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Chapter 5:

As Tommy weakly lifted his head up at the sound of his older brother's voice, Cedar's eyes went wide as more of his injuries came into view.

Besides the mass of bruises that littered his cheeks, Tommy's already damaged left eye was nearly swollen shut from a massive purple bruise and his clothes were tattered and splattered with blood.

"Tommy, I'm gonna come over there and get you out of those cuffs alright?". Joel said in a calm, low voice as he walked behind the pole Tommy was restrained to and opened the cuffs with a spare hairpin that Cedar gave to him.

Once he was free, Tommy's weight gave out on the upper half of his body, causing him to slump onto his hands and knees since he'd been kneeling while he was restrained.

"I know you're in pain alright? But we're gonna get you home". Joel said, his voice shaking with barely restrained fear as Tommy whimpered and flinched when Joel lifted him into a standing position and slung his arm around his shoulders so they could walk out of the barn.

"Joel, something's wrong with his wrist". Cedar pointed out, looking at Tommy's swollen and bent left wrist.

"He must have broken it trying to get out of the cuffs". Joel explained as Ellie led the way out of the barn.

"It's Tommy! He's hurt badly!". Ellie called out once she and the other's arrived back at the house twenty or so minutes later.

"Get him over here". Benji instructed, seemingly unfazed by Tommy's sudden reappearance as he grabbed his medical kit.

"His left wrist is broken, that's really all I know". Joel rattled off as he helped Tommy sit down on the wooden dining room table so Benji could look him over.

Benji nodded at Joel before looking back at Tommy. "Do you want your brother in here while I check you out?".

Tommy looked between his brother and Benji for a moment before shaking his head no, his eyes wide with fear as he sat totally rigid on the table.

"Wait in the living room, we'll talk once I'm done". Benji instructed as he swiftly got to work on patching up Tommy's more visible injuries.

Joel almost looked like he wanted to argue but a small squeeze of the hand from Ellie reassured him enough to head into the living room and sit down without further issue.

"What the hell happened?". Boone whispered as Cedar sat down and cuddled into his side.

"He was handcuffed inside an old barn a mile away". Cedar explained just as quietly. "He hasn't said a word".

Boone nodded and held his son reassuringly as nearly thirty minutes passed before Benji was finally done with patching Tommy's injuries up.

"I've treated most of the external injuries he's sustained, I tried to get him to tell me what happened but he won't say a word". Benji announced as he walked into the living room after he had put Tommy up in one of the guest rooms.

"He's gone mute". Rocky realized with a frown.

"W - What does that mean?". Luca asked worriedly.

"Sometimes when people experience really severe trauma, they'll refuse to talk because of how terrified they are from whatever they experienced". Rocky explained.

"So how do we get him to open up?". Joel asked, evidently concerned over his little brother's condition.

"Ideally he would need professional help from a licensed therapist, but that's obviously not an option given the current state of things". Rocky said with a sigh.

"Non - verbal communication is best for now". Benji added on. "He can write things down on paper when he needs or wants something from us".

"That would be great if we actually had a pen and paper laying around". Ellie pointed out.