Discoveries | TMR | Three

1:1

"Where are they?!"

"I don't know!"

Bound to a metal chair, the last surviving guards' screams echo through the corridors of this small compound on the edge of town, polluting the otherwise peaceful air in its shrill agony. The ropes restricting him have been tightened so rigidly that his wrists and ankles have began to redden and bruise from his constant struggle; fading from a warm ivory into cool lavender.

''The longer you refuse to talk, the worse it'll get.''

"I've already t-told you e-everything I know!"

Delicate, yet increasingly menacing footsteps of the young captor slowly pad along the ceramic floor, and his dust covered fingertips trickle loosely over a row of medical tools lying neatly on the table. Each one polished to perfection. Gleaming with a shiny and icy blue tint. Screaming, no, begging to be chosen first.

"Somehow, I don't believe you. So, I'll ask again; where are they?"

''P-please, I s-swear, I don-''

Blood coats his shirt after another vicious collision of the boys fist to the right-side of the guards face. The white of his collar now crimson; drenched by dribbles of blood and saliva that drip down, separating from the sprinkling that sprays out onto the white, tiled walls as his head is forced to the side.

Nick did not know that Matt could be so brutal.

Yet, here he is, smacking the absolute shit out of a random worker who just so happened to be found hiding away in a cupboard. Growing increasingly impatient with the lack of information the guard is willing to give, and dangerously toeing the line between tormenter and murderer.

The situation had been unravelling for hours now, and Nick would have liked to think that at least one person in this room would have some protests about it all, but honestly, they seem to not give one ounce of  fuck. The ruthlessness of Matt's actions do not even cause them to bat an eyelid. They do not so much as even flinch, or flicker their hardened gazes away from the battered and bloody man as the young boy continues to smack him senseless.

But this is all getting to be a bit too much for Nick. He had thought he no longer cared, but there must be some semblance of humanity left in him after all.

"Yes you do!" Matt all but screeches, swiftly loosing all resolve. He curls his fingers tightly around the arms of the chair and leans down to send a threatening glare into the eyes of the guard whom he knows holds the information he needs. "You work for them! How could you possibly not know where they are?!"

"Because they don't tell us!" the guard screeches back, trying to sit up straight but immediately being held back by the restraints around his chest.

For some reason, that sentence adheres itself to Nick's brain. From his position at the opposite side of the room, stood with his spine resting against the wall and arms loosely wrapped around his chest, his tilts his head to the right and furrows his brows. "What do you mean they don't tell you?"

"They don't tell us!" the guard desperately repeats. "I- I- I'm all new to this, alright? I only- I only just started last month, but all I know is that they- they drop the kids off and they- they stay for a couple of days then they get picked back up again!"

"So they were here?" She had been silent up until this point, but the man's words clearly snag on her. "All of them?"

"S-some of them."

Nick and Maggie share a passing glance. Could it be that they have finally managed to crack the guard? "Which ones?" the young boy asks.

"I don't know!"