Do What It Takes to Survive

The first thing I did was look at Gerard. He was gasping for air, now that he could breathe with his mouth again. His face and the front of his shirt were splattered with blood. He wasn’t looking at me. He was looking ahead.

I followed his gaze. Tattoo Face was sitting behind a huge metal desk, smiling menacingly. We were in a small room with a grey tile floor and white walls. I looked behind me. Ron and Randy stood on either side of a grey metal door with no window.

I looked back to the man behind the desk. He was frowning now, eyeing Gerard.

“I thought I told you to bring them to me in perfect condition,” he said without looking away from Gerard.

“He wasn’t cooperative,” Randy growled.

To my surprise, Tattoo Face smiled at Gerard. “That’s wonderful! I love it when they fight.” He stood up and leaned forward so that his face was closer to Gerard’s. “I like to break their spirits,” he whispered.

Gerard glared at him with hate-filled eyes, but he didn’t speak.

Tattoo Face sat back down. “You must’ve guessed why we’ve kidnapped you, right?”

Gerard nodded, and they turned to me. I looked at them blankly, and then dropped my eyes. I shook my head.

Gerard snorted, splattering blood. “You’ve got to be kidding, Lana. Don’t you know how much money we’re worth? Our families and friends would pay a fortune to get us back… and they probably could.”

“Very good!” Tattoo Face exclaimed, clapping his hands as if praising a preschool student. “You’ve guessed correctly, Gerard Way.”

Gerard spit blood on the ground and replied, “Now you’ve ruined my name.”

Tattoo Face ignored him. “Lana Mercado,” he said so sweetly it almost made me feel sick. “Don’t you get it?”

“No,” I answered shakily, although I was starting to put the pieces together.

Laughing joyously, Tattoo Face replied, “We’ve kidnapped you so that we can hold you for ransom.”

I closed my eyes and nodded slowly. “How much?”

“Ten million dollars. Each,” Tattoo Face said. Then he laughed and added, “Oh, wouldn’t it be funny if they only paid for one of you?”

Gerard shook his head sadly. “It wouldn’t matter, would it? You’ll kill us both anyways.”

Tattoo Face chuckled. “You’re quicker than I expected. I thought you’d be as dumb as a rock.”

My head swam with incoherent thoughts. This man found such happiness, such delight, in even the thought of us suffering. He reminded me of a ten year old boy that poured salt on a slug just to watch it die, and laughed about it. Gerard and I were the slugs.

And it was then that I realized we were going to die. Unless Gerard kept his promise and got us out of here, they were going to kill us. No matter how much we tried to be good. No matter how much money they got. No matter how hard we begged.

I held back tears and asked, “Why us? Why did you pick us? We aren’t the most famous people out there.”

Tattoo face smiled his sickeningly sweet smile. “Well, no. But I thought it would be interesting to see how you two reacted. You hate each other, and everyone knows it. I want to see what will happen under the circumstances. How much do you hate each other?”

Gerard gave me a look that I didn’t understand. Then he spat at Tattoo Face, “Not nearly as much as we hate you.”

Tattoo Face turned to me, eyebrows raised. “Is that true?”

They both awaited my answer eagerly. I tried to glare at this man, even though I was petrified of him. “Yeah,” I said confidently. “That’s true.” I wasn’t lying, I realized. That scared me.

He sat back, puzzled. “That’s interesting. I can tell you aren’t lying. Well… We shall see.”

After a few silent minutes, he said with a start. “Oh. You’ve been tied up for much too long. Ron, cut the cords. Randy… be ready, in case the spunky one tries anything.”

Randy pulled out a gun as Ron pulled out a knife. I shivered. He moved to me first. As he slipped the knife between the cords and my skin, the edge caught on the back of my hand. I bit my lip to keep myself from gasping.

Even with my new cut, it was a relief when my arms were free. I ignored the small wound so I could stretch the muscles in my arms. They were very sore. I moved my arms and shoulders every way I could before I examined the back of my left hand. Blood had oozed out, but it wasn’t that bad.

“Take them away,” Tattoo Face ordered Randy and Ron.

Ron tied the blindfolds around our eyes again. “We can’t have you seeing where you’re going. Now, don’t try to take them off or even touch them. I’m always watching, and Randy’s got his gun.”

I frowned warily, hoping that Gerard didn’t plan to try anything else. Ron nudged us forward, so we walked. After about five minutes of walking, they took off our blindfolds.

We were in another vacant, grey room. It was perfectly square, and had a door at the center of each wall. Before I could protest, they shoved me through the door to the right and Gerard through the door to the left.

I sighed in relief when I realized it was a bathroom. I really needed one, and well… I was completely alone. That was good.

When I came out, they threw me into the remaining room. It was probably five feet by five feet; another perfectly square room, only smaller than the other. This one had no other doors, though. The floor was cement and the walls were plain.

Gerard lounged casually against one wall of the room. “Welcome to out cell,” he mumbled, looking down.

My eyes widened, and I turned around. When I pushed down on the handle to the solid metal door, it didn’t budge. It was locked.

Gerard was right. This was our prison. Our tiny, hard, plain, cold, cell. And we were stuck in it together.