Saving Link

Chapter Six

Link looked up at James with such hatred. He spoke, the tears still falling down him face. "No." James raised his eyebrows.

"Excuse me, Link. What did you just say? Did you just tell me 'No' ? Well, someone's asking for no food tomorrow."

"Yes, James, I said no. You will not touch a hair on this man's head ever again." Link, as weak and frail as his body was, moved away from Rhett. He got on his hands and knees, unable to stand because of his feet. He tried to crawl over to James, but he fell, his body giving out. He cried out in pain and James laughed. Rhett crawled over to Link and helped his get back up. He held Link close to himself protectively. He spoke, his voice calm, but such hatred  and anger were laced in it.

"Look, what you have done to my  brother. Have you no conscience? He can't even stand! Look what you've done! And why?! WHY?! I am going to make you pay for what you have done. I swear I will." Rhett didn't move from where he was. He was too preoccupied with taking care of Link.

James sneered, "Oh really? Are you so sure about that? No one knows you are here and now that you have found your precious best friend, they never will. You are the one that's going to pay. Not me. You should have just given up. How did you find him? How did you know that I wasn't Link?" Before Rhett could answer, James grabbed Link and put a knife to his throat. Link's eyes widen and he stared at Rhett, a plea of help in his eyes. "One move and he's dead, so answer my question, McLaughlin."

"You wouldn't kill him. You couldn't."

"Try me."

"No, I won't risk Link's life. He means too much to me. Link, brother, I promise I'm going to get you out of here alive no matter what it costs me. I promise that to you. Just remember that I love you, buddy. I'm so happy I found you. Hold on. We're getting out of here." Rhett looked up at James, such hatred in his emerald green eyes again. "There are times when I believe I know Link better than I know myself. I knew he could never do the things you were doing. I knew it wasn't him. How did I find him? I spent days on end searching and came to this house. I could just feel something different about here. I knew Link was here. I hoped."

"Interesting. Just curious, did a pretty young ginger girl talk to you about Link? She was in her early twenties." Rhett knew he was talking about the girl from a few nights ago. He had to lie. Her life was endangered by giving Rhett this information.

"No, should there have been?"

"Hmm, you're lying. Don't lie to me. One more chance or this man is dead." He pushed the dagger a little farther against Link's throat. Rhett was presented with a conflict. He knew what to do, but it was so hard. He had to tell the truth. He couldn't let Link die. He wouldn't. He was going to do everything in his power to prevent any more harm coming to Link. 

"Yes. She told me that you were Link's twin brother and that Link was nearby. That was all she said to me. And she made me pay her. Don't kill her. Please, she didn't tell me your name or where Link was. Please."

"Sorry, but she promised not to say one word or she would be dead. Oh well. I'll take care of that later. Sorry Angel. Shouldn't have said anything." He let go of Link who fell forward coughing. Rhett immediately went over to Link and wrapped his arms around the bony figure of his best friend. Link's skin was cold. He had goose bumps covering his arms and his teeth clattered together as he shivered and coughed.

"Please, get him something to warm him up. Please. And water. Clean water. He needs it. You have to have some good in your heart. Please, I'm begging you." James looked back at Rhett and Link. He side smirked.

"No." After that, he left, locking the doors. Rhett sighed and held Link close to him. Link rested his head against Rhett's chest.

"I missed you so much. You're here. Thank you."

"Of course I'm here, Link. I was going to find you no matter what. I missed you just as much. I'm going to take care of you. Here, you're cold." Rhett took off his shirt, now only wearing a white undershirt, and slipped it over Link's head and put his arms through. "Does that help at all?"

"Yeah, thank you, Rhett." Link was still leaning against Rhett. He started to cry. Rhett rubbed Link's back as he cried.

"It's gonna be okay, buddy. I'm gonna get you out of here and you're gonna get better. What did he do to your feet?"

"H-he broke them and then the bones healed incorrectly. I can't feel them at all. And he took my glasses. H-he did so much. I-I don't w-want to talk about it..." Link cried harder as all the memories of the pain he had been through replayed in his head. The suffering was not mainly from the pain though, it was from being separated from his loved ones and knowing what James had done to them.

"Okay, okay, we won't. I'm so sorry for bringing it up."

"I-it's alright. I u-understand. What did he do to my kids?"

"He... he hit them. Your family is in North Carolina right now. But I can promise you, your family is not going to fall apart. I'm going to make absolute certainty of that. Everything will be okay eventually. We need to hold on for right now." Rhett looked around and found a blanket is a dark corner of the basement. He smiled and got up. He brought the blanket back and wrapped it tightly around Link. Link leaned into Rhett's chest again, Rhett wrapping his arms around him. The smaller man's eyes closed and he fell asleep in the safely of Rhett's arms.