The Chemistry Test

31. giants and interrogations

Day Thirteen

Zak's voice echoed throughout the building, only to be drowned out by the chaos of hollering boys rushing into the room.  Dozens of hands grabbed ahold of the giant, pulling his arms and yanking him away from me. 

"What the hell?" Damon growled, stumbling to his feet as the boys tugged him backward, Zak's elbow hooked around his neck, Mike twisting his sausage arms behind his back, Isaac pushing against his torso, and Hunter leading the skyscraper over toward the back of the building.  "The fuck is going on?"

A pair of sparkly heels clicked across the floor, where Gwyn knelt down beside me.  "Hey, girlie.  You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."  I nodded, my eyes glued to the huddle of boys.

Damon writhed and fought against their force, struggling to free his arms.  Mike had both pinned firmly behind his back, and each time Damon tried to slip away, he twisted harder, causing the giant to wince. 

"Call off your dogs." Damon spat, shooting daggers my way.  "I didn't do nothing."

"Just shut up, bro."  Hunter shoved Damon, forcing him further into the back of the room.  "You know you had this coming."

"Let go." Damon hissed through gritted teeth.  He turned and elbowed Mike in the stomach, making the small brunette grunt in pain and release his other arm. 

My breath hitched in my throat once Damon's hands clutched around Zak's arm, trying to pull out of the hold around his neck.  Zak's jaw pulsed and tightened as he fought against Damon's whitening knuckles.

"Oh, my God."  I whispered, meeting Gwyn's mossy eyes.  "We have to do something."

"Come on, man."  Zak prodded, his face twisted into a scowl.  "That all you got?"

I didn't want to see what else Damon 'got'.  I had to jump in to give Zak the upper hand before things got out of control.

I sprung to my feet, running over to my slumped backpack in the corner.  Hoisting the bag up over my head, I took a lucky swing at Damon's face and hit him square in the jaw.

The boys stumbled back, Zak regaining his grip on Damon's throat and Mike pinning his arms again, Isaac and Hunter taking turns shoving Damon over to the giant metal cart. 

"Damn, Zoe."  Zak cracked a smile, tightening his grip around Damon's neck.  "That was badass."

I repressed the swarm of butterflies in my stomach and shouldered my bag, giving him a confident smile.  "Thanks."

"Yay!"  Gwyn clapped, jumping with excitement.  "Girl power."

"What the actual fuck, Zoe?"  The giant snarled, desperately trying to break away from the boys' grasp. 

Hunter rolled his eyes, "Didn't I tell you to stop talking?"  His chocolate eyes flickered over to me and he nodded at my bag.  "Can I see that?"  I slung it off my shoulder and he smiled, "Thanks," and stuffed the backpack into Damon's face, forcing him to stumble back.

"Guys, the lift."  Zak yelled over the rowdiness.  The boys pulled the giant over to the huge, all of their hands pushing and tugging Damon's massive weight onto the cart as he struggled against them, spitting and swearing.

Hunter grabbed hold of the controls, switching on the power in order to begin raising the platform.

Mike kept his grip on Damon's arms until he was too far off the ground and hopped down, followed by Isaac.  The cart kept rising three, five, seven feet off the ground, but it was just Zak and Damon left in the small space.