'They'll come to fetch you soon my ass,' Misha thought as he held his stomach, painful pangs of hunger stabbing it. He hadn't eaten anything for two days, maybe even more, and it felt like his stomach had started to digest itself.
Misha took in a deep breath, the humid and cold air doing nothing to alleviate the burning pain in his throat. He licked his dry lips and could not help but glance at the one and only bottle of water they had. God, he was so thirsty....
He realized what he was doing only after stretching his hands, the tips of his fingers brushing against the plastic cap. When the realization crashed in, the teenager jolted back in a fit of horror. He could not help but clench his fists so tightly that his knuckles turned white, bringing them close to his chest before crossing his fingers.
'What the hell was I about to do...?' As the thought crossed his mind, Misha bit his index finger until blood oozed and averted his eyes. It felt as if looking at the bottle any longer would burn his irises, if not awake his inner demons. Whichever was the case, he refused to look at it a second time, lest he did something he'd regret.
Even if Misha was craving water like never before, he absolutely couldn't drink what little was left. Jake was still running a high fever, and he had been sweating buckets since yesterday. He needed to stay hydrated, or else Misha feared he would drop dead.
Well, he probably wouldn't. But Misha would rather take no chances.
"You should just drink it if you're thirsty," Jake's voice weakly resounded. "I don't remember seeing you drink anything since we've been thrown in here."
"That's 'cause you sleep most of the time. I drank a bit earlier, so I'm fine."
"The amount of water doesn't seem to have changed...."
"That's 'cause your mind is foggy right now! Don't try to recall things when your head is a mess!"
"Has anyone ever told you that you're a bad liar?" Jake retorted with a low chuckle, making Misha's cheeks flare up a bright red.
"Just keep your mouth shut and rest, ok?!" Misha winced, already missing the time where he could win his verbal jousts with Jake. Now, it seemed like a distant dream.
"Alright," Jake coughed slightly as he nestled against his little brother, who was sound asleep beside him. "But don't push yourself too much, ok? Gabriel is going to kill me if something happens to you."
"Yeah, yeah, I know. I won't do anything stupid," Misha rolled his eyes. "You can rest assured that there's no masked man I can anger to death right now, so...."
Jake suspiciously eyed the teenager but didn't comment. Instead, he closed his eye and went back to sleep. His thoughts were in too much disarray to converse for too long anyway. All he could do was hope the teenager would follow through on his words and stay low.
Propping his chin on his crossed hands, Misha watched the two brothers sleep with a thoughtful gaze. In all honesty, he didn't know what to think of Jake's sudden changes in behavior. It was too abrupt, too different. Yet, he didn't dislike it—this new Jake was much more to his liking, and his heart had somewhat started to warm up to him.
'Never thought there would come a day where I wouldn't want to strangle him on sight,' Misha laughed to himself before standing up. 'Alright, enough idling about.'
Although he knew the door was sturdy and most likely wouldn't break, Misha still went ahead and tried to pry it open. It'd probably have been easier to remove the planks nailed to the window frame, but the window was too small to even allow a human child to pass through it. So there was no point in wasting his time on it.
After not eating nor drinking for two days, Misha didn't have much energy left, his body void of strength. In addition, the bruises hadn't faded and were as painful as ever, making every movement something akin to torture. Even so, Misha was unable to stay still. Waiting while doing nothing was equally agonizing, so he might as well try his luck.
***
"This place is too damn huge," Stephan grunted, his hands resting on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. "How the fuck are we supposed to find them?! We've been running around for half a day already, and we found nothing! Absolutely nothing!"
"Complaining won't help, so shut up and keep searching," was Gabriel's answer.
"Oh please, I need a breather!"
"Take it on your own then."
"What? Wait—wait a second! Shit, don't leave me behind!"
While Stephan was pleading for him to slow down, Gabriel made his way to the next building. All he had in mind was to hurry up and bring Misha and his brothers home. Whatever complaints his friend had could wait.
However, Stephan's laments had truth in them: the abandoned industrial park was indeed immense, so vast that the decaying buildings seemed to stretch into the horizon. And to make matters worse, the kidnappers didn't give them much information about the exact location of the hostages, only telling them that they were held in one of the disinfected factories—which were numerous.
"I still can't believe your father didn't bring more people," Stephan growled in a low tone, closely following behind Gabriel. "I know he doesn't want to draw attention, but for fuck's sake! Ten people are not enough! It makes you wonder whether he truly wants to find his sons or is secretly wishing for their deaths."
"It's already good that Matthew brought a search party with him at all. If we hadn't overheard his conversation on the phone earlier, you know he'd have left without telling us anything."
Stephan clenched his jaw, thinking this was ridiculous, just plain absurd. But he didn't comment any further, knowing it was pointless. Some people simply weren't right in their heads, and nothing could change them.
.
.
After rushing to the location given by the ringleader a few hours ago, the group separated into teams of two and scattered throughout the industrial park, each taking an area for themselves. Gabriel and Stephan were in charge of the southeast, while Angela and Matthew went northwest.
They had been searching for hours, yet they still hadn't found anything—no trace was left whatsoever. It was as if ghosts were behind the kidnapping, and it got on Gabriel's nerves; he knew his brothers and Misha were close by but could not find them. No matter how many buildings they turned upside down, all that he saw were empty rooms. It was excruciating.
Where were they?
When are we going to find them?
Will we even find them?
Uncertainties and fears were starting to creep up on him. Gabriel had always been more of a pessimist than an optimist, and the situation was taking its toll on his mind, slowly driving him crazy. He had to find them, and fast.
Before long, the sun began to set, coloring the sky red. The incoming darkness would make it harder and more dangerous to comb through the decaying buildings; some floors were barely hanging on, covered in holes, and most were littered with planks of wood and rusty pipes—it was a landmine of debris. In the dark, it would be risky to venture into such places.
"Let's start with the basement," Gabriel said after entering another weathered building, his eyes falling upon the stairs. So what if it was growing dark? He wouldn't stop searching until he found them. He could always illuminate the area with his cell phone if it came to it.
Not waiting for Stephan's answer, Gabriel carefully ventured downstairs. Every step he took resounded far and wide, echoing in a rhythmic pace. Stephan's footsteps soon accompanied his, the man following along in silence.
They quickly reached the end of the stairs. What then lay before their eyes was a neat room with, in the center, a stainless steel table and a few plastic chairs. There were no rubbles in sight—it seemed like someone had recently swept the concrete floor and dusted off the place.
But what ultimately caught Gabriel's eye was the blue hood left in a corner, spots of blood visibly staining it. Deep down, he already knew whose blood it was.
However, faint banging sounds echoed throughout the room before he could take a closer look. Stephan and Gabriel shared a look, then tacitly hurried toward the noise, walking through a long corridor that led to a sturdy-looking door. A key was left in the doorknob lock.
Gabriel didn't hesitate a second before turning it, unlocking the door.
As soon as it was open, a teenager fell into his arms, his head knocking against his chest. Gabriel instinctively caught him and lowered his eyes. His gaze thus met with Misha's.
"What the heck took you so long?"
"Sorry, we got lost on our way."
"Hm, whatever. Just bring Jake to the hospital asap, he's burning up with a fever. And feed Tristan. He hasn't eaten anything for far too long, and—"
"I will," Gabriel interrupted in a soothing voice, kissing the top of Misha's head, not minding the dirty hair nor the terrible smell. "Now, leave everything to me and rest. I'll take care of my brothers."
As if reassured by the words, Misha responded with an unclear "hm" before closing his eyes and fainting. His body grew limb in Gabriel's embrace, his breathing evening. Ah, God, he was so, so exhausted.
___________________
Edited by Clozed!
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