The Uprisen

Chapter 15

It isn't easy carrying a 135 pound girl without giving her a few bruises and cuts, but they managed. Between the two of them, sharing the lift made the two mile long hike bearable. There was just one issue: they grabbed the wrong girl.

"He's going to kill us," Max mumbles.

"Don't rub it in," Devin says.

As they got closer to the warehouse, they noticed that it looks busier than usual. Normally it's not so obvious that there's people living at the abandoned cement building, but now it almost looks like the majority of The Seekers are outside.

"The hell?" Max says under his breath.

Devin shrugs. "Don't know...let's keep moving."

To get inside, Max and Devin have to wade through a crowd of people so focused on their job they barely looked up to notice the young girl that was being carried in. One woman looks terrified, and for a second Devin worries that they're under attack.

"Over here," Riley calls from the stairs.

Somewhat reluctant to carry the girl up a two flights of stairs, Max and Devin followed Riley to the third floor and into a room with only a chair in the center and a table with tools on it.

"Go ahead and sit her down there," Ryan says from the doorway. Neither Max nor Devin noticed him there when they came in.

"How long has she been out?" Riley asks.

Max shrugs. "Maybe a few hours, why?"

"Riley--"

"Go get a bucket of water and towel," Ryan instructs.

Water and towel?

"Wait, Riley, that's not--"

"I know," he says plainly. Riley shoots Devin a quick glare then focuses his attention back on the girl.

Max looks at Ryan, who nods, then he leaves to go get the water and towel.

"Devin, have you ever seen movies like The Expendables or Saw? Where the hostage gets tortured for information?" Ryan asks.

Devin doesn't have to say anything to answer his question. Judging by the confused look on his face, Devin hasn't watched any movie ever. However, he didn't need to watch a movie to understand what Ryan was getting at: he's going to hurt the girl Devin kidnapped.

Devin looks at Riley who's staring at the ground. He gets the impression that whatever James said or did to him as a punishment for the school, but it must've been bad enough to make him act this way. Riley would never condone torture, even if James forced him. Something was off...

Max walks back into the room with a brown towel around his neck and a bucket of water that was spilling its contents across the ground.

Riley walks over to grab the bucket and he sets it on the ground next to the chair. While he's over there, he ties up the girl's wrists and ankles with rope to the legs and arms of the chair. When he finishes, he steps back to the door and locks it shut.

"Max, Devin," Ryan says. "Your first job is to get as much information out of this girl as possible. Do whatever it takes, and don't go easy on her. The more fear in their eyes corresponds to the amount of truth they'll tell us."

Panicked, Devin looks over to Max who stands there completely unaffected.

"Max?"

He gives him an angry glance challenging him to say something about the situation. As he looks away, he walks toward the girl and holds her head back.