Closing Time

62.

Lou was shirtless. At any other point of time, a reason to celebrate, but I just wanted to throw up the more I saw. I wanted to curl back into the suffocating darkness in my head... I wanted to scream.

Cuts marred his entire chest. I could see a very deep wound right where his unbeating heart should be. And much lower, his... his stomach was slit open. Bile rose to my throat as I looked over the guts spilling out, resting on his lap and spilling to the ground like dark, messy coils of what almost looked like snakes. All that... All that was inside a human body? Where does it fit? How does it...

I jerked my head around to the other side, body hunching up as I audibly gagged. My stomach closed up tightly on itself, reminding me it was empty. Saliva coated my mouth, dripping off my stinging lips as tears rose to my eyes.

Fuck.

Fuck.

Fuck fuck fuckfuckfuckfuck-

Wait. Mike.

If that's what happened to Lou... what they did to Lou... What did they do with Mike?

"Mike." I whispered, through the lump in my throat. I could hear other voices too. The Hunters had heard me. "Mike."

"Ryleigh, don't." Mike replied, making no effort to keep his voice down anymore.

I didn't hear him. I had to see him.

My legs were tied by the ankles to the legs of the chair. My feet were resting on the rough cement. They had a grip on the cold ground, but no actual mobility to be able to move me. I gritted my teeth, ignorring the rope cutting into my skin as I pushed my body, throwing whatever strength I had into making myself move.

And I did.

The chair groaned as it dragged across the concrete, moving a few inches at a time through my efforts. I could see the Hunters speed up. They could see me. I had to move faster. I had to see Mike.

An audible gasp of pain exploded from me as I jerked my body forward harder. My hands were closed into fists, vision glued on the bowed head of golden hair to my right as the rest of his body came more and more into view. The Hunters were closer now, almost to us. I had to move. I had to see hi-

I felt the chair falter. It's leg catching on the uneven concrete below my feet. My gut curled as my struggle tipped the chair, eyes squeezing shut in anticipation. The chair leaned sideways, falling away from the other two. It slammed loudly against the concrete, making me cry out in pain as it twisted my left foot sideways. My head jerked sideways, smacking against the ground as the left side of my body took the brunt of the fall. The air left my lungs with the strength of the impact.

My vision flashed, ears starting to ring as the chair came to a rest. I was gasping for air, struggling to get a breath in as my eyes dragged themselves over to Mike. My vision was spotty, my eyes barely open through the throbbing in my head, but I could see him. He was farther away from me. However, from this angle, I could still see him. All of him.

His blue eyes met mine through the shaggy, bloodstained hair as he started to raise his head. My eyes immediately went to a long, white scar on his throat. I could see the dried blood that had flown from it like a waterfall. His chest was covered in slashes and stab wounds, some of them seemed to be festering, rotting because of how long they'd been left untreated.

His guts were cut open. But the slash and stab marks continued all the way down to the waistband of his boxers. It was hard to see in the dark, but they were also complete soaked in blood.

I couldn't hear anything. I could barely breathe, but the state of his bare legs sucked the rest of the air out of me. I felt a choked cry escape me as my eyes went to his shattered kneecaps. A mess of blood and broken bone, sticking out of the skin and twisted the wrong way. His legs were bent sideway- leg- his leg- I can't- hi-