So Cold

28: Guardian

Sam's POV

Liam drove us out into the outer parts of San Francisco - a part of California that I never knew existed. My mouth was as dry as a desert, making it impossible for my nerves to calm. My legs were shaking terribly as if I was standing in the middle of Antarctica, which was beginning to fool with my emotions. I jumped in my place when I felt a hand grabbing my leg. I gasped, my head snapping over to my left to only discover Harry, his green orbs looking me over softly.

"Hey," he whispered, leaning into me and placing a kiss underneath my ear. "You'll be okay," he says, his lips grazing at the shell of my ear ever so softly. "I have you in my hands. I'm not letting you go anytime soon." I would think that such sweet words would calm me, but they only made my stomach do flips. It wasn't in a good way, either.

My hand rested on top of his, desperately trying to twine my fingers together with his. I wanted this moment to last before I had to see the man Carlisle himself. Harry's larger hand enclosed around mine, only to pull me into him after unbuckling my seatbelt. As I leaned into Harry's chest, I noticed something off as I looked up to Liam and Kyla.

Liam had only one hand on the steering wheel, his grip harsh, but his other hand was laced together with Kyla's. Kyla's jaw rotated in slow circles, her eyebrows furrowed together as she too began to worry about what was in front of us. I began to wonder if the boys felt the same way, even though Carlisle is Liam's own father.

"We're here," Liam's voice croaks, turning into a huge parking lot, his adamsapple moving as he swallowed long and hard. He too must be nervous of his father's devious plans. "I see Zayn's car, too," he mentions, his eyebrows raising. "I think he's waiting for us."

My ears perked up from being able to hear Zayn's name be spoken. I looked out the tinted windows, and discovered Zayn's car parked next to a light post in the middle of the lot. He was leaning against the car, a cigarette balanced between his lips. His eyes carefully watched as Liam decided to park two spots down from Zayn.

Liam cut the engine, the rumbling of the car ending quickly. I took my hand out from Harry's hand and opened the door, desperately wanting to feel my brother's embrace before we all went into a living hell. I jumped out from the van, my legs having a sudden boost of energy, sending myself sprinting to my bother.

Zayn dropped the cigarette to the ground, stomping it out as he held his arms open for me, a large smile dancing on his lips. I laughed, jumping into his arms so that my legs locked around his waist, my arms tangling around Zayn's neck so I could hold him tightly. I began to cry without warning into his neck, my nose breathing in his musky scent mixed with cigarette smoke. My fingers played with the hair at the nape of his neck, only to soon discover that Zayn was crying too.

He held me up with his hands at my thighs his face buried into my neck as his hot tears began to wet my skin. It only made me break down even more, my bottom lip trembling as I held onto him so tightly. My gut didn't want him to disappear into the large building that stood right in front of us. To be honest, it didn't even look like a fair building. It look abandoned, and old. The inside must not be as well as the outside already is. The grass around the building was a foot high, desperately needing a cut. It just looked so run down.

Zayn slowly placed me down onto my feet, but cupped my face with his hands, his lips leaving a kiss to my forehead. "Good God," he breathes, "I couldn't get any sleep." I observed his face, gasping as I discovered heavy bags drooping underneath his eyes, his dark raven hair all tussled and messy, and his gave was pale and blotchy. Clearly he didn't look his best.

"I'm sorry," I apologized, my voice quivering. I reached up to him and swiped some falling tears away with my thumb, my teeth sinking down into my bottom lip as I focused on his run-down figure. His facial hair had already grown drastically, looking longer compared to the two days before.

He wrapped his hands around my wrists, his dark eyebrows connecting. "Why are you apologizing to me? Sam, this is my fault, you know that, right?" he says ever so hushed. His eyes were so dark and solemn, making my heart ache.

"I just feel like I should say it," I say, "I mean... You look terrible - no offense." I shrugged, letting my hands fall down to my sides once Zayn let them free from his hands.

"Thanks," Zayn rolls his eyes, giving a halfhearted laugh, rubbing the back of his neck as he watched everyone else get out of the van. I turned my head and watched as Liam, Kyla and Harry took hesitant steps over to us, their eyes occasionally flickering up to the tall building in front of us. "This place looks a lot more run down compared to the last time I saw it," Zayn says to the boys, turned his head around to look at the towering building once again.

"My dad doesn't take care of shit," Liam says through gritted teeth, "he only cares about his money." His eyes rolled, letting the word 'money' roll longer off of his tongue.

Harry shook his head of curls, "No kidding," he says, "and he has enough profits to spare you and to gore people to at least clean up the place. Sure, it's a building that sells drugs, but at least make it look like homeless people don't live in there."

I gave out a sigh, stretching my arms out in front of myself, my eyes squeezing shut as I did so. Following a yawn, I stood straight and said, "Lets get this over with, alright? I feel like a coward by just staring at the place." I gulped, and reached for Harry's right hand. He accepted it, lacing our fingers together, his larger hand caving just a little bit over my own hand.

"I'll lead," Liam says, taking Kyla's hand into his own, tugging her along so that we were making our way to the entrance. Zayn followed the two, and Harry and I followed behind at the end. Liam knocked on the door with his knuckles, his free hand then balling into a right fist at his side. The door opened with a long and high-pitched whine, almost piercing my ears.

Behind the door revealed two buff men, their eyes concealed with dark shades, their jaws clenched tight, their shoulders squared - a black jacket almost constricting their impressive arm muscles. "Nice to see you Liam," the one on the right said, his jaw and chin speckled with dark facial hair, the corner of his lips curling into a evil-like smile. "Carlisle is expecting you. So this is the in-debt boy?" His head cocked to the side as his covered eyes took in Zayn's appearance.

"Yeah," Liam mumbled, "so can we get through?" He made no eye contact with them, his hand reluctantly tightening around Kyla's as the two men thought it out before stepping away and let us through. We all squished through the doors, my stomach doing flips, my heart thudding obnoxiously loud in my chest. My other hand gripped onto Harry's bicep, my shoulder cuddling I to his side.

"Calm down a bit," Harry whispers to me, "just stay close and don't let go, alright?" I nodded, my eyes locked out in front of me. I looked around at the walls that caved us in as we walked down the corridor, the heavy doors slamming closed by the two men. The slamming echoed down the corridor, making my heart skip a beat. The hard floors beneath us were stained with what I hoped was dirt.

Liam and Harry's heavier shoes were creating a sound of echo down the corridor, making it far more eerie than it needed to be. Harry's thumb began to rub small circles into my skin as we made our way to a set of heavy double doors, almost as rusted as the other pair of doors were.

Liam reached out to open the doors, but stopped himself. He takes a deep breath and looks over at all of us, his eyes looking slightly glassy. "Try not to piss him off, alright?" Liam asks. "I honestly don't want to see anymore dying because of him. Especially you guys." His eyes switched between Zayn, Kyla and I. He turned his head back around and pushed open the doors, letting Kyla's hand drop. He walked through, looking quite intimidating as he normally does.

Harry and I didn't let go however, we all just quickly followed behind Liam. We were all exposed to a large, open area of a room. My nose crinkled as a bold scent of marijuana invaded my nostrils. I don't want to know where exactly we are, and what this room is used for.

"We got what you fucking wanted," Liam suddenly shouted, his neck veins popping up, becoming visible to the eye, "so come and get it. You hear me?" Liam's bicep muscles were constricted, looking a lot more bulky compared to when we were just entering through the doors. As his hands clenched into tight fists, his knuckles went white at the skin.

I heard a deep, dark chuckle, my eyes snapping every way in which possible. My heart was thumping to rapidly that I thought it would burst. Words cannot explain how much I want to escape this room. "You don't need to shout, boy," said a man with a terrifyingly deep British accent. I immediately assumed it was indeed Liam's father. Carlisle himself gave us his presence.

His heavy footsteps echoed around the room, but they were far more louder than Harry and Liam's. My eyes snapped over in the direction of which a desk was placed, two PC computers sitting upon the desk that was piled with papers, stacking up into piles that could be as thick as ten inches. This man had on a white dress shirt, black slacks, and had his deep chocolate brown hair gelled back. His eyebrows were as thick as Liam's, and they both shared the same eye color.

"Well," Liam crossed his arms loosely in front of his chest, "you have what you wanted right in front of you, don't you?" Liam snarled, his words cold as his eyes shot daggers over towards his father, signs of pure hatred. I wouldn't be surprised if he wanted to murder his own father. After hearing about Liam's past with his family, I couldn't imagine anything that could possibly be worse.

Carlisle narrowed his eyes at Liam, but quickly shook it off. His eyes found Kyla's, causing for her to freeze in the same spot. "Ahh," says Carlisle, "you did. Which one is your sister, Mr. Malik?" He didn't have to look at him with his words. Obviously he was aware of Zayn's presence, his eyes switching away from Kyla and over to me. I felt as though I couldn't breathe anymore.

Zayn walked to me, standing behind me and rested his hands on my shoulders. "This is... Sam," he choked, his fingers digging into my shoulders. It was a obvious signal to show that he was nervous. Carlisle's eyes burned into me.

"Step away, Harry," Carlisle commands, gesturing him with his hands to move over. Harry nods, not saying a word and lets go of me. He steps away, leaving to stand beside Liam. My hand felt empty and cold now with nothing to grab onto. Carlisle steps over to me, a smirk playing on his lips. "Take three steps back, Zayn," said Carlisle, nodding his head back for Zayn to move. The warm of Zayn's hands soon disappeared from my shoulders.

Carlisle hummed lowly as he towered over me, definitely within the six foot range. His buff figure stood over me, his hand raising up, his fingertips grazing over my cheek. His touch was ice cold, goosebumps appearing on my skin. Shivers radiated throughout my body, going out in waves that were uncontrollable.

"You don't look too much like your brother," Carlisle says, his eyes carefully observing me, his fingers tucking a chunk of hair behind my ear. "I would think that siblings would look similar in some way. All I notice are the brown eyes." His mouth makes a clicking noise before he took a step back away from me and carefully looked at me.

"Not all siblings have to look alike," Zayn speaks up, his voice not sounding anything like pushy. "What does that matter to the reason why we're here?" I guess I take that back now.

Carlisle looks over to Zayn, his brown eyes descending into a deep dark brown that looked too devious to describe in the vocabulary I know. "Hmm," Carlisle hums, "really?" If I was hearing correctly, I heard Liam mutter a long line of swears underneath his breath. "Take a seat, Zayn. Bring the chair right next to where I am standing." Carlisle gives a fake smile, gesturing back to the wheeling chair at his desk.

Zayn avoids eye contact with anyone, moving over to the desk, grabbing the chair and wheeling it directly next to where Zayn is sitting. He hesitantly takes a seat in the chair, sucking in his lips into his mouth, his shaking hands resting on the arm rests of the chair.

"Liam," Carlisle said, walking to his desk, "get Lance and Duncan." He slid out a drawer, taking out a roll of silver duct tape. I looked over to Harry, only to see that he was cautiously watching Carlisle's movements. Liam moved immediately, moving out and through open doorway, his hands still tightened into infuriated fists. Carlisle moved over to Zayn, a smug look plastered to his face. Once standing next to Zayn, he bent down and whispered something into his ear.

I quickly noticed how Zayn's skin grew pale, his eyes growing wider as he stares at me with absolute terror. Carlisle began to tightly wrap duct tape around Zayn's arm so that his arm was attached to the arms of the chair. He duct taped the whole way up his forearm, and repeated the same steps to the other arm. Once finished, he tossed the roll elsewhere as it became no use to him.

"You called for us, boss?" An unhuman-like deep voice bellowed, snatching everyone's attention. There were another pair of buff men, but they wore normal everyday shirts that advertised probably some restaurants and other clothing store that I am not familiar of. Both of them had more of a olive skin tone color instead, but they are equally as imposing as the other two were at the entrance.

"Hold back the girls," Carlisle commanded with a bold tone, his eyes locked to me, giving me an uneasy feeling within the pits of my stomach.

"What?" Kyla barks out, standing her ground as one of the two men approached her. "Don't lay one single slimy finger on me!" She protested, slowly backing away from the man. Liam and Harry watched, both of their lips parted as their eyebrows connected together. Harry placed a hand on Liam's shoulder as if to hold him back, to keep him stationary.

I started to breathe heavily as the other man approached me, his towering height making me feel so small and defenseless. "I won't hurt you if you listen to me," his dark brown eyes burrowed into my mine, using his fingers to gesture me towards him. "C'mon."

Zayn was now struggling in his chair, not liking how all of this was beginning to lead to something else. As a tear raced down my cheek, the man grabbed my wrists and held them securely behind my back, his large hands making it impossible to me to move. I wouldn't be surprised if he could feel me shaking out of nervousness.

"Don't hurt him," I choked up, "please, please don't hurt him. Please?" Tear after tear, they raced down my cheeks, turning into hot streams. "I swear, I couldn't live with myself if something happened to him," I felt my bottom lip begin to tremble, watching as Zayn froze and listened to me speak.

Carlisle threw his head back, his hands clutching his stomach as he made out a evil laugh, having it echo throughout the spacious room. Once back to his standing figure, he grinned to me and said, "We'll see how this goes darling, yeah? Maybe if your brother answers everything I want him to, then I'll consider sparing him." He mumbled something inaudible afterwords, standing in front of Zayn.

"You can't get away with these things, Zayn," said Carlisle, his hands hooked together behind his back.

Zayn nodded slowly, perspiration beginning to form on hid forehead. "I understand sir, I understand." Zayn gulped, his fingers tightly grasping the arms of the chair.

"Did you have any thoughts that you would have a chance? That you would have turned this all around? Tell me if so, Zayn. I love to hear stories about how people think so hopefully or positively but it all ends in chaos. It entertains me well." Carlisle's voice seemed to have dropped an octave, making him far more fearful than he already is. A moment of silence waved over everyone. "Well?" Carlisle pushed, "Any stories to me from you? Any at all?"

Zayn's head shook, watching Carlisle carefully as he felt him stare at him in such a toxic way - it had to be unhealthy. No wonder Liam was an expert at getting people to do that he wants them to do. He shares those characteristics with his father.

"Please," Zayn began to beg, his honey brown eyes pleading towards Liam's father, "let us go. I have... A portion of it. The only catch is that it's in my bank and-,"

Zayn was cut off by Carlisle with his bitter words, "Don't speak anymore, I can handle this." His footsteps lead to his desk once more, cracking his knuckles on the way over. He pulled out something that reflected from the sunlight that poured down from the dusty windows. My heart fell, and immediately I shrieked, fighting against the man who held onto my words so tightly.

"Whoa!" Harry said, holding his hands up as he began to approach Carlisle. "Carlisle, we don't need this! Accept what he has and he'll pay you back, c'mon!"

Carlisle held the sharp knife in the air, in position to stab Harry right then and there. Harry flinched, expecting it to happen, but it didn't. Carlisle began to speak, but it was through gritted teeth. "I'll make sure that you regret saying anything. Go stand back to Liam, now." Harry took his command, slowly letting his hands fall down to his sides, retreating slowly back over to Liam.

Kyla started to cry herself, struggling as the man who had a grip on her tugged her back. "Don't you fucking dare!" She cried, sobbing to the point where she ended up collapsing to her knees. Zayn was struggling in the chair, squirming around as he desperately tried to get out. Tears stressed down his face, making his broken figure far more shattered.

"Leave him alone!" I shouted, almost choking on the words as I shouted them at the top oft lungs. Carlisle's facial expression was blank as he made his way over to Zayn, his gaze fixed on Zayn.

"Do you have any ideas for what your consequences are to be?" Carlisle asked cooly, hiding the knife behind his back, standing beside Zayn. Zayn struggled, refusing to answer and to give into any of Carlisle's questions as he continued to press them into my brother. "Are you going to answer me or do I have to make you, Malik?" He spit, a droplet of saliva landing on Zayn's face, making him cringe.

It all happened so fast. Carlisle whipped the knife out from behind his back, and plunged it through Zayn's hand, blood immediately rising. Zayn's pain-filled screams filled the room, piercing my ears with ease. My sobs were uncontrollable, not giving me the ability to speak. It was too late to protest. It was already starting to happen. My heart was beginning to split down the middle, my mind panicking as I could only cry and watch as my brother was being tortured.

Zayn's breathing was heavy, his neck veins popping from his neck, tears following tears down his paling cheeks. I wanted to stop watching, but I couldn't tear my eyes away from it. I watched in agony as Carlisle removed the knife from Zayn's hand, growling and giving a smug look of confidence.

"How come you didn't pay me, Malik?" He hissed, grabbing my bother by his hair, yanking his head back against the top of the wheeling chair. Carlisle stepped his foot onto the chair to prevent it from moving. "Would you like to actually follow my commands now? I can show you more examples of how I can make you of you don't respond."

Zayn growled, his lips curling as he spit on Carlisle's face. Carlisle jumped back, his face crinkling in disgust as he wiped the spit from his face with his sleeve. "You fucking-," Carlisle cut himself off when he plunged the knife into Zayn once again, but into this thigh. Zayn's screams were far louder, his voice cracking in the middle. His blood was beginning to drip into small red puddles on the floor beneath him.

"Have you gotten the memo yet, Zayn?" Carlisle shouted, his eye burning with fury as he stared into my brother's eyes. "You're being uncooperative, and look at what you're doing to yourself," he scolds, "because you're putting your family and friends in pain, and they can't do anything to help you. I have full power and capability of killing you, and it wouldn't be my problem as soon as I'm done with you. I'm not going to deal with anymore of your bullshit, Zayn."

Zayn's nostrils flared, his own eyes darkening as he looked into Carlisle's eyes. "Burn in hell you twat," Zayn sneered, his opposite leg kicking up and hitting Carlisle right into his crotch, sending him to double-over in pain. My cries didn't seem to matter to either Carlisle or Zayn, it's like we meant nothing to them. Like they were in their own little world.

Carlisle yelled in frustration, yanking the knife out from Zayn's flesh and hit him again, but this time, the blade plunged deeply into his stomach. Zayn froze for a second, his head looking down as he saw the weapon embedded into his abdomen. Blood began to trickle out from his mouth, dripping down to his lap as he looked at Carlisle with heavy eyes.

Zayn's eyelids went droopy, until it finally dropped and his body fell limp. The room was absolute silent as I tried to process what had just happened. My mouth was dry, my breathing heavy as hot tears stained my cheeks, my cheeks warm and blushed. I let out a high-pitch scream, it all suddenly hitting me like a bull in a sick game of bull fighting.

Kyla followed quickly after me. Zayn was dead. By brother was murdered by an absolute monster who cared about nothing but himself. A serial killer that doesn't even posses a heart, and feeds himself off of death. That's what this man craved. This man craved death. Nothing, absolutely nothing but death.

As if it couldn't get any worse, I heard a gun shot, my whole body jumping at the sudden noise. My head snapped up to see Liam and Harry, both holding a gun up, aimed at Carlisle.

"What are you doing boys?" Carlisle asked, his eyes narrowed, dropping the bloodied knife to the floor, the metal clinking against the concrete floor.

Harry and Liam said nothing, their positions staying stationary. Liam's gun aimed towards his father, and Harry's gun was aimed towards the two men that held me and Kyla by the wrists. "Let them go," Harry commanded, his eyes cold and dark as he stared at the two guards. His hand around the handle was so tight that his knuckles were white, his index finger hovering over the trigger. Without any second thoughts, we were set free, and Kyla and I both ran over towards Zayn's limp body. I stood on my brother's right, caressing his face in my hands as Kyla was fiddling with the end of the duct tape, trying to free his arms.

"Sam, try and find a weapon in his pockets," Liam commanded, a gun still pointed at his father who remained still as a statue.

Kyla moved for me, her hands searching his pockets, her eyebrows connecting as she slipped something else out of her pocket rather than a weapon. It was a slip of paper that was folded. Kyla unraveled the paper and her eyes scanned over it, her eyes widening.

"It's for you," she whispered, her shaking hands handing me the paper. I took the paper in my hands and immediately recognized the handwriting belonging to Zayn, all words written in black sharpie.

'Sam,

Don't be surprised if something happens to me. Everything happens for a reason, yeah? To my point - please, do anything you can to get that asshole into trouble. Kill him, jail him, I don't care. So something so that he can never come near you again. I love you. If I was right and something happened to me, I promise that I'll be there for you through it all. I'm always going to be there beside you so that you don't feel alone. I'll be your guardian.

I love you,

Zayn. x'

That was when I broke inside, and tiredly realized how lost, and incomplete I feel without Zayn by my side.

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