I'm back, baby! Maybe I'll get this story done this year. Hopefully. We have a returning character for today who hasn't shown up in a while. This chapter is basically going back in time to show what's been going on with the kidnapped victims. Also, sorry if some of the info with the victims is repeated. Think of it as a reminder of what's happened or something.

Trigger Warning: Kenny is purposely trying to kill himself because in this story he still has the ability to come back to life if he dies. I realize any talk of suicide, even for these purposes might be hard on some people so if it is I urge you to skip this chapter. The only really plot relevant thing that happens is that two more people are kidnapped which will be referenced in the next chapter. Or at least skip the beginning of this chapter.

Chapter 19 – Kenny

Kenny was determined to escape no matter what. He would defy the man and get out of here, and if that meant killing himself so he could wake up back in his bed, free, then so be it. He would suffer through the pain to save his friends.

Unfortunately, no matter what he tried to do the kidnapper would thwart him. He tried to smash his head against the wall, so the man moved him to the middle of the room and attached more chains to keep him anchored up right. He refused to eat, so the man had Jackson force food and water down his throat. He decided to try to die from sleep deprivation, but the man caught on and put sleeping pills in his food, which knocked Kenny out, no matter how hard he tried to stay awake. It was hopeless.

Being the second one to be kidnapped meant Kenny was forced to watch each miserable teen be dragged in and chained to the wall. First Butters, then Wendy, and Nichole, Kevin, Timmy, Red, Kyle, and then Jimmy. When would the man stop? Kenny could only imagine how miserable their loved ones were without them. And Stan, oh Stan. How was he holding up now that he had lost not only his girlfriend but his best friend as well?

Kyle was probably the biggest blow to Kenny's heart when he was brought in. His shirt had been ripped open, his clothes wrinkled and crumpled, and he had a haunted look in his eyes. He had looked more traumatized by something that happened to him that had nothing to do with the kidnapping and when Kyle finally raised his head and spotted Kenny, running to him and embracing him, he found out the horrible truth of what it was.

"K-Kenny," Kyle had whispered in his ear, "C-Cartman's a monster. He t-took me to his house… and he raped me…"

Kenny's heart clenched and gripped Kyle tighter. He hissed with anger when the man took Kyle away from him and chained him against the wall. This was no fair! Kyle needed comfort! He was in distress! Couldn't the man see that?

After Kyle had been brought in, Kenny continued his efforts to try to escape. He had to do it for his friends. And he refused to cooperate with the man. The strange serum to cause blinding spots to appear in his vision, which made it a little difficult to see, but he wasn't going to let the man know this.

Each of the teens were affected by the liquid in different ways. And Kenny noticed that it would wear off fairly quickly at first, but the more they were injected, the longer the effects lasted. He was sure the other teens were starting to notice this as well. When the man wasn't around they discussed what happened to them.

Butters, Tweek, and him all were blinded in some way with Tweek going to totally blind. Occasionally Kenny would hear Tweek moaning about how he would never see Craig again and it broke his heart. Wendy, Nichole, and Kevin had problems with their voices, where Wendy was mute, Nichole couldn't control the volume of her voice, and Kevin could only whisper. Red, Timmy, and Kyle also had something wrong with their voices, but in entirely different ways. Red's speech was all jumbled, Timmy spoke perfectly now and in a posh accent, and Kyle mumbled, when he spoke at all that is. And after Jimmy was injected, he seemed to go deaf, unable to hear anyone.

"This whole thing makes me so mad," Kenny growled, a day after Jimmy was kidnapped, "Not only is he somehow alluding capture, but apparently the only reason he's kidnapping us is for his sick experiments. It's so wrong!"

"I know," Timmy sighed, "He doesn't seem to have the capacity for empathy or sympathy. I cannot even comprehend the point of these experiments."

"WAIT!" Nichole shouted, "I think I HEAR HIM coming!"

Everyone silenced and listened as they heard footsteps walking overhead. The door suddenly flew open and someone was pushed down the stairs. Kenny recognized Jason White as the man grabbed his arm and dragged him over to the wall and shackled him. The man then went over to the desk, wrote something in it, and then left the prisoners alone.

"Jason! Are you ok?" Kevin whisper-shouted.

Jason lifted his head, revealing a black eye and sighed. "I tried to resist and run away," he explained, "So he got that bully Jackson to beat me up."

"You kidnapped were where?" Red asked. Jason gave her a confused look and tried to rearrange the words in his head.

"He took me from my bedroom," he replied eventually, "Right in the middle of the day."

Everyone gasped. "H-He snatched you from your house in the middle of the day?" Butters clarified, "That's just wrong! How'd he do that?"

"I don't know," Jason mumbled, "My parents weren't home, the doors were locked, but somehow he found a way in."

"He's getting complacent," Kenny growled, "He thinks he can't get caught so now he's breaking into houses. I thought he was bold when he took me from in front of my home. I guarantee that this overconfidence will be his downfall."

All eyes turned to him.

"Y-You think so?" Tweek asked in a tiny voice. Kenny nodded.

"I know so," he replied, "He thinks he can get away with anything at this point. But he'll mess up. And that's when he'll be stopped."

He truly believed this and he hoped that this inspired the others to have hope. The last thing he wanted was for them all to break down and fall into despair. According to some of the teens that had been brought in more recently, Stan and Craig were still trying to find them. They hadn't given up either.

If only I could escape, Kenny thought, Then I could tell them who the kidnapper is and we could free everyone! There has to be something the man has overlooked when stopping me!

He looked at the others as they curled up on themselves. Currently Wendy had the blanket they had been sharing, wrapping it tightly around herself. Kenny still couldn't figure out why Jackson had given it to Tweek or why he kept dragging the poor boy away. Tweek didn't seem to come back with any bruises or anything so he wasn't being beaten, though he still looked traumatized. What was Jackson doing to him? Kenny would ask Tweek, but he was afraid of the answer.

As Kenny stared at Wendy, a plan suddenly came to him. The man didn't really seem to care that they were sharing the blanket. Perhaps if he used it to…

No, Kenny dismissed, What if I fail and he takes the blanket away? Then we would still be stuck and everyone would be miserable.

Still, if he had a chance to escape, shouldn't he take it? All I'd have to do is time it carefully, make sure he won't come in. Perhaps now would be a good time to try?

"Um, Wendy," Kenny called softly, "Could I borrow the blanket for a moment?"

Wendy gave him a confused look but nodded anyway. She gently tossed him the blanket. Kenny caught it and pulled it to his chest. As he bundled the blanket up, he suddenly realized that it might be traumatizing for everyone to watch him die. Especially if it seemed like he had given up. Sure, they wouldn't remember tomorrow, but he didn't want to cause them distress.

"Everyone, listen," Kenny called quietly, "I have a plan to escape and it will look really bad. But I want you all to trust me, ok? Just don't panic, all right?"

They all gave him confused looks, wondering what he meant, but nodded anyway.

With a soft sigh, Kenny turned away. Then he folded up his knees and brought the blanket to his face, pressing it hard to his nose and mouth. Good. He couldn't breathe at all. He knew smothering was actually a slow way to die, contrary to what Hollywood wanted to tell people. Which is why he hoped the man wouldn't be back for a while.

He could feel his heart start to speed up as it raced to try to bring oxygen to his blood and he felt light-headed. Excellent. He would probably pass out soon, which was why he brought his knees up. So they would catch his head and the blanket. He could hear concerned murmurs behind him, but he forced himself to ignore them. Just a little more. A little more…

"Kenny!" someone called out in warning. But it came too late as Kenny's head was forcefully pulled up and the blanket was snatched away. Kenny gasped as air came rushing back into his lungs.

"You!" the man growled at him, "Up to your tricks again! That does it! I'm going to have to find a permanent solution to this!" He tossed the blanket onto the table before storming back upstairs.

Kenny watched him go with despair before sighing. "I'm sorry, guys," he murmured, "I didn't think he would be back so soon."

"It's not your fault, Ken," Kyle mumbled, "It's like he always knows what's going on down here. He probably has a camera that watches us or something."

Kenny wanted to facepalm. Of course the man probably had a camera! Why wouldn't he? It would explain how he had managed to foil every single one of his escape attempts! How could he have been so stupid?

Groaning, Kenny pulled his legs up and wrapped his arms around them and rested his chin on top of his knees. He suddenly felt very tired. Without saying a word to anyone, he curled up and fell asleep.

Much like everyone else in that dungeon basement, Kenny didn't have a very restful sleep. He suspected none of them would be getting a good night's sleep until they got out of here. If they got out of here.

Loud footsteps sounded overhead as if the man was dragging someone with him. Kenny huffed with annoyance. Really? He's kidnapped someone again? So soon? Kenny thought, Who was it this time?

He was answered when a moment later the door opened and the man entered, dragging his victim with him. Kenny gasped when he saw who it was. It was someone he had thought was safe.

"Kenny!" Karen cried, tears streaming down her face as she tried to wrench her arm from the man's grasp.

"Karen!" Kenny tried to reach for her but his shackles held him back, "Let her go, you bastard! Just how heartless are you?"

The man chuckled, ignoring Karen's attempts to pry his fingers loose. "Now, now, don't be rude," he said in a patronizing voice, "You brought this on yourself. With all your attempts to escape, what was I supposed to do?"

"That's not fair!" Tweek cried out, "Why wouldn't any of us try to escape from your sick experiments, you psychopath?"

"Hush!" the man ordered, "I'm getting sick of your insolence! From now on if any of you try to escape, the girl will suffer the consequences! And I do expect your full cooperation at all times! Or else!"

With that, he threw Karen forward, allowing her to run to her brother. They embraced as best they could as the man shackled her beside him.

"K-Kenny, what's going on?" Karen whispered, "I'm scared."

"I know, Karen," Kenny murmured, "I'm scared too. But we'll get through this together."

All Kenny could hope for now was that Stan and Craig would find them soon.

This chapter had to be Kenny's chapter because of how defiant he is. Hopefully, this answered some questions about what's been going on with the victims. I haven't been focusing on them a lot because there's only so much story I can get out of a bunch of people sitting in a basement. All you really needed to know is that they're getting experimented on. And now I've shown the rest of it. But I will come back to them. You'll see. Anyway, next we go to Stan. In the meantime please leave a comment and/or check me up on Twitter ThunderingWhite!