AN: This is the darkest chapter so far, and probably the darkest chapter of the fic, but we do still have a long way to go. Proceed with caution. TW for SA

Josh's eyes flicked between Miguel, James, and his brother. They'd never brought a weapon before. It was pretty damn clear what Miguel meant by "change of plans", and Josh had absolutely no idea what to do. He wasn't just going to lay back and let this man murder him and Drake, but what could he do? His hands were cuffed around bars behind him. There wasn't anything he could do.

"Miguel, please-."

"Be quiet," Miguel snapped, cutting James off. The blond was standing behind Miguel, nearly the same panic in his eyes that Josh was sure was in his own. Miguel stood in front of the cage, the chef's knife held at his side like he was Michael Myers in the first Halloween movie. "As much as I've looked forward to the worship the two of you would have given me, I'm afraid our time together must be cut short. I wish that weren't the case, but you boys have proven to be a bit more trouble than you could possibly be worth. So with that in mind, I have to-."

Dark crimson blood spurted out, spraying onto the cage and immediately soaking Miguel's shirt from the gaping slit across his throat. Josh watched in shock as Miguel fell to his knees, eyes wide and mouth open as the gurgling sound of his agonal breathing seemed to echo. A second later he was on the floor, unmoving, blood swiftly pooling around him.

Drake and Josh both turned their eyes to James, both in too much shock to make a sound. James stood there, a sinister grin on his face as he held the knife at his side just as Miguel had only seconds before.

"Sorry for the shock," James said with a slight shrug. "But it had to be done. I couldn't let him get rid of the greatest thing to ever happen to me, no matter what he's done for me in the past. He always held that over my head, trying to control me, acting like he was so much better than me, like I should be worshipping him too," James sneered. "Well now he's nothing. He wanted everyone to worship him like he's God?" James scoffed and shook his head. "No. I am God, or perhaps the devil himself."

James chuckled, tossing the knife to the blood soaked floor behind him. He walked around the cage to stand right behind Drake, who immediately began twisting to try to keep the man in his eyesight.

"Don't touch me!" he shouted, twisting around as James messed with his handcuffs.

"Leave him alone!" Josh strained against his own, but just as they had, they held tight, the edges digging into his wrists as he struggled against them. His lap was suddenly full of Drake as James released him from his cuffs. Drake was holding onto his shirt so tightly it was probably going to rip. His eyes were wide in panic.

The cage door opened as James shoved another key back into his pocket, but Drake stayed where he was, desperately holding onto Josh.

"Come here, you little bitch," James said, his light tone clashing with his words. "It's time to have some fun." He reached into the cage and grabbed onto Drake's ankle.

"No!" Drake shouted, kicking at James as he held onto Josh.

"Leave him alone!" Josh repeated, but there was nothing he could do. He tried to put his legs between Drake and the killer, but he wasn't strong enough to keep them there against James dragging Drake away.

"Josh!" Drake cried out as he was pulled away from his brother. He kept kicking at James, but the killer was bigger and stronger, and nothing Drake did made an impact. "Leave me alone! Josh!"

"Drake!"

"Come on," James grunted as he fought against Drake to pull him out of the cage. Drake was holding on to the bars now, but he couldn't get a grip.

"Stop! Let him go! Take me instead, please!" Josh begged, but it didn't have an impact.

"There will be plenty for you later," James chuckled. He broke Drake's grip on the entrance of the cage and pulled him out and over Miguel's body. He put his substantial weight over him and held Drake down as he locked the cage behind him. "Can't be too careful," he said. Drake kicked and twisted and struggled, eyes wide in panic, as James dragged him to the other side of the room - to the disgustingly stained mattress.

"Stop! Leave him alone!" he screamed again, tears immediately falling from his eyes as the full realization of what was about to happen to his brother kicked in. James just laughed.

"This ain't no peep show," he said, then pulled the shower curtain across. The last thing Josh saw before they were hidden from his view, was the abject terror on his brother's face, and the tears streaming from his brown eyes.

"Drake!" he screamed. Josh bucked against the handcuffs, twisting and writhing and pulling and praying that the cuffs would break or he could slip out of them or- or something. He couldn't just sit there and listen as his brother was raped.

"Stop! No! Leave me alone! Don't touch me!" Drake screamed. Josh could hear clothes tearing, a belt coming undone, and Drake crying.

"You're so beautiful," James said, his voice low and primal. "You were made for me."

Josh kept pulling and praying.

"Don't do this," Drake begged. "Please don't do this, I don't want this, I don't want this, please, not like this." Josh heard the familiar sound of a hand smacking bare skin, and Drake crying out. He kept twisting.

"Leave him alone!" he screamed for what seemed like the millionth time. He could barely see through his tears.

"Aww, are you a virgin, little boy?" James mocked. Drake didn't verbally respond, but Josh knew the answer was yes, no matter what certain people at school thought or called him.
"Well that's hard to believe! With how pretty you are and an ass like that, you already look like a slut and a whore. And now that I have you, that's all you're gonna be."

"Stop! No, please-!" Drake's cries were broken off as his screams began. Josh sobbed at the sound and what it meant. He had never heard Drake scream in pain before, even when he'd jumped out a window and broken his arm. He sobbed as his brother screamed and James moaned. He sobbed as he renewed his struggles against the handcuffs keeping him from his brother.

"You're so perfect," James moaned. "So tight."

"Josh!" Drake screamed, shattering his brother's heart into a million pieces. "Josh, please!" He cried and screamed and begged, but James didn't stop, and Josh couldn't help.

"Drake!" Josh couldn't help but cry back. He needed to do something. Drake needed him then more than ever before. Josh stopped moving, forced himself to relax, and even harder, forced himself to ignore the disgusting sound of skin hitting skin and the heartwrenching sobs of his brother. With his right hand, he got a grip on his left thumb. Josh took a breath, and began forcefully dislocating it. He breathed through the pain and reminded himself it was nothing compared to the pain that Drake was in. Josh shrieked in pain as his thumb was dislocated, and sighed in relief as his hand slid out of the cuff.

Josh darted for the front of the cage, banging against the bars and tearing at the lock. But it didn't matter. He'd dislocated his own thumb and still didn't matter, because he still couldn't get out of the fucking cage. He couldn't do a thing to save Drake.

"Let him go!" Josh screamed again. He screamed in frustration and shook the bars, banging against them and prying at them, to no avail.

"Please, stop," Drake brokenly sobbed, his voice hoarse from screaming. "It hurts, please, just stop." James just moaned louder.

"Your screams are music," he said. "I did hear you like to sing, and they were right. You have a beautiful voice."

Josh finally stopped banging against the cage. He wasn't getting out. He couldn't save his brother. Josh leaned against the bars and sobbed, squeezing his eyes shut and putting his hands over his ears to muffle the sound of Drake's cries.

"I'm sorry, Drake, I'm so sorry," he brokenly sobbed. But no matter how hard he pressed his hands against his ears, he could still hear Drake crying and screaming, begging it to stop and begging Josh to help him, and James moaning and saying the most degrading things he'd ever heard. Josh supposed it was only fair that he be forced to listen. He didn't protect Drake, and his punishment was to listen to his agony.

Finally, the moans reached a crescendo, and Drake's broken cries turned into nearly hyperventilating sobs. Josh looked up at the sound of the curtain being pulled aside, and sobbed at the sight of Drake, naked on the mattress, his lower body visibly covered in blood and other fluids. James was standing next to him, already mostly clothed again. He didn't have a hand on him, but Drake still wasn't moving.

"Now you're the best fuck I've ever had," he said with a satisfied smile. "And by far the prettiest in every way. Can't wait to have this again, and again, and again. I could whore you out and make a pretty penny, but you're lucky I'm the jealous type." James leaned over and smacked Drake's ass, laughing as it drew another loud cry from the boy and Drake tried to curl in on himself.

"Just leave him alone!" Josh shouted. "You got what you wanted, just leave him alone, please."

"I should just leave you right there," James continued, as if Josh hadn't said a thing. "Keep you here on this mattress, ready for me all the time, just like the whore you are. That's all you're ever gonna be now, kid." He laughed again, the sound grating on Josh's ears. Josh was going to have nightmares about that sound. "But we can't let your brother miss out on all the fun can we?"

James moved and grabbed Drake by his hair, eliciting another scream as he pulled Drake off the mattress and back over to the cage, tossing him on top of Miguel's corpse once again. James knelt down and unlocked the cage, and before Josh could move, he was shoving Drake back into it, uncaring as to how everything he did was agony for Drake.

Josh grabbed Drake and cradled him in his lap, leaning over him as much as he could to hide his nakedness from view, no matter how much that didn't even matter anymore. James had already taken what he wanted. Drake was hiding his face in Josh's chest as he continued to sob.

"You better get ready, kid," James chuckled. "I'll be back in a while to see if you're as good and tight as your brother." The padlock was once again secured around the latch of the cage, mocking Josh as it clicked shut. James let out that disgusting laugh again, stood, and stepped over Miguel's body. He was grabbing the forgotten knife and out the door, locking it again behind him, without another word.

Josh began sobbing in earnest once again.

"I'm sorry, Drake, I'm so sorry," he cried, holding his brother as tightly as he dared, as the boy in his arms cried with him. He squeezed his eyes shut and buried his face in Drake's shoulder as he held his still naked brother in his lap. "I couldn't stop him, I couldn't get out, I told you I'd do anything to protect you and I couldn't, and Drake- I'm- I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault," Drake sobbed into Josh's chest. His voice was hoarse from screaming. "It's mine, it's all my fault." Josh started shaking his head no but Drake continued. "I'm the one who gave Craig and Eric Mom's keys, I locked Trevor's keys in the car, I flagged down these guys and trusted them, I'm the one who looks- looks like a slut and a whore." He broke down further, beginning to hyperventilate as he tried and failed to stop crying.

"No, Drake, no, that's not true," Josh cried. He held Drake tighter, uncaring to the blood and semen that were now staining his own clothes. "You don't, he just wanted to hurt you, you don't look like that. It's just James' fault, just his and Miguel's, not yours. Please, Drake, you have to believe that."

Drake didn't respond. He just kept crying in Josh's arms, his clenched fists digging into Josh's back. Josh began gently rocking him back and forth, pleased that if nothing else, at least Drake's cries were beginning to lessen, if only a little. After a few minutes of rocking, Josh noticed that Drake's shaking wasn't in time with his sobs. He forced himself to open his eyes and look at his brother. Drake was still naked, and clearly freezing cold.

"I'm gonna let go of you for just a second, okay?" Josh forced himself to ask. He immediately felt Drake shaking his head into his chest and heard a muffled "no". "I need to take off my shirt. You're freezing, we need to get you warm."

Despite how much it broke his heart again to do so, Josh released his hold on Drake and began working his arms out of his sleeves. His brother was too weak to hold on as he did so, but remained limp against Josh's chest. He bit his lip to keep from shrieking in pain as he pulled the sleeve over his dislocated thumb, but Drake was probably too far gone to notice if he hadn't. The moment Josh had his dress shirt off, he wrapped it around Drake, covering him as much as the single article of clothing could. His shivers began to lessen, and further did so as Drake curled himself up in Josh's lap, leaning with his side against Josh's chest and head tucked right under Josh's chin. Josh wrapped his arms around him once again and held him as tightly as he dared.

Neither was ready to talk about what was coming next, or what had just happened. Soon enough, Josh was sure they would be forced to deal with it, since James had said he would come back and to do Josh what he had just done to Drake, but as scared as he was, Josh couldn't imagine it could be any worse than having to listen to Drake scream. But what did he know.

Several minutes later, Drake released his fist from where he had it clutching Josh's tee shirt, and opened it up, holding it up to Josh. He'd also been clutching a key.

"Is that-?"

Drake cut him off with a nod.

"I tore it off Miguel's neck, when James dragged me back over here, after-," he cut himself off, but he hadn't needed to continue anyway. They both knew what he was talking about.

Josh sobbed with relief and held onto his brother even tighter. Drake was so much smarter than anyone, including Josh, gave him credit for. Even in his utter agony, he'd had the thought to steal the key off a dead man's neck in order to get them out of the cage. It didn't get them out of the room, but it was a step.

"You're the best brother in the world, and I'm so proud of you," Josh said. Drake's only response was a shuddering intake of breath, but that was fine with Josh for now. "How about I take that key and get us out of this cage, and you drink some of this water, okay?" Josh reached out next to him and grabbed the water bottle off the floor. They hadn't been able to reach it while cuffed, so it was still mostly full.

After a moment, Drake nodded, and allowed Josh to help him to the side of the cage, where he could rest against it as comfortably as he could, as he sipped on the water. As dehydrated as Josh knew they both were, he was sure that even the sips of water were probably hell on his stomach. The dress shirt he had was now stained, but Josh didn't care. Drake still had it wrapped around him, his arms not in the sleeves, but it was long enough due to their height difference that it covered more than it did on Josh.

Josh was hesitant to take his eyes off Drake for even a second, but forced himself to do so. He crawled to the front of the cage and with one hand, reached through the bars to get the padlock in as good a position as his dislocated thumb could hold it in, then stuck the key through with his other hand, and grinned as it slipped right in and unlocked. Josh pulled the padlock down and off the latch, then tossed it to the other side of the cage, allowing the door to swing open.

"Come on," he gently said. "I'll help you crawl out, then we can try to figure out a way to get out of here and get you to a hospital." Josh held out his hand for Drake, who took it after capping the water and setting it back on the ground. Carefully, painfully, Josh assisted Drake out of the cage, and helped him to stand on shaking legs. "You got it," he softly encouraged, helping Drake to step over Miguel's body. "How about you go put your clothes back on, and I start looking for anything that could help us get that door open?"

Drake nodded, but not before finally noticing that something was wrong with Josh's left hand.

"What did you do?" he asked, gesturing to Josh's hand with one of his own while his other held Josh's shirt around him.

"Oh, I, uh, I dislocated my thumb to get out of the cuffs so I could try to get to you, but I couldn't get past the padlock, so it didn't even matter," he said with a sad smile, gingerly holding his injured hand. The other cuff still hung uselessly from his wrist.

"You need to pop it back," Drake said, his eyes filled with tears once again. "I can't let you lose that thumb because of me." He wiped at the tears that leaked out.

"That's not how it works, bro," Josh said, genuinely smiling despite himself. "I'm not gonna lose my thumb from dislocating it, it'll just pop out more easily in the future." Josh sighed. "But you're right, I should pop it back in, I've just been procrastinating on it, cuz it's gonna hurt."

"Do you want me to do it?" Drake offered, looking up at Josh with those big doe eyes.

"You know how to reset a dislocated digit?"

"I don't know about a digit, but I can reset a dislocated finger," Drake explained. Josh immediately gave his brother a fond smile, happy that some things at least never changed. "I used to have to do it all the time on myself when my dad was around. Couldn't exactly tell Mom and go to the hospital, but I had to fix it as fast as I could if I didn't wanna lose music like he wanted me to." Josh's smile immediately fell. He once again hated himself for not noticing what Drake had been going through at home back when they first met in fourth grade, all the way until high school. Josh hadn't known about Drake's father until after his own dad had married Drake's mom. No one at school knew, as far as Josh knew, but that didn't make him feel any better. He should've just known anyway, even though logically Josh knew that was ridiculous.

"Okay," Josh said to cut himself off from dwelling on all of the abuse that Drake had already endured in his short life. "Go ahead then. I trust you." Josh held out his hand to Drake and looked away. He did trust Drake to do it right, since all of his brother's own fingers looked normal despite apparently many of them having been dislocated in the past, but that didn't mean he wanted to look and anticipate as Drake did it.

"Just try to relax," Drake said, taking a firm hold of Josh's injured hand. Josh nodded, and took a deep breath. As he was releasing it, Drake popped his thumb back into place in one smooth motion. Josh shrieked and pulled his hand away, but the pain immediately abated. It still hurt like hell, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it had been.

"Thanks," Josh said. "I owe you one- no, I owe you everything." Josh ducked his head to catch his brother's gaze. Drake just gave him a sad smile and turned away, taking painful, hesitant steps towards the mattress where'd been assaulted not even half an hour earlier. His clothes lay in a heap on the floor next to it.

Drake then dropped Josh's shirt to the ground, also allowing Josh to finally see the extent of the damage done to his brother. There was blood coating his inner thighs, trailing down to his feet. There was something else that Josh could see mixed with the blood too, making him cover his mouth as he gagged. Drake glanced over at him at the sound, but Josh looked away. He couldn't bear to see the pain in his precious brother's eyes, especially as his eyes took in the fucking bloody bite mark on Drake's shoulder, the hand shaped bruising appearing on slim hips, and the plethora of other bruising and scratches that covered his torso.

Neither brother knew what to say to comfort the other. Instead, they stood in silence as both closed their eyes against tears they knew they couldn't stop.

"I'm gonna look around," Josh finally said, his voice cracking. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Drake nodding, then grimacing as he got down to the floor by his clothes. Josh cursed himself. He should've helped his brother down to them, not turned his back because he didn't know what to say to make things better. Still, Josh walked over to Miguel and began searching the dead man for anything that could help him. His pockets were empty, and there wasn't anything hidden in his clothes. Josh cursed and stood once again, and trekked around the room, his legs aching from being used for the first time in he didn't know how long. While he stood, he made quick use of the bucket, then continued around. Aside from the cage, bucket, bottle of water, mattress, shower curtain, and slowly decomposing corpse, the room was empty. There didn't seem to be anything in it that could possibly help them.

Instead of panicking like he really wanted to, Josh was smart, and took several long gulps from the water bottle. He was definitely still dehydrated, but it was something. He forced himself to ignore the wave of nausea as the water hit his long empty stomach.

"I don't know if this is gonna work," Drake finally said. Josh walked over to his brother and got a good look at the clothes. Both the boxers and white tee shirt were ripped beyond repair. There wouldn't be a way for Drake to wear them without them falling off. Drake had put on the pants, which were much less ripped, but the waistband had clearly been stretched beyond repair in Drake's struggles, and hung low and loose off his hips. He wore Josh's dress shirt still, now with his arms through the sleeves, emphasizing the fact that it was too big on him. He started undoing the buttons to take it off. "This is yours, I can't-."

"Hey, stop," Josh gently interrupted, reaching out and resting his hand on top of Drake's, halting his motions in taking off the shirt. "I'm fine without it. You can have that one. Your other one won't close, so that one will keep you warmer. It's okay." After a moment, Drake nodded, so Josh dropped his hand. He glanced down at Drake's dress shirt to see that he had assumed correctly: the buttons had been torn off. And with how low and loose the pants now hung, Josh would've rather Drake wear his longer shirt than his own shorter one anyway.

Drake gingerly stepped over to the door, clearly avoiding looking at Miguel's lifeless eyes staring back up at them. But he couldn't avoid stepping in the pool of the man's blood in order to get to the door. Josh forced himself to forget about the fact that either Miguel or James or even both of them could have bloodborne diseases, and Drake had been exposed to both of them - James, through obvious reasons, and Miguel, through being tossed onto his lifeless body while having open wounds. It was all the more reason why they needed to get out of there and into a hospital.

Josh joined his brother by the door, cringing at the feeling of the coagulating blood under his bare feet. At least he didn't have to worry about getting sick. He crouched slightly and examined the knob as Drake pulled on the door. As expected, it was locked. They tried the key they'd used on the padlock, but of course, it didn't fit. That would've been too easy.

"This looks like just any old exterior door knob for a house," Josh said. "If we can find something to pick it, I bet I could."

Drake looked at him for a moment before stepping over to the shower curtain. He looked up at the rings attaching the curtain to the rod.

"Would those work?" he asked. Josh walked over and looked up at them. They appeared to be metal, and there had to be a way to get them off the rod.

"I think so," Josh answered with a growing grin. "They won't be my nice lock picking set that came with my magic kit, but I'll take what I can get right now."

Drake giggled, he honest to God giggled, and it was the most beautiful sound that Josh had ever heard.

"You're such a nerd," Drake said, a smile on his face that for a moment, Josh had feared he would never see again.

"Bet you're glad I'm a nerd right now," Josh replied, letting the smile stay on his own face, and forgetting, just for a moment, what was going on.

"I've always been glad you're a nerd," Drake said, a smile still there as he goodnaturedly pushed Josh away.

Josh held on to that warm feeling of normalcy with his brother as hard as he could as he reached up to the shower curtain hooks and began examining them. They were simple connected loops. All he had to do was push the metal to unhook it from itself, and pull it down. Less than a minute later, they had too bendable hooks.

"Now let's see if they'll keep a shape," Josh muttered as he began pulling at the hooks to straighten them out. Almost immediately, he gasped in pain and nearly dropped them. He'd been able to unhook them virtually one-handed, but he couldn't get a good grip and bend them one-handed.

"What? What's wrong?" Drake asked, eyebrows knit together in concern.

"It's just my thumb," Josh explained. "It's hard to bend these with my thumb so sore."

"I'll do it, just tell me what to do," Drake suggested. He reached out and took the hooks from Josh before his brother could say anything. Josh sighed. There was never any fighting Drake when it came to silly things he wanted.

"Just straighten one of them out all the way, and straighten the other one just a bit, no more than an inch," Josh instructed. Drake quickly did so, and proudly held up the two improvised lock picks. "There you go," Josh said, a smile back on his face. "MacGyver would be proud."

Drake grinned.

"I actually know who that is," he said, but then his smile fell. "We should hurry up. We don't know when he's coming back, and I'm- I'm not gonna let him do to you what he did to me." There was a determined set to his gaze, but the tears in his eyes betrayed him. Josh gently put his hands on Drake's slim shoulders.

"You're not gonna have to. We're getting out of here. Okay?" Drake nodded and wiped at his eyes once again. "Then let's get to work." Josh forced a smile he didn't really feel, and stepped back over to the door, leaving bloody footprints in his wake. Drake was at his side in a second, handing him the tools. "So this shorter one goes in first," he said, sliding the shorter of the two straight edges into the lock, and this one…" he trailed off, trying to find a way to grip the makeshift tension wrench with his injured hand without causing it further agony. He settled on holding it with his forefinger and middle finger, but he couldn't hold it tight enough.

"How can I help?" Drake asked. Once again, Josh grinned despite the circumstances. He didn't think he'd ever heard Drake ask how he could help before. Josh quickly schooled his expression and switched the tension wrench back to his right hand and held it exactly in the right place.

"Just hold it exactly right here," he said. Josh waited for Drake's hand to cover it before he removed his own. "Feel that tension there?" he asked. Drake nodded. "Keep it. Then I just slip this other one in here and move the pins into place."

Josh focused on moving each pin back as far as they needed to go, finally letting himself believe that they might actually get out of there. When the telltale click of the lock sliding back finally sounded, Josh could've cried in relief. He and Drake looked at each other, each finding a matching grin of hope on the other's face.

"You stay behind me, okay?" Josh asked. It was the least he could do to protect his brother after what had happened.

After a moment, Drake nodded, hopefully having seen how serious Josh was.

"Let's get out of here," Drake said.

Josh nodded, and carefully pushed open the door.