Never Coming Home

And Then There Were More

"Gerard?"

"Gerard can you hear me?"

The voices floated in and out of Gerard's ears. They felt familiar to the boy, but his spinning head and aching chest covered his thoughts like a cloud over a skyscraper.

"Com'on. Let me know you're not dead.."

He heard the voice again. Where was he? Was it all a dream? Would he awaken on his bed, mid July, his family around him, smiling and laughing? Was his brother alive again? Oh.. No.. that was not the case, was it? Now, the boy's consciousness caught up with him. Something happened to him.. right?

"Mm?" Gerard croaked, lifting his head slightly as he tried to pry his eyelids open.

He heard a sigh of relief followed by a "I thought you were dead."

"Nah.." Gerard sighed, slowly lifting himself up. "Not yet."

Gerard noticed that he was back in his room, on the bed that (he supposed) Frank made for him. "What the hell happened to me?" He groaned, rubbing his temples.

"Wait," Frank said, "you don't remember?"

"No.." Gerard sighed.

"Well, I don't think you want to remember."

"Oh.."

Gerard looked away. Perhaps he didn't allow himself to remember..

Suddenly a quiet click came from the metal door that trapped the two boys in the white walled room. They sent each other questioning looks. Frank was the first to stand, hovering his hand over the doorknob to check the temperature. After deeming it safe, he slowly pulled the metal knob back, allowing the door to swing open. Gerard stood behind Frank, almost cowering at the new sight. It was a narrow hallway, of course, white walled with light grey marbles floors.

As Frank took his first steps out, listening to the strange sound of his bare feet padding on the floor, another door had clicked to the left of him.

"What the hell?" Frank mouthed to himself, debating on whether to open the door or not. Now that he realized it, there were doors almost every few feet on both sides of the walls.

"Open it." Gerard whispered from behind him.

Frank complied, slowly turning the handle to the right. He could hear harsh whispering coming from the small crack in the door. Suddenly, it was yanked open and Frank was sent sprawling to the floor, another body already on top of him, plummeting fists into his body.

Gerard screamed.

Frank then flipped over and pinned his unknown attacker to the floor, getting a few hits at him before someone else grabbed his shoulders and dragged him off.

"Let me go!" Frank bellowed, elbowing the other person in the stomach, making him drop the shorter boy, allowing him to advance towards his attacker once again.

"Frank!" The last attacker wheezed. "It's me you fuck! Stop fighting!"

Frank paused, turning to look back at Gerard, who sat on the floor, clutching his stomach.

"Jesus." He breathed. "You need to chill out."

Frank felt the tips of his ears turn red. "B-but I-"

"Look at these guys!" Gerard yelled, "They're not workers. They look just like us!"

And Gerard was right. They did look like the other two boys, dresses in the same clothes, and in the same looking room, only these two looked quite different from Gerard and Frank. One of them was a short, hazel brown haired boy with coffee eyes and a light complexion. The other was taller with pulled back dark brown hair, a more olive complexion, and eyes the color of wood.

The shorter one stood near the corner, trembling. The taller man, resting his weight on his elbows, sat up while lowering his head.

"I'm sorry I attacked you.." he began, "Ry and I were planning an attack on these people for days. I didn't expect other nor miss to walk through the door.." he paused. "Did you do it? Did you save us?"

"I..." Frank began.

"No. Our door just opened." Gerard said, finishing Frank's sentence. "And so did yours."

The tall man stood up and walked towards the door, beckoning his friend, ry?, to come along.

"Then lets get the fuck out of here." He said, stepping out into the hall.

"Wait!" Frank called after them, running to catch up. "But if we're not the only ones, then we have to check to see if there's more! We can't leave them behind!"

The tall man stopped, making eye contact with Ry. "What do you think Ryan? Do you think we should make a run for it?"

Ryan shook his head. "We have to do the right thing. I'm scared as balls, but, fuck, who would I be if I left innocent people stuck here."

"And if we get caught?"

Ryan turned to the two boys. "Guys. We need to have some kind of speaking system, but we need tools and we need to get them fast. You have to expect to get captured again, but we gotta talk, so, my plan is to get some cans and string, possibly a drill. We need to cover the mics in our rooms so that they can't hear us talk. We'll figure out a plan to find everyone little by little and connect us all together through the speaking system. Then we all attack at once then get the hell out of here. Deal?"

Frank and Gerard stood, dumbfounded. Ryan had his shit figured out but.. Were they going to risk  their lives for some cans and string?

"Deal." Gerard said without hesitation. He then looked at Frank with pleading eyes. "Whadd'ya say Frank? You in?"

Frank stood, flicking his eyes back in forth in thought. Would he really risk everything..? What about his freedom? His life? His mom?

"For the greater good.." Gerard added, keeping strong eye contact with Frank.

Finally, the boy nodded, looking back up to the other two boys. "Deal."

"Good." Ryan said, taking a few steps down the hallway. "We need to find this stuff and we need to find it quick before we're discovered.

"Wait!" Frank called. "What's your name!" He asked, pointing to the taller man.

"I'm Brendon." He smiled. "Now let's go get some mother fuckin' cans."