| Not long after dark, Zac and I went into the livingroom to watch TV. We saw a newswoman's face for a split second, before the TV went off. The lights followed. "Oh man..." Zac moaned. I got up and went to the window. "The neighbour's lights are still on," I realised. "That's odd," he said, getting up. "Taylor?" he called. No answer. There was a sudden bang from upstairs. "What the heck was that?" I murmured. We made our way to the hallway, when we heard footsteps on the stairs. That wasn't Taylor. Quickly, we ducked into the hallway closet, leaving the door open only half an inch. Through this gap, Zac could just manage to see. "Oh no..." he moaned. "What?" I asked quietly. "Matt's here." I clenched my teeth, remembering what he'd done to Ike. "Armed?" I asked. "I think so," he replied. We were silent as Matt went into the livingroom. Zac opened the door, and we began to make our way further down the hallway. As we came to the end, someone pulled Zac into a room and covered his mouth. I followed. Zac was about to cry out before he heard Taylor whisper in his ear. "They know we're here, and they're after you, Zac," he whispered, letting go. "Who's here?" Zac asked. "Troy, Matt and another guy," he replied. We kept a lookout down the hallway. "Matt's in the livingroom," I said. "The third guy's upstairs, but I don't know about Troy," Taylor whispered. "Right here," came a voice from the shadows. "Zac! Run!" Taylor yelled, as we split up. Zac ran down the hallway and disappeared, Troy followed Taylor into the kitchen, and I turned back to the original hiding place as soon as I realised where Troy had gone. "Leave me alone," Taylor basically pleaded, cornered. He had to lean on a bench to take the weight off his leg. "I'm afraid we can't do that Taylor. You are a prize my brother simply couldn't turn down. By the way, how's the leg?" Troy said sweetly. "You missed," he couldn't help saying. Troy shrugged. "Then maybe I should have another go," he raised his gun. I took this moment to hit him in the back of the leg with a stool. The bullet missed Taylor and hit the wall. "Run!" I exclaimed. Taylor managed to get past before Troy recovered. We ran to the staircase, just as Matt stepped out of the livingroom. "Oh man..." Taylor murmured. "Get him," Troy ordered. Taylor couldn't get upstairs with his leg, so he was trapped. I wasn't. I made it to the top of the stairs and turned to see Matt taking hold of him, and Troy swiftly hand cuffing his left wrist to the stair rail. I couldn't wait any longer, as Matt was already climbing the stairs. I quickly ducked into a bedroom, and heard their footsteps pass by. As I heard Taylor's cries for Zac, I suddenly heard Zac shout out. I closed my eyes. More footsteps followed. "What about the girl?" I heard Matt ask. "Don't worry about her, leave Taylor someone to talk to," Troy replied. Then I heard them going downstairs. Slowly, I made my way to the top of the staircase. I saw Taylor looking toward the front door, as it slammed shut. Then he collapsed on one of the steps. I began down, and sat beside him. "He's gone," he stated the obvious. "Yeah..." I replied. "You're next," he said. "Yeah..." He looked at me. I eyed his hand cuffs. "Is there something I can use to get those off?" I asked. He hesitated, thinking. "Wire cutters in the shed," he said. I immediately went to get them. The next morning, I was awoken by Taylor as he was getting up. We'd been on the livingroom floor, as we had for the past few nights. The doorbell rang. It must have been the second time, as Taylor grumbled going to see who it was. I heard him hesitate, before opening the door. "Delivery for... Mr. J Hanson?" I heard a voice. "Yeah, that's me," Taylor replied. I could hear something being handed to him. "Thanks," he said after a while, and closed the door. He then came back into the room. "What is it?" I asked, stretching. It must have been about 10am, but we hadn't had much sleep the night before. "I'm not sure," he replied. He began opening the packaging. He pulled out a video. "Unmarked," he noticed, raising his eyebrows. "Try it," I shrugged. He went over and put it in the VCR. He sat back down next to me with the remote, and eventually pressed 'play'. A picture of Troy came on the screen. Taylor jumped. "Hello there," Troy waved to the camera. "Obviously whoever is there is the last person... Taylor," he raised his eyebrows. Taylor was just staring at the screen. "So we'd like to give you just a sneek preview of what exactly is happening here rightnow," Troy added. Then the scene changed. "Ok..." Troy appeared again, "now, this is the room you will be kept in." He stepped away to reveal the room. "Oh man..." Taylor moaned. "There's Ike and Angie," I said, noticing he'd half covered his face with his hand. He was looking between his fingers. "And Amy," he added. Once the camera had gone around the room, Troy stepped in again. "Now, I suppose you're wondering where young Zac is, huh?" he grinned. "Yes," I replied. Taylor glanced at me. The scene changed again, and Troy was in a darker room. "Yes Taylor, I have a feeling this will be one of your favourite rooms once you join us," he smirked, before stepping away. "Holy...!" Taylor cut himself off. Zac's hands had been tied to rails either side of him so tightly his hands were going red. A man stood behind him with a whip. An expression of agony was on Zac's familiar face. Taylor grabbe dmy hand. Zac wasn't wearing a shirt, so as the camera followed around we could see he'd been badly beaten. I looked at Taylor. Because our focus had been on Zac, we hadn't paid much attention to the background of the room. By the time we could have realised what was there, the screen had gone blank. Taylor stopped it, and we just sat there. "Well, he's got it in for you," I said. He just nodded. |
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| Chapter 12 - Black Out |
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