Silence Falls

Bam rebelliously crossed his arms over his chest, and scowled right back up at Connor, the Cannibal who was changed up to the ceiling in one of the many padded rooms of Solitary Confinement. “The name is Bam.”

“What kind of a name is that!?” Connor snorted quite rudely, also deciding to take up the role as the ‘jerk’ in the group alongside Bam.

Instantly enraged, Bam took a step forward, ready to give him some in the form of verbal insults, but Bert decided to interfere before they both could get to quarreling with each other, neverminded that they met only a minute ago. Bert had a strong certainty that he knew how Connor and Bam were gonna going to get along from this moment forward, and it wasn’t going to be pretty. To save himself some grief before the arguing could start, Bert had to make things clear between the two of them in advance. “Connor, Bam is our new recruitment…I guess you could say. So, you two are gonna need to start getting along here and now, because I am not going to fucking deal with all the goddamn bickering I know you two will have if we're all gonna get the fuck out of here. Understand?” In response, Bam merely crossed his arms again, and rolled his eyes before returning to stand in the doorway.

Connor rolled his eyes too before allowing his eyes to wander over his surroundings again. “So, when is this escape plan of yours going to take place anyway?”

Bert sighed heavily, and ruefully lowered his head as he rubbed the back of his neck. “It was supposed to be tonight, but uh…”

“Of course, there's a fucking 'but'” Connor hissed to himself as he pulled at the chains keeping him restraint, testing their strength for the billionth time since he’d been brought down there.

“Bert, can we let Connor down now? He's seriously in pain.” Cris cut him off in a soft voice, his eyes wide with distress over his blood brother.

“Fuck you, man! I can handle myself just fine. I don’t need no one bitching over me.” Connor growled at him. Nonetheless, Cris only looked to Bert again for permission.

Bert remorsefully shook his head in response. “We can't, Cris. If we let him go, they'll find out he’s missing and tear this place apart probably looking for him. Even if I take him up to my room he won’t be safe there either.” He watched Cris’s shoulders slump in defeat followed by an obediently nod. Feling bad, Bert decided to remind him of what needed to be done. “Remember, we have to go through this like the fucking wind if we plan on escaping. To do that, Connor has to stay here.”

“But how much fucking longer, dude!?” Connor nearly shouted, already sick of the waiting game. “Why the fuck can’t we just go now!?”

“Because Otep is missing! I'm not leaving this fucking place without her, are we clear?” Bert argued back as he crossed his arms over his chest. Knowing Connor was going to start a fight over this, Bert prepared himself for him. From by his side, Cris slowly moved along the wall until he stood in the doorway with Bam, and out of harm’s way.

“Fuck Otep! She's probably fucking dead anyway, so lets just fucking go, man! You don't wanna die down here with the lot of these psychos, do you!?” Connor retaliated, trying to invoke fear in Bert so he’d let his guard down, and be easier to manipulate.

"Nobody wants to die down here, Connor! But Otep is alive, I know it, and I'm going to fucking find her. We're not leaving without her, and that’s final! If you want to leave this place so damn fucking bad then be my guest, but I'm not going anywhere until ALL of my friends are safe, and in my sight.” Bert sternly finished while maintaining a full-on glare match with Connor the whole time. “Now, what’s it going to be, man? You with us, or not?”

Connor let out a curse before snarling down at Bert, baring his teeth like an animal ready to pounce. “Just hurry the fuck up ok?! If that asshole starts threatening to rip my dick off one more time I'm going to tear his fucking head off, and shove his own dick down his fucking throat, you hear me?”

Bert gave him a nod of full understanding, before picking up the black bag and swooping it down over Connor’s head again. “Got it, and again I'm sorry Connor, but I promise I will hurry as fast as I can to get you out of here.” Bert couldn’t help but smile mischievously as he teased him a little bit. “…for the sake of your dick, of course.”

“Shut the fuck up Bert!” Connor barked at him from within the black bag as the others filed out of the room.

“Bye Connor, I promise we'll come back for you soon!” Cris managed to call softly between the closing gap of the door being closed, but only received silence in response. Bert did the job of twisting the key, and locking Connor alone again in his padded room. In all honesty everyone, but Bam felt bad about having to turn their back on their friend in his time of need, but Bert knew that Connor could survive this ordeal, and would be right by their side when it was finally time for them to make their escape. Cris, on the other hand, was scared to death that he would never see his blood brother again, despite their caring one-sided friendship.

To bring the sad blue-eyed boy some comfort, Bert slid one arm around Cris's shoulder and patted his arm a bit. “Hey, don't worry about him, okay? I can say from experience that Connor can definitely handle anything these assholes can throw at him just fine though he will come out pretty pissed over it, and you know him, that’s nothing new. Our heartless idiot went into solitary Confinement a heartless idiot, and will return as the same heartless idiot.” Bert smiled when he saw the corner of Cris's mouth turn up a bit at the end of his speech.

"Hey guys, I found your Otep." Bam spoke up, from where he stood looking through the list of patients Bert had discarded when he tried to take Connor’s bag off. He had been studying the sheet in the last few minutes they were bidding their farewells to Connor.

Bert and Cris's head turned in the direction of Bam before they came running over, Bert demanding first. “Where is she?!"

"How did you find her?" Cris pried as he took up position on Bam’s right and Bert on his left to look over the list themselves.

Bam ran a digit over a white empty slot on the list. The material felt kind of bumpy and particularly rough under the pad of his index finger. “This name was covered in whiteout, and they did a pretty good job at making it look legit.” He then lifted his eyes to glance between the two of them with an arched brow. “You guys know what whiteout is right? It’s that white shit people use to fix mistakes from markers and pens and shit.”

“Yeah yeah, we know what the shit is.” Bert hurriedly replied as he looked at the empty slot, and then back up at Bam. “But how do you know HER name was there and not someone else?”

“I honestly don't.” Bam answered truthfully before giving them a shrug. “But then again where the fuck else can she possibly in this underground prison if not here, right? I mean, from what you guys have told me, if you're not in the dorms upstairs then you gotta be here.”

Cris openly nodded in agreement, seeing that Bam did have a good point. Still, he addressed Bert standing on the other side of him. “Bam has to be right, Bert. If she’s not here then she has to be…gone for good.”

Bert nodded too, his eyes lingering on the list before flicking up to look at Bam. “Good job, man. What room number is it on?”

Bam nearly smiled, a sense of confidence now taking over him as he answered him. “Um, it’s room #405.”

With a nod to the others, Bert quickly jogged down the hallway to room 405. Looking through the keys on the key ring he still carried, Bert eventually found the right one and eagerly shoved open the metal door to reveal… nothing. The room was completely empty of any human life. Inside was a bed that had been turned over, and other than the usual brown stains everything that was it. Nothing but stains of the past, and present of sane and insane victims that were once held in this room. Otep having probably been one of them, but now...was no more. “No…” Bert shook his head in denial as he slowly stepped into the room and rotate around, studying his surroundings closely. He was searching for a sign, something, anything! “No, this isn't right. She should be here! She should be here.”

Cris bit his lip to hold back on the emotional lump in his throat at the sight of the empty room. When he felt like he had more of a handle on himself, he attempted to speak up to and say what…well, neither of them wanted to say. “B-Bert…maybe she’s dea-”

“NO! No Cris she's alive, and you and I damn well know it!” Bert reacted quite heatedly, striding over to point a finger in Cris's face and making him step back with a quick nod. Turning back around, Bert ignored the two guys watching him to search the room himself. He lifted the mattress, and torn the only pillow apart before dropping them to the floor in defeat, running his hand through his dark greasy hair. Bam and Cris waited and watch their leader froze in place before reaching out to run his fingers over the padded walls.

Confused, Bam leaned over to whisper to Cris. “Okay…what the fuck is he doing?”