Perilous Flames [clifford a.u]

chapter thirty one - captured

[unedited]

CHAPTER THIRTY ONE - CAPTURED

I was stuck in a realm between consciousness and darkness. There was only a dark murky water and all my senses felt foggy and distant. Fear and pain clouded my body and all I could concentrate for what seemed like forever was the throbbing pain that hammered at the back of my head. Then I heard his voice, distant and pleading. "Aiden, please, you have to wake up." 

Michael. 

I could hear him echoes away and yet, I was reaching forward through the foggy water, trying to grasp the sound of his voice so it could pull me out out of this murky state. 

It took every inch of energy left in body to force myself awake. My head was a heavy weight as I pushed it up and instantly felt a headache beginning to form. Ever so painfully and slowly, I opened my eyes. At first, there was nothing but a blur of figure bound against a pole in front of me. I blinked three times before my vision cleared and once it did, a gasp escaped my lips. 

We were no longer in the cemetery. Hell, we weren't even in a car. 

We were inside a dingy room, with cardboard sealing the view of windows and rust and grime covering the floors. The room was huge, with the ceiling being at least fifteen feet tall with metal beams constructed and hanging from it. Florescent lights were drilled on every other beam in the room, but the light was so dim it only flooded what was under it, rather than around it. Poles and beams were lined all over the room, connecting the cemented floor with the metal beams above. The room looked old, to say the least, like it was abandoned and not used for years. Until now. 

I saw the room from every possible way in the corners of my eye, but my focus wasn't anywhere else. It was on Michael, who was stretching as far as he could towards me, face filled with a scary concern. His hands were bound back around a metal pole right across mine, his feet barely touching mine. "Hey," he caught my eyes with his. "Hey, are you okay? Are you hurt?" 

It took me a moment to realize that I too had my hands bound behind a metal pole. "What--" I started and immediately a cough bubbled up my throat--a hard scrape against my throat that had intensified the throb at the back of my skull. "What happened? Where are we?"   

He shook his head, and it was only then did I noticed the bruises on his face and the cut on his upper lip. There was more damage done to him than from the cemetery and that had me outraged. "A warehouse, I think. They knocked me out right after you did and blindfolded me, so my guess isn't any better than yours." 

"Are you okay?" I asked, my eyes searching the rest of his body for any more injuries. 

Michael let out a sharp, humorless laugh. "I'm not the one you should be worried about." He moved back against the pole and slumped down, the forced smile on his face disappearing in an instant. A grim line pulled at his lips as he glanced at me. "Your head--how is it?" 

I winced at the reminder. "Hurts like a bitch." 

The green in his irises flared and for a moment, I though he was going to ignite but nothing farther happened. He looked to weak to conjure up the flames at the moment. "I'm going to kill them all. Fucking bastards, I swear to God." The enraged promise had shivers of fear going down my back.

"I'm okay," I assured him, but the soft roughness in my voice told otherwise. A cough bubbled up my throat again and my eyes squeezed shut as the throb grew sharp. "The others--do you think they're going to come for us?" 

Michael hesitated before he said, "I'm sure they'll find a way. Ashton's a tracker--he'll find us. And Calum won't let us wait long for them." His words sounded convincing but if you saw his face, you would see the doubt hidden behind his features.