Bad People; Bad Intentions

Thin Ice

   Deku woke up in a cold sweat, fear plastered all over his face. The nightmare of him having to relive that awful experience with the fire replaying through his head over and over as he sat up and groaned in pain. He had huge second and third degree burns all over his body that he couldn't do anything about. They caused him pain with every movement he made, even with every breath he tried to take. The part of him that hurt the worst, however, was his ankle where the chain still clung firm. Every time Deku moved his leg he was met with a stinging scorching pain as the chain rubbed against the burn.
   Deku sat up against the wall, not wanting to believe that the torture could get any worse despite how many times he was told it could and would.
   "Please, someone. Please help me. I can't take this anymore." Deku whispered under his breath through tears before hearing the familiar sound of the door unlocking.

   No. no please no. Not again. Deku thought to himself as the door swung open and Zanoka walked in carrying the exact same duffel bag he was carrying yesterday.
   "Ah, good morning Izuku. You feeling any better today?" Zanoka asked cheerfully.

   Wait, morning? Another morning has already arrived? Based on how many I've counted I've been here for almost three days. Have the pros still not found anything? Are they ever going to find me?  Deku thought to himself as he felt his faith in the heroes begin to slip away. Maybe I did put too much faith into the heroes. Maybe they can't help me after all. Deku closed his eyes and tried not to sob any louder than he already had. He knew he had to act, and quickly.
   He looked Zanoka up and down in a way that wouldn't be noticeable to him with hope that he could find something to help him. And that's when he saw it. Zanoka had a phone in his back pocket. Deku knew that that phone would be his best chance at helping the heroes further. He just needed to get a little more information on his location and then find a way to get the phone away from Zanoka without him noticing.
   "My my, aren't you being quiet today." Zanoka said gleefully as he pulled out a variety of knives from the bag. "You know, the sunrise in this part of town is the prettiest in my opinion. The sun hits the trees and windows in just the right spot that sometimes you forget that you're surrounded by trees. Oops-I said too much." Zanoka teased.
   "It doesn't matter anyway. You're not getting out of here. The pros have no idea what could've happened to you and have probably given up looking by now." Deku tried to shut those words out because he knew they weren't true.
   At least he knew a little bit more about his surroundings. He wasn't in any town, meaning he was most likely in the middle of the forest which would make sense based on his current situation. And it had to be a part of the forest that was directed towards the east as Zanoka mentioned how beautiful the sunrise was in this part of town. The last part of that sentence could also indicate that they weren't in the middle of the forest but rather on the outskirts of town where people didn't visit very often for a number of reasons.
   "Are you ready for phase three Izuku?" Zanoka asked, snapping Deku out of his thoughts and back to reality.
   "W-what do you wanna do this time?" Deku asked softly.
   "Oh nothing that bad. I just wanna inflict some more pain on you but in a different way than burning." There was a short pause as Deku realized he needed to act now or he would never get the chance to snatch his phone.
   He took a deep breath and launched himself forward, catching Zanoka off guard and knocking him to the ground. However, Zanoka still managed to be one step ahead of him and, when Deku pounced, he lunged the knife he was holding into Deku's left rib cage. He screamed in pain but still refused to move until he was sure he got the phone out successfully; which he did without fully realizing.
   "Alright you little brat!" Zanoka screamed, throwing Deku off of him and onto the ground where he laid; clutching the new fresh wound that had been created.
   Zanoka walked over and picked Deku up by his neck. "I've had it with your attitude Izuku." He said as he thrusted the knife into Deku's ribs again. "I've had it!" Another stab. "I've had it!" Another stab.
   Zanoka stabbed Deku once each time he let out that sentence. Three times. Then four times. Then five. This went on for a few minutes, Deku counting each agonizing stab. He counted about twenty-seven before Zanoka calmed down enough to drop him and the knife.
   "Now then, I need to go calm down a little bit before we continue. Maybe with your new wounds you'll think twice how you act around me." Zanoka said before turning around, grabbing the duffel bag, and leaving; slamming and locking the door behind him.
   He left in such a rage that he didn't notice the phone he left behind. Which was Deku's plan the whole time. Deku then thought back to a time during class when Aizawa was talking about what to do in case you get seriously injured during battle. He remembered that Aizawa mentioned something about breathing control and that, if you breathe the right way, you can potentially slow down or stop the bleeding so you can keep fighting without the risk of bleeding out. Deku followed this advice and began taking slow, deep breaths. He did this for a few minutes before the bleeding finally ceased. Deku groaned in pain and looked over in the direction of the phone. Whilst clinging onto his ribs, he managed to scoot over and pick up the phone and turn it on. Luckily for Deku, there was still a lot of battery life left so he didn't have to rush a message like last time.
   He shakily punched in Aizawa's phone number and waited for the phone to start ringing. Though he put his hand over the speaker in an attempt to muffle the sound so it wasn't catching Zanoka's attention.
   "Hello?" Came a tired, almost worn down voice from the other side.
   Deku tried to get words to come out of his mouth but they didn't come.
   "Listen, if this is some kind of prank call you'd better hang up now before I report your number to the police. I'm not kidding." Aizawa said, visibly angry.
   Deku knew he had to force some words to come out of his mouth. And he had to do it before Aizawa got angry and hung up.
   "Help." It was one of the only things Deku could choke out without spitting up blood from his wounds.
   "Excuse me? Do you think you could speak up? I can't understand you." Aizawa responded, his voice softer than before.
   "H-help." Deku managed to croak out again, this time slightly louder and more clear.
   There was silence for a second before Deku heard what sounded like a silent sniffle. "Midoriya? Is that you?" Aizawa asked from the other end.
   "Y-yes. I'm i-injured. I ca-can barely sp-speak." Deku spat out before spitting up more blood.
   "Midoriya, do you have any more information on where you might be? If you need to, try to be as blunt but clear as possible so you can save your strength."
   Deku took a few deep breaths and responded, "F-forest. Out-outskirts of town. F-facing e-east. Hurry. Please." Deku pleaded as tears began to well up in his eyes again.
   "Don't worry Midoriya. You're instructions make sense and we're trying to put coordinates that fit. We'll find you, I promise."
   "You've got some nerve kid." Deku froze in fear as he didn't even realize Zanoka had entered the room.
   "Midoriya? Are you okay? Who's voice is that? Midoriya!" Aizawa screamed.
   "Please, don't. Just l-leave me a-alone." Deku pleaded.
   "Midoriya, I need you tell me what's going on."
   "I'm gonna make you regret doing that."
   "N-no please! Stop! No!"
   "Midoriya!" Aizawa screamed as the line went dead.