Thank you all so much for understanding, you're all really good reviewers! I officially dub all of you my best friends and knights of the reviewers' table!

I'm kind of struggling with this; I'm not sure where to go from here. Could you guys please help me by telling me what you think we be cool to put in here? Thanks a lot!

Anyway, for anyone who has been reading my other fics look at my bio and it will tell you why I haven't been updating. Oh, and I have a new e-mail address now, one that's all mine, so if you wanna send me an e-mail then check it out in my bio also.

A Life not worth living

Chapter 10 – Big help from a little kid

All three burst into the police station panting. Tyson was looking at a map with the Chief of police beside him. They looked up to see the three boys staring at them. "What took you guys so long?"

"Tyson, I told you before I'm not an Olympic athlete, I can't run that fast"

"Chief told us Max's Uncle was spotted out of town" Ray walked over to see the map.

"Yeah, someone claimed to have seen him here" Tyson pointed to a small dot to the east of the town. It was a small village called Culloden. (A.N I couldn't think of a name to give it so I just named it after where I live)

"There is one little problem about this though" They all looked at the cop with worried faces. "It wasn't an adult that reported seeing this man"

"It was a kid?" He nodded at Kenny, whose jaw dropped to the ground.

"We have to rely on what a KID told us?" They all turned to their team leader to find a very angry expression on his face. "I don't believe this!" He flung his arms in the air and slammed them back down at his sides.

"We don't have a choice, if we want to find Max. I mean, do you have any idea where he is?" The bluenette looked up at Ray and sighed sadly. "My point exactly"

"Sir, do you know who old this kid is?" The policeman shook his head at Tyson.

"I just know it's a girl that called. She sounded about seven to me"

"Great, even better, it's a toddler we have to listen to"

"Kai, she could be smart for her age. I mean, she did phone the police claiming she saw a criminal"

"Chief's right. No kid would play a prank like this" Tyson went and stood beside Kenny. There was silence for a moment before the Head cop broke it.

"The only way to find out is to go to Culloden and ask her ourselves and look around"

That was it, things couldn't get any worse. He couldn't be broken anymore than what he already was. After his Uncle had finished with him once more he was confounded to being tied to the pole on the floor again while Uncle slept on the floor a few feet away. He wasn't crying, he couldn't cry anymore, there weren't anymore tears to cry. He shifted slightly on the floor but that just lead to a sharp pain in his stomach. He felt like, actually, he wanted to throw up. He just felt so dirty.

The sun was still up so he figured it was some time in the afternoon. It was quite hot which didn't really help things. He weakly looked up to the table not far off and saw the gun that was brought in a couple of hours ago. If he could get a hold of it somehow…

He shifted about to get used to the pain and because his hands were tied in front of him again he easily griped the pole and slowly pulled himself to his feet. But once he was standing he felt his legs go numb and moving them was pretty sore. 'I must have been sitting longer than I thought'

Uncle moved in his sleep and made a few grunting noises. He looked more like an animal at the moment. Max slowly tried to slip his hands through the handcuffs but it wasn't working, his hands were too big. He looked on the floor around him for something to picklock it with but there wasn't anything that looked small enough. This was going to be harder than he thought.

The police car pulled up by a small house in the village and the gang climbed out. For a small house it looked pretty expensive with its fancy windows and doors along with a lush green lawn. "This is where the call came from? This little girl must be rich!" Tyson awed at the building in front of him.

"I think it's more likely that her parents are the rich ones" Kenny appeared beside him, also closely glancing at the house. The Chief cop went up first, followed by everyone else. He rang the bell and they waited patiently until a young, dark haired woman answered it. She looked a bit shocked by the people on her front porch.

"Yes? Can I help you?"

"Um, yes, my name is Detective Sean Manica (Hey, look, he finally has a name!) I'm here because I got a phone call about a young girl, possibly your daughter, claiming she has seen this man" He held up a picture of Uncle and the moment she saw it she gasped and placed a hand over her mouth.

"Oh dear…please, come in" She ushered them all into the house and quickly shut the door. The house was just as nice on the inside as it was on the outside. "Please, sit. Beth! BETH!" A little girl with long, emerald hair entered the room and stopped when she saw all the people in the house. "Beth, did you know why these people are here?"

"Yes. I saw him again mummy"

"Are you the one that phoned me?" Beth looked at the cop and nodded. "What do you mean you saw him again?"

"I'll answer that one, but I prefer to speak to you alone" Sean nodded and followed Beth's mum into the kitchen, leaving Beth in the room with the four boys. She looked at each one of them uncomfortably.

"How old are Beth?" The little girl looked at Tyson a bit shocked at first that a stranger was talking to her in her own home.

"Six and a half"

"Do you know who we are?" He continued.

"I saw you on the T.V. before but I don't know your names"

"My name is Tyson, and this is Ray, Kenny and Kai"

"Beth, can I ask you a question?" Beth looked at the oldest teen and nodded her head. She seemed to be more confident now. "How have you seen this man before?" She looked sadly down towards the ground and then back up at him.

"Mummy says I'm not allowed to mention it again"

"Please tell me. He's taken my best friend, our best friend, and we don't know where. Please Beth" She twitched slightly and then squeezed her eyes shut.

"No! He tried to take me away! He's a bad man and I'm not supposed to talk about him anymore" All four boys gasped at what she just said. It wasn't just Max that was a victim of this madman…he'd been trying to take innocent kids as well.

"He tried to take you?" He knelt down in front of her as she opened her eyes and looked at him. She sadly nodded her head. "It wasn't a nice time for you was it?" Kai was trying to speak in terms that she could understand.

"No. But I screamed when he tried to take me in his car and then a nice lady saw what he was doing and saved me"

"I see…listen Beth. I want you to think back to when you saw him again. Can you tell me if you saw anyone else with him. A boy a bit younger than me perhaps?"

"I saw him get out of a car and go into a shop and in the car I saw a boy with yellow hair sitting in the back seat"

"Max…" They looked up when the kitchen door opened and Beth's mum and Sean joined them once again.

"Listen…we may need to stay in this village for a couple of days, you know, so I can have a look around. Mrs. Glen here as offered to house all of you. I'm going to head over to the local police station and see what's happening over there. I'll see you lot later" They nodded and watched as he left the house. Mrs. Glen turned to them.

"I have two spare bedrooms upstairs for you to stay in. You each have a bed for yourselves so there's plenty of space. Would anyone like something to eat or drink?" They all agreed and were given a nice hot meal before they headed back into the sitting room to watch T.V. and play games with Beth. Mrs. Glen announced that she was taking a quick trip to the supermarket. "Beth you better behave and DON'T leave the house"

"Yes mummy!" Her mum left and Beth stuck her tongue out the door.

"Boy, do you love your mom" She gave Kenny a big smile.

"She worries about everything. Oh! Do you want me to show you where you're sleeping?"

"I'll go, you guys can stay here. No point in all of us going up" Beth grabbed Ray's hand lead him upstairs. She showed him the two rooms to his left and when she was finished she grabbed his hand again and insisted he see her own room as well. He laughed and agreed. His eyes widened at the sight of her room – it was like a throne room. It was painted a light purple and she had draped hanging from her bed to match. There were stuffed toys and dolls around the room and she had a small television and DVD combo on her chest of drawers. On her walls were a few posters of baby animals and Disney films, the biggest one being 'The Lion King'

"You're a little princess aren't you?"

"Yeah! I love my room. Here, this is my favourite toy, you can hold him!" She took a stuffed animal of her bed and handed it to him. It was a lion cub. "Look!" She turned him upside down and showed him the tag which had 'Disney's The Lion King' imprinted on it. "His name is Simba!" He laughed slightly.

"You like The Lion King, don't you?"

"It's my favourite film ever!" He stroked the cub with his thumbs and smiled as she dived on her bed. A frown came across his face as he thought of what she had told them before. He couldn't believe that man would try to take a girl like Beth. If she hadn't had screamed like she did then she probably wouldn't be here, showing him the things she loved. He hoped Max was all right. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing. Come on, let's go back downstairs"

"AWWWW!"

"You can show the others Simba…"

"OK!" She bounced off her bed and followed him back downstairs.

Max threw the handcuffs to the side and gripped his hands in pain. He looked at them and saw that some of the skin had come off from him forcing his hands out of the cuffs. He didn't have a choice as there was nothing to undo them with. He stood up and looked at Uncle who was still out cold with a can of beer lying in his palm. Max looked over to the table and slowly walked to it and picked up the gun.

He looked at it, disgusted but he was scared of it. He had no idea how to use it, what if he shot someone or worse, himself. He gave his Uncle on last glance and headed over to the door, slowly opening it. He crept outside and then made a break for it. He was in so much pain when he ran he was surprised he hadn't collapsed yet. It was dawn now and he was beginning to think what he would do when it got dark.

Following the dirt track seemed like a good idea. But after running for a bout five minutes his legs couldn't take it anymore and he fell flat on his face, the gun lading on its side in front of him. If he didn't know where he was, with difficulties in using his legs, he was going to find it hard to find help or civilisation. And what if his Uncle found him missing before he had a chance to completely disappear? He was badly injured and in the middle of nowhere…what on Earth was he going to do now?

There you go! An update. I love little Beth, she's so cute! Anyway, let me know what you think and review!