Captured

"Shhh, don't worry... I've got you now..." Veshik crooned in his ear as he yanked Gailen out of the van by the arm. Gailen gasped a little in a panic, trying to pull away and struggle in his grasp. "Now now, why so feisty?" A hand clamped over his mouth when he tried to cry out, smothering his breath. //I won't let you hurt me again--// Desperately he tried to pull his arms out of his grasp, craning away from his hands as he was slowly corralled towards the warehouse. Hands. Pushed against the metal door, he felt a hand snake around his waist as the other gripped his throat. He gasped and started to struggle wildly, hands clawing at Veshik's wrist. "And what makes you think you can stop me?" Veshik's voice dropped from the sweet, toying voice to the horrible dark rasp that Gailen was so awfully familiar with. The urge to simply go limp and let it happen all over again was strong- but he couldn't give in. He couldn't give up on himself- not when Al hadn't. With as much of a yell as he could muster through his squeezed throat, he lifted both legs and kicked him in the gut. Hard. Veshik consequently wheezed and stumbled backwards, his grip on him broken as Gailen scrambled to get to his feet, immediately breaking into a run. He dashed down the alley street, his tunnel vision making him only focus on getting out of there. He had to escape- to get back to Xord. Before he could reach a public sidewalk, a hard crack bludgeoned against his head and sparks shot into his vision. He toppled to the side from the force of the hit itself, choking on his own spit. A wooden bat dropped to the ground in front of him, and rough, calloused hands ripped him up to his feet, taking fistfuls of his collar to bring him face to face, inches away from those horrible orange eyes. “I said….” Veshik rumbled, his voice like oncoming thunder. “What makes you think you can stop me?” A sob built in Gailen’s throat. His head was spinning and starting to throb like the dickens, but the only thing in his line of sight was Veshik’s terrible, snarling face. Dragged by the collar, he was made to stumble back inside the suffocating warehouse, thrown into the dirt alongside multiple other miserable figures. “Did you really think you could run away forever??” Gailen tried to look up, but all he saw was the bat coming down again. He let out a cry as it thwacked in between his shoulder blades, crumpling into the dust again. “Did you expect to live your life without me?? To never see me again??” His fingers scrabbled weakly at the dust, but he couldn’t get away as he was flipped over. Those awful hands crushed into his ribs, he could feel the fingernails digging into his skin. He started to cry miserable tears, trying, oh, trying so hard to beg and plead for him to stop, but nothing came out of his mouth. Veshik smiled thinly, seeming to enjoy his pain. “You know- I think I like it better now that you can’t talk.” He gripped his jaw firmly, making him utter a whine. “Get up.” He sneered, yanking him to feet by pulling at his hair, earning a yelp from him. “No one will ever find you again.” He whispered in his ear, threading a thin fishing line around his throat. Gailen’s eyes started to widen when it tightened, scrabbling for the invisible line around his throat as he began to gasp and choke for breath. But there was nothing he could do. In the end, his fingers were crushed and bloody, he couldn’t breathe. His entire body throbbed; the taste of iron lingered in the back of his throat. He couldn’t keep his eyes open… he wouldn’t be saved.