After

Chapter 23

Lauren is in the cage behind Brad and is covering her face completely with her arms. She is shaking visibly and from what Dinah can tell, she is even more malnourished than Camila. The rest of her body matches Camila also. The blood, some dried, some fresh, the bruises, and the yellow skin. Everything attributed to unhealthiness.

It has been only seconds since the SWAT member came downstairs with Dinah, Ally, and Normani behind him, but already the three girls are crying. Just seeing the effects of what their friends have been through is enough for them to each have a total meltdown. But right now isn't the time for that.

"Drop the weapon." The SWAT member states.

"You first." Brad responds confidently.

"I said drop your weapon!" he yells again.

"And I said you first!" Brad yells, "I swear to god I'll shoot her. You can see what I've already done and you know I won't have a problem hurting them anymore. Now drop. Your. Weapon."

"Ok, ok. I'm lowering it slowly." He sets it on the ground and kicks it to the side. "If you let the girl go now, I'll make sure you get a good deal. It's your turn to put down your gun now, do that and all will be well." Just then, two more SWAT members run down the stairs.

"Put down the weapons or I'll shoot her. Point Blank." Brad commands.

The original SWAT member in the basement nods his head to signify they should do what Brad said. He continues to talk as the other two handcuff James and Tristan. "I'll make sure your buddies get a good deal too. You have to let us have the girls though. That's the only way."

"And what if I don't? What are you gonna do?" Brad villainously smirks.

"You've done enough to them. If your purpose was hurting them to punish them, the punishment seems to be complete. I mean- look at them. The glory of their former selves now bloody messes. I think your task is finished." He tries to speak convincingly, hoping something will coerce Brad into giving up what he has had for more than a year.

Brad readjusts his grip on his gun, Camila shaking the more he fiddles with it. "They can never be punished enough. Lauren especially. It's her fault. It's all her fault." He kicks the cage she is in with his heel, causing Lauren to cry out. "And Camila can go to hell for all I care." He shows the beginnings of pulling the trigger of his gun and Dinah takes action. She runs for him and tackles him with all her force, but not before a shot rings out through the household. Three bodies hit the ground: Dinah, Brad, and Camila, but Camila doesn't try to stand up, she's too weak. Dinah holds Brad back as he is handcuffed and medics are called to help Camila and Lauren.

"Mila, are you ok?" Dinah asks. She doesn't respond and that's when Dinah notices the pool of blood underneath her friend and realization hits her like a bullet to the chest, "Help! She was shot!"

"What?" Ally and Normani rush away from Laurens cage and over to Camila. They realize that Dinah is correct and Camila is now even more injured than when they saw her for the first time in a year only a minute ago.

The medics run down the stairs with two stretchers and put Camila on the first while everyone tries to find the keys to Laurens cage to put her on the second stretcher. Ally finds it and frantically opens the cage, wanting her friend to be free. Right as the medics try to pick up Lauren and put her on the stretcher she freaks out. She crawls back into the cage and covers her ears and begins to repeat over and over some unidentifiable phrase. They eventually coerce her out and immediately sedate her.

"What the hell happened here?" Normani asks, tears streaming down her face.

"Too much." Is all Dinah can say. She knows how hard it was having Lauren and Camila away, but she can't even imagine actually being Lauren or Camila. Detective Williams finds the three girls and tells them one person can go with each girl. Normani volunteers to be the one left out, so Dinah goes with Camila, and Ally goes with Lauren. Detective Williams escorts the ambulances to the hospital and let's Normani ride with him. Even with having no speed limit, the trip to the hospital still took over forty-five minutes.

On the ride there, Normani decided to call Camila and Laurens parents to tell them they found the girls. She calls Laurens first since she had been gone the longest and then Camila's. Speaking to Camila's family was the hardest since their daughter is currently bleeding to death in the back of a vehicle, but she knows she still needed to call them. She then decides to call her parents as well as Dinah and Ally's. They called and checked in on the situation every week and deserve to know what is happening.

"We're here." The detective states, parking his car and opening the door for Normani. "I can't stay long. I have another case to work on at the station. Please check in with me and let me know how Camila and Lauren are doing and if there's anything I can do to help."

"Will do. Now come on, let's see how they're doing."

---------------------------------------------------------

And here we are. the chapter you have all been waiting for. What did you guys think? So I'm writing chapter 29 right now and at this rate I'm planning on 30-31 chapters. When I first began this I thought there would be about seventeen chapters but boy was I wrong, lol. I'm going to try and rush myself and update every day until this book is finished but I don't know if I can do that even though I'm still going to try. I really hope this wasn't anticlimactic, I tried really hard to make this be a good chapter but idk if it even was. Anyways please vote and comment your thoughts on the chapter.