Strangers

saved

Now Joe and Taylor were both held hostage by Alexei.

Taylor was exhausted not only physically but also psychologically. The constant torture, the lack of food, and now Joe in the next room.

The woman could not even fall into a faint half-slumber after being beaten again, because all night she listened to the desperate cries of Joe, who was also occupied by bandits. It was even worse, listening to her loved one suffer.

It seemed to be the end. Taylor didn't want anything anymore. She just wanted the constant pain to stop. Never before in her life had she thought it would be better if she just died.

They would both die of torture in that basement, but...

At some point Taylor heard stomping and screaming. And it wasn't bandits, it was someone else. There were sounds of gunfire, but the woman couldn't even move because of her wounds.

"Hey, who's there, better get away from the door," shouted an unfamiliar male voice.

Luckily for Taylor, she was lying pretty far away as it was, so all she did was clasp her eyes shut.

A deafening rumble, thousands of little bumps that fell on her but finally a vivid dream hit the dark room. Taylor's eyes instantly watered.

A group of armed men dressed in black instantly burst into her small room but this time their uniforms had "police" written on them.

A man with a buzz cut ran up to Taylor and instantly assessing her condition shouted

"Get the medics in here now!"

The last thing Taylor remembered before she lost consciousness was having an IV inserted into her arm and being carried somewhere on a stretcher by doctors.

~~~~~~~~~~~

It was as if Joe had watched in a trance as the doors were kicked in and his abusers were twisted. But among the black masks he recognized a familiar face. Detective Shawn. He had saved him after all.

"Shawn...where is Taylor?" Barely audible in all the noise Joe asked.

"The paramedics have already taken her away" Shawn quickly looked over the head of the Brit whose blond hair was drenched in his own blood "and you obviously need to be treated in the hospital too."

"But..." Joe didn't even have time to object before they loaded him onto a stretcher and injected some kind of drug into his veins that made him instantly fall asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~(time-skip)

When Taylor regained consciousness again, she found herself in a hospital room bathed in soft light. The beeping of machines filled the air, accompanied by the low hum of conversations from the medical staff. She groaned softly, her body aching from the torment she had endured.

As her eyes adjusted to the surroundings, Taylor realized she was alone in the room. Her body felt heavy, and she struggled to move or even speak. The trauma she had experienced had left her physically and emotionally drained.

Just as she closed her eyes, trying to find some respite from the pain, the door to her room swung open. Detective Shawn, the private detective Joe had hired, rushed in followed by a team of doctors and nurses. His face displayed a mix of concern and determination. Taylor didn't know who he was but she remembered that he saved her.

"Taylor, we found you," Shawn exclaimed, his voice filled with relief. "You're safe now"

Taylor weakly turned her head towards him, her voice barely a whisper. "Joe... Is Joe okay?"