I'm so glad everyone in the story knows who the kidnapper is now. It was so annoying going back and forth with pronouns depending on whose perspective it was.
Anyway, we're entering the climax today. The end game! The final countdown! Get psyched!
Edit: I'm glad I looked at the last chapter with Craig before I finished this, because I almost made a continuity error!
Chapter 24 – Craig/Clyde
Craig yawned as he held Tweek to his side. He had only been here a day or two and already he knew he couldn't let Jackson anywhere near his Tweek. That guy would pay for everything he did to his beloved. He would make sure of that.
He looked over at the others who were all sleeping soundly. It was easy to lose track of time down here; there were no windows or clocks. Hopefully when they got out of here their internal clocks wouldn't be thrown off too much.
Tweek shifted next to him, and Craig looked down. He frowned slightly. His poor boyfriend was so scared of every sound, flinching every time the door opened. When they got out, Craig was going to make sure he pampered him every day.
Which reminds me, I'm going to have to tell him about what I did with Clyde when we get out of here, he thought, I can only hope he doesn't hate me too bad. But that can wait for when we get out. I don't want to make things worse for him.
"Psst! Craig!" someone hissed at him, startling Craig from his thoughts. He looked around and spotted Kenny staring intensely at him.
"Kenny? What is it?" Craig wondered. Kenny put a finger to his lips, looked around briefly with his eyes, then leaned forward.
"You said we were going to be saved soon," he whispered, "But how can you be so sure? We've had no hope for so long and suddenly you say we're almost out!"
Craig wasn't all that surprised by Kenny's skepticism. After all, he and the others had been trapped for weeks without any taste of escape. And Craig still had a lot of doubt, himself. He didn't know if Clyde would do the right thing or not.
But still…
"Stan, Token… and Clyde," Craig replied in a low voice, "The four of us were investigating before I got caught. In fact, we all know who it is, I just happened to get complacent and got caught for it."
At least, I hope Stan and Token know who did it now.
Kenny looked down at the floor, as if he had more to say, but decided against it. He fidgeted in place and it started to annoy Craig a little.
"What is it?" he asked.
"I just… I feel like something is going to go terribly wrong," Kenny muttered, "I have an innate sense of danger. There's something troubling coming."
"You worry too much," Craig dismissed.
Kenny scoffed at him and turned away, pulling Karen closer to himself. Craig tried not to let his words bother him, but then again Kenny and his friends always did end up in terrible trouble.
But then again, isn't this the worst danger we could be in right now?
…
"Mr. Johnston?"
"Yes, officer, how may I help you?"
"We have a warrant for your arrest. You are the prime suspect in the recent string of kidnappings here in South Park."
Before the officer could go any further, though, Mr. Johnston slammed the door in his face. As the police battered at the door, he raced down to the secret basement. He was furious.
"Which one of you rats revealed me?" he barked, "How dare you betray me!"
"Yo pops, the police are at the door," Jackson told him, coming down the stairs.
"I know that you idiot!" Johnston snarled at him, "We've been compromised! Did you tell the police?"
"No, of course not!" Jackson growled, "Why would I do that?"
"Gee, I wonder how the police found out?" a voice jeered, "It's almost like you're not as thorough as you thought you were!"
Mr. Johnston and Jackson looked down at their prisoners and saw Craig sneering at them. Even from his position on the floor, he radiated triumph.
"Maybe next time you should try to cover all your tracks, Mr. Johnston!" Craig mocked, "And make sure when you kidnap someone no one is watching!"
"You!" Johnston hissed. He started to storm towards Craig, but there was a sudden crash from upstairs.
"Sounds like the police are here," Kenny taunted, "You're finished."
The man glared at his prisoners, all of them grinning at him in victory. He turned to Jackson.
"Stay here and watch them!" he demanded, "I'll handle the police!"
As Johnston went back upstairs, Jackson stayed in the basement, glaring at them. He turned his angry gaze to Craig.
"It's over, you know," Craig told him, a smug look on his face, "You may as well give up. If you tell the police your dad forced you to do all of this, they may forgive you."
"You think you're gonna get away that easily?" Jackson growled, "I don't think so. When the police get down here, all they're going to find is a bunch of dead bodies!" He pulled out a knife and everyone gasped. "Starting with you, Craig."
Craig's eyes narrowed as Jackson stalked forward, but a moment later he let out a strange guttural sound and lurched forward. Everyone watched as he sank to the floor. Clyde standing behind him holding a large metal pipe. Craig grinned.
"I knew you'd come," he said.
"Is everyone ok?" Clyde asked, "No one's hurt?"
"No, we're all fine," Wendy answered, "But what are you doing here, Clyde? Shouldn't the police have handled this?"
"Never mind that!" Cartman snapped, "Get us out of here!"
Clyde rolled his eyes and went over to the table where Mr. Johnston worked. He shifted through the junk before finding a set of keys on a large key ring.
"Hope these are the keys to your shackles," he said, "Otherwise I'll have to force them open."
He went over to where Kenny and Karen were and started sorting through the keys. Everyone flinched when there was the sudden sound of gun shots from above them.
"Sounds like things are getting intense up there," Nichole muttered.
"Y-You d-don't think Mr. J-J-Johnston c-can take the-the-the entire p-police force buh-by himself, d-do you?" Jimmy wondered.
The whole room was silent for a moment.
"Well, let's not stick around to find out," Clyde decided.
He went over to Kenny and Karen, who were nearest and slid the key into Kenny's shackles. He had to jiggle them around a moment, but he was free at last. He did the same with Karen. Then Clyde moved onto the next person as Kenny and Karen went to the door.
"I'm going to try to secure us a way out," he told the others, "I'll get Karen out first and then come back for the rest of you."
"Good idea, thanks Kenny!" Kevin said.
Kenny nodded and quickly dashed up the stairs with Karen. Meanwhile, Craig held onto Tweek.
"Don't worry, love," he murmured to him, "I'll hold you the whole time and we'll both make it out safe and sound."
"O-Ok," Tweek stuttered.
It was a slow process of Clyde releasing everyone and Kenny leading everyone to safety. Everyone was eager to be free, but they waited patiently (except for Cartman who kept hissing, "Me next!") Kyle barely moved until he was freed and he had a haunted look in his eyes when Clyde unshackled him. But finally only Tweek and Craig were left.
"All right Tweek, let's get those shackles off you," Clyde said, his voice low.
"AH!" Tweek squeaked.
"Don't worry, babe, I'll be right behind you," Craig assured him.
"O-Ok," Tweek stuttered. In a few moments he was free and Kenny rushed over to help him to his feet. Clyde started working on freeing Craig as Kenny helped Tweek across the room.
But before anyone could finish, there was a loud explosion from above them, shaking the entire house. Tweek and Kenny nearly fell over.
"W-What was that?" Tweek meeped.
"I don't know," Kenny replied, looking all around, "Did Mr. Johnston blow himself up or something?"
"Just hurry and get Tweek out of here!" Craig begged, "We'll be fine!"
"To hell you will," a voice growled behind them. Clyde spun around and saw Jackson rising from the floor. He had the discarded pipe in his hand. There was a look of murder on his face.
"I'm not going to let you two escape," he growled, "You may have ruined my dad's plans, but that doesn't mean you get to live!"
Clyde dodged a swing from the pipe as Kenny quickly pulled Tweek away. Craig tried to pull himself out of his shackles, but it was no use. And with Clyde busy with Jackson, he was forced to wait before he could be freed.
"What is your problem, man?" Clyde cried as he dodged another blow.
"You!" Jackson snapped, "You two are my problem! You keep taking everything from me! I've been reduced to a joke because of you! My reputation will be ruined! You stole Tweek from me when I had a great thing going with him! Well now I'm going to take everything from you!"
"Uh, Clyde?" Craig said as Jackson ranted, "You might want to hurry this up. The ceiling's on fire. I don't know if it will hold."
"I'm a little busy, Craig!" Clyde pointed out. He grabbed the pipe with a restrained cry as it swung down at him, stopping it from coming down on his head.
"All right, just letting you know," Craig said in a much-too-casual voice.
Clyde panted as he struggled to push Jackson away. Jackson sneered at him and was about to overpower him when Craig suddenly lashed out his foot, kicking Jackson in the side of his leg and causing him to fall over. He banged his head on the floor and went still.
Leaning on his knees and panting, Clyde looked down at Craig. "Thanks," he said, "I don't think I was going to last much longer."
"I know," Craig said, somewhat smugly, "That's why I did it."
Clyde rolled his eyes before squatting down to finish freeing Craig. The black-haired teen sighed as he rubbed his wrists.
"I was only in those for a couple of days, but I'm glad to be free of those," he said, "All right, let's get out of here before the whole place burns down around us."
Clyde nodded and helped Craig to his feet. They raced up the stairs to the main basement and stopped to stare in horror.
The entire room was completely engulfed in flame. Including the window the others had used to escape. They were trapped.
"Oh no," Clyde breathed, "What are we going to do?"
Craig scanned the room, looking for anything that could help them. "There!" he cried, "Use that table and lay it across the flames in the door! Then we can get out of here!"
Nodding, Clyde ran over to the table Craig pointed to and grabbed it. He carefully laid it across the flames of the basement door like Craig had suggested and helped him across it before getting over it himself.
Once they were out into the main house, they could see just how devastating the damage was. Flames were everywhere and the police were nowhere to be found. What appeared to be explosive chemicals were scattered everywhere as long as broken glass. Clyde took a sharp breath when he saw a body on the floor. It was Mr. Johnston. He was dead.
"He got what he deserved," Craig spat, "Now let's get out of here. It's getting hard to breathe."
"Come on, get under the smoke," Clyde advised, "We'll be safer if we don't breathe it in."
Craig coughed before nodding. "Yeah, good idea," he agreed, "We need to stay low while we look for an exit."
The two of them crouched low to the ground and slowly inched their way through the house, trying to find a way out. But any way they went they were blocked by roaring flames. Even the front door was completely blocked by fire. Before long, the two slumped to the ground in front of the door.
"Damn it," Clyde muttered, "I was hoping to get you out of here. I hoped I could make up for some of what I did by helping you all. I'm an idiot." He lowered his head, tears coming to his eyes.
"It's ok, Clyde," Craig whispered, his voice wheezing, "At least you managed to save the others. Wish Tweek could've seen me one more time…"
With a small sigh, Craig fell sideways, his eyes falling closed. Clyde gasped.
"Craig, no!" he exclaimed, "You've got to stay awake! You've got… to… stay awake…"
As Clyde slipped into unconsciousness, he thought he heard a banging on the front door. But that couldn't be right… no one was coming to save them…
CLIFFHANGER! What will happen next? Stay tuned! (Also remember to leave a comment!)