Chapter Three: Attack

The larger of the two men pulled Gabriella in towards his body, grabbing her two wrists in one of his large hands, pulling them behind her back and then using his other arm to keep her held against him. Gabriella gasped in shock but it had happened too quickly for her to have done anything.

"LET HER GO! GET YOUR HANDS OFF HER!", Troy was yelling somewhere close by.

"TROY?", Gabriella screamed.

Troy suddenly came into sight from behind the white van. He ran out from behind it towards Gabriella, followed by another man dressed in black, similar to the man holding the struggling Gabriella. The man following Troy advanced on him quickly and with a deft kick around the ankles, managed to make Troy crash to the floor in a heap.

"TROY!", Gabriella was screaming. To stop her, Turner took his hand and placed it heavily over her mouth to muffle her screams. She tried to bite him and shake her head to force his hand off but her resistance was futile. She continued to struggle against his grasp, breathing heavily and staring at Troy's body on the floor. She could see that he was breathing but he wasn't moving from the crumpled mass on the floor.

He lifted his head to look at her, blood from his nose dripping down on to his upper lip. The sight of his girlfriend restrained in such a way, her eyes so full of fear, made Troy forget his pain and jump to his feet, ready to make a run for it. Just as he steadied himself and turned to run for Gabriella, he was confronted with a gun. He stopped dead as it pointed at his forehead, merely centimetres away from him.

"Get back on the floor", Banes growled.

Troy stood and stared at him. His glance flicking between Banes, the gun and Gabriella, trying desperately to make his mind up about what he should do. Banes raised his eyebrow and clicked the gun as a threat. Troy stood his ground, determined to rescue his girlfriend. Banes tilted his head in confusion at the fact that he had not been obeyed and suddenly flipped the gun to point towards Gabriella. She made a muffled whimper from behind Turner's hand.

"Okay! Okay! I'll get on the floor! Just don't hurt her", Troy knelt on the floor with his hands behind his head as Banes laughed, "You don't disobey me, got it? Or your little princess over there is gonna be on the receiving end of it".

He turned to look at Turner, still holding Gabriella and said, "Turner. Let her go!"

"What? Banes, why would I let her go? We just got her!"

"You didn't let me finish"

Turner fell silent and allowed Banes to continue.

"Let her go. Get the ropes from the van and tie her up"

Gabriella looked alarmed and her eyes widened with fear.

Banes continued, "And you're gonna stay right where you are sweetheart, understand? We're gonna have to keep you quiet too. Turner, gag her"

Turner released the hand clamped over her mouth for a second causing Gabriella to exhale and inhale deeply, the first time she had been able to in minutes. She looked at Troy, kneeling in front of her, her eyes wide with fear. She wanted him to comfort her or to hug her but she knew if she said anything they would both be killed. She continued to stare at him as Turner reached into his pocket and drew out a long white scarf which he pulled roughly between her lips to gag her. Gabriella closed her eyes and wished she was somewhere else.

"The ropes", Banes ordered.

Turner let go of Gabriella to walk over to the van but she didn't move as Banes' gun was still pointed directly at her. Turner opened the back of the van and pulled out several lengths of rope before walking back over to Gabriella and tying her wrists behind her back tightly. She whimpered in pain as he knotted them a little too tightly.

"Nice work, Turner. Very nice work. Beautiful work, in fact", Banes grabbed Troy by the collar, roughly pulled him up so that he was half standing and dragged him with him as he walked towards Gabriella. Troy stumbled on the way and scraped across the gravel, acquiring cuts and grazes over his body which made Gabriella wince and moan. As they reached the bound and gagged Gabriella, Banes released Troy and threw him to the floor at their feet, pointing his gun at him. With his other hand, he reached up and stroked Gabriella's face. She winced away.

"What's wrong, baby? Don't wanna be touched? Because there are much worse places I could be touching you, sweetheart"

Banes' hand moved down from her face, along her body and down to her hips, which he stroked harshly before reaching around and grabbing hold of Gabriella's backside firmly, causing her to yell out. Troy lost his cool.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING? GET YOUR HANDS OFF HER, GET OFF YOU DISGUSTING PRICK!"

Banes turned to face Troy and squared up to him, approaching him slowly. Troy pulled himself to his feet and glared defiantly at the man. He didn't care what happened to him as long as Gabriella was okay, he loved her too much for anything to happen to her. He was shaking with fear as he drew his fist back and planted a punch in the centre of Banes' face. There was a crack and Banes' nose was dripping with blood, clearly broken from the impact of the blow. Troy glanced over at Gabriella, so helpless and scared, and he was filled with anger. He ran at Banes' again and launched his fists at him over and over, beating him to the ground. He backed off and stared at the figure lying on the floor in front of him.

"If you do anything to hurt her, I swear to God that I will kill you. I will kill you. Let her go"

Banes looked up at Troy, standing above him. He looked shaken as he put his hand to his nose to catch some of the blood falling from it. He stumbled to his feet wearily and glanced at Troy in what appeared to be fear. Once he was steady on his feet, Banes looked Troy dead in the eye and with no warning flew towards him and began his attack. He grabbed Troy by the hair of his nape, forced his head back and punched his face over and over, before throwing him forwards on to the floor and kicking him in the stomach repeatedly.

"Turner, get the girl into the car and bring me the bat"

As turner grabbed her by the shoulders and hauled her towards the car, Gabriella squeaked. She tried to resist the man dragging her to the car but he was much stronger than her and within seconds she had been thrown into the backseat of the van and the door was slammed in front of her.

"GABRIELLA!", Troy yelled making an effort to move from the floor, but as he began to stand up, he felt a pressure on his right ankle. Banes who was still standing above him had stamped down on to his joint and with a cracking sound, it became obvious that his ankle was broken, leaving him in huge pain and unable to stand.

"GABRIELLA!", Troy could still hear his girlfriends screams coming from the back of the van. He knew how scared she must have been even though he couldn't see her. He would give anything to run over to her and take her home.

"Thanks", he heard Banes say to the man next to him. Troy turned to face his attacker who was now brandishing a large wooden bat.

"Please", Troy begged, "Please, don't. Let her go, I'm begging you, take me instead. You can have anything, you can do anything you want just please let Gabriella go!"

"Time to say goodbye to your girlfriend", Banes raised the bat above his head.

"GABRIELLA!"

He had time to scream the name of his true love before a sharp blow impacted on the back of his head and everything went black. In his final moments on consciousness, he the van door slam, a muffled scream and the screech of wheels on tarmac. Gabriella was gone.