same time, thoughts were racing through her head, panic flamed through her body, leaving her out of breath. They had taken her shoes and jacket. Her bloody feet stumbled over some rocks on her path she had not seen and her body was thrown on the ground. She cried out in pain, but tried to muffle her scream in her shoulder. She could not risk revealing her location.

As fast as she could, she tried to get up, but that was significantly more difficult without using her hands. She pushed herself to her knees by pressing her shoulder into the ground. The muscles in her legs were protesting when she tried to get up. Her first steps were slow and uncoordinated, but she picked her speed up again. She could hear the footsteps of the men following her behind her.

"I see her!" someone yelled "she's over here!"

She heard more feet approaching her. If she did not think of something now, she would get captured again. A few feet before her, the forest seemed lighter. She stumbled to the open spot, which appeared to be made out of rock. The rock where she marked her bloody footprints on was on the side of a waterfall, which was on her left. Below the rock, about 30 feet below her, there was a roaring river where the waterfall mounded to. This was a dead end. But this was not the end for Aubrey Posen. She would not go back there. Everything was better than that.

"You have nowhere to go." Bumper said as he formed a circle with the others around her. Her back faced the edge of the cliff.

"We know you can't swim." Jesse said. "Come back to us. If you jump you'll drown."

"If you not fall to your death first." Greg added.

Aubrey tried to swallow her tears and her fear as she took a step back, the back of her bare foot dangling over the edge. She tried to fight against the restraints that kept her hands together behind her back.

"Don't be stupid." Joseph tried. He wanted her to escape, but not like this.

But when Bumper took a step closer, Aubrey turned around and jumped. She only realized what she had done when she felt her feet leave the stone surface and she was falling towards the roaring water below her.

She heard people scream above her when she crashed into the blow crushed her body and threw every part of her body in its direction, causing the air she had collected in her lungs to be blown out. The water violently tried to tear the intruder apart. Her body scraped against the bottom of the lake which was covered with stones, causing one particular sharp stone to cut her leg open, leaving a wide deep gash across her calve. Aubrey twisted and spun around trying to regain control of the situation which was difficult with her hand still tied behind her back.

A angelic flash of white illuminated the water. It was so bright for a few seconds, it was almost like the water was on fire. But soon after, the light faded and a consuming darkness replaced it. Aubrey could not see anything. The water was too dark to be able to determine her position. As she first had felt panicked when her body screamed for oxygen, she suddenly felt really calm. She looked around her and she saw the water turning darker and darker until it was pitch black. She felt the darkness coming closer. It was swimming towards her, each second narrowing the distance between them, until the darkness was standing right in front of her and looked her in the eye.

"..." she tried to speak, but only a few small bubbles left her mouth.

The darkness engulfed her, taking over her body as they merged. In the corners of her eyes, Aubrey saw her legs becoming darker until they were swallowed by her surroundings. This is what darkness felt like. This is what dying feels like.

But then, she could hear a heartbeat. A heartbeat she recognized. She knew this beat so well, it could as well been her own.

Thud-thud.

Stacie?

Thud-thud.

Stacie, where are you?

Thud-thud...

The sound became softer. She frantically looked for the source. But no one was there.

Thud-thud… was the last beat she heard, before all the sounds faded. She suddenly heard Stacie's voice:

"I won't go home without you."

The heartbeat had stopped.

She was in the darkness.

So darkness she became.