Part 35

Salvation December 16th, 2007 – Sunday – 3 pm

"Kyle?" I croak weakly.

"Yeah," he answers, sounding just as weak as me.

"I'm so cold," I moan and I pull my knees to my body, but it doesn't change anything. My muscles are acing badly and my wrists are sore from the chains. I can't pull my arms arond myself and it's driving me insane.

"We can try to slide closer together to warm each other up," he suggests and starts to move on the ground.

"Okay." I try to slide closer to him as well until we lean against the wall next to each other and I let my head rest on his shoulder. "How long have we been here now?" I wonder aloud.

"I'm not sure. It's maybe Sunday or Monday, I don't know." He reaches out and searches for my hands in the darkness, grabs them in between his own and rubs them softly. "Any better now?"

"Yeah, thanks." I try to push the thoughts about my thirst and hunger back. "I´m glad that I´m not alone, but I´m sorry that you're trapped here because of me."

"Don't be. It's probably what I deserve," he says thoughtfully. "Listen, Maria, I know there is no excuse for what I did to you when we kidnapped you. But I want you to know that I'm sorry. I... I didn´t really want to rape you, I just wanted to scare you off."

I don´t know what to say to this. On the one hand, it makes me happy that he's apologizing for this, on the other hand I don´t want to think back to that. "It seems to me like that was years ago now."

"Yeah, it kinda got all out of control from then on."

"God, Kyle, I hope Michael will be okay. I can't live with the thought that he was killed because of me."

"He's strong. If anyone can pull through this, then it's him."

"We have to get out of here, Kyle. We don´t have any water left."

"I know," he groans. "But as long as we can't get rid of these damn chains, there's nothing we can do."

Hours have passed again and we´ve stayed silent to save our strength. But right now, there isn't much strength left in me. My throat and mouth are dry like the desert and I´m drifting in and out of sleep. Kyle is lying right next to me. I can feel him breathing, but there is no body warmth left.

From far away I can hear a sound, but I`m to weak to concentrate on it. Maybe it's just another subway. Something flickers in front of my eyes and I try to pull myself together to see what is going on now, but it´s hard to ignore the growing dizziness.

"Hey, you little pussies, you're still alive." Even if the voice sounds muffled in my ears, I know who is speaking to us.

"Sorry to disappoint you," I hear Kyle snarl.

"Oh, I´m not disappointed. I'm glad that you're suffering." Billy laughs at us.

"Oh God," I moan when I try to sit up straight. The room is moving wildly, my eyes can´t focus on anything.

"DeLuca," Billy crouches down and holds my head in place to stare at me, "hm, seems like you won´t make it very much longer."

"Leave her alone," Kyle growls and kicks Billy away from me with one hard kick. I wonder where he found the strength.

Billy flies to the ground and screams out in pain. "You little bastard! You'll regret that."

He's up on his feet again in no time and he grabs a thin iron pipe which is leaning against the wall on the opposite side of us.

"Freeze," another man, who is suddenly standing in the door, screams.

I lean to one side to get a better look and have to close my eyes a few seconds to get the dizziness under control again. I recognize a police officer over there and he´s holding a gun up to Billy. "Drop the pipe."

Billy turns around slowly, but he still holds the pipe in his hands.

"I said, drop it," the other man demands.

"Okay, okay," he bends down in slow motion and lays the iron pipe on the floor. I hold my breath, while I´m watching what happens in front of my eyes. I can´t believe what is going on right now.

Billy starts to stand up straight, but I can see that his right hand is wandering upwards behind his back. I follow his movement with my eyes and almost scream in surprise when I notice the gun, which is tucked in between his waistband and back.

"Watch out, he has a gun," I croak out as loud as my dry throat would allow, just at the time when Billy reaches it with his hand and pulls it out of his waistband to hold it up to the police officer.

Thank God, the other man has very good reaction time and knows how to handle his own gun. Within seconds a shot is fired and suddenly Billy cries out in pain, his weapon flying onto the ground and the police officer is rushing to his side to kick the gun out of Billy´s reach.

Then he slams Billy against the wall and I realize that the bullet must have hit him in his shoulder. "Looks like we finally have a reason to lock your little ass up for the rest of your life, Darden." He pulls Billy´s arms behind his back and slaps the cuffs on his wrists.

"I´ll be out in no time," my ex hisses.

The officer snarls, "I wouldn't count on that. Kidnapping, grievous bodily harm, attempted murder... a lot previous convictions... attempted murder of an officer of the law… should I go on?"

I look at Kyle in a daze and suddenly the realization that we´ve just been saved hits me and I lean my head against his shoulders. "I can´t believe someone found us," I cry out.

Just now I realize that another officer is in the door. He comes over to us and after a moment we are no longer chained to the pipe in the wall. "Are you okay? We´ve already called the ambulance; they'll bring you to the hospital. We need your statement as soon as possible, but first you´ll have some time to rest."

"How did you find us?" Kyle wants to know. He winces when he tries to get to his feet and decides to sit down again.

"Someone from his gang came to us and gave us a hint about where he was hiding you."

"Sean?" I ask, surprised.

The officer nods. "Yeah, I think his name was Sean DeLuca."

I smile softly. "Thank you, Sean." I whisper to myself.

"What about Michael? Michael Guerin?" I ask, scared to hear something I don´t want to hear.

"That´s the man he stabbed?" the officer asks.

"Yeah."

"Can´t tell you about that. Last I heard he was still in a coma."

I nod sadly. "Okay."

"Alright, let´s go," the other man says, shoving Billy in the direction of the exit. "Enjoy the daylight up there, Darden. It´s probably the last you'll see of it for a long time."

Billy just grins smugly and turns in my direction. "Someday, I´ll come after you again, bitch."

"Don´t worry, he won´t bother you again," the officer next to me says. "You think you can walk?" He glances at me and Kyle.

We both nod and lift ourselves up into a standing position. The room suddenly begins to move again and I have to reach out for the wall to keep myself from falling. "I feel dizzy," I mumble and then I´m not sure if I even said it. Everything in front of me goes black, I can feel sombody catch me before I fall to the ground again - and then I'm blacking out.

In the hospital:

I blink several times when I wake up again and I really don´t know where I am. "Maria?" A female voice is calling my name and I turn my head slightly to look around. I recognize Liz standing right next to the bed I´m lying in.

"Liz..." I whisper and frown, "where am I?"

She takes my hand in hers and sits down on the egde of the bed. "You're in the hospital, sweetie. Do you remember what happened?"

I nod weakly when the memories of the dark and cold room come back to me slowly. Max approaches us as well. "Hey, Maria," he tries to force a smile on his face, but it doesn't show up very well.

Michael is all I´m thinkin' right now, but a doctor joins us in the room before I can ask the important question.

"Ms. DeLuca, I´m your attending physician and my name is Gellar. How do you feel?"

"Like something really heavy ran over me over and over again," I reply honestly.

He chuckled. "Yeah, that's normal. You were heavily dehydrated and malnourished. It will take a few days to recover from that." He sighs. "You and the young man, who was with, you were very lucky. You probably wouldn´t have survived another whole night out there."

"Is Kyle okay?"

"Yeah, he's fine," Liz answers.

I nod and bite my bottom lip. "What about Michael?" I whisper, afraid.

Max and the doctor exchange serious glances, which makes me even more nervous. "Mr. Guerin was stabbed very badly, Ms. DeLuca. We had to operate him for several hours and did all what was possible. He´s still in a coma and we can only wait and see if he is strong enough to wake up again. There is nothing we can do for him right now."

Tears are running down my face when the doctor continues to tell me about Michael´s condition. "How good are the chances that he will wake up again?"

"A lot of people wake up after weeks in a coma, Ms. Deluca. So we have to be patient and see if his body is still strong enough to recover."

"I wanna see him," I tell him, making it clear that it's not a question.

He nods. "I was already informed that you are his girlfriend, so it shouldn´t be a problem. But first you need to rest a little more."

"No," I shake my head wildly, "I have to see him, I need to see him, Doc. I can't wait."

"Okay, here is my suggestion: The nurse will stop by to give you something for dinner. I´ll tell her to bring you to him after you've eaten something. How about that?"

I nod. "Okay."

"Fine. Can you tell me the name of your parents or their telephone number? We weren't able to find anyone in your family besides your cousin."

"Sean? Is he here?" I ask, puzzled.

"He was here. But he had to go to the police department again. He has to answer more questions about Billy and the kidnapping, but he won´t be arrested 'cause he went to the police and told them where you were," Liz says.

"I... um, there is no one in my family you need to call, Doc."

He looks at me surprised. "No?"

Max steps up next to him. "We are her family, Dr. Gellar. And we're all here as you can see."

"Okay, then don't stay too long, she needs some rest. If everything goes well, you can take her home tomorrow."

"Did you hear that, Maria? You can come home with us soon!" Liz smiles and hugs me.

"Yeah," I answer absently.

Home… what would home be if Michael wasn't there?