Hostage

23. "I have your back. Have you got mine?"

Breathing hurt.

My chest felt like it was caving in on itself, waving its white flag in surrender as it pleaded with my brain to just let go. It hurt to move in the slightest, so I didn't. I stayed on my back in the room that had been labeled as mine. I didn't even get a bed.

I was told that the floor was my bed. At least it was carpeted though.

My body relented, screamed in protest as I pushed myself up until I was sitting up against the wall. Breathing in, I choked on my own air and coughed until I was spitting up blood into palm.

I laid my head back against the wall with closed eyes, my body slowly, slowly, drifting into a peaceful slumber. My bones shook from restlessness, my mind ached from constantly replaying the events that happened and what was to come.

I had almost let my mind leave my body, that was, until the door was thrown open so harshly it clanked back against the door.

I heard a deep voice but I couldn't decipher who it was or where it was coming from. It echoed around me. It was drowning me.

My mind was running into an oblivion. I could feel my eyes slowly rolling to the back of my head.

This was it, I thought. This is what death feels like. I allowed the man's hands to push and tug at my body. Allowed myself to be tampered with because I was numb.

My limbs collapsed like dead weight. My head lolled and my eyes rolled.

~*~

"Oh god I'm gonna be sick" I mumbled to Lou as my hands griped the leather seats so tight I could feel the skin breaking at my knuckles.

"Harry I really need you to relax, mate. We're going to get her out of there"

"She looked so bad in the video Louis, so so terrible. What are they doing to her?" My hair was tied up into a sloppy bun and was probably very greasy from my lack of shower. I had a couple blemishes along my hairline again from lack of shower. And I was positive that my eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep.

But I was in no condition to talk about my appearance when I knew Raleigh had it worse. Images of her bloody body passed through my head, but I built an imaginary blockade to stop them from crossing my mind.

"Harry I need your head to be in this alright? We have an awesome fucking plan but it's not gonna work unless you're in this okay? We're going to get her. Everything will be okay."

"I like her Lou. I- fuck, I want to like hold her and tell her everything's gonna be alright and..and -all that shit you do with Eleanor and-"

"Alright mate, alright" He chuckled softly, patting my shoulder. "I get it. You like the girl. That's why we're gonna go get her, alright? I have your back. Have you got mine?"

"Of course I do" I grumbled.

"Good" He grinned, slamming his hand on the steering wheel. "Let's go kill these fuckers" He shouted.

~*~

Gunshots.

More gunshots.

I pressed myself as flat up against the wall as I could as I subtly climbed the stairs to the top floor. Raleigh has to be here. She has to be. We tracked the phone that sent the video to me and it led us here.

And so far, all I've found are men and more men, but no Raleigh.

I've checked in the basement and found an empty chair, but no Raleigh.

The only way she wouldn't be here is if they knew we were coming and moved her, but they didn't. They were totally unprepared when we showed up here.

Most of them were asleep in the backyard.

There still in the backyard, and they're still sleeping. They'll just be sleeping forever now instead of a few hours.

"Raleigh" I whispered heatedly as I rounded the corner, facing a hallway with multiple doors along the sides, each wide open.

I stared down the hallway with narrowed eyes. This was weird. What kind of idiots leave all the doors wide open like this? It looked suspicious.

Instead of walking further down the hallway I looked behind me, where a single bedroom door was sealed shut. I lunged forward, my hand on the knob and ready to turn it, but that's when I heard it.

Thump Thump Thump. And it came from....

My eyes searched frantically around the walls until they landed on a tiny piece of string on the ceiling.

The attic.

Fuck, they did a pretty good job of making it look like just the ceiling. They had painted around the edges to blend in with-you know what? Fuck this. I'm wasting time.

I yanked the string down, taking a step back to allow the stairs to unfold before me. As soon as the wooden step hit the ground I ran up the stairs, the wooden panels creaking under my feet.

I covered my mouth to stifle my gasp when my eyes landed on a man, on top of Raleigh. Their pants were off. She was unconscious.

I didn't even hesitate to raise my gun and shoot him once, twice, three times straight in the chest. My hands shook as I made my way over to the asshole and ripped him off of her body. Kicking him twice in the head before pushing my anger to the back of my head and instead trying to focus on Raleigh.

She was on her side, her back facing me. And for that I was glad, because I probably would have collapsed right then and there if I had seen her face.

Instead, I swallowed the lump in my throat and gently eased her into my arms, making sure to look away when her face rolled into my chest.

I could feel my heart sink at the weight of her in my arms. She was so so thin.

It had only been a week, what could they have done to her!?

Shit! She doesn't have any pants on. Even though she's unconscious I can't humiliate her like that. I set her down on the ground gently before lifting my shirt off my head and putting it on over her. It was long enough to cover her up.

I lifted her into my arms again, still not looking at her face, before hauling my ass back downstairs and trough the back door. I ran as fast as I could with her in my arms until I reached the car, carefully laying Raleigh in the backseat and wrapping a blanket around her before clambering into the front seat.

I slammed my fist down on the horn countless times ,my eyes watching like a hawk as Louis, Niall, and Liam came pouring through the front door, all of them running as fast as they could to the car.

Louis jumped in the passenger seat and Niall and Liam sat in the very back row.

"Where's Zayn?" I asked in a panic, looking back at Raleigh.

"He's still in there"

"We've gotta go"

"It's okay he can just take the other car"

I didn't hesitate to stomp of the gas, backing out of the forest and onto the gravel before speeding down the road.