Inside this Twisted Labyrinth

Chapter Eight

Warnings especially apply to this chapter. Warnings include: Torture, Violence, and Rape/Non-con

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Day 9

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Vic rubbed his dry, tired eyes as he pressed in the next combination. He had performed some mind numbingly tedious tasks before, but this one by far took the cake. He had been at this for what felt like hours already, and from Mike's groan of pain and heavy sigh as he once more unsuccessfully tried to pry the door open, it probably had been hours.

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His brother rested the crowbar on the ground, and leaned against the wall. "My arms hurt, and I'm exhausted. I think I'm going to wake up Jaime and Tony and take a break soon."

"Okay," Vic said, typing in the next possible combination.

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"Hey," Mike softly said, placing his hand on Vic's shoulder and forcing him to turn so they were facing each other. "How you holding up?"

"Don't worry about me, Mike," Vic said, forcing his lips to form some sort of resemblance of a reassuring smile. It apparently fell flat, because Mike frowned in worry over him.

Mike paused, chewing on his lower lip as he held Vic in place. "Remember that time when I was 5, and you were 7, and you, me and Nick got lost in the woods?" Mike said, surprising him.

How could Vic forget? Nick had the bright idea to go exploring in the woods without their parents when they were camping, somehow convincing his naïve cousins to accompany him, and had promptly gotten them all lost. Vic had very nearly lost his shit. But even at the tender age of 8, Nick had remained calm and collected. He left an easy to follow trail for rescue searchers to follow. It turned out he hadn't needed to, though, because almost 24 hours after Nick had gotten them lost in the forest, he led them out of it. Of course, it was nowhere near where they'd entered the forest, but Nick had managed to find a road, and they were easily spotted by a pair of volunteers who were actually heading to the park to look for them. "Yeah," Vic said, clearing his voice because of how hoarse it sounded. "Nick's something else."

"He is," Mike easily agreed. "He's smart, resourceful, and stubborn. All of them are. Every single one of them, they're fighters. And most importantly, you know they've got each other's back no matter what. They wouldn't leave anyone behind."

"I know," Vic said, and meant it. When Vic and Kellin first started dating, he'd been a tiny bit jealous of Gabe and Justin's relationship with Kellin, though he'd never admit to that. The three of them were extremely close and extremely protective of each other. Vic knew that they – Jack and Nick included – would rather die than leave any of the others behind.

"I can't promise you that Kellin is okay, and I can't promise you we'll find them, but if anyone besides us can make it through this, it's them," Mike said, squeezing his shoulder comfortingly.

He knew his brother was trying his hardest to find that one tiny spark of hope, but his reassurances felt as flat as they were.

He knew Kellin wouldn't be okay when they found him. It wasn't his gut, or instinct that told him so, but pure logic. He could handle beaten and broken, though. He could handle traumatized and terrified.