Septiplier One-Shots

Claustrophobic

SCREECH. THIS CHAPTER IS JUST... SCREECH author144

"Mark-?" the man's name had barely left Jack's mouth before Mark had grabbed ahold of his arm and dragged him along. "Mark, what the fuck are you doing?" Jack demanded. He had simply been taking a nightly walk along an abandoned road when he thought he was Mark sprinting towards him. Apparently, he had been right, but that didn't make Mark lessen his speed, or release his grip on the Irishman. "Mark!" Jack snapped finally, tearing his arm from the man and slowing to a halt. He paused, bending over his knees and taking deep breaths. His heart was racing, and he glanced up as Mark appeared at his side, eyes wide. "What the hell is going on?"
"I can explain more later, okay?" Mark said, his body visibly shaking. "But as of right now, you've got to wrap your head around this only. I got into a bit of a bind a few blocks back with some guys. One thing led to another, now they're chasing me down. You said my name, stopped to talk to me, chances are they'll take you along as leverage against me. C'mon, you're going to stick with me until police enforcements arrive." Before Jack could protest, Mark had ahold of his arm and dragged him along once more, Jack sprinting more willingly this time.
"Mark." Jack puffed beside the man as they continued down the path. In all honesty, this was not how he imagined the rest of his walk would play out. "How the hell is anyone supposed to find us if we're moving?"
"I told them, over the phone," Mark said between gasps of air. He glanced back for a moment and continued forward, pumping his arms even harder. "That we were headed for an abandoned elementary school a few blocks away. If I didn't make it there, check everywhere in between."
"An abandoned what?!" Jack demanded, only to have Mark make a sharp turn to the left, catching hold of Jack and pulling him roughly through some hedges. He got his answer as they stood before a dark building. The outside looked as though it hadn't been touched in years. The playground out front was encrusted with rust, and the windows were broken or thinning. The walls were stained from misuse and lack of cleaning, and it looked something straight out of a horror movie. "Fuck that." Jack said, backing away; Mark grabbed him once more.
"Jack, trust me here." Mark said, his voice in a warning tone. His brown eyes met Jack's, and the Irishman swallowed. "I'm simply asking you to trust me, even if this is the last time that you do." Jack considered his options, weighing out his chances of escape on his own, adding in his own worry for Mark that would ensue his actions. He was interrupted by the sound of shouting, and feet pounding against concrete that was in the distance, but growing audibly.
"No time now." Jack hissed, grabbing Mark this time and rushing towards the archaic entrance. He dragged the man down the first corridor, looking into the abandoned classrooms. The shadows from outside peering in through shattered windows gave the pair gooseflesh, but they continued.
"Its a two story building, but stupidly built with only an elevator to reach the upper floor. This place hasn't had power in years." Mark explained quietly.
"Of-fucking-course it only has an elevator." Jack seethed; Mark ignored him and continued.
"It seems our only option is to play hide and seek in one of the classrooms. We can grab whatever we can to use as a weapon, and hole up somewhere. Attack anyone who comes in."
"Do the men chasing you have guns?" Jack demanded, and Mark frowned, thinking, before nodding. Jack sighed, rolling his eyes and wondering whether it was fear or exhaustion that was making him angry. "Then I've got a better plan, follow me." Jack led the way down the hallway, moving quickly as it wouldn't take the group outside long to figure out that they had disappeared and the only place to go was inside. He took a piece of broken glass off the ground, using the sharp side, and managed to twist off all the screw of a vent cover. He pointed to the inside of the vent, barely big enough to fit Mark. The man's eyes widened, and he shook his head vigorously.
"Jack, I'm claustrophobic," he stammered, and Jack's jaw set. He looked outside, and realized that he could see the silhouettes of several men that were growing in size; they knew they had ducked into the building. Jack turned back to Mark in panic.
"Mark, listen to me. If I had a better idea, I would have used it. Now, they're here, and I'm going to have to ask that you put the same trust in me that I did you." Jack said, and Mark stared for a few seconds before turning to where Jack was staring in fear. Instantly he darted into the vent, on his hands and knees. Jack followed quickly, pulling the vent cover into place and shoving the screws into the pocket of his sweatshirt. He bent the vent so that it would remain in place, but the screeching of metal on metal echoed throughout the halls. Several pairs of footsteps followed the noise, and Jack turned to Mark who was crouched next to him, a terrified look plastered on his face. Mark let out a small, inhumane noise, and Jack immediately wrapped his arms around the man, setting one hand over his mouth as a pair of legs paused at the vent. The pair stopped breathing as a hand dropped into view, holding a very large gun. Words were spoken so quickly that Jack never caught them, and the man with the gun turned and charged away. The pair let out the breath they'd been holding, and only then did Jack realize how close he and Mark were. They were sharing breaths, their faces but inches apart. Mark blinked rapidly, trying desperately to keep his gaze from drifting to Jack's lips. "The fans would kill for this." Jack murmured, and Mark blushed before obtaining a serious face.
"And we'll get killed if we don't keep moving." Mark reminded Jack lightly, and turned, crawling away. He felt a bit dejected, but noted that his actions had almost erased his memory that he was trapped in such a small place, and continued after him.
They moved rather slowly, not letting their movements cause anymore noise than they could manage. They paused several times when the knew the men were right beneath them, and stopped several more times so that Jack could comfort Mark. The man wasn't kidding when he said that he was scared of tight spaces, and a recurrence of their close moment earlier was optional, and Mark never missed a chance to cuddle up to the Irishman. Jack kept his personal feelings away; after all he still didn't know why they were here.
"Where are we headed even? Why the vents?" Mark whispered, sitting in Jack's lap as Jack ran a hand through his hair. There were sirens outside, but the police couldn't risk going in without knowing where Mark was, and they couldn't contact him because his phone had died shortly after he ran into Jack.
"The vents lead to a ladder that goes up into the second floor. From there, we can get to the roof and signal the police outside." Jack explained softly, looking down into Mark's chocolate brown gaze. "Why were you chased again?" Mark blushed, and looked at his hands, and then sat up.
"They were attacking some gay couple on the streets and giving them shit, and an older lady got involved as well. They shoved her, and I just lost it. I may have gone too far in what I said, and they pulled weapons. The others, meaning the woman and the couple, took off running. I did too, and goddammit why did you have to be outside?" Mark demanded, burying his face in his hands. "Now you're in danger."
"Mark, no." Jack said, grabbing the man's wrists and prying them from his face so he could look at Mark. "This isn't your fault, and we'll get out of this alive. I promise." Mark's gaze switched between each of Jack's eyes, and then he leaned forward, grabbing Jack's face and pushing their lips together. The vents were warm enough, but Jack felt every part of his face and neck burn at Mark's touch. As if they weren't close enough, Mark tugged at him, but Jack pulled away instead, unsure of how to feel at the sudden intensity in the air between them, and they sat breathing rather heavily. Jack swallowed, and leaned his forehead against Mark's. "Let's try to get out instead, we can pick this up later." Mark blushed, but nodded, and turned, leading the way once more.
They were headed down the right path after a few more minutes, and they had one long stretch with the ladder leading upstairs at the end of the tunnel. Jack grinned, and Mark turned back with a grin, giving the Irishman a thumbs up. They crawled carefully, and after a few seconds Jack bumped into the man. Mark squished himself to the side, what he normally did when he needed comfort, but instead he pointed. There was another vent cover in the floor, and it looked down upon a room that several voices emitted from.
Jack watched as Mark went forward first, crawling ever so carefully. He moved an inch every few seconds, holding his breath and taking his sweet time to move over it. Jack waited until he was completely on the other side and with extra room before moving. He went slow as well, swallowing roughly, and looking down at his hands. He shivered, giving Mark a smile as he almost made it all the way over.
Then the cursed screws in his pocket fell down like rain and made noise as they hit the ground.
The voices below Jack stopped, and he turned, looking down through the vent to meet another pair of eyes glaring up at him, sending chills running down Jack's spine. He looked up at Mark for a split second in fear, but it was all the other man needed to see. The pair shuffled as fast as they could down the vent, shouting and movement enacting below them. Bulletholes began appearing through the vents, barely louder than the banging he and Mark were making in the aluminum shaft, and Mark reached the ladder leading up. Jack waved him forward, making it just behind him miraculously without any injuries.
The pair shot up the ladder, wriggling out of the vent into another quiet, spooky classroom. They sprinted towards the nearest window, climbing their way up to make it onto the roof. Jack pushed Mark up as the man grabbed hold of the roof, pulling himself onto it. He turned, giving Jack a hand as the Irishman heard more shouting and gunfire that seemed rather close. Shaking in fear, they stood as quickly as they could manage, sprinting towards the other side where police sirens could be heard. The jumped up and down, trying to get the attention of the officers, but they had their weapons trained on the entrance, and none of them seemed to notice the pair.
Jack turned at a loud noise, and found that one of the men chasing them had already found their way onto the roof. His gun was trained on Jack, who tugged on Mark's sleeve behind him. Mark turned, and inhaled sharply. No one moved for a few moments, but the man then loaded a bullet into the chamber of his gun. Jack shoved Mark behind him completely, and closed his eyes as he braced for the bullet. The gun fired.
He felt no pain.
Tentatively, Jack opened one eye, and saw the man with the gun had fallen. An officer stood behind him, his gun aimed at the man as he got on top of him, handcuffing him and yanking him to his feet. A couple more officers appeared, scanning the roof and making their way to the pair. The first one, a man somewhere in his thirties with dark hair, gave them a nod and looked them up and down.
"You two alright?" he asked, and Jack gave a nod as Mark collapsed onto him. He glanced at Mark, recognizing him as the man who made the call, and motioned them to follow. The made their way down to where an ambulance had parked, and as Jack was checked over, the man talked to Mark. He explained everything, and as his story was told, a woman and two men who appeared very close joined him, all of them talking vibrantly. The officer logged everything down, and left the group to talk. The trio asked Mark lots of questions, which he grinned at, and then pointed as Jack. They all turned, and Jack flushed bright red, giving them a shy wave. Mark gave them all a nod, and jogged over to the Irishman who sat wrapped in a blanket.
"Can we go home now?" Jack asked, staring at Mark with a pouty face.
"You're adorable when you do that." Mark grinned, and Jack rolled his eyes.
"Mark-!" he began, but Mark simply kissed him again, softly. Mark's hands went from his face to finding their way under Jack's blanket. That was when Jack realized his hands were freezing cold, and leapt into the air to escape them with a feminine shriek. Mark glanced at him with a grin, and then laughed. "Fuck it anyway." Jack muttered, embarrassed. Mark wrapped an arm around the man's shoulder, fighting his laughter.
"Let's just go home." Mark suggested, and Jack nodded. He leaned his head on Mark's shoulder as the man's arms moved from his shoulder to his lower waist, making Jack blush. "We can pick up where we left off tomorrow."
Jack didn't even need to look to know that Mark had winked at him.