Saving Calen

19.

Calen's POV

Hunger.

Gnawing hunger eats at my stomach. So intense that it's hard to ignore.

"Good morning, Riot!" Daniel says in a sing song voice. "How are we today?"

I stay silent as my head slumps forward.

"I'll admit, you guys are built different. How long has it been? And still no answers. That's impressive." His voice is grating. I'm about ready to talk just to get him to shut him up.

He comes up to the chair, and it's everything I can do not to flinch. My body shakes as I force myself to look in his eyes.

"No clever quips today? That's alright. Let's get to it, then." He actually sounds disappointed.

Before I realize what's happening, he snaps my middle finger on my right hand. I grunt with pain and my breathing quickens.

"Where are they?"

I stare at him.

He snaps one on my left hand.

My chest rises and falls too quickly, but I don't budge.

"Let's try something more, huh?"

He grabs a knife and goes to work on my body. I suppress  my screams for as long as I can, but they're eventually ripped from me, and with it my dignity.

It continues like this until I'm shaking violently and my vision blurs.

Aylah's POV

I train.

And I train and I train and I train.

The amount of knowledge that these men have in the art of hurting someone is absolutely insane.

Archer teaches me how to throw knives. It's his favorite thing to do and he's quite good. Caden teaches me hand to hand combat and Cole teaches me how to shoot a gun. He says he learned everything from Calen.

I throw the knife over my shoulder and it lands with a satisfying thud on the target in front of me. I smile with satisfaction as I turn around to see archer nodding his head.

"That'll do it." He says, "let's eat. I'm starving."

He never stops eating.

We head to the kitchen and sit down as Cole finishes cooking. I sit at the head, Archer to my left, Cole to my right, leaving Caden an open seat at the other head.

Cole brings our plates to us. The substance in front of us looks like some sort of stew. And that's being generous.

Archer let's out a barking laugh. "Dude, what the fuck is this."

Cole shrugs his shoulders, "If you don't like it, then starve." He sits down with a huff and starts eating the food. I tentatively take a bite while Cole stares at me with puppy dog eyes.

"It's....flavorful." I say. He seems okay with that assessment and returns to his bowl.

Hey, I never said the flavor was good.

Caden comes in with a face more grim than it usually is. It's clear he's trying to hide something.

My heart sinks.

"What is it?" I ask. He snaps his head up, surprised I could read him that well.

He shakes his head. "Nothing."

I roll my eyes as the grip on my fork tightens.

"I hate when you do that. Something is clearly wrong. Out with it. Now." I demand.

"Who are you to give me any type of or-" he starts in on his rant, but my patience breaks as I hurl my fork at his big, dumb head.

It lands with a thud, stew now dripping from his forehead, causing Cole and Archer to stifle their laughs.

"I won't ask again."

He looks up with rage filled eyes before he unceremoniously tosses the phone in the middle of the table.

"See for yourself, then. But I did warn you."

I carefully pick up the phone. My legs give out as I slump in my chair. Completely terrified of the video before me.

"God, no." I whisper.

Calen sits in the chair. His face is almost unrecognizable safe for those emerald eyes. Some of his fingers are bent at unnatural angles. Cuts line his body, all of various degrees, but all bleeding nonetheless. Bitter determination is written on his features as someone comes up to him.

He forces his eyes open and stares the attacker down. His gaze is so murderous it sends shivers down my spine.

The man barks an order and two other men step forward. One blindfolds Calen while the other undoes his restraints. They stand him up and I gasp.

Standing reveals so much more damage. It's clear that one of his legs is badly hurt. Burn marks make the skin bubble up on his feet and his entire torso is black and blue. They take his hands and tie them together in front of him, attaching them to a rope on the ceiling.

One of the men steps out of the frame and Calen's arms start to raise above his head. Pain mars his features as he's forced to stretch his already beaten torso.

"Where is she?" The man asks something long in his hands.

"Go fuck yourself." Calen fires back.

The man lifts the object, a baseball bat, and swings it as hard as he can at Calen's ribs. The sound of cracking bone is evident, even through the screen.

My hand comes up to cover my mouth as they ruthlessly beat Calen until he's limp and his breathing is ragged.

The man comes up to Calen's face and lifts it. "You are nothing. Scum. Nothing more than the dirt beneath my feet. You're not worth the effort it would take to end your miserable life." He drops Calen's face and he lets out a sound that's far too close to a whimper.

He then leaves, while Calen loses consciousness.

...

I throw the phone down and leave the table, my appetite completely obliterated. I go to the room I've been staying in and slouch to the floor. Tears fall as I replay what I saw over and over again.

They'll ruin him.

The thought makes me so angry that I grab whatever is closest to me and smash it on the floor. The flowers and the vase go skittering across.

I heave in breaths as I swipe everything off of the dresser and throw it to the ground. My vision darkens as my anger takes control of me.

By the time I'm somewhat calm, the entire room is trashed. A knock at my door sounds.

"Not now." I snap.

The door swings open and Caden steps through.

"You don't ever fucking listen." He spits, "there was a reason I didn't want to tell you."

I stare at him blankly. "Can you go now?"

He turns to walk back out of the room.

"Wait." I say. He stops but stays facing away.

My hands shake as I walk to him, turning him around to face me. I've never known anger this consuming. This profound. I barely recognize my own voice as I say, "I want them to suffer. I want their families to suffer. I want them to never know another day of peace. I want their pain to last fucking generations. I want their family name to mean nothing."

The air between us lightens as Caden turns wearing a genuine smile for the first time.

"I see why he likes you." He says before leaving me to wreck the rest of the room.