Hunter and the Hunted (Septiplier)

~~ CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR ~~

After sitting in shock for another few moments, I finally willed myself to get up. Told myself to check... Check for a pulse.

I tip-toed towards him, letting his appearance settle in. He looked terrible...

I was in complete and utter shock towards what they had done to him. His legs were butchered, his face battered and bruised, his arms scraped and the skin against him torn... His hand screwed to the wooden chair like he was nothing more than a doll. Just something to throw around and hurt! That's what they treated him like! Like he was nothing!

He looked so vulnerable where he was... Like he had been this way for years... And I guess on the inside, he had been. He just looked as he felt now, and that hurt me more than anything, the fact that he had been though this pain before, feeling every cut on the inside except slowly and unbearably helpless in the ways of fixing him.

The guy was right... This was my fault. I had caused him so much pain over the past few years... It was me who faked my death, and me who showed back up like it wouldn't open up any wounds. It did. It was so clear from the second he realised who I was that day in the forest... It was me who made him stay with the group... Me who got ambushed by the group who took it out on him. It was all me...

I didn't have time for that right now.

I placed two gentle fingers just under his chin, against his neck, checking for anything at all. There had to be something, he couldn't be gone, it just wasn't right! It wasn't his time. Not now, not ever. I'd like to see death go a couple rounds with me himself before I would allow my Jack to be taken from me.

Not now, not ever.

I was patient in waiting for it, and I had to keep myself motionless to feel anything at all. I could feel my own heart beating out of my chest, my blood running south, and my hands began to tremble as much as my legs as I persistently stood in place waiting for... well, anything.

Seconds ticked by that felt like hours, the room was silent, the only sound being the calls and yells from outside. I could hear yelling from both sides of the groups, recognising my boys and that young girl against the rest, men and women alike. Fighting for survival in a doomed planet.

It surprised me at first, the slight movement against my fingertips, feeling it again after a few seconds.

A pulse!

It was there! But it was also weak... And slow for that matter. I needed to get him out of here. I need to get them all out.

I ran to the door, ripping it open and feeling a tear run down my face as I looked back to him.

"I'll be right back baby," I ensured, running form the doorway and back out into the main room.

"Mark!" Ken yelled, "Where is he?! Where's Jack!?"

I smiled a little, a glint in my eye, watching as his posture relaxed a little but not completely. They were still fighting of course.

"TJ! I called across the room, seeing her fighting alongside Cry, "I need your help!"

I received a nod and ran back to the room I had left him helpless and alone in. I needed to get him out of this, but how? This was horrible!

"Mark, I have an idea but I'm not quite sure where it stands on a scale of crazy to insane," she said quickly, moving to Jack and feeling for a pulse.

"I...I can't feel anything..." She cracked, a tear slipping down her own cheek at the sight of Mark's face towards her response.

"No! No there was before. It's just hard to find. He's alive, but barely, we need to get him out!" Mark pushed, making his way to him and kneeling down, examining the cuffs.