"Stay here," Gabe says, his voice almost too weak to be heard.
"What!" I don't even attempt to hide the shock and hurt in my voice. How could he ask me to help him and then want to leave me behind? What kind of friend does he think I am? "Wait!" I yell in a hushed whisper after him, as he staggers through the doorway to the old building.
Great, first he wants my help and then he doesn't, and now he's running right into the trap of a madman! Not really a subject that I want to have to tell Judson about. Hi, sorry Gabe's not coming back because that lunatic Captain Blood has him…Why?…oh, I dunno, maybe because he foolishly walked right into a trap! How ballistic would Judson go with a lame story like that when I go back empty handed? Good going, kiddo.
I need a weapon. If I'm going to go in there and pull the kid's fat out of the fire, I need something to kill, or in the very least maim the psycho with. I can't believe the hospital wouldn't let me take my gun with me. It's not like I would have used it. If they knew about the lives we led and the things we've seen, they would've insisted that I sit outside his door with it in my lap!
Pulling myself from my mental tirade, I spot the remnants of a wooden create. Moving quickly, I pick up a jagged piece of wood and head toward the building. Human or not jamming this through his psychotic heart will kill him…hell it'd kill anything.
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"A week. Maybe," I hear the Captain's harsh voice say coolly as I make my way through the dark warehouse. A week for what? I think as I continue to make my way toward their voices in the dark.
"Why?" Gabe asked, almost sounding lost and alone. Why doesn't he know that he's not alone? Or at least he wouldn't be if he'd let Judson and I help him. He didn't have to face the Captain alone. We would've gladly fought this one for him. Oh, what I wouldn't give for a flash light!
"I don't know. Just the way that this works."
"You want my father's money." Well that answers one question, I think wryly, continuing to make my way to them through the darkness of the building.
"I told you, you were smart, did I not? Now that we know why we're all here, shall we finish what we started last night?" An involuntary shutter makes its way down my spine at the Captain's words. He was going to kill Gabe.
"I won't get you my father's money."
"My dear boy, you are assuming that you have choice," the Captain's voice is hard and cold. I will my legs to move faster as I hear sudden gasping and gurgling sounds coming from Gabe. That bastard! I have to do something.
"Let him go," I all but yell at the thing holding my friend in a crushing grip around the neck.
Horror washes over me as I see him toss Gabe as though he were a rag doll into the far wall. A thick thud from the weight of his tall body connecting with the wall and a small tired grunt are the only sounds I can hear as Gabe came rest against the floor and wall. "I suppose that you're here to save the boy?" he asks, sounding exasperated.
"You got a problem with that?" I ask moving closer, aiming my weapon at his chest.
"What's that?" he scoffs at me. "You honestly think that you can kill me with that?"
"Let's try it and find out," I say quickly striking my target.
Much to his surprise my make shift weapon finds its mark. With a grunt I shove the frail wood as far into his chest as possible. Damn it, not far enough! It never looked that difficult on Buffy!
"Nice try," the Captain spits at me, yanking the fragile piece of wood from his chest and tossing it to the ground at my feet. "You won't get another." Before I can even think about attacking the twisted bastard, he's gone; his sick laugh permeating the thick blackness surrounding me.
And then silence.
After what feels like a hundred years the silence finally starts to come to an end, as something moans and stirs in the darkness before me. Behind me I feel that there's someone there watching me and whatever's in front of me. That's the Captain. He wants Gabe to kill me. He's hoping that Gabe's weak enough, scared enough to kill one of his closest friends. I don't care how scared or weak that Gabe feels he won't kill me.
"Shhh!" Gabe's rasped voice whispers into my ear as his shaky arms pull me in close to him. "Don't worry I wouldn't give him the satisfaction."
"What are we going to do?" Despite the layer of cool that'd settled over his skin in the last few hours he still felt warm. He was still their Gabe and not whatever that sicko was attempting to turn him into. If he weren't using me as a leaning post and the Captain were dead I would've allowed myself to relax into his grip.