He wanted to know what was going on, but was afraid at the same time. Jeremy knew all too well what Eric was capable of, and kept playing worst case scenarios over in his head about what could be happening to Nick at this very moment. He knew his brother wouldn't just keep his mouth shut either. He had always been sarcastic, and his hatred for Eric only made it worse with all of his smartass comments.
When Ray came back in with a smug smile on his lips, Jeremy's heart dropped.
"What did you do to him?" He asked.
"Don't worry about it. He'll be fine, for now."
Jeremy stood on his shaky legs. "If you hurt him...I'll kill you."
"If I remember correctly...this all goes back to being your fault in the first place. So I'd watch it with the threats, seeing as how your little brother's nailed to a wall because of you."
Jeremy fell back against the wall and covered his face with his hands. He tried to shake the image of Nick bleeding to death from his mind, but he couldn't. He hated himself for being the cause of all of this. He should have never put Nick in danger with that package in the first place, even though that wasn't the only reason Eric was doing this.
Eric wanted to make Nick pay for leaving.
He wanted Nick to pay for going against him.
And he wanted Nick to pay for being better than he was.
By now, Nick's arms were shaking and he couldn't feel anything above his wrists. Warrick had tried to pull the nails out, but only worsened the pain because he couldn't get a good enough grip on them. The gash on Nick's stomach stopped bleeding so much, and the one across his chest wasn't nearly as bad. His face was pale and his eyes were hazy looking. Warrick had to keep Nick from passing out so the weight wouldn't rip the nails through his hands. He held Nick steady by his waist and kept talking to him so he wouldn't just fall asleep.
Neither one of them had expected Eric to come back in as soon as he had. When he did, the look in his eyes told them what they already knew. He was pissed off, and wanted nothing more than to make Nick suffer more than he already had. He walked up and pushed Warrick to the side. Nick's shoulders slumped without the support and he winced in pain. Without a word, Eric pulled the hammer from his belt and pried the nails out of Nick's hands. Nick yelled in pain before falling to his knees at Eric's feet.
Eric kneed Nick in the mouth, sending him backwards and banging into the wall. Nick fell onto his side and spit blood from his mouth. He tried to focus on the pain in his jaw and not his hands to make it seem not so bad, but it didn't work out that way.
They were lead out of the room by gunpoint and taken to the back yard of the house. Jeremy was already out there, handcuffed to a lawnchair next to a standing Ray. Warrick was also forced into a similar chair next to Jeremy, but he wasn't handcuffed. The two exchanged glances. Warrick could see the fear and sadness in Jeremy's eyes, and actually felt sorry for him. He knew he wasn't a bad guy, mostly from how Nick talked about him. You could tell just by looking at him and knowing he was Nick's brother that he would trade places with him if he could.
"Excuse the slight mess out here." Eric said finally. "I'm building a porch out here, that's why there's so much contruction stuff. Could come in handy though."
"Eric the toolman Taylor...that's kind of ironic." Nick said. For having just been nailed to a wall, having his stomach cut and losing all the blood he had, Nick's voice wasn't shaky at all. It still beared his slight Texan accent and humorous tone.
"It's a shame you won't have anything to say in a few minutes Nick." Eric said.
"Are you gonna cut my tongue out?"
Eric shook his head. "No, but that wouldn't be a bad idea." He turned and looked over at a patch of dirt to his right about 15 feet away from them. A shovel was stuck in the ground next to the hole around the plexiglass box. "You're just going to be speechless."
Nick followed Eric's eyes over to the hole. His heart dropped into his stomach and he could hear it beating in his ears. But he wouldn't show his fear. "Planting a garden?"
Eric nodded. "In a sense. I'm going to use your best friend if you don't mind." Tony grabbed Warrick and brought him to his feet. He was brought over and they stood next to the hole, waiting for Eric. "Go ahead Tony, show's yours."
Tony lifted the gun and pointed it right in between Warrick's eyes. "Get in."
Nick's heart skipped several beats. "NO!" He yelled. He took a step towards Warrick, but Eric held him back. "Don't do that...not to him. Please don't."
"Would you rather we put Jeremy down there?" Eric asked in amusmant.
Nick shook his head. "No...no. I will...I'll do it."
Eric's face was blank for a minute, then turned to a wide smile. "You really think you can last down there, again?"
Nick nodded. "Yeah...well I can try. Please...don't make him do that. I will, I won't even put up a fight."
Eric considered for a moment before shrugging. "This could be interesting. Okay Nick, go ahead. It's all yours."
Warrick tried to protest as Nick slowly climbed into the box and laid down. He would have said something if he had any air in his lungs that would allow him to do so. All he could do was look into Nick's eyes and yell at himself to say something, anything to stop Nick from doing this again. He was pushed out of the way and forced back out of view of Nick. Eric replaced him, standing over Nick and looking down at him.
"If you wanna bail yourself out, feel free." He said before dropping his gun onto Nick's bare chest. Then he closed the lid, and in seconds Nick was out of sight under the dirt.
Warrick was pushed back into his chair. He sank down heavily and stared at where Nick had just been buried. He was surprised to hear nothing but silence. He had expected Nick to yell and try to get himself out. But there was no sound coming from there at all.
Eric and Jeremy were yelling at each other about something, but Warrick wasn't paying any attention. He had the image of Nick with the gun to his head replaying over and over in his mind, like he was watching it on the screen in the A/V lab all over again. He thought it was his imagination at first, but by the reaction's of everyone else, he knew he wasn't hearing things.
The sound of a gunshot had come from where Nick was buried underground.