Breaking Their Hold

It had been four days since Pierre had cauterized Melissa’s leg. She was still limping, and could only walk for a few hours at a time before she either needed a rest or one of the guys had to assist her in walking. She felt as though she was slowing them down, and she felt tremendously guilty. She was their weak link, and she knew it.

Now, they were stopped for the daylight hours, still in the forest, which seemed to have no end in sight. Pierre had estimated that they were about thirty to forty miles away from Haverly, which was a feat in itself since they could only travel by night and Melissa’s injury. She was supposed to be sleeping, but rest would not come to her.

“We’ve got to skirt Los Angeles,” Pierre whispered, his voice hoarse from a combined lack of sleep and mental exhaustion. Almost every aspect of their getaway was on his shoulders alone, and it was a heavy load to bear.

“But that will take longer,” Matt replied, his voice earnest. “It’s no safer in the suburbs than—“

“Schlagger will assume that we’re going that route,” Pierre said. “The city will be crawling with his lackeys. We have to take a different path.”

“What other path can we take, then?” Jimmy asked wearily. “We need to get to Canada as quickly as we possibly can, Pierre. I…I don’t know how much longer Mel’s going to be able to hold out.”

“She’s strong,” Pierre responded, his voice sure. “She may not seem it, but I know she is. I never would have agreed to help Zack get her out of Haverly if I wasn’t sure she could make it out of the country.”

“Why is Schlagger so interested in her, anyway?” Matt asked. Melissa’s eyes cracked open just a little so that she could see them, sitting in a circle just a few feet away from herself.

“I’m not sure of his specifics,” Pierre started. “I never worked directly with him. But I’ve been told that he keeps…pets, of sorts.”

“Pets? Like…Slaves?” Jimmy asked, his voice angry. Pierre nodded, and though Melissa couldn’t see his face, she knew he was disgusted. His tone of voice said it all.

“Yes,” He told them. “And it wouldn’t surprise me if his motives for taking Melissa were to add her to his ‘collection.’”

Jimmy and Matt both yawned at the same time, and Melissa knew that they too would be coming to sleep in a few minutes. She closed her eyes and tried to go to sleep. She waited until she felt Jimmy’s familiar arms wrap around her waist and pull her snugly and protectively to his chest, his breath hot and slow on the back of her neck as he settled into an uneasy slumber.

-x-
With Zacky
-x-

The room was bright white, the fleurescent lights shining down harshly on Zacky’s features as he lay on the hospital bed, his arms strapped by brown leather constraints to the side, an IV drip supplying a constant dosage of a mixture of drugs that were meant to cause the intense physical pain that he was in.

It was what he guessed was his third day and second night in this wing of the hospital; it was the only time he’d ever been here, and he could now relate to the shocking horror stories he’d heard from other inmates of the hospital’s confines. This ‘infirmary wing’ as the Doctors and Nurses referred to it as was nothing of the sort; they made ‘recovery’ from injuries as painful as possible, and sometimes inflicted new injuries seemingly just for the hell of it.

He sighed as he saw Schlagger walk in the room, the man’s face just as stubborn as he hoped his own looked. Though Zack was in no condition to defend himself should Schlagger attempt to hurt him, he knew the President would do no such thing: it was beneath him. If he was here to hurt Zacky, he’d have one of his lackeys do it.

“I’ve brought someone to see you,” The man said, his voice harsh. “You have stayed remarkably silent through my constant barrage of punishments. I’ve come to realize that I’ve been approaching breaking your spirit from the wrong angle, though. The way to break you isn’t by causing you physical pain; it’s emotional that will do the trick.”

“I have no emotions right now except for anger,” Zacky spat. “Nothing you attempt to do to me is going to make me tell you anything I know.”

“Even if I were to hold your own family against you?” Schlagger asked, motioning with his head towards the door. Without a word, the door opened and Zack’s eyes widened when he saw his mother and older sister standing there, both looking emaciated and deathly. They no longer resembled the happy family he’d grown up with. They were strangers now.

“If you won’t speak to save yourself, do it to save your mother and elder sister.” Schlagger told him. “If you do not give up the whereabouts of Melissa Baker, not only will your punishments resume in more painful ways, but your mother and sister will also be subjected to twice as much pain as you will go through.”

Zack met his mother’s gaze, and saw the pleading there. She didn’t want him to say anything. Zina’s eyes said the same thing; she wanted him to keep his mouth closed. He closed his eyes, so similar to his sister’s and mother’s, and turned his face away from Schlagger and his family.

Of everything Zacky had withstood, nothing had made him want to consider giving up Melissa’s location. This was the closest he had come to giving in. Seeing his mother and sister now, after such a long separation, and the promise of such extreme pain that he knew they wouldn’t survive tempted him to tell them where Melissa was. But he knew he couldn’t live with himself with that decision, knowing that his family wanted him to save Melissa instead.

“Don’t!” His mother said, her voice sounding broken, as though it hadn’t been used in a long time. Immediately the Guard standing next to her backhanded her, causing his mother’s hand to fly to her face in a feeble attempt to soothe the pain.

“Take a few minutes to consider this, Zachary.” Schlagger told him. “I have many things to offer you, your sister, and your mother if you do as I ask. Your past stubbornness will not be taken into consideration if you make the right decision.”