A/N: This chapter is Rated M for torture. If you aren't comfortable reading it then e-mail me and I'll send you the T version. Oh, and this chapter was co-written with Ian Equinox.

Chapter 20-The Blood That Binds Us

It wasn't over. Not by a damned long shot.

And he was right.

Cody flew in the air and smashed against the wall, and slid down it. He opened his eyes just a bit, and saw a foot come in to contact with his face, smashing his head against the wall. From the feel of the wall, it felt like he was on the inside of a warehouse. But he didn't have time to confirm the theory as he was grabbed by the front of the shirt and lifted into the air with one hand. Butch looked at him and smirked, before smashing his head against Cody's. He then held him in the air while punching him in the face, and smashing his head into the wall repeatedly. After he was done, he threw the boy on the floor and walked to a locker and started to unlock it.

Cody couldn't see anything, except the blackness of his eyelids. He curled into a ball to minimize the pain, but it felt as if he was dying. Am I going to die? What about Jeremiah, and Zack and my mom? What if I go to hell? What about- Cody was cut off as a large, heavy object hit his back. Cody screamed out in pain as the object, which was now confirmed to be a bat, smashed into his back. Smash, smash, smash was all that he could think about. Eventually, his screams began to die out as he fell into unconscious, or death. But then it stopped. But yet, it didn't.

"You're going to suffer more boy, until you agree to tell me where Jeremiah is." Butch got a fire extinguisher and set it down by his side. Cody's blood ran cold. No, no, no. Don't do it. Please, don't do it to me. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't-

He was going to do it. Butch walked over to a bucket with something in it. Something black, liquid-like, but not like water. It was like oil. It was oil. It was oil that was doused on Cody.

Oil covered Cody from head to toe. His heart beat furiously. Please pass out, please pass out, please pass out.

He didn't.

"Time to get the truth kid. Sorry I had to do this to ya', but since you're not talkin' I gotta do everything I can to you to get you to talk without killing you. Which in a way would be worse than dying because you'd live to feel the pain for a longer time." Butch lit the lighter. "Here ya go." The lighter flew in the air. As Cody got up to run away, he left a trail of oil.

Which the fire followed.

Cody's feet were covered in fire, and in a split second so was the rest of him.

Cody fell to the ground, rolling around and thrashing about frantically, like an insane psychopath trying to escape a white room. Cody's skin started bubbling from the intense heat, like bumps you get from mosquito bites, just 25 times bigger. His hair was set ablaze, as the rest of him was. He was in Satan's grasp. And "when in hell, only the Devil can help you out." Cody's skin blistered and bubbled, and bled everywhere. Everything hurt. Cody's hair crackled and popped, and he started clawing at his groin as his skin blistered in the most unpleasant places. And as this happened,

He screamed.

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Jeremiah and Zack were crawling through the air vent as fast as they could. Dust flew up their noses and they had to stop and sneeze occasionally. One time Zack refused to go on because there were a lot of spiders crawling around ahead of him so Jeremiah had to squish them all before they could continue. Jeremiah was about to turn back to ask Zack where they were before he started to scream and fall down a slant. Zack was screaming with joy as they fell down at a fast pace. They picked up speed as they turned corners. Finally after a while they fell out of a shoot and went flying through the air until they landed in a pile of fresh smelling sheets, pillows, and comforters. Jeremiah sat up with a frozen look on his face while Zack sat up laughing as his eyes shone as if they were saying 'Let's do that again!'

"We must've taken a wrong turn. Usually this doesn't end up leading us to the laundry room, but either way that was a blast," Zack said as he rolled out and landed on his feet, Jeremiah dropped down next to him.

"We don't have time for fun! We have to find Cody!" Jeremiah snapped as he grabbed Zack's arm and started to pull him out the door when Zack winced in pain. "What?"

Zack didn't respond as his mouth dropped open in a silent scream. Air filled his lungs and he let out a long, loud, and painful yell as he started to thrash around. He tore at his hair and slapped his arms and legs as pain filled his eyes. He fell to the ground withering in pain as Jeremiah tried to reach him. He froze as everything around him dissolved into darkness. Then another scream echoed through the darkness as a scene appeared. It was Cody ablaze. He was withering on the ground screaming and tearing at his hair and clothes trying to putout the fire, but there was too much. Butch was standing there laughing, adding more and more oil so the fire got higher along with Cody's screams. Zack's screams echoed in the back of his mind as Jeremiah tried to block out the sound with his ears but the screams got louder along with Butch's laughter.

Everything went back to normal and Zack was still on the ground, screaming and twisting, but his screams and movements started to slow down. Jeremiah quickly grabbed the fire extinguisher, fiddled with the nozzle, and shot C02 at Zack. 'If Zack can feel Cody's pain, maybe this will make the fire go out…or ease Cody's pain. I hope this is the right thing to do.' Jeremiah thought as Zack slowly stopped moving and panted heavily as tears rolled down his cheeks. He tried to bend his fingers but he winced in pain. Jeremiah wetted some of the towels and sheets that were there and laid them out of the floor. He carefully rolled Zack onto it and Zack clenched his teeth as his skin started to sting like crazy.

"I know it hurts. I went through the same thing when I was under Butch's and Jeremiah's care," Jeremiah said soothingly as he placed a cloth on Zack's head. "It hurt a lot but I eventually got over it. You weren't really burnt, Cody was. So you won't show any signs of burns like he will."

"Do….you know…where…they are?" Zack asked in a pained whisper as his lips cracked and started to bleed.

"How should I know?"

"You had that zoned out look on your face. Last time you had that you knew where mom was. Where are they now?"

"…a warehouse somewhere in the city."

"Once I feel better….we'll go….and save our family."

"Agreed."

Jeremiah spent the next two hours treating Zack's 'burns'. They were third degree so he had to put Zack in a special bath to clean the affected areas of the burn. He then rubbed ointments onto his skin and gave him painkillers. Overall, he treated Zack like he was a nurse and Zack was a patient. When Zack finally regained strength they gathered up supplies and eat a quick dinner in silence.

Sighing, Zack muttered, "Let's get mom and Cody back."