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Blaine froze, eyes wide as he stared down the barrel of the gun.
"Hummel. Did you miss me?"
Wait, this guy knew Kurt?
Blaine wanted to turn around, to see if Kurt was just as shocked as he was but he found himself unable to move, the fear having turned his body immobile. Over his heart, which sounded like an explosion in contrast to the deadly silence that had spread across the grounds, Blaine was able to hear a series of quick, panicky breaths. It took him a moment to realise these weren't his; Blaine had momentarily forgotten how to inhale.
"Not gonna say anything? You did before- you screamed for me."
Kurt bowed his head lower and, in the silence, small, hiccuping breaths could be heard as if someone was crying. It took all Blaine's will not to turn around and comfort his friend.
"Didn't you? Answer me, or I'll shoot your fucking butt buddy!"
"I'm not-"
Blaine silenced himself as the gun raised level with his head.
"I'm counting, Kurt.."
Blaine bit his tongue hard; Kurt didn't talk. He was a dead man.
"3-2-"
"N-no." Kurt whimpered, and Blaine jumped, unaware Kurt even could talk. His voice was hoarse with fear, shaking like this body as he whispered the word and Blaine, without taking his eyes off the gun, reached a hand back to hold Kurt's. It was the most he risked doing without getting shot.
"So the bitch talks, but you were rather slow at answering me.. I'm sure we can fix that later.."
"You won't touch him," said Blaine, suddenly his anger flaring up in his need to protect Kurt.
The man began to laugh, mocking and ringing loud in the night.
"In case you hadn't noticed hobbit, but I'm the one with the gun. I make the orders around here."
"You won't touch him," repeated Blaine, gritting his teeth.
Karofsky's face suddenly fell straight, his mouth a grim line.
"Like I said, I make the orders around here," he said before hitting the barrel of the gun hard against the side of Blaine's head. The dark haired boy fell back, trying not to let the pain show for Kurt's sake. Blaine could handle the pain, if he had endured the night of the Sadie Hawkins dance, he was sure no hit with a gun was going to make him collapse. If anything, he had to stay awake for Kurt's sake.
Suddenly, Karofsky's ears pricked as a loud shouting could be heard from the ballroom. Running footsteps could be heard on the frosted grass, crunching their way towards the boys.
"I've locked them all, like you told me. The only way out now is through a wall," said the male who had just joined them, not even hesitating as he saw the gun.
Blaine however, did a double take as he recognized the face- Harrison.
The sly, muscular teen smirked at this, "surprised to see me Blainey-boy?"
Blaine winced at the name, gripping Kurt's hand tighter in his bid not to punch the duplicitous weasel.
"You remember our deal," asked Harrison, turning back to Karofsky and ignoring the two other boys completely. "Blaine's mine. So don't hurt him- or at least, don't hurt his face."
Blaine, for his part, almost threw up in his disgust. He was not a toy and he certainly wasn't going to be owned by Harrison.
"Yeah, yeah," replied Karofsky, "I know. Now, we need to move before someone calls the police- the rooftop will do."
"T-the rooftop?" At least Harrison had the decency to look vaguely bothered, "you're not actually going to kill him, are you?"
Karofsky didn't answer.
"Karofsky?"
Again, no reply.
"O-ok, umm, I guess I'll just go.. check the windows, yeah."
After Harrison left, Karofsky turned his watchful eyes back to the pair sitting on the bench and Blaine unconsciously moved closer to Kurt, trying to hide him from their antagonizer. After what Harrison had said, there'd probably be less chance Karofsky would be inclined to hurt him than Kurt. In some way, Blaine felt he ought to be at least slightly relieved at this. Instead, he was the opposite.
The noise levels from the ballroom increased and Karofsky's eyes flashed around, reminding Kurt of a deer listening out for a predator. The only difference was that this deer was deadly and could kill with just a twitch of the finger.
"Up."
"W-what?"
"Up!"
Kurt jumped, his back ramrod. His heart was beating at a speed he never thought humanly possible as he raised his trembling hands above his head. In front of him, Blaine did the same, standing up during the process. He flicked a panicked look back at Kurt as the porcelain boy slowly did the same.
"Feel like singing now, Kurt? This is all your fault you know."
Karofsky smirked as Kurt refused to meet his eyes; he knew what he had said was true. If Kurt hadn't been so- so provocative, he'd never had turned Karofsky gay.
"It's not."
Kurt and Karofsky both glanced up at the source of the voice, Karofsky's face splitting into a malevolent grin whilst he waved the gun in front of Blaine's face. In return, the said boy willed himself not to drop his eye contact with Karofsky, but all the willpower in the world couldn't stop him flinching away from the gun.
"Did I not hit you hard enough last time? What's your deal?"
Blaine bit his tongue as the gun began inching its way closer to him. Suddenly, the weapon lowered as the brandisher began to laugh. It was a humourless sound, more mocking than anything, yet it rang through the night and turned the blood in Blaine's veins cold.
"This- this is gold! Hummel, it looks like you've got yourself an admirer! Who did you have to fuck for that?"
"Shut up!"
"Guess we found our answer."
Karofsky smirked as he looked down at the angry teen, playing with his gun in the process. Before, Blaine even registered what the bully was doing, the gun smashed into his head again, pain exploding as he fell down to one knee. Darkness clouded the edges of his vision and Blaine swore he could hear birds tweeting as they flew around his head.
"I make the orders around here! Now, GET UP!"
Nearly falling over in the process, Blaine obliged, although remaining standing took all his concentration.
"Now, walk! We've got some stairs to climb."
Inside the building, Burt was going crazy. Cooper was freaking out. The whole room was in pandemonium. Cooper was still shaking the doors whilst Burt had stepped away; in his hand he held his phone and was contemplating phoning the police. However, he wasn't yet sure if his son was in trouble so he hesitated before finally calling. With Karofsky still at large and his son missing, it was better to be safe than sorry.
Theo and Fors were at the doors too, inspecting the locks only to find they'd been locked from the outside, and not through the usual ones. After rattling them a few times, they determined that they had been chained together. Each exchanged worried glances; they'd have to knock the doors off their hinges if they wanted to escape through them.
Both boys jumped when a loud curse followed by a thud of someone throwing a phone filled the room.
"Can't get any damn signal," said Burt loudly, staring at his phone with a glare that was so heated the twins wondered if the phone was about to spontaneously combust.
"Hang on, I'll try," Cooper said, also giving up shaking the unopening exits. "...No signal."
"Me too," someone else joined in, peering at their mobile's screen.
"Same here."
"Well what the hell's going on then?"
"Cooper! Watch your mouth."
"Dad-"
"Okay, everybody calm down," a woman, possibly a teacher called from the front, having climbed onto the stage in front of the microphone. "I'm sure there's a perfectly good reason for all of this, if we just keep calm and-"
"Keep calm?!"
The woman at the front stared down at Burt, taken aback; it was clear that she was used to interruptions.
"Yes, keep calm-"
"Lady, my son's out there and the doors are locked; that seems like a brilliant reason to do the opposite. Look me in the eyes and tell me this has happened before."
"I-"
"Exactly."
There was a silence as the rest of the crowd members slowly realised what was happening. And nobody knew quite what to say. It took Cooper to break the spell.
"So how are we gonna bust out then?"
Burt stared at Cooper, giving him a look which seemed to be asking if the boy was an idiot, "the doors are locked and the windows are too small to climb through. Unless you can fit through the air vent, I suggest you get back to kicking down the doors."
"Burt," calmed Carole, placing her hand on his arm warningly. A fight was the opposite of what they needed right now.
"Right. Sorry kiddo, but I really see no way out of here."
"Well, there is one way.."
Burt and Cooper turned surprised to Theo and Fors, the hope shining in their eyes.
"What do you mean?"
"Look up, what do you see?" Asked Theo.
"A ceiling."
"A chandelier."
"A window."
"Precisely," said Fors, "now, do you think it's big enough for someone to fit through?"
"It's on the ceiling."
"But do you think it's big enough for someone to fit through?"
"Well, yeah, but-"
"No Theo," said Cooper suddenly, understanding what the twin was getting at.
"It's the only way out."
"You could die."
"Hang on, what are you talking about?"
Cooper raised his eyebrows at Burt, nodding towards the window, earning a small 'oh' from Burt as it finally clicked.
"No. We can knock down the door, or someone must have signal. You're not risking your life."
"These doors are impossible to knock down, trust us, we've tried."
"Besides, it's not like we haven't done anything like it before."
"But-"
Burt was cut off as the noise of a gunshot filled the room, shaking the occupants, a deadly silence followed.
"Shit, shit- Kurt!"
Next to Burt, Cooper was shouting Blaine's name, struggling to hold back tears as a million different scenarios blasted through his head. Most of them ended in Blaine's dead body.
"Okay, okay, go! Where are the goddamn police?"
Fors nodded, jumping back to life from where he had frozen, giving Theo a hand for reaching the first decoration to use as a foothold. Silently, he thanked whoever put them up for tying them so securely as he watched his brother scale the wall.
All the while, he was praying Blaine and Kurt weren't dead.
Kurt's heart was thundering beneath his skin, the blood pumping loud in his ears and he wondered if he had nearly had a heart attack. The gunshot was louder than he'd ever expected, deafening him in such a way films with guns in never had. It was terrifying, the noise at such a level it sent a wave of nausea through him: even the sound it made sounded like death. But the scariest part? The madman behind the trigger.
Luckily, the bullet hadn't been intended for either him or Blaine, instead disappearing into the abyss of the night sky; it had been intended more to scare than injure. And from the way Blaine and him were shaking, Kurt concluded that it had accomplished its goal.
"Hurry up or the next one will be going in your brain!"
It'd be a lie to say the pair didn't obey.
Blaine gulped as he looked up at English building which Karofsky had led them to. It was the tallest of each of the buildings at Dalton as it was originally a dorm building, housing both Windsor and Thatcher. However, after this didn't work out, the other dorm buildings were built. This particular building was also one of the few with a flat roof, it was due to be redone this summer.
"Up."
Blaine flinched at the voice, easily intimidated purely by the fact the oversized jock could kill them in under a second. He felt Kurt grip his hand tighter as their attacker spoke, the boy was shivering and Blaine had to fight himself so he didn't give Kurt his blazer. He didn't think Karofsky would like that.
"I said, up."
"I-I don't understand."
"The ladder- climb it."
Blaine stared up at what Karofsky was pointing at. It was originally a fire escape, however, over time, it had rusted to the point that some rungs looked like they'd snap under the slightest bit of pressure. There was a newer one around the corner, in not nearly the same condition in which this one had been allowed to fall, yet Blaine didn't dare point this out.
"5-4-3-"
Blaine didn't know what the jock was counting down to, and he didn't think he wanted to find out.
"Okay! Okay, I'm going."
Without a second thought that would surely convince him not to climb, Blaine reached out an arm and placed a foot on the first rung. It was cold beneath him and the paint broke off under his skin. He was hesitant to leave Kurt at the bottom with a guy he was so clearly afraid of, yet couldn't see a way out of it. Eventually, he told himself it'd be a good idea if he went first as he could test the rungs so the other boy wouldn't fall.
Kurt watched as Blaine disappeared into the darkness above, the boy much like his hope as they both seemed to be getting harder to see and cling onto. Once Blaine was fully invisible under the cover of darkness, Karofsky turned Kurt, the gun moving to point at his chest.
"Your turn. Climb."
Kurt gulped, for the first time properly looking into Karofsky's eyes and shuddering. They were completely void of any emotion, the only thing that could be seen was pure and utter hate.
And it terrified him.
However, somehow, Kurt still managed to obey as he managed his way over to the ladder, beginning to climb immediately. Anything to get away from Karofsky.
When they were at least, halfway there, it was a fight to continue climbing. Kurt could feel himself slowing, the burn in his legs getting harder and harder to ignore. It wasn't because he was unfit at all, simply in his haste to get away from the jock, Kurt hadn't taken into account the size of the building and had sped at the beginning. Mentally, he kicked himself for forgetting about stamina. It didn't help either the amount of cuts on his hands from the spiky bits of metal dragging and tearing at his skin. It was pure adrenaline that was keeping him going now. So he gritted his teeth and simply tried to focus on getting the top.
"Kurt, is that you? You're nearly at the top now, be careful though, one of the rungs is missing."
Kurt opened his eyes, unaware that he had closed them, and looked up. Sure enough, he could make out the silhouette of Blaine and felt a wave of relief travel through him. At least he hadn't fallen.
Careful of the missing piece of ladder Blaine had warned him about, Kurt finally pulled himself onto the roof, feeling a pair of arms wrap around him as he did so.
"Kurt," the boy could feel Blaine shaking just as much as he was as they embraced, and Kurt felt a tug of his heart as Blaine's voice cracked as he said his name.
This was all his fault.
"Kurt, I'm- I'm scared.."
Both by now had tears slipping down their faces but neither said anything, merely holding eachother as each wondered whether it'd be the last time they'd get to do so.
"Now, how come I don't get a welcome like that?"
Blaine and Kurt both jumped simultaneously as if an electric current had passed through their bodies. In seconds, neither was embracing the other any more, instead each having leapt about a foot away from the other.
"Well," smirked Karofsky, "you certainly didn't have any problem with it before."
"Don't talk to him like that."
"Excuse me?"
Blaine looked up, the tearstains still evident on his face.
"I-I said don't talk to him like that."
Kurt grabbed Blaine's hand, willing him to shut up before he got hurt.
"Y'know what? I think me and Kurt need a little alone time. Don't you Kurtie?"
And, swinging his arm in a wide arc, Karofsky slammed his fist into the side of Blaine's head, knocking the boy off his feet. Blaine tried to fight the haze that filled his head, but it was a futile effort and and the young boy was soon unconscious, a bruise already forming on his head.
Kurt took a step back as Karofsky met his eyes, looking at him like he was prey.
"Well Kurt, I guess it's just me and you now."