Hi guys, I'M SO SORRY for making you all wait so long :/ College started back up today so I had to get ready over the last few days... by... going into town... wayyyy too much... and spending too much time with thatweirdo..... Anyway, here's another chapter for you. I apologise in advance.

Leave a comment and let me know what you think, or even just to say hi. I am actually quite a friendly person. :) <3 x 10000000000

I let a weak groan of pain slip through my lips as I slowly regain consciousness. My head is throbbing and it takes me a while to force my eyes open, and even longer to get them to focus. The lighting here is basically non existent so I’m unsure exactly where I am. I reach up to the back of my head where it hurts the most and wince in discomfort when I feel the dry blood in my hair.

I try sitting up as my eyes gradually adjust to the darkness, but give up when the sudden dizziness makes me feel sick. I settle for just twisting my body, on what I realise is a thin mattress on the floor, and looking behind me before letting out a weak gasp of shock when I see that this room is actually separated into two, by thick metal bars, and that on the other side I can see Kris. I start slowly shuffling my way closer, whilst wondering what sort of place this is to have what appears to be a jail or something.

I reach the bars and grip them as I pull myself up against them, getting as close to Kris as I can, before forcing my voice to work and softly calling out to him.

Now that I’m closer I can see that he’s on a mattress like mine, but there’s a plate of half eaten, bland looking food next to him, so I assume someone’s been in to see him whilst I was unconscious. I can see half of his face from this angle, and I spot a dark bruise that’s formed on his left cheek where’s he has obviously tried to fight someone.

I roll my eyes, wincing when it hurts, as the memories return, and I glare at him weakly for a moment for getting himself into this state when I’d told him to get the hell out of there and to rescue me later. What good is he to me here? Now we’re both stuck in this place.

At least I know where he is, though I’d rather he got away and they only hurt me whilst trying to find him. I hope they just keep him here for some political purpose or something, and that they don’t hurt him…

I sag down so I’m lying on the floor with my head on my arm as my head starts throbbing even more from holding myself up. I call out to Kris again, slightly louder but not too loud as I’m afraid of letting people outside know that I’m awake. I’m fully aware that, unless they’re aware of who my father is and that he owns a high level business, they’ve got no real reason to keep me here other than to use me to get to Kris. Their main method of doing this will, I expect, involve a lot of pain on my part.

I scowl at Kris, willing him to wake up, as I try not to think about that. The idea of being hurt unnerves me, but my job is to protect Kris and if through my discomfort or pain I do that, then I’d prefer it to be me not him. Anyway, I’m stronger than him, and he’s probably got a much weaker pain tolerance than I have. I push such thoughts out of my mind, deciding that I’m probably being really pessimistic and that they might have just taken me because I was there to take.

I call out again, and finally I see him stirring. It takes him a while to open his eyes and when he finally turns to me, I see another bruise just above his right eyebrow. I can also make out a cut there, and I deduce that that’s probably the blow that knocked him out, or at least defeated him.

“Tao?” I hear him rasp out. He clears his throat softly and I see him trying to wake up fully. “Are you ok?” he asks. A frown forms on my face as I take in the slightly glazed look in his eyes and the way that he can’t seem to focus.

“Kris, look at me.” I say, trying to get his attention to remain on me. “Do you know where we are? How long have we been here?”

He proceeds to think, frowning when he’s unable to grasp the answer to my questions. “I don’t know,” he replies, “my head feels weird, it’s all fuzzy like I’ve had too much to drink or something.”

I frown, watching him and my gaze falls on the food next to him. “Kris, did you taste anything weird with the food?” I ask him, suspicious. He just stares back at me blankly for a moment before his brain catches up and his eyes widen in shock. “You think they put something in the food?”

I nod, feeling faintly relieved when the movement doesn’t provoke even more throbbing in my head. “Kris, don’t eat anymore of the food ok? Just put it under the mattress or something, and act drugged ok, until we can be sure. Have they given you water? It could be in there too.”

He nods, “actually, thinking about it, I didn’t like the water. I think it was in there not the food, they forced me to drink the water, but just left the food next to me.”

I’m about to reply when we hear sounds outside the room. “Don’t drink the water,” I hiss before quickly shuffling to the back of the room, as far away from the door as possible, ignoring the pain I feel on the way.
I stare at the door, waiting nervously to see if mine will open or Kris’s will. As I look, I notice that there’s no handle on the inside of either door, obviously to stop us getting out.

I watch my door open with a mixture of apprehension and relief that they aren’t going for Kris. A man walks in, and his behaviour is relaxed, as though aware that I’m currently in no state to cause him any harm. He grabs my leg and drags me towards him, ignoring Kris’s weak yells for him to leave me alone. Then he produces a bottle out of the big pocket on his hoodie, and s it towards me.

“Drink this,” he orders, speaking Chinese. I stare at him, refusing to comply. He scowls and mutters “you’ve got to stay alive so the others can do what they want with you.” He grabs me by the hair, causing me to yelp in pain, and he forces the bottle into my hands. “Drink the damn water.”

I hiss in frustration and tug the bottle towards me. My eyes rise to meet his in shock when I see that the seal on the bottle isn’t broken. He stares at me for a moment before he guesses the reason behind the surprise in my gaze.

“Oh, don’t worry, there’s nothing in your water. You’re going to be completely aware of what we do to you when the time comes,” he says with a smirk that sends shivers down my spine, and I try to fight back the sharp spike of fear I feel.

I scowl and twist the bottle lid, opening it and drinking quickly, suddenly aware now that the presence of water has risen above that of the pain on my priority list and that I’m really thirsty. I don’t drink it all, instead hoping he’ll leave it here so I can give some to Kris.

Luckily for us, he turns to leave pretty quickly, before quickly turning to toss a sandwich to me, that he’d clearly forgotten about. It’s still in its sealed wrapping too, so I open it, biting into it, in order to satisfy him that I’m eating. He nods to himself, and heads towards the door. I crane my neck to try and see the outside, but all I see is a tiled wall and I make a guess that we’re in a room off a corridor.

The door shuts behind him and I hear him head off. A moment passes as I just stare at the door silently, stunned by his complete incompetence. I roll my eyes, thankful that we have an idiot as our guard. I drag myself over to the bars where we’re separated and beckon Kris over.

When he arrives, I half of my sandwich towards him and the rest of the water. It’s obvious from his expression that he’s not happy that he’s taking my food, but the glare I shoot him stops him protesting and he simply takes it, “we both need to stay as strong as possible so we can get out of here,” I say and we eat next to each other in silence.

I’m feeling slightly better already as I finish my sandwich and lean against the bars, taking comfort in Kris’s presence. We get as close to each other as we can, eventually pulling the mattresses so they’re next to the bars on either side. I slump down on mine, tired and grateful that my headache seems to have faded slightly after the water.

I lie on my side, resting my head on my arm and reaching through the bars with my other to link my hand with his. I gaze at his face, pleased to see that the water and food I’d given him seem to be reducing the effect of the drugs they’d forced on him. He lifts my hand to his lips and presses a kiss against my skin. I shoot him a small smile, cringing when he starts studying the injuries on my face. I can tell he’s worried, so I shift my head slightly, covering the ones on my forehead with my fringe.

He frowns slightly when I do this, murmuring, “I’m sorry I got you into this Tao. I just wish I knew what was going on and why they’re doing this. My dad never told me anything.”

I shush him gently and look at him through slightly bleary eyes. “It’s ok, we’ll be ok. I love you.” I whisper, before closing my eyes and slowly falling asleep with the hope that I’ll feel much better in the morning.

Five days later

Kris is getting more optimistic, saying that they’ve not hurt us yet nor drugged him again, so they probably won’t and that people are sure to find us soon. I wish I could believe him, but from what our jailer, as I call him, said the first time he gave me food a few days ago, I’m pretty sure they’re just getting his hopes up, and my health improved, before they start conducting their plans.

The relaxed manner of our jailer doesn’t raise my hopes very high. Although he’s started pushing the packaged food through the small shutter in the door which suggests he’s aware that I’m getting more dangerous as I recover from my injuries; I can walk around now without feeling much more than an ache.

I look up when he slides the shutter open again, surprised that he’s here again, even though he dropped off my lunch earlier. If he’s figured out that Kris is eating some of mine, he hasn’t said anything, but I noticed that he’s slightly increased the amount of food we’re getting so I guess he probably has and only really cares about making sure that I eat.

I stand up when he glances in at us, hoping that he’ll focus on me not Kris if I move into the middle of the room. It seems to work and he stares at me for a moment, as though judging my physical state. Without warning, the little opening is covered again and a few seconds later the door is pushed open. In a split second my curiosity changes to fear and I back away as I watch four huge, muscular men walk in.

I hear Kris gasp and shake the bars, cursing aloud at his helplessness. I stop moving away once I realise I’ve moved myself into the far corner of the room. I flick my gaze momentarily to Kris, hoping he’ll understand and keep his mouth shut so they don’t turn on him instead. As I’d expected he either doesn’t understand or just doesn’t want to. Thankfully though, the four men advancing towards me appear completely focused and don’t even acknowledge him.

The first one lunges for my arm and I dodge his hands, pushing him away from me and turning to fend off the next one, but there are four of them and one of me and there’s no where for me to go. After hitting one in the face whilst struggling against their grip, I decide to just go with them because there’s no way I can get out of this and all I’m doing is making them angrier.

I twist my head, meeting Kris’s terrified eyes as I’m dragged from the room. So they’re not going to make him watch? I think. We walk only a short distance down the corridor, passing what must be Kris’s door. I see one of the guys behind me open the small shutter in his door just as I’m taken into the room next to Kris’s and as I look around the room I’m now in, it hits me. They’re not going to make him watch, they’re going to make him listen. For some reason this fills me with more fear than ever before.

I hear Kris yelling for them to let me go, but he’s ignored.

Hanging on the walls in here are instruments and objects that I’d rather never be faced with ever in my life and I realise this is much more serious than I’d ever realised. I start struggling desperately but by now there’s not much I can do.

They cuff my wrists to two chains hanging from the ceiling, effectively forcing me to stand whilst having my arms spread above my head where I’m unable to defend myself, before tearing off my shirt and leaving my back and chest more vulnerable to damage.

Two of them go, leaving the door open behind them, and I’m left with just two of them. An improvement yes, but it does nothing to reduce the fear that’s threatening to paralyse me. I take deep breaths as I they both move behind me and even though I twist to look, I can’t see far enough behind me to see what they’re doing.

I tug at the chains in frustration but freeze when I hear one of them laugh lowly at me. Instead, I concentrate on simply regaining control of my mind which is being overwhelmed with fear. This is to protect Kris. You can do this. I tell myself.

“Why are you doing this to us?” I ask, deciding to try and get some information out of them if this has to happen.

“Oh, don’t take it personally, we’re just following orders,” one of them growls from behind me, though I can tell from his tone that he enjoys this type of work. I try to keep the fear out of my voice and ask, “And who is your boss?”

There is a pause before I hear, “Mr Zhang Yuan.”

There’s something about the tone in which they say that that makes me feel terror to my very core. If they’re telling me that so freely, there’s no way they believe I’ll ever get out of here. I take a deep shuddering breath and blink away the tears that have sprung into my eyes. Am I going to die here?

“I’ve never met that person,” I force out. “I’ve never done anything against him.”

I let out a soft hiss of pain when one of them kicks me in the hip from behind.

“Shut up, who says you’ve angered him personally? It’s your Kris’s father who’s to blame for all of this.”

“What did he do?” I demand feeling frustrated.

“You don’t know anything do you? Not knowing why this is happening, only that there’s no way to escape. Doesn’t that make it all that more terrifying?”

The shouting from Kris’s cell gets louder and I ignore the disturbing reply I’d received and yell out, “I’m here Kris, its ok. Everything’s going to be ok.”

I hear a clang and guess it’s the sound of him punching the door to his cell. I don’t even let myself feel any sense of hope that he’ll be able to save me. There’s no way out of that cell from the inside, we’ve already spent five days in there, believe me we’ve tried. The doors can only physically be opened from the other side, by pushing against the horizontal bar, like on a fire exit.

My attention is caught by the sight of the tallest guy attaching a wire to the chain that’s restraining my right hand. I try unsuccessfully to jerk away as their chosen method of torture suddenly becomes obvious; electrocution. He then heads to lean against the door frame to watch, confirming my suspicions that he has no sense of remorse for what is about to happen to me.

I struggle against the chains now, panic taking over. I see him glance at the guy behind me and that’s when I know its coming. I brace myself but that proves useless as the first shock passes through me. I cry out, unable to keep myself quiet as I experience pain on a level I’d not felt before. I hear Kris shouting from his room, yelling my name and hitting against the door.

The second round takes me by surprise. I feel it right to my core and my muscles spasm violently as I lose control of them. As time passes, they raise the voltage, thus increasing the pain I feel each time. After what feels like an eternity, they pause and my pain-confused mind scrambles to collect itself. For a moment I entertain the thought that they might have finished but this hope is short lived.

The man in front of me walks forward and accepts something from the one behind me. I turn my head, feeling the deep ache in my muscles, and my mind sluggishly registers that it’s a large bucket of water. I look at him in confusion for a moment until suddenly he dumps the whole lot over my body. The water is freezing and I gasp in shock, choking slightly, as it hits my head then runs down my bare torso and to my feet.

He nods to the other guy before tossing the bucket into the corner and returning to his previous spot to watch. The sudden icy cold has cleared my mind some and suddenly I realise why they’ve doused me with water. The presence of water will increase the sensitivity of my skin to the electric current and the pain will intensify to an unimaginable level that I struggle to even comprehend.

“No” I whisper in pure terror, and then I’m screaming, unable to stop the sounds of agony from tearing out of me and incapable of forming any coherent thought other than make it stop. They continue until my voice is hoarse and raw from the strain of screaming so uncontrollably, and after what feels like forever but must only be half an hour or so at most, I slip into welcome unconsciousness.

Yep.... please don't hate me.... leave a comment instead? XD I'm personally not satisfied with this chapter but.... maybe you'll think differently? I don't know....

Also, if any of you guys actually really like this story and think it's worth recommending, then please click the UPVOTE button for me...?
Ok, it feels wierd asking that, but I've seen other authors asking and I keep forgetting to upvote my fav stories and then end up going on an upvoting rampage.... as you do....

Anyway, I must sleep because I'm at college again tomorrow... -_- Today was actually nice and short so I can't really complain... :)

MUCHO LOVE TO YOU ALL <3

THANK YOU FOR READING, AND YOU SILENT READERS, I APPRECIATE YOU TOO :) <3 <3