Dusk Till Dawn - Ziam

Chapter Thirteen

As he approached the door, he noticed someone talking in the room next to the door. He sucked in a breath and pressed his back against the wall, slowly looking around the corner. There was none around, the noise coming from the television the men seemed to have left on.

He took a deep breath and quickly made his way to the door and outside. He ran as fast as he could, not looking back.

He didn't hear anyone behind him, or had seen anyone when he ran out, so he hoped he was in the clear. He also hadn't seen the truck outside, but then again, it could have been parked on the other side of the house. All he knew was that he needed to get away as far as possible and get help.

"Why didn't you ever tell me you hadn't been the only one there? You had said you had spent most of the time alone" Zayn asked Liam, who came back from his thoughts and looked at his husband.

"I had. Noah and the others weren't brought in months after I had. Only a few weeks before I escaped." Liam explained.

It left Liam thinking and he turned to look at Noah, already knowing the answer but scared to hear it either way he asked, "You were the only who survived weren't you?"

Noah looked down at his hands, biting down on his bottom lip, before nodding slowly.

Liam choked up and covered his face, he had heard someone had been rescued but he never knew who, but knowing now that only one of the four kids made it out, it was too much for him.

Zayn hugged him tightly and held him close, "I'm so sorry, Liam.."

Liam cried against Zayn's chest, Noah tearing up as he looked at the two.

He waited until Liam had calmed down a bit before speaking, "I tried to keep them safe, I truly did."

Liam looked towards Noah, tears still running down his face, "What happened to them?"

Noah took a deep breath before speaking, "Vic, he was the first one they took. They asked us where you had left to, we said we didn't know. Vic started crying and told them that it didn't matter, that soon they would get caught. They took him away immediately and he never returned."

Liam's heart was breaking as he listened to Noah, Zayn was in tears as well, holding Liam as close to him as possible.

"Two days later, I believe, they asked us again where you had left to. We told them we didn't really know, that you hadn't said anything when you left. They grabbed TJ, and threatened to hurt him if we didn't say where you had gone to. TJ, being tough as he was, began hitting them as much as he could, to try to get out of their grip, but it was no use, they took him away. Leaving Fernie and myself."

"They then focused on looking for you, not going back down to ask us where you were. But, one day they came down and said that one of us had to go, that they had been distracted long enough and needed us for our intended purpose. Bait. I begged them to take me, to leave Fernie alone. But that only made this worse, they decided to take Fernie, since clearly he meant a lot to me, losing him would hurt more than being used as bait myself, and they thought that was much better." Noah was practically sobbing as he spoke, "He screamed for me to help him, and I tried, I did. I held onto him as tightly as I could but I was no match for them, I was weak and just a kid, they ripped him out of my arms and took him away."

"I screamed and hit the gate, begging them to please not take him away, to take me instead but they didn't listen and left. I couldn't save him." Zayn reached over and took Noah's hand in his, squeezing at it tightly, Noah squeezing it back. "The next day, the police found us, they were arrrsted and I was rescued. But it was far too late for Vic, TJ and Fernie."

"I knew I should have taken you with me.. If I had gotten you out, maybe they would still be here today." Liam said his voice breaking at the end.

"Liam, it's not your fault, you wanted to save them and escaping and finding the police was all you could do. Who knows what could have happened if you tried to save them yourself, maybe none of you would be here today" Zayn said as he looked at Liam then at Noah.

"Or maybe Vic, TJ, and Fernie would still be here even if I wasn't." Liam said turning to Zayn. "They could still be alive."

"Liam, you didn't hurt them. Those men did and they are paying for what they did, and will continue to do so until the day they die."

Liam shook his head and stood up, walking away from them both, tears running down his face. He felt guilty, maybe those boys would still be alive if he hadn't been selfish and escaped. He should have been there with them until the end, he should have saved them and helped them return to their families, but he didn't and he would never forgive himself for it.

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Please don't kill me, and I am so so sorry if this chapter made anyone cry. But I thought you'd like to know what happened with Noah and Liam.

This week's shoutout goes to: melissayu24 ♥️

Feedback is greatly appreciated!

I finish the semester next week, meaning that I'll have more time to focus on this than before. Probably won't mean that I'll update more often since I've already have a plan as to how long it's going to be and have already calculated around what day this story will come to an end.

But it's not soon, so don't worry about it!

Love you !

Georgina xx