Disclaimer: I do not own the guys; I just tend to play with them a bit…

Dedication: To many of my friend's that inspire and sometimes push me to write…THANK YOU ALL!

Warnings: This one may be a bit dark at times and some scenes of torture lie ahead…The views of this story are in no way reflected by the author!

No Turning Back

Chapter Nine

Billy stayed low, crouching and moving in the shadows as he crawled towards the center of the yard, nearing the cages. He carried something tucked under his right arm as he half walked, half crawled closer to the cells. He could make out the shivering, naked form of the brunet lying in the cold, hard concrete, curled up in the fetal position, his knees tucked as close to his chest as possible, his arms wrapped around himself.

"Pssst." Billy hissed through his teeth quietly, trying to get the man's attention.

The man in the cage next to Starsky's woke up, he also being naked and huddled in the corner. He recognized the boy that had visited him previously in nights past. The older, frail man scooted closer to the bars, his shaking hand held out in front of him. Billy removed the loaf of bread that he had tucked under his arm, tearing off a large piece for the hungry man in the cage beside the newest stranger.

"Help me wake him up." Billy whispered to the older man who was able to stick his hand between the bars and poke Starsky's shivering form.

The brunet stirred, slowly making his way back to the realm of reality as he blinked hard, waiting for things to come back into focus. "Huh? What?" Starsky mumbled as he lifted his head slightly, trying to look around as the pain his body felt throbbed and screamed with every beat of his heart, which was beating faster then normal.

He struggled to turn on his stomach, putting both arms underneath him and trying to push himself up. His body still tingled, feeling the after effects of the electroshock he had endured earlier. His ankle throbbed and his head ached, so bad his dark eyelashes hurt. Every movement, every breath, every nerve screamed in pain as he tried to focus on the small boy huddled in the corner, trying to be inconspicuous. The brunet noticed his youth; it took him a moment to remember where he was and what was happening as he was clouded in confusion. Starsky's brow furrowed as his vision waved in and out of focus, but he finally made out the bread that was being offered to him by the small brunet boy, his eyes filled with sadness and fear.

Carefully, Starsky pulled himself closer and closer to the boy, his one trembling hand reaching out and taking the child's offering. Starsky looked around, seeing no one else around, and noticing that the child was clever and quite smart, always staying in the shadows of an occasional passing search light as it swept through the yard.

"W…what's your n…name k…kid?" Starsky stuttered, his teeth chattering together from the chill that had set deep inside his bones.

"Billy, names Billy." He answered, never taking his eyes of the shivering man.

He watched as Starsky tore off a piece of bread, taking time and effort to get it shakily into his mouth.

"We call him Billy Goat…" The man in the next cage roared with laughter, as both Starsky and the boy begged him to keep it down.

"I can't stay mister; I just promised that other guy that I'd check on you." Billy explained nervously as he looked around, knowing that he was taking a chance staying so long.

"What guy?" Starsky asked as he winced, trying to sit up straighter, while also trying to protect his privacy, completely aware that he was fully exposed.

"Some guy, s'name is Kent something…" Billy explained as he tossed in the last of the bread into both cages, splitting in half.

"What's he look like?" Starsky asked, his teeth still chattering.

"He's really tall, and blond…" Billy related as he turned around, preparing to leave. "Look I really gotta go, they'll beat me good if they catch me out here. I'll come back again, when I get the chance, your friend said to hang in there, he's gonna get you outta here." Billy said as he sprang up quickly, sprinting across the courtyard weaving in and out of the shadows, definitely in stealth mode.

Starsky struggled hard to get his body to cooperate and stop shaking, but between the abuse he had recently endured and the chill in the night air, it was impossible. He picked up the last of the bread that Billy had left him, as his eyes were drawn to the man in the next stall. He was so thin, so frail…Starsky pulled himself over closer to the bars separating him, threading his arm through his cage and tossing the bread to the old man beside him.

"Here old man, you need this more than I do." Starsky whispered as he pulled his body back, bracing himself against the uncomfortable cage, pulling his knees up and wrapping both arms around his knees, trying to keep the body heat in.

He tried to figure out what time it was, and as near as he could tell it had to be close to 4 am, just 2 more hours till sunrise, 2 more hours until the warmth of daybreak would give him a reprieve of the solidarity of darkness and coldness that filled the brunet's sole, both inside and out. He grimaced as a spasm of pain flashed through him sharply and he allowed it to pass before sighing heavily, allowing his body to rest against the back of his cell.

ooooo

Hutch opened his eyes; he blinked hard, the realization hitting him hard as he panicked slightly. He didn't mean to fall asleep, he remembered waiting for Billy to get back, he just closed his eyes for a second, he was so tired. He sat up quickly, noting the dim light that was filtering through the window above the door casting shadows across the room.

He stood up, lifting his aching and nearly exhausted body off the cot as he made his way towards the door, tripping over something that was left in a heap in the middle of the floor.

He heard a groan as his eyes started to adjust to the darkness as he saw the form starting to move, curling up and then rising to a sitting position.

"M'sorry." A young quiet voice moaned as Hutch realized that it was the young boy. "I came back and you were 'sleep, I just wanted to rest for an hour, so I crashed here, m'sorry, please don't be mad at me." Billy spat out as Hutch saw the boy avoiding looking at him in the face.

"Hey, hey…s'okay, I'm not mad, you okay? I didn't mean to step on you, next time you might want to let me know you're gonna sleep where I walk." Hutch broke a slight smile, trying to ease Billy's fears. The tall blond sensed the boy's fear and apprehension, it appeared that he was used to being in trouble and used to getting yelled at. Hutch wanted the boy to trust him.

Hutch knelt next to the nervous child as the boy rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "Did I hurt you?" Hutch asked as he put a supportive hand on Billy's shoulder.

"Nah. I'm fine…really…" Billy looked into Hutch's sky blue eyes, "You're really not mad at me?"

Hutch scrubbed his hand through the boys curly hair, smiling letting out a slight snort, "Don't be ridiculous, why would I be mad." Something startled the tall blond, his heart jumping slightly, "You're not going to be in trouble are you? I mean wont they be looking for you?"

"No, I am able to roam pretty freely, but usually I need permission to sleep in one of their rooms, or they get real mad at me…" his voice trailed off, as Hutch knew that he had memories that he probably did not want to revisit.

"Did you see him? The new guy, did you get to talk to him?" Hutch asked, his face lighting up with hope.

"Yeah…I saw him." Billy answered the question but gave not other info.

"Well?" Hutch exclaimed, "What's he say? How was he? Is he hurt?"

Billy shook his head at Hutch's innocence as to what was going on around him. "He's being conditioned, trained, what kind of condition do you think he's in?" He looked at the tall blond in disbelief. "More men die during conditioning then by execution here. If they're strong enough to survive conditioning, then they are eligible for sale, if they die, then it's really no loss to them, so they don't care how much he hurts, how little he eats, or what kind of condition he is in. All they care about right now is breaking him as fast as possible, the less damage the do, the higher the price he'll fetch. But make no mistake, they wont think twice about killing him if they have to."

The words coming from such a young boy shocked Hutch as he fell back, his butt hitting the floor, his head falling to rest in his hand. "What can we do to help him?"

"Do you believe in praying? It's not gonna be easy for him, but he'll do it, I know he will, I can tell. He's a lot like my Pop, stubborn and hot-headed…if it weren't for me, my Pop woulda never given up." Billy's voice cracked, as his voice started to waiver. "They took my Dad away and sold him; to some master…he's a servant, reduced to nothing, all because of me…" The boy's large brown eyes bore into Hutch's soul, "and if they find out that you care about him, or vise versa, they'll do the same thing to him, they'll use you to break him, so you can't trust anyone, you shouldn't even be trusting me." Billy warned.

"I need your help Billy, I need to get a message to the outside." Hutch stated.

"I already told, that ain't going to happen."

"Look, do you know where they took your father?" Hutch asked the boy who just shook his head sadly.

"Tell you what, you help me, and I will help you, I will help you find your Dad and get you two back together," Hutch tipped his head down, looking through his eyebrows at the boy, "deal?" He asked as the young lad that looked to the man, the deep fear and hurt that was evident in his gaze nearly broke the tall blondes' heart.

"I'll do the best I can." He agreed as he picked himself up and made his way to the door of the room, opening it slowly. "I'm gonna go see how your friend is doing, I'll get back to you as soon as it is safe." He said as he looked out in the hall and then vanished quickly before Hutch could reply, or warn him to be careful. The thought of using and possibly endangering this young boy sickened the tall blond, but he had no choice, his options were limited.

ooooo

Billy once again found himself trying to walk as nonchalantly through the camp as he headed down the middle of the court yard, headed for the cages. He saw the old man in the center of the cage, out in front, his body bared as he begged a guard for some crumbs of food.

He made his way around the row of cells as he casually passed several men, stopping to accept their greeting or the occasion scrub of his head by them. Once he got close enough, his heart sank and his eyes widened as he noticed something missing in Starsky's cage…Starsky. The cage was empty, the door wide open. Billy looked around the yard trying to spot the brunet, wondering where they would have taken him to so soon, usually it didn't happen this fast, he started to panic for the blonde's friend as he realized that they were speeding up the process, and that Starsky had not gotten the chance to recover, or even rest. He knew that this was not going to be good, for any of them.

He ran back to relay his finding to his new blond friend, he was worried about how he would take this; he hoped he wouldn't be mad at him.

ooooo

Hutch was standing, his back to the door, stretching out his tall frame, attempting to work out the kinks in his back. He was tired, his body was feeling the pure exhaustion that made every muscle and all of his bones ache. He jumped as Billy rushed through the door to his room, his cop instinct kicking in as he whipped around, posing a defensive stance against the poor frightened boy who jump back. Hutch relaxed quickly when he saw the fear in young Billy's eyes.

"M' sorry." Hutch apologized quickly, seeing the terror in the boys face.

Billy sensed Hutch's intentions immediately as he relax and calmed his own fears, sucking in a deep breath.

"He's gone…he's gone…" Billy blurted out as Hutch nervously took him by the arm, pulling him completely inside his room, looking in the hall, both directions to make sure that no one was around, before he closed the door and turned his attention back to the young man.

"W…whatya mean gone? Where?" Hutch asked, the worry and determination painted across his face.

"I…I don't know…I mean, they probably took him to hurt him some more, but I don't know. He was just gone…" Billy stammered.

Hutch grabbed the boy by both arms, shaking him slightly and bringing him closer the detective. "Listen to me, Billy…I need your help…I need to get to a phone, you gotta think, is there any other phones around here?"

Billy paused, his mind racing.

"Think!" Hutch shouted at him.

"I…I…I don't know, the only one I've seen is the one in Mr. Kiles' office, I don't know…" he almost lost his control as Hutch released him, realizing that he was taking his fear and worry out on a mere child.

Hutch straightened his posture, his finger and thumb stroking his chin, he knew that he would have to find a way to get to Jason's phone; Starsky's life depended on it.

"Kiles wants to see you Kent…" A voice boomed as the door opened again and Montag and Rigsby entered the room, they looked at Billy, and then over at Hutch. "What the hell is he doing here?" Rigsby asked as he stepped towards the young boy.

To Be Continued…