Reliving a Lost Past

34. Wesley Cooper

I came through, feeling a huge pain erupting in my shoulders. I looked up and saw where my hands were tied. There was a pipe running along the ceiling and I was on my toes because he pole was an inch taller than I was with my hands up. Mitch was lying on the floor, still out, and Jackie was in a chair with her hands tied behind her. I kicked Mitch in the side, “Come on buddy, pull through.” He groaned and his eyes opened one at a time.

“They snuck up on us didn’t they?” I nodded and he sat up. For the first time, I noticed a kid sitting at the table with his hands clutched together. He had a couple bruises on his neck and cheeks and he looked scared, even more than we did.

“Who are you?” I asked and he jumped.

He cleared his throat and said, “I-I’m Zacky.” That was all he said, and he stuttered big time when he did.

“Why are you stuttering, kid? We should be more nervous than you right now?” Mitch moaned as he stood up, his arms tied behind his back to a pole running along the wall. Zacky backed his chair up as Mitch stood and said, “I-I uh-”

“What did I say about talking to them, you little punk?” A bigger guy walked in and Zacky stuttered, “They wa-wanted to know who-o I was, Ry-Ryker, I pro-omise.” He was breathing heavily and Ryker smacked him over the head, “You dumb kid. Why, of all people, did I have to get stuck babysitting you?”

I realized why Zacky stuttered so much and Mitch gave me a sad glance. I nodded back, knowing that he thought the same thing. Jackie’s head bobbed back and then she jerked forward. “Where are we?”

Ryker sighed and said, “An abandoned warehouse. Tell me, there are you three, the girl, who else?” Him asking this made me remember that Rome and Axel and Danny and Ryan were still somewhere in the building, but I wasn’t going to tell him that so him and his gang can go hunt them down.

“No one. It’s just us.” He raised an eyebrow and said, “I hope you are positive, because if you are wrong,” I saw him reach into his pocket and his blade flipped open, “I will cut the truth out of you.” He raised the blade and there was a burning sensation in my forearm. I bit my tongue and when he lowered the blade, with a sneer on his face, the blade was dripping with fresh blood. I could feel the blood trickling down my arm as he walked out.

Mitch didn’t say a word, but Jackie yelled after him. It was pointless because he didn’t feel the least bit bad nor was he coming back. I clenched the bar above me to try and take my mind off the throbbing pain in my arm, but it was hopeless.

“I can h-help fix tha-at if you w-want.” Zacky stuttered as he stood up. He got on a chair and untied the rope around my wrists. I fell from the pressure I put on my numb ankles, but my arms were relieved.

He pushed a chair towards me and I sat down, clenching my forearm. Zacky shuffled through a drawer in the cabinet against the wall before he pulled out what he was looking for. He brought over a needle and thread, stuck the thread through the hole, and handed me a towel. “What’s this for?” I asked as he wiped the drying blood off my arm.

 “I-It’s to bite on.” He stuttered.

My arm stung as he rubbed the wet clothe on it, but it hurt even more once Zacky started sewing it up.  I watched him push the needle through one side and out the other but it eventually made my stomach turn so I looked away and bit the towel. He dabbed my arm one last time to soak up any remaining blood and then bandaged up the rest of my arm.

I slapped his back and said, “Thanks kid.” He jumped a bit and I apologized for not thinking.

“I-It’s okay. I-Im used to-o it.” He mumbled, rubbing his bruised neck.

I sighed and said, “You shouldn’t be kid.” But he just ignored what I told him and said, “I’m sorry but if you aren’t tied up when Ryker gets back, he’ll skin me alive.”

I stood back up and held my hands up, “Fair enough.” He put the rope back around my wrists but not as tight, and I was thankful for that. As he stepped down, the door swung open again and Zacky almost passed out from the sight of his older brother. 

“I thought I made it clear that you were to sit in that chair, keep your mouth shut, and maybe then I wouldn’t beat the life out of you, but apparently you were to blind to notice that.” In one swift movement, I’m guessing this had been a practiced thing of his, he had little Zacky pinned against the wall and on his toes from how high Ryker lifted him up off the ground. I watched as Zacky gasped from being choked and how Ryker smiled from the joy of Zacky’s pain.

 Mitch said, “Let the kid go, Ryker, now.”

Jackie turned away, her eyes looking wet and red. Ryker slowly lowered Zacky, who took deep breaths when his throat opened back up. “Well look at Mitch trying to be the good guy.” Ryker dared Mitch to fight back but he just glared and stayed quiet. “What do you care about the kid? He is a worthless, no good, little wimp. You see Zacky,” He pointed towards Zacky and he backed up in fear, “maybe if you were tough like me you wouldn’t get pushed around by the big kids.”

I had enough and yelled, “That’s not pushing him around, Ryker; you’re abusive and cruel!” He walked over to me and gripped my forearm, digging his thumb into it, causing me to bite my lip from the pain of tearing stitches.

“Cruel and abusive are strong words, kid. I think of it more as teaching him to follow in my footsteps.” I interrupted him with, “By beating him up and teaching him to fear you when he is afraid and shows weakness? That’s low, even for monsters like you.”

He choked the words out of me and my face became very hot from the blood being forced still. I couldn’t see how the poor kid had lived all these years because I felt like I could just died from this momentary lack of oxygen. When he released my throat from his grip, he turned around and started towards Zacky, but I wouldn’t let him beat the kid again. At least not when I was there to stop him.

I held onto the bar above me and kicked my legs up and wrapped them around Ryker’s neck. His throat was trapped behind my knee and he gasped and grabbed my leg, but my leg didn’t budge. Zacky tripped over a chair leg as he backed up and Jackie finally looked up since Ryker came in.

“Let...go.” He choked, but I tightened my leg and his clawing at my leg started to slow down.

“How is the pain treating you Ryker?” I taunted him until all his flailing stopped and he hung until I loosened my grip around his neck.

“Give me a hand here, kid.” I yelled for Zacky, but he didn’t budge until I screamed, “Get over here, now!” He stumbled over and untied the double-knotted rope once again and I dropped, prepared for the shock my legs had to deal with.

I talked to him more calmly and asked, “Where is the key to their cuffs?” He shook his head and stuttered, “I do-on’t know, h-he probably h-has it.” He was pointing to Ryker. I checked his pockets and found a small silver key with an odd shaped handle. I unlocked Jackie and Mitch’s cuffs then tucked the key away in my pocket. They simultaneously rubbed their wrists and I asked Zacky, “Do you know where Dodger is?”

Zacky flinched when I said his name and I asked again, “Zacky, you have to help me out here, buddy, there are lives at stake and I need to know where he is.” Zacky shook his head, but Mitch lost control of his temper, pushed Zacky against the table, and growled, “Tell me where Dodger is before I knock you out so hard you wake up screaming!”

Zacky’s voice cracked as he cried, “He-e is should be i-in room on-one f-forty-six! That’s all I know, I-I swear!” Mitch pushed him in a chair, slapped his back and said, “Very good kid. Get yourself a drink to calm the nerves.”

We ran for the door, but I stopped and went back to cuff Ryker’s hand to the table leg. The three of us read each room number as we jogged down the empty halls. There was a split in the hallway and we looked back and forth at the numbers on each door. The numbers to the left started with one twenty-seven and the right started with one thirty-nine.

“That way.” Mitch pointed and took the lead. We followed behind him and saw the door at the end of the hallway with a dim light and voices coming from behind the door. We inched forward to hear who was in there.