lmao like i literally don't know what to say. sorry it took me three years to write this chapter? idk man. but like. thanks for all the support and kindness. like u ppl are the best. i'll be posting this story on archiveofourown from now on also so...yeah.. hahhahah. i have the same username there; i8thecookie so...yeah...idk man.

Chapter Three

A cloth bag had been put over his head and his wrists were tied together, pressing against his back. He tried to concentrate on where they were going. Even though he couldn't see a thing he still tried to figure it out by imagining it in his head as he felt himself get pulled through the building. Cold air hit his lithe body and he shivered. Not having been allowed any shoes, Ethan felt the bare ground beneath his feet. The cold, hard concrete felt no different from the hard stone floor and the dungeon- like room he had been locked up inside just recently. But the wind, the wind hitting his body, that's what told him that they were outside.

"Come on ye brat" a voice behind him muttered and he was pushed even more violently forward.

Ethan's heart nearly jumped out of his chest as he, for a fraction of a second almost fell over. Somehow he managed to regain his balance just in time. He released a shaky breath, and carefully tapped his back with his thumb in a discreet manner, just to reassure himself that the drawings were still tucked away safely beneath his clothes.

A few more steps forward and then a hand suddenly grabbed his shoulder, urging him to stop. The sound of what Ethan could only guess was a car door being opened, filled his ears and a shiver ran down his spine.

'This is truly it', he thought. 'Live or die'. He felt like crying and laughing at the same time. To be honest, Ethan would've been perfectly fine with dying. Actually, In a way, he had been looking forward to it even. All he'd ever thought about for the last three years was death and before today, before he ran in to Justin, he would've welcomed death with open arms. But now he suddenly found himself with a mission and a lot of responsibility. Suddenly, dying was no longer an option. If he died, so did any hopes of every freeing the remaining captives from this living hellhole. Suddenly, hundreds of peoples life depended on him.

Ethan kind of hated Justin for putting him in this position. At the same time, he felt grateful. He finally had a reason to truly fight for his life.

Ethan felt himself being forced in to the cars backseat and he could hear the car door as it slammed shut. The man who had been leading him out took his seat behind the wheel and started the car.

His mouth was dry and he could feel his heart beat in his ear. He had to come up with an escape plan, fast.

As discreetly as he could, Ethan started to wriggles his hand around, trying to loosen the knot around his wrists. Of course he knew it wasn't going to be that easy, if that was the case, escaping would have been a problem for none. Still, he had to try everything in his power.

"Uhm", he said suddenly. The man behind the wheel huffed.

"Say somethin', yer brat?" he hissed.

"I really have to pee, could we make a quick stop", Ethan tried lamely. The man laughed, it sounded harsh and raspy, like the man had had one too many cigarettes in his lifetime.

"You'll pee plenty when yer dead, pretty boy", he answered and Ethan clenched his teeth.

"It's getting really hard to breathe with this...bag over my head, could you remove", he tried again.

"Either ye die from suffocation on the war, or ye die from bein' shot on the way to yer execution, whatdda prefer?"

"Execution, really"; Ethan answered honestly.

"Ye know, for someone whose about to die, yer awfully chatty", the driver grumbled as he was clearly starting to get annoyed with him.

"Yeah, well", Ethan mumbled. "We all have our ways of coping, I guess".

"Yer gonna have to find another way to cope then, before I blow yer brains out right here in the car".

With that said, Ethan decided that it was best to keep his mouth shut.

He still kept fiddling around with his hands though, trying to get the rope to loosen.

The drive didn't feel that long, which was why Ethan's heart dropped in his chest as I felt the car slow down and then come to a full stop.

This was it.

'Live or die'.

At the police station in Pittsburgh everything was calm, as usual on a Monday afternoon. Carl Horvath was enjoying a nice cup of coffee, chatting up with the nice lady at the front desk. Yes, everything was calm.

Until the entrance doors slammed open and a young boy in his early twentieths stumbled in.

Carl's first thought upon seeing him was; 'Ohgod, this is it. The zombie apocalypse all the teenagers were talking about'.

However, giving the boy a closer look, Carl realized that it wasn't a zombie. It was just a normal, living, breathing human boy. Skinny as a twig, pale as death and covered in bruises and blood, but a human boy nonetheless.

Oh no, so much for that calm Monday afternoon.

"Call an ambulance", Carl ordered no one specific, which resulted in everyone around him throwing themselves on the phone. Carl approached the boy who stood hunched over, just a meter away from him. His hand was pressed against his side and Carl assumed it was to stop the bleeding, from what appeared to be a pretty deep stab wound. His other arm hung loosely by his side, in a weird twisted angel which made Carl believe it must be broken. He put an arm around the boys waist to help steady him. Getting a better look at his face, Carl noticed he was covered in blood and bruises there as well, like he had been in a fist fight, and then suddenly he noticed the glass splinters. Tiny as they were, up close it was hard to miss the small cuts that covered his face. This made Carl go from thinking fist fight, to car crash.

"Whats your name", he asked the boy. The boy looked at him, his curly, black hair sticking to his face from the blood and sweat. He was breathing heavily.

"Ethan", he said in a raspy voice. "Ethan Gold"

"Ethan Gold", Carl repeated. "I'm Carl Horvath, Can you tell me what happened?"

The boy nodded, panting and shaking he started to stutter an explanation that didn't make any sense what so ever.

"I..there was this...uhm...I just..Shit!" His eyes suddenly widened and Carl immediately tensed at the panic in his voice.

"What? What is it?", he asked Ethan when he suddenly started to shake his head violently.

"Fuck. Shit. Fuck", he kept repeating under his breath, moving his good arm from the wound on his side, to grab a fist full of hair, seeming uncaring, or maybe unaware that his hand was covered in blood.

"I killed him", he whispered and right as he said that, he choked on a sob. "Oh god"

"Ethan", Carl said calmly, trying to keep the young boy with him. "Tell me what happened".

But Ethan just shook his head and instead lifted up his shirt and under there he pulled out an envelope and gave it to Carl.

Carl gave him a questioning look. "What is this?"

Ethan opened his mouth to answer but no sound came out. Instead his eyes started to flutter and he slowly went completely limp in Carls grip.

"Hey, hey!" he shouted. "You gotta stay with me, you hear me kid? The ambulance till be here soon, but you gotta stay with me until then!"

Other people, police officers had started to approach them. They urged Carl to put him down as they had gone to get blankets and pillows that they laid out on the floor. Someone had gotten out the first aid kit and was trying their best to patch the boy up. As Carl had put him down, he slowly took a few steps back. Looking down he realized he was still holding the envelope.

He opened it and pulled out its content. His eyes widened.

Immediately he made his way back to the crowd that surrounded the boy, and pushed past them. He kneeled down besides Ethan and violently started shaking him.

"What are you doing, are you crazy?" someone barked at him from behind, but Carl ignored it.

"What is this?" he asked furiously, waving the drawings in Ethan's face as Ethan's eyes fluttered opened.

"They're still there", Ethan whispered. "You need to save them"

"Where did you get these?" Carl asked, calmer this time, as he started to put together all the pieces.

"A boy", he muttered. "A boy drew them. He's there as well, you need to find hi-" he stopped in the middle of the sentence as a hiss of pain escaped him.

"Horvath, the ambulance is here", someone behind him said. Carl ignored them.

"The boy, the boy that gave this to you, do you know his name?" he asked, voice shaking.

Ethan nodded. "Justin Taylor."

i feel really stupid bye