"All suspects are in the building." One man says into a radio.
"Everyone in place?" Another asks.
Ally, Dinah, and Normani sit in the safety of a police car with Detective Williams in the front seat. He changed vehicles when he saw them. "Ok, now that we almost have them, I must apologize for my lack of communication and seemingly lack of figuring out this case. I suspected a mole at the police station and was afraid that if I worked this case there, they would warn the captors if I got close to figuring things out. I'm sorry for not being able to tell you until now."
"It's ok. Thank you for working so hard, we really appreciate it." Ally gives a slight smile.
"You have no clue how much we appreciate it, Ally is correct." Normani states.
Dinah, on the other hand is entranced with the scene unfolding before her eyes. She doesn't recognize the outside of the house because she never actually saw the outside of it, but she knows it's the same place she was. It has the same feeling, that same horrible feeling. And somehow Camila has had to live with it for a whole year, and Lauren two months more than that. Dinah fears the worst. Not the death of her friends, that's not the worst to her. The worst possible thing to happen would be that her friends, once so close to her, are completely different and unable to change from the person they had to become while in this horrible house. She knows they're going to be different. Very different. But she hopes they will slowly be able to become the people they once were. Not the exact same people, but someone she would be able to recognize.
"Ok everyone-" The SWAT captain whispers into the radio. "3, 2, 1." SWAT members bust down doors and windows, anything that could lead them inside.
Dinah is unable to just sit by and watch, so she opens the car door and runs out. Ally and Normani realize what she is doing and they chase her, but Dinah is so hyped up on adrenaline that they are unable to catch her. She runs right past the front door now hanging on its hinges and right into the living room. To her right is the kitchen and farther is the hallway that contained the room she and Lauren were in. To her left is a room off the living room. Finally, Normani and Ally catch up to her and stare at their surroundings just as intently as Dinah. Two men are kicking down doors down the hall, one is kicking down the door to the right, and another is kicking down the door to the basement. The basement. That's where they probably are since they weren't in the room Dinah is most familiar with.
She immediately follows the SWAT member down the stairs as another tries to pull her back, but she refuses and Ally and Normani are right behind her. None of them are prepared for what they see. It's Lauren and Camila- but it's not. How could it be? The broken figures they see barely look like actual people. James and Tristan are up against the wall with their hands up after seeing the SWAT member with his firearm in hand. Brad on the other hand is standing with Camila standing directly in front of him with an arm around her throat, holding ht erest of her weak body up, and jet black gun to her head.
Her hair is long and matted, blood covering her face and obvious scratches and bruises underneath. A bra is the only thing that covers her upper half and that too is covered in blood and bruises. Her only visible skin is a sickly yellow. On her legs, shorts only cover up to her upper thighs and sadly the color of her legs match her torso. Brad is obviously holding her upright as her legs are small and shaking under the weight of her body as well as from fear. She looks extremely malnourished. She was already a small person before this incident, but now she looks even smaller. Her eyes are sunken in and every rib is bulging out of her small body.
Brad is sweating but not shaking. He is much too calm in this situation which worries Dinah a lot. She remembers being down here all those months ago. Right near her is the chain hanging from the ceiling in which she was chained to and tortured. Now, there are two chains, and they have been used quite recently since there is not yet dried blood on them and the floor below.
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."
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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.