At First Blush

Chapter 35

He was never going to be critical of superhero/spy movies ever again. He couldn't feel his ass, his shins were so bruised they were numb, and he had had the urge to sneeze for the last however many minutes, and it was excruciating to hold it back. It was like the inverse feeling of edging.

Exhaling slowly, Ollie peeped around the leg of the metal thingy he was crouched behind. He'd crawled through the horrendous maze of conveyor belts (note, if he ever got out of this, he'd leave a sternly worded message to the warehouse's cleaning staff), and was now hunched next to a worryingly tall metal shelf that was filled with boxes that didn't look like they'd been stacked properly. Big Boi was pawing through boxes and barrels on the other side, and from where he was, it looked like there was another office space ahead of him, which hopefully had either a lock, an exit, or at least a sturdy chair he could wedge under the knob so he could call James.

With his ears straining for any sound, he crept forward, hands and knees, moving towards the hulking shape of the office. He was so preoccupied by looking around, that he didn't see jutted edge of the shelf before he high-powered crawled right into it. Pain slapped him upside the head, and he saw sparks of light as his vision wavered. Even worse, his body weight against the jutted edge caused the shelf to screech as it seemed to sway. Ollie shoved himself back, scooting as far away from the creaking shelf as he could. He nearly went ass first into an open barrel, before wriggling between them and squatting on the pallet.

Something wet and sticky dripped down his chin, and he ignored it, barely able to breathe as he heard the heavy foot falls of the Big Alpha echo.

"Where are you, you stupid little shit?" He growled, the sound pinging the fight/flight instinct in Ollie's stomach, making him press a hand over his mouth.

He held still, listening as the Alpha snuffled around, like a feral bear, growling out curses and promises that made Ollie's back break out in a cold sweat. The Alpha's footsteps got louder, and Ollie couldn't breathe. Soon he'd be right on him, and Ollie knew that he would be able to smell him this close.

He groped around for anything, anything, he could use if he got find. His fingers closed over the cold steel lid of the drum he'd nearly wedged himself inside. It was heavy, and probably not the best shape, but it was steel. He could at least smack a bitch around a bit.

No sooner than he'd hefted the lid to his chest, the Alpha laughed, a menacing sound that made him tense his legs underneath him.

"Awww, trying to be a good boy and prepackage yourself?" The Alpha taunted, as he started shoving drums out of his way. Ollie tried to make his body stop shaking, but all too soon, the drum he was hunched behind was shoved over, and his shirt front was in the meaty hand of the Alpha, who's eyes glittered a dangerous red gold. He bared his teeth at Ollie. "Found you, you cun-"

Ollie slammed the lid into the Alpha's ribs, cutting him off. The Alpha grunted in pain, his grip loosening, and Ollie kicked out hard, catching the Alpha in the knee cap. He doubled over, and Ollie raised the lid and brought it down, hard, on the Alpha's head, sending him fully to the ground.

On shaky legs, he staggered away, fingers clenched around the lid. He felt like he might be leaving impressions of his fingernails in the metal. He stumbled over something, looked down, and saw a crowbar. Oh, hell yes.

Chucking the drum lid behind him, he scooped up the crowbar, and booked it to the office. He could already hear the Alpha starting to recover.

He body slammed into the door at full speed, and jiggled the doorknob. Fuck. Locked. He couldn't even stop to think, he just wedged the crowbar between the door jamb and door and shoved. The wood splintered, and he ripped the door open. The office beyond was dark and smelled bad. Like worse than just stale air. Covering his face, grimacing, he shoved the door closed, leaning against it as he let his eyes adjust to the gloom. There was a filing cabinet, a desk, a chair, some old electronics, and another door.

He grabbed the filing cabinet, yanking it over, wincing at the loud crash. It wasn't like the Alpha didn't know where he was.

Just as he thought that, the door gave a horrendous thud, shuddering in its frame. Scrambling, heart beating so hard he almost couldn't breathe, couldn't see, he went to the other door, opening it, and slipping inside, hoping that the Alpha would be distracted searching for him in the first room. As he leaned against the door, the smell somehow even worse now, his hand fumbled with the door lock, clicking it shut. The slamming was muffled now, and he closed his eyes, trying to steady his breathing.

He turned, keeping his eyes on the door, pulling his phone out awkwardly with one hand, because he was never letting go of his crowbar. He took maybe eight steps back when he tripped over something that sloshed his feet and sent him stumbling back. He hit into something metal hard, making whatever it was rattle and something scuttle.

He froze, staring at the door in front of him, heart in his throat, stomach twisted. It took almost all his courage to turn his head, to look to see what he'd A) stepped in and B) what had scuttled.

His feet were soaked with water from like a doggie dish. And what had scuttled was a dirty, wide eyed, terrified blond man. He had himself pressed against the other side of the...the.. dog crate he was in, arms wrapped around his body, legs pressed together tightly, shivering. And he wasn't the only one.

Ollie let his gaze travel around the room. Twelve crates. Six had young men in similar states, all watching Ollie with hunted gazes. And beneath the stink of their sweat, Ollie could smell something sweet. Omega.

His stomach roiled and he fought back the bile as he shoved himself away from the crate, barely able to keep the keening cry that clawed at his throat quiet. His back his the door, only for him to be thrown forward as the door was wrenched from its hinges.

Thick fingers gripped his hair painfully, yanking him back as the Alpha snarled. "How thoughtful to prepackage yourself, slut, but the boss has a bone to pick with you. And when he's done-" The threat hung in the air as he dragged Ollie out by his hair.

He started screaming then. Screaming and screaming, clawing at the hands that held him captive as the Alpha dragged him across the concrete. Blood and tears and snot ran into his mouth, but he didn't stop. He couldn't stop fighting.

His gaze caught on the man, the boy, in the cage he'd run into. The boy watched him carefully, then held his phone up, his hand shaking. Ollie shuddered, then redoubled his efforts to break free. He had to stall. He had to get free. He had to help them.