Other Half - Bennoda

Ch. 2 - Mike

Mike woke up with a stinging pain throughout his body. His head hurt and his forehead felt as though something had dried and crusted on it. He wanted to investigate by using his hands when he realized he was bound by the wrists and ankles with a thick rope. Panic began to set in as he looked around, seeing some of his friends tied up on chairs on either side of him, both unconscious. He took in his surroundings and saw it looked as though they were in an empty warehouse with dim lighting and a high ceiling. It felt cold and unnerving.

Footsteps began echoing through the room after a door creaked open and closed, locking shut with a click. The heavy steps grew closer as Mike's heart raced a pace faster with each step. He glanced worriedly at his friends and had to bite his lip to keep from yelling at the stranger to stay back and get away from his friends. The stranger came up to him and looked between him and his friends.

"I'm Blue," The man introduced himself to Mike, who was still the only one conscious. "My partner's name is Red."

"What the fuck do you want?!" Mike snapped at him, waking Rob who was next to him. His friend waking up only made Mike worried as he saw Chester didn't move an inch and he had a cut on his lip and bruises on his arms. He knew from sharing a room with him that Chester was an extremely light sleeper and according to Brad, Rob wasn't. If Rob was woken up by Mike, but Chester wasn't, it couldn't be good. "What did you do?! Is Chester okay?"

"Your friend is fine, I wouldn't worry about him if I were you," Blue laughed, causing Mike to obtain a confused expression on his face. "You should really worry about yourself, Mike. Chester seems to be smarter in these kinds of situations than you."

"What's that supposed to mean? What did you do to him?" Mike was extremely worried now as he glanced to Chester in a panic. He remembered Chester was still conscious when he was knocked out and wondered what had happened since he lost consciousness.

"Michael, quit asking questions unless you're willing to pay for them," Another voice snapped at him and he recognized the stranger who entered the warehouse as the man who killed Jim and bashed him over the head.

"You must be Red - the guy who killed Jim," Mike noted sourly, hate filling his eyes as he looked at the man.

"You must be Mike - the guy who's gonna get himself killed if he doesn't shut the fuck up!" Red became more angry towards the end of his sentence, yelling at Mike which ended up waking Chester, which Mike couldn't help but be thankful for.

"Oh my god, Chester! Are you okay?" Mike couldn't help himself from asking, earning a hard slap to the back of his head. He groaned and wanted to reach for where he was hit, but the ropes prevented him from doing so. Chester ignored his question after seeing what asking it had resulted.

"How many times do we have to tell your stupid ass to shut up?!" Blue huffed and rolled his eyes at him. "I told you Ches was smarter than you, Mikey-boy. See how he didn't reply to you? You should learn from him."

"Drummer boy, why so quiet?" Red brought the drummer out of his stunned daze as his brown eyes looked at their assailant. He gave him a blank look. "I'm just messing with you, Robby. I know you're the silent type. Good. It could help you stay alive."

"Stay alive?" Rob echoed, Red and Blue nodding with menacing grins across their faces.

"Yeah. We planned on Mike and Ches, plus one of the others to kill first if it comes down to it," Blue explained and Rob's face went pale as Mike and Chester were overwhelmed with horror.

"No!" Chester cried out upon hearing that. "You can't kill him! Kill me instead if it comes to it!"

"Chester, shut the fuck up!" Mike snapped at him.

"Yeah, Chessy. Shut the fuck up," Red agreed and approached the singer, standing just in front of him. "I won't let you take his place because that's why we took him. You're needed for other things."

"Other things?" Chester frowned and looked between the two, bulky strangers who laughed at what he had said.

"Yeah, other things. What they are, you'll have to wait to find out," Blue tutted, grinning wickedly as his eyes moved between the trio.

"Please, at least tell us what you want. Is it money?" Mike guessed and Red shrugged his shoulders as Blue looked to him for an answer.

"Not entirely, but it's apart of it. We've already asked for money for your safe return, which Rob's gonna be killed for if we don't get it. That's only the start though," Red smiled deviously. "We have much more planned. Much, much more."

"You won't get away with this," Mike snapped, unable to control his anger. These lunatics kidnapped him and his friends, killed their manager, and was threatening to kill them and do 'other things' to Chester - and who knows if they'd stop at him? These 'other things' might not be just reserved for the singer as none of the band members would put it passed these assholes.

"Oh, we will. Blue and I have been planning this for a long time, hun. Trust us, we know what we're doing," Red 'assured' him. He sighed deeply, feeling incredibly stuck and endangered.

He slumped back in his chair and fell into silence as the two men stared him down, as if challenging him to say more. He decided to play safe and not receive another blow to his head that felt as though it was going to explode. He wondered if there was blood from the first blows that deemed him unconscious. The ropes around his wrists and ankles were itchy and digging into his skin tightly.

Glancing between his friends, he shared worried looks with them. He wasn't sure which friend he was most concerned about in that moment. The men had threatened Rob's life, but also seemed to have something in store for Chester and it was clear they had a bigger interest in him than Mike. He shivered as a frightened chill ran down his spine. These men meant business and they were going to get whatever they wanted as nothing was going to stop them. They'd kill anyone who got in their way, like Jim. Mike just had to try to keep his friends and himself safe. He was the glue, after all.