This Is Not The End.

Chapter 44

Kai grabbed Beck first before he could charge at Janet. I didn't even think to move. The sight of the two of them brought me to tears because it was my fault. I'd convinced Beck to split up, and in doing so I'd condemned them to hell, again.

I couldn't look at Cara. I couldn't face the patchy, shock bruises which littered her temples or the deep, ghostly look in her dead eyes. Her hair had lost its colour, and her body curled in on itself to make herself smaller.

Jack's eyes were dark as if he hadn't slept in days. I recognised some of the patchy bruises, but I'd never seen them around anyone's temples. His hands were bound together with a sort of non-flammable fabric, and from there they were chained to thick iron boots they both were forced to wear.

"Jack..." Kai breathed, letting his name go like his final breath.

I didn't know what to do. My shoulder shot searing pains through my body and made it hard for me to think straight. They were so close but so unreachable; the boots tied them to the ground, and I knew neither of them had so much as a final punch left in their rattled bones.

It was up to us. We were to avenge them, and we had nothing left either.

"Alistair, Tams, line 'em up," David commanded, letting out a deep sigh. The man in the matching jacket – ALISTER, MD – moved towards me, but the first time he even tried to touch me, I turned around and hit him square in the jaw.

Without even flinching, Tams stuck her weapon – a taser – into Beck's skin and he fell to the floor, crying out. I dropped to his side.

"Hurt me!" I screamed, "He didn't do anything!"

"You're the boss's daughter," she said. I spat at her.

"Saving us, yeah?" I yelled, "This is saving us?"

"No, that was to teach you a lesson," she raised an eyebrow, daring me to fight back. I moved to stand, but Beck pulled my arm down. "Daddy can't look out for you anymore,"

"Tamsin, that's enough," David called over, his face as emotionless as his words.

"Just you wait," I threatened. "Just you wait,"

I helped him to his feet, and Alistair motioned for us to join the others in a neat line before the bus. I wanted to hit him again, with everything I had, but I couldn't. I wouldn't do that to Beck, because I knew it would only make it worse for him.

Janet's sneer broadened when she saw me in the line-up. She moved so she could parade in front of us, poking at our shoulders with her long stick to make us get into line. I had Kai on my right, and he had Jack on his, the two of them pressing their arms together in solidarity. Jack pulled at his bonds, but nothing moved.

"Isn't karma sweet?" Janet croaked, making Jack move closer to the bus again with her stick. She didn't ever touch him for fear of what would happen. I could feel the heat by just standing beside him. "It looks like you're right back where you belong,"

"Go to hell," I snarled. "Go to hell!"

"Darling, this is what we've been trying to tell you!" David stepped forward, and I stepped back, feeling the cool of the bus on my back. "This is hell, and we're only trying to fix it!"

"You're not fixing it," Kai spat. "You're killing us. That is not fixing it!"

I couldn't think of a plan. For the life of me, I couldn't think of anything. Nothing worked in my favour – I wasn't who they wanted, not anymore. I was collateral. Jack and Beck were the special ones, the main characters, I was a narrator, struggling to keep up.