Tyler hit the door with his side, jumped in and tackled Caleb from the back, causing his gun to fly out of his hands and the bullet change directions accordingly.. It shot with a bang and lodged itself in the wall, a few inches above Maddie's head. With the shock and extra weight put upon him Caleb fell to the floor under Tyler. Upon seeing him Maddie's eyes widened in true surprise.
"Tyler you little fuck, cant you see that now she's going to be suffering until she dies?" Caleb hissed, dragging himself from underneath his friend and off the floor. "You just condemned her!"
"I did not!" Tyler growled. "I'm here to save her, and neither you or Chase are going to lay a single fucking finger on her-"
He was interrupted by a swift kick in the stomach. He gasped for air. Caleb was sneering at him from above, his eyes glowing a dark shade that didn't bode well. When he was about to do something that would put Tyler in large of pain Chase decided to use his own power to make a piece of ceiling fall on top of Caleb. The pink painted plaster shattered when it hit the top of his head, his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he lost consciousness.
"Oh dear, lookie lookie." Chase said in a mocking voice. He was standing, with a single index finger on top of Maddie's head, the other one busy resting on the trigger of Caleb's gun, totally unfazed by the fact he had just given him a concussion. "I'm afraid that isn't going to happen, Baby boy. You see…" He moved his hand so that the barrel of the gun was resting against the side of Maddie's head. "I'm afraid that goldy-locks is very, truly going to die. And very soon, too."
Tyler looked up at him, horrified.
"Chase, please, I'll do anything, just please don't hurt her… please!" He squirmed on the floor, his hands and feet still bound. He looked up at Chase pleadingly. "Please!"
Chase considered it for a moment.
"No. Sorry." He bounced his finger lightly on the trigger.
"I thought I deserved all this." Maddie said quietly, looking down mournfully at Tyler from her chair. He realized for the first time that she wasn't bound in any way, and that she could have attempted escape a long time ago.
"Did you say that? Tsk, tsk, Tyler. You must never say that to a lady." Chase said. He thought for a moment and looked at the two of them. "Baby boy, do you really want to save this girl?"
"More than anything!" he blurted out, fiddling with the bindings around his wrists.
"Good, good. Well then there are a few possibilities for you. You can either kill the pesky boy beside you, will me your power, kill me – but that will be difficult… or… kiss the lovely young lady sitting here on the chair."
"What?"
"You heard me." Chase smiled devilishly, and transferred the gun from Maddie to Tyler. "Choose wisely."
Tyler looked back at Chase, with a look of pure confusion. Then his gaze drifted to Caleb, who looked as shocked as he was if not more, to Maddie, who looked simply horrified. She had started shaking again, and was looking at Chase with silent pleas, begging him with her eyes not to make Tyler do this.
"So what will it be, Tyler Sims?" Chase asked, putting the gun one last time on Maddie's temple, grinning his sadistic grin. "You have ten seconds to do whichever you choose. Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven…"
Maddie looked up at Chase one last time.
"Please…" she whispered, new tears streaming down her cheeks. Chase just grinned down at her and kept counting.
"Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One…"
Tyler desperately stood, hopped over, tripped, and kissed Maddie square on the lips, falling down as he did so and bringing her and the chair she was sitting on down with him.
Her lips were cold, and wet, and she tasted like sweetness and blood, for some reason. The kiss barely lasted five seconds before Maddie pulled herself back violently and crawled away, crying, her hand clasped over her mouth. She was looking at Tyler as if he had just hit her again.
"Well done, baby boy." Chase laughed. He walked over, picked up Maddie by her collar and lifted her up until she barely stood, her toes hovering against the floor. "Come on darling, show me your lovely luscious lips…" With his other hand he moved her hand off her mouth with a violent swipe.
Her lips were bright red and bleeding when Chase examined them. He placed a single finger on top to retrieve some blood, and observed it on his finger for a moment before bursting into laughter. Maddie was dropped onto the floor, where she promptly crawled into a corner and wiped her mouth on her sleeve, making spreading crimson stains on the white fabric.
"You read the book, didn't you?"
"Yeah, I did."
"Well then you know that the thing that she loves the most will cause her the most pain. How adorable is it that she switched from her childhood to you?"
"What?"
"Tyler, Tyler, Tyler. You really haven't been showing off your smarts recently, have you?"
Chase walked over to him and leaned over, so that he was inches from Tyler's face and he could smell the stench of blood and death on his clothes.
"Maddie and Tyler, sittin' in a tree." Chase started signing. "K-I-S-S-I-N-"
Maddie threw her chair at him full force, the wood seat hitting him square in the back of the head with a sickening thud. He didn't even flinch, simply turning around and facing her with an evil look in his eyes.
"Don't throw things at me, girl. I could do things to you that would make you wish you were dead."
She didn't say anything, just gave him a look of pure hatred and made fists with her bloody hands. When he turned around again she grabbed a book and threw it to him as well. She had great aim, as the projectile hit him in the same spot the chair had, this time a corner sinking into the bruised flesh and a wound started bleeding from the back of his sandy hair. He spun around, infuriated, and his eyes went black.
Maddie shot from one end of the room to the other, Chase holding her by the neck as he slowly lifted her up.
"Don't you fucking dare you little-"
Maddie coughed and spit blood on him. Chase recoiled, wiped the crimson droplets off his face and shirt and slapped Maddie hard. She flinched a little and a new splash of blood dripped down her face, one of Chase's nails had slit her cheek that now yielded a large gash.
Chase, noticing that the physical pain he tried inflicting on her didn't affect her as much as he wanted it too, resorted to a different technique. He dropped her on the floor, where she prompted to rub her neck and the bruises caused by Chase's hand and wiped the gash on her cheek with her sleeve.
"Maddie, are you ok?" Tyler reached to place a shaking hand on her shoulder, but he never reached it because she jerked away and gave him a seething look, before spitting out more blood on the floor with a cough.
Chase watched this, irritated, when an idea dawned on him and he grinned. He leaned forward and snapped the binds that held his feet and wrists together with his nails. Tyler massaged the bloody red marks on his wrists as he looked up at Chase.
"What do you want?" He spat, still rubbing his wrists.
"The same thing you do." He grinned, and pulled Tyler up by his wrists. "Lovely little Madeline."
Tyler glanced at her. She was sitting all bloody on the floor, all her features blank except her eyes that were looking up at them with a mixed expression of fear and hatred.
"You love her, don't you?" Chase hissed.
"Yeah." Tyler whispered.
"Say it. And louder too." He sunk his nails into Tyler's wrist.
"I love her!" he screamed angrily.
Maddie blinked and her eyes filled with tears again. The anger was replaced with grief and sadness, and she looked around the room desperately, her eyes settling on Caleb for a brief moment before she was looking up at Chase again
"Good. Then you wouldn't mind doing something that people that love each other do. Like, say… holding her hand."
"What?"
"You heard me. Do it." He hissed. He released Tyler's wrist. "But just to be sure…" He walked around behind Maddie and shoved the barrel of the gun into the back of her head, and looked at Tyler expectantly.
He crawled towards Maddie. When he got close enough to reach out and touched her she cringed and closed her eyes, preparing for whatever was to come. Tyler reached out slowly and grabbed her bloodsoaked hand and held it for a few seconds.
Then Maddie screamed.
She pulled her hand back so violently her entire body lurched backwards, bumping into Chase and making him take a few steps back, out of surprise, he hadn't expected the effect to be this grand.
Tyler grabbed Maddie's sleeve and tugged on it so that the hand she was cradling was visible. His eyes widened at what he saw.
Her entire palm was burnt, to the point where bright red skin was peeling off and revealing wounds oozing of blood and ash-like burnt skin. The back of her hand, where his fingers had been, had the same wounds.
She tugged her sleeve away from him.
"Please Tyler." She whispered. "Please just don't touch me…" she said painfully.