Lennon.
“You’re really gonna kill your own daughter?” His fingers wound they way tighter around my neck, his nails digging into the surface. “It won’t make you a man, only a coward.” I spat viciously with the little air I had left to give. I tried to pull his hands away but he was adamant on not moving. His eyes glared straight into mine, the colour darkening and deeming gradually. If it wasn’t for the fact I could barely breathe anyway, I would have been holding my breath from fear. His pupils expanded so big it made half his eye look black, and then I understood why everyone feared the look. It felt like I was looking at death, at everything I feared and it would be the last thing I saw before I died. But it wasn’t.
His arms swung low and flung me to the floor with an impeccable force. My hands reached out just in time to stop my head colliding with the concrete road. I could see the pistol feet away but it was like he could read my mind, he stamped on my hand causing me to let out a blood curdling scream. Zayn was still lying on the floor, his efforts of fighting back were dwindling.
“Get up.” His steel toed boot hit my ribcage creating an unbearable pain. I grunted in response and continued to stare angrily at the ground, ignoring his inhumane commands. I shielded my face with my arms and hands, scared he would attempt to kick me there. It was dead for a second, no one spoke or moved and I was tempted to look up. However, I didn’t have a choice when my head was yanked upwards by sheer force of my hair being pulled. I screamed in agony but he didn’t let go.
“Get up, or I’ll kill him.” Axel had a gun resting on Zayn’s temple, I could see the sweat dripping down his face, the pleading look in his eyes. I scrambled to my feet without a second thought.
“I’m up.” I stated. “Now take the gun away from his head,” I sneered through my gritted teeth, looking right up into his eyes which had returned to a semi-normal state.
“Empty your pockets.”
“What?” Zayn asked as the gun was drawn away from his forehead.
Axel growled at him and pointed the barrel of the pistol straight between his eyes. I held my breath as watched as if time slowed down significantly. Zayn gulped visibly and tore everything out of his pockets, throwing his belongings on the ground. Axel turned to me, the gun still pointed at Zayn, as if he didn’t feel like he needed to threaten me to do as he wanted. I saw Zayn subtly nod and I proceeded to throw my things away from my body. My phone hit the floor with such a force I hoped it cracked and damaged the screen as well as the insides. If I couldn’t have my phone, then neither could they. Axel sighed assuming I was doing it as a tantrum but he should know not to underestimate someone who has the same blood.
On the dirty tarmac lay several sets of keys, cracked phones and pocket rubbish. One of Axel’s men quickly swept up everything and disappeared with it in his dirty hands. Axel held a gun to the back of Zayn’s head and forced us both to walk towards one of the cars that had been trailing us. It made my skin crawl knowing he had been watching, they had been stalking us. I tried to look back around, praying that through some miracle Calum would jump up full of life and save the day, but he didn’t. I could make out the silhouette of his lifeless body in the front of our car, hunched over the steering wheel. I didn’t have the energy to cry anymore.
Zayn and I were forced into the back of a black van, the doors slammed behind us. But we weren’t left alone, one of Axel’s men sat on the cold, metal floor with us. However, he had a gun loaded in his hand and neither me nor Zayn did. We hadn’t been handcuffed thankfully so we were able to balance ourselves as the van steered sharply around corners and unforgivingly over speed bumps.
No one spoke on the journey to wherever we were heading but by the time the van had stopped completely I knew we must have been sat inside for over half an hour. By now the South would be well aware that something had happened, especially due to the lack of contact. One thing the South were strict on was always knowing where everyone was at every minute of the day. They’d be out looking for us, ready to free us from these evil bastards.
We were dragged from the back of the van forcefully by men with balaclavas over their heads. Zayn looked unfazed but I had obvious sweat forming on my palms and sweat dripping down my forehead. I still felt completely drained and sick from the lack of sleep and food prior to being taken against my will. I was terrified I would collapse and they’d shoot me dead without a fight. If I was going to die, I at least wanted to die with dignity and knowing I fought for my death.
I tried to look around at the surroundings as we were yanked inside a building. I didn’t recognise the area, I could only guess that we were still in London. Zayn was assessing the area too, he probably knew more than me but neither of us spoke, we were both concerned about the consequences if we opened our mouths. The building seemed like it was down a back alley, away from normal civilisation. There were bars on the windows and bolts across the only visible door in sight.
Axel spoke to the guard at the door who unlocked the bolts for him instantly. We were tossed inside and pushed up a set of stairs right behind the door. The metal steps creaked and groaned under our weight, any escape out of there wouldn’t go unnoticed. I tried to plan an escape route from wherever we were being taken but there were barely any windows and the ones that were there were either too small or blocked with bars.
The room we were thrown into on the very top floor of the building almost seemed like a prison cell, only worse. There was no toilet, sink or disgusting mattress to even sit on. The door was slammed swiftly shut behind us, the sound of several locks and bolts could be heard from a distance. We were left alone in the cold, dark, damp, uninviting place.
“Fuck!” We hadn’t even been in there two minutes and Zayn had already proceeded to kick the wall, punch the door and yell profanities as if it was going to help. His face was beginning to swell and bruise from the violence that was thrown at him earlier. His hands were still stained with Calum’s blood. I’d offer to take a look but he didn’t exactly seem in a state to talk. “What sort of man kidnaps his own daughter?” It wasn’t a question to be answered so I slid down one of the walls opposite his pacing body and scraped away more skin around my nails.
It must have been hours later when the door flew open. I had dozed off, unable to fight the tiredness protruding my body any longer. Zayn had been sat in the same position without moving however. Axel stormed in, slamming the door shut so violently the floor shook. It didn’t take him long to become aggressive. But if he thinks we’re just going to give him what he wants because he uses threats and violence, he clearly doesn’t know who he’s dealing with. Another man followed him into the room and stood sternly, guarding the door.
Axel knelt down in front of me, his grizzly fingers pushed the hair away from my face making my skin crawl. His hand tilted my head up so our eyes met once again. I could and would never get used to looking at the human form of evil. I snarled at him only to receive a smirk in return.
“You know it’s not too late to join the right side, the winning team.”
“I’d rather die.” I spat, pushing his hands away from me startling him slightly.
“That can be arranged too.”
“What do you want with us?”
“You know exactly what we want, don’t play dumb Lennon, that’s not how your mother raised you.”
“Like you would know how she raised me.”
“You underestimate how much I know.”
“If you know so much, then why do you need us?” I shot back instantly, he rose his eyebrows and tapped his fingers against his chin, contemplating his answer. Instead of admitting he wasn’t as clever as he tried to appear to be he put his face right in mine and whispered viciously.
“I hope your little boy toy dies a miserable death without you by his side.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat that had formed just thinking about Harry, I didn’t want to him to wake up without me there. I know it was selfish to think that, but I wanted to be there, to be the first person he saw.
“You tried to kill us by blowing us all up. It failed. Are you going to kill us now?”
“Well since you didn't die, I thought why not make good use of you little delinquents.” Axel paced the room, a smug smile adorned on his stubble coated face.
“I much preferred you when you were dead.” Zayn spoke lowly, interjecting into the conversation for the first time. Axel stopped pacing and spun on his heels to face Zayn who wasn’t even looking up from the ground.
“You’re the brains behind everything aren’t you?” Zayn didn’t respond. “Without you they’d be an army with no brain.”
“How long are you going to keep us here?” I questioned before Axel lashed out physically again.
“Not long. We’re leaving soon.”
“Leaving?” Zayn asked.
“You’re going to take us to dear old Vince.”
“Not a chance in hell.” Zayn spat, shaking his head.
“If you don’t take us to Vince, you better start saying your goodbyes now.” Axel whipped a gun from the back of his belt within seconds and pointed it straight at my head. I sat up straight, eyes widened at the gun in my vision. Zayn didn’t flinch and continued to scowl at the ground.
“I’d rather die than help you.”
“Suit yourselves.”
He cocked the gun.
“3.”
Took the safety button off.
“2.”
Held the gun up fully and aimed it directly at my heart.
“1.”
His finger hovered over the trigger.
“Wait!” I screamed, pressing my hands against my heart. Zayn sighed dramatically and I could just make out him rolling his eyes. “We’ll help you,” I gulped. “We’ll show you where he is.”
“Good. Well since we’ve got that settled you better rest up, we leave at dawn.”
The door slammed shut leaving Zayn and I alone again. I gritted my teeth as I looked at him angrily. He looked fairly amused by my expression but I felt like punching him in the face.
“You agreed to help him.”
“You almost got us killed.”
“He wouldn’t have killed us.”
“His finger was on the bloody trigger.”
“You’re his daughter, he wouldn’t have killed you.”
“You think that makes any difference? He doesn’t care about family or anything like that. He wants his money and he’ll do whatever it takes.”
“I’m not helping him.”
“Alright brains what other plan do you propose then?”
“We really shouldn’t be arguing in a situation like this. We need to get out of here.”
“Yeah…but how? Did you fail to notice all the bars on the windows, bolts on the doors and massive men patrolling the hallways.”
“I don’t understand how Harry puts up with your sarcasm and annoying attitude.”
“I don’t understand how Perrie puts up with your constant scowling.”
“This is getting us no where.”
We fell into a silence after that, the tension in the room was still pretty high for a while, you could sense it somewhat in the air. My butt was extremely cold and numb after sitting on the floor and my stomach was growling from the lack of food. Boredom and lack of ideas was beginning to hurt my brain. I stood up, wobbling to my feet and hobbled over to the door, my legs dead from not moving for so long. I knocked on the door, Zayn looked up trying to see what I was doing but went back to kicking a stone when there was no response. Determined not to give up and I yelled, hit the door and screamed until someone final shouted back.
“Shut the hell up in there or I’ll gag you!”
“I need the toilet!” I screamed back.
“There’s a bucket in the corner!” He shouted back, I could hear the evident laughter in his voice.
“I have girl needs!” I’d never used it as an excuse before, especially when it wasn’t shark week yet either. I heard muffle talk behind the door, something along the lines of “Axel said under no circumstances.” “We’ll keep a good grip on her.” “Two minutes?” “Two minutes.”
The door opened barely enough for me to squeeze through. It was shut again so fast I was scared my hair was lodged in the hinges. My arms were gripped incredibly tight the blood circulation was cut off from my elbows down. I tried to see an escape route, an exit, anything but it was just dark corridor after dark a corridor. The bathroom was tiny, the toilet was revolting and I had to hold my breath inside the tiny room. I didn’t use the toilet, I rummaged through the lonely cupboard in the room. There wasn’t much in there, an extremely old toothbrush, some rusty screws and a screw driver. I picked up the screws and the screw driver, shoved them down my bra uncomfortably and told them I was done. The door opened and I was yanked back out again.
I was back in the cell like room within minutes of leaving. Zayn looked up and watched intriguingly as I slid back down the wall where I’d been sitting earlier.
“Anything out there?”
“Nothing, absolutely nothing.”
“No fire escape?”
“It was dark but I couldn’t see one. Every single window is barred up.” I reached down my shirt, “I did find these though. I don’t know what use they are but it’s something.”
“Are you going to stab someone with a screw?”
“I know it’s not exactly a knife, but you can die from infections and shit.”
“I can’t believe we didn’t see this coming.”
“Do you think they’ll find us before we’re forced to leave?”
“I hope so.”
As the sun set, the only light now shinning through into the room was the hint of moonlight. There was no heating in the building and I wasn’t wearing a jacket. Zayn sat down beside me, wrapping his arm around my shoulders, emitting his body heat onto me.
“This is so fucked up,” he sighed heavily. “Harry would know what to do in this situation.”
“Harry’s not here though, he’s barely alive.”
“He’ll wake up.”
“I hope so.” I replied, closing my eyes and resting my head against his shoulder.
“He could even be awake right now.”