"Why are your hands so cold?!" Darryl asks as Zak tries to find the hook in Darryl's pants.
"Oh, I'm sorry, but aren't you the one that told me to shove my hand down your pants?!" Zak asks. He gasps with excitement as he says, "I got it!" Zak pulls the hook out of Darryl's pants, but loses his grip and drops the hook in between their chairs. Zak mumbles a swear under his breath, just quiet enough for Darryl not to hear.
"Hey, it's ok. We'll think of something," Darryl says, looking around the room. "Any ideas?"
"My head hurts too much to think," Zak responds.
After a few moments of silence, Darryl whispers, "I'm sorry."
"For what?" Zak asks. "You didn't do anything."
"I'm sorry for never being there," Darryl replies. "I should've stayed here today to make sure it was safe, just like I should've stayed with you that night that this place was broken into."
Zak shakes his head. "Darryl, you can't blame yourself for everything, especially that night. We weren't exactly on great terms at the time."
"Just because we broke up doesn't mean I didn't still care about you, Zak," Darryl states softly. "You were the best thing to happen to me. Even if we never became anything more than friends, you would still be the most important person in my life."
Zak bites his bottom lip to hold back his smile, even though Darryl couldn't see. "Oh shut up."
"I'm serious, you muffin!" Darryl says. "I told you that when you said you needed time for yourself for a while." He moves his tied hands around and finds Zak's, then carefully intertwines their fingers together. "I'll wait for you, no matter how long it takes. I promise."
Zak closes his eyes. "Thank you, Darryl." He looks down and sees the hook not too far away from his sneaker. "Hey! I may be able to get the hook!" He moves his foot over to it and runs the rubber sole against it until the hook gets stuck on his shoe. Zak then twists his arms and pulls his shoe up, doing everything he could to pull the hook out. After a second of staying in a painful position, he manages to grab the hook.
Zak holds it tightly between his fingers. This hook had blades on it, allowing agents to slide it into restraints and pull up, cutting whatever they were stuck in. While this sort of hook was best used to get out of duct tape, it'd still do the trick for zip-ties.
"Alright, you're going to have to cut yourself free first," Darryl instructs. "Let the hook slide down your wrist and push it into your restraints.
Zak carefully slides the hook into the zip-tie, then turns it so that the blade is caught on the plastic. He then pulls up, and the zip-tie breaks with a small popping sound. Zak quickly stands up but stumbles forward from a lack of balance. He leans on his bed as he groans, "They really messed me up. I can't even walk properly."
"Get me out of my ties and I'll help you," Darryl says. Zak pushes himself up and slowly walks back towards the chairs. He leans on the one he was stuck on and carefully slides the hook into Darryl's zip-ties, pulling up and popping his ties off. Darryl rubs his left wrists with his right hand, noticing that the tie left a ring around it.
Zak takes Darryl's wrists in his hands. "Are you going to be ok?"
Darryl nods. "Yeah. Yeah, I'll be fine. It just hurts a little bit." He looks up, noticing how close their two faces were to each other. He blushes and looks away. "I guess we should try to find some weapons, huh?"
Zak grabs his hands and squeezes them. "Only if you help me walk."
"What do you want me to do?" Darryl playfully asks. "Carry you around bridal-style?"
Zak shrugs. "I mean, I wouldn't stop you."
"You know, when we get out of here, you should come live with me!" Darryl suggests. "I've got a spare room with your name on it."
Zak shakes his head. "I can't be your roommate."
"Why not?" Darryl asks, his eyes drooping with sadness.
"Isn't it a thing that you're not allowed to date your roommates or something?" Zak jokes, earning a giggle out of Darryl.
Darryl playfully smacks his arm. "Alright, let's look around."
Zak nods, forcing himself to stand up. He was ready to find a way out, but he'd be lying if he said that part of him didn't enjoy the moment they shared.
"Those fuckers took me outside and led me around the side of the building," Dylan explains as Clay uses a pen and duct tape to splint his finger. "We had agreed to spend some time at that park that's right behind the shop. Before we made it there, Ambxon pulled up in the van and Avocado injected me with this stuff that made me feel weak. I couldn't fight back, even if I wanted to." He winces when Clay pulls the tape too tight. "Dude, be gentle!"
"Who did all this to you?" Jude asks.
"It was their leader, Feni. She's sweet, but she's ruthless." He closes his eyes. "And she had her stupid snake with her. I fucking hate snakes."
"She had a snake?" George asks. "Do you understand how ridiculous that sounds?"
"It's just as ridiculous as Skeppy using music to torture people into giving information," Dylan says.
Vincent shakes his head. "It's really not. Those two things are on completely different levels."
"FUCK!" Dylan shouts, yanking his hand away from Clay. "Do you even KNOW how to splint a broken finger?!"
"NO!" Clay yells back. "The only person here who knows how is Vincent and you threatened to BITE him if he touched you!"
Dylan glares at Vincent. "And I still will."
"Why did they hurt you like this anyway?" Jude asks.
"I learned something that I wasn't supposed to know." Dylan takes a deep breath. "They are responsible for killing both Agent Purpled and Agent Mumbo."
"Why would they kill other agents?" Jake asks.
"Purpled was on their team. They were there the night George's team arrested Dream. I don't know why they were there, but whatever it was had something to do with Dream. Purpled was going to try and warn him of their plan and Sprite shot him to stop him." He stares at a spot on the ground. "She didn't even care. She just pulled the trigger on a teammate. I don't think I'd ever be able to do that."
Clay nods. "I wouldn't be able to either." He let's go of Dylan's hand. "It's fine for now, but I'm taking you to the hospital as soon as we finish up."
"I hate hospitals," Geo states. "Something bad always happens at hospitals. Someone is always dying."
"When you say it like that, hospitals suck," Vincent agrees.
"Shit, you know what I just realized?" Dylan asks. "I can't drive my bike because it's my left hand that's fucked up! I can't use the clutch! SHIT!"
Geo scoffs. "I love how you are angrier about not being able to drive than you are about not being able to shoot."
"You're left-handed?" George asks.
Dylan nods. "I am. I guess not being able to fire a gun sucks too."
"They had to have known that you needed your left hand that badly. There's no way that they would break your left forefinger just cause," Jake points out.
"Well, they've been following us long enough to know I was an agent as well as one of our inside jokes," Dylan states. "I don't think I want to find out what else they know." Dylan's eyes grow wide. "Shit! They have my badge and my earpiece!"
Clay groans. "When we get back to HQ, I'll reset our earpieces to a new network. I'll also have agent Fundy make you a new one."
"How much longer until we get there?" George asks Geo.
"Uh....two minutes. Everyone get ready!"
Clay looks at George. "Don't get too excited, you're staying here with Dylan."
"I want to help!" George yells. "My best friend is in there along with two people from my team! I can't just stay here!"
Clay loudly sighs. "George, you have no idea what you're doing. I will let you do these things after I give you a lesson on guns and knives."
George rolls his eyes. He didn't want to admit it, but Clay was right. He wouldn't be much help in there anyway. George nervously looks out the window, hoping that everyone would make it out ok. They had to be ok. They just had to.
"Just got word from the boss," Thundah says, walking into the room. "The other agents are on their way. They will be here before our backup makes it. We need to leave."
Feni nods, thinks for a moment, then says, "That's fine. We can work with this. Grab the intoxicated one and we will leave the other two."
"What if they try to follow us?" Cat asks. We can't just leave them the way they are, especially since one of them is technologically advanced."
"I'll shoot one of them!" Avocado cheers. "Please, Feni?"
"I want to shoot one of them!" Sprite says. "I'll do it!"
"I'm the youngest! I should get to shoot one of them!" Avocado states.
Sprite scoffs. "Um, I'm the youngest, thank you."
"We are both fourteen," Avocado points out.
"Yeah, but I'm still younger!" Sprite brags.
Avocado crosses their arms. "I'll smother you!"
"I'll kill you before you get the chance, bitch!" Sprite hisses.
"You know what?!" Avocado shouts. "GUT ME, COWARD! I AIN'T AFRAID TO DIE FOR SMOTHERING YOU!"
"ENOUGH!" Feni shouts. "We don't have time for this. Remember what happened last time we didn't complete our mission? If we don't get this done, we will not only lose our jobs but our lives." Feni pulls Thundah's gun from its holster and hands it to Ambxon. "Go shoot one of them and don't mess it up this time."
"Feni, I can't do this," Amb responds, pushing the gun away.
Feni shoves it into Amb's chest. "Take the gun and shoot him! It's bad enough that you sparred Fundy already. I swear to god, if you spare one of them again, I'll take your life instead." She pushes him towards the bedroom door. "Now prove to us that you are a part of this team and shoot one of them. I'll even let you have your pick!"
Sprite growls and stomps off towards the kitchen. "This is so unfair. I need to go commit arson to feel better."
Avocado gasps, yelling, "No fire! You still need to gut me!" as they follow her. "At the very least, spray paint my body with the closest color of blood!"
Ambxon walks down the hall, feeling his heartbeat going nuts in his chest. His hands were shaking and sweating. He only had to injure one of them. Feni never said that he had to kill anyone this time, but ever since it was he was tasked to shoot and kill Fundy, he had a problem hurting anyone. That day, he had helped Fundy escape and ended up getting beat by their boss. Ever since then, Feni was sure to remind him of his failure to keep him from messing up again. If he messed this moment up, he could be beaten again. Or worse.
He turns the doorknob and slowly opens the door. Inside, he finds the two agents standing up, untied. "How did you two get out?!" Amb asks.
Darryl and Zak both notice the gun in Amb's hands, so they raise their arms up in surrender. "No need to shoot," Darryl says calmly. "Let's just talk, ok?" He takes a step towards Amb to try and take the gun, but Amb takes aim at Darryl.
"Stay back!" Ambxon yells. "I don't want to hurt you."
"Then don't hurt us!" Darryl says with a smile. "It'll be ok! I promise. Just give me the gun and we can talk."
Amb lowers the gun. "You mean it?"
"NOW!" Darryl yells. Both him and Zak charge at Amb and wrestle with him to get the gun out of his hands. They then hear a gunshot, making all three of them jump back and drop the gun. Darryl scrambles to the ground and grabs the gun while Ambxon slams the bedroom door shut. Darryl gets up and aims the gun at the door. "Ok, Zak! You ready to get out of here?"
"Darryl?" Zak asks weakly. Darryl turns around to find Zak holding his stomach, blood pouring out from between his fingers.
———
Word Count: 2146
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Published: August 7th