Just Keep Running

Chapter 6 The assault on both sides

TW: Violence 

When I woke up I was in some kind of a house I think or a makeshift house I'm not sure but I didn't have much time to think about it, "Well look who's finally awake." said John looking down at me since I was on the floor. John crouched down to my level, "What did you do!?" I asked trying to sound threatening but it didn't really work, "Well after we beat the shit out of Luke he got knocked out for obvious reasons and then I hit you in the back of the head a few times so you would get knocked out too." John said casually. "Where's Luke?" I ask scared. "You don't have to worry about Luke anymore, so don't ask!" John says getting up back to his feet while walking into the next room, "Oh and don't even try to think of running away because with that leg and the 5 people that are watching you, you're not gonna make it very far" John stated coming back into the room I was in. "Here, don't drink it all at once because that's all you're getting." John stated handing me a bottle of water and I set it down at my side. Then Chris walks in and looks down at me, "Oh good you're awake." Chris states then trunks to John and whispers "Can we take her to her room now that she's awake?" Chris asks John "Yeah but just don't let her get away." John states walking back out of the room. "Come on get up." Chris says grabbing my arm harshly and pulling me up so that I'm standing then he leads me to a door that seemed to be locked. As he tried to unlock the door his grip on my arm loosened and I tried to free myself by jerking my arm away hard, but as soon as I did that he opened the door and grasped my arm even harder. "You're not going anywhere." Chris says as he pushes me forward into the room. "This is your new home kid." Chris says and leaves the room. Leaving me alone in this cold room. The room was in the shape of a square, the walls were concrete, there was a table in the middle of the room with some games like cards, connect four, and Jax. In the far corner of the room there was a small torn mattress on the floor. About 2 hours later I decided to try to take a nap to try to pass the time faster because just sitting here in this room staring at the walls isn't working.

Luke wakes up in the park with people surrounding him just staring down at him. "He's awake!" one of the bystanders says as Luke sits up and tries to get back up on his feet, "Are you okay!" asks one too many people. Luke finally comes to his senses and stands up groaning in pain, "Where's Maddie!?" Luke asks not fully recalling what happened yet "Who?" says another bystander Luke then hears sirens and sees an ambulance. One of the bystanders called the police and they sent an ambulance Luke hopes that they didn't send Maddie's mother. Luke sighs as the EMTS rush to his side "sir what happened" asked one "We need to bring him to the hospital!" says another, "I'M FINE!" Luke yells at the people surrounding him "Sir you need serious medical attention!" states an EMT "Like I said I'm fine. Where's Maddie?" Luke asks again, more calm now "Sir who are you talking about?" asks the EMT "Maddie!, the little girl that was here, where is she!" Luke exclaims getting angry. "Sir there was no girl with you when everyone found you." the EMT replies "Shit!, no, no, no, no, no!" Luke says, running his hands through his hair. "Sir we could help you if you just tell us what happened." the EMT states "No! I don't want your help!" Luke exclaimed as he walked away from everyone. Luke knows that if we got help from the EMTS that they would get the police and then arrest him and Maddie would never be found.

I Managed to get some sleep but I woke up to the sound of people shouting then a man that I only saw once before opened the door to the room I was in, it was James, I slowly backed up on the mattress until I hit the wall as James approached me. "Come on, I'm not gonna hurt you yet." I got scared as I pulled my knees up to my chest so I was farther away from him than before. "I will hurt you if you don't cooperate." James stated as he crouched down so he was now almost eye level with me, "What do you want with me?" I asked, my voice shaking remembering how he beat me up the most when I was on my way back from school the other day. "Your the bait so we can get Luke to come here and try to get you then we kill him and you, we were just gonna kill Luke but then you showed up and we decided we were gonna kill you before we kill Luke so he can watch you die, then we were going to leave him with the thought that you dying was his fault and then he would die with the guilt that you died because of him." John tells me I just stare at him with a scared and shocked expression on my face. "Oh don't be so surprised he had it coming." James tells me. I sat there contemplating what he said, "No, Luke is a good person now, I don't care what he used to do, he's not that person anymore he changed!" I said back trying to sound confident but it didn't really work seeing as I was shaking and I had tears in my eyes. "Oh sweetheart, you have no idea what he did. Now get up." James tells me as he grabs my arm harshly I'm sure I have bruises on my arm by now. I stand up and he leads me to the door. We walk out of the room to what looks like a backyard. I wonder where we are, maybe we're in the middle of nowhere. I have no idea, James leads me towards John. I notice that Chris, Charlie and Adam aren't here. "Well hello Maddie." says John as he grabs me from James and James steps back. "What's going on?" I ask as John pulls his phone out of his pocket. "We're gonna send a little message to Luke." John tells me I get scared and gasp, John notices. "Oh don't worry it won't be long." John tells me which only made me feel worse. John's phone starts ringing, John pulls me closer to him so I would be heard on the phone. I try fighting against John by elbowing him in the stomach. "You're not going anywhere so don't even try." right after John says that someone answers the phone and he covers my mouth with his other hand. "Hello Luke." John says into the phone "Where's Maddie!?" Luke says immediately. "Oh, she's right here." says John as he uncovers my mouth "LUKE!" I yell into the phone "MADDIE! Where are you!? Are you okay!?" What did they do to you!?" Luke asks, happy to hear I was still alive, "I don't kn-." I start to say but then John puts his hand back over my mouth so I can't say anything. "That's enough out of you Maddie, now Luke we gave you confirmation that she's still alive now you come here and work with us for a bit then we will give you Maddie back how about that?" John asks Luke over the phone, "Okay I'll come where are you?" Luke says sincerely, "We want $10,000 dollars as well." John adds to the deal. "John, where the hell am i gonna get $10,000 dollars!?" Luke exclaims "Well you'll just have to figure it out then won't you?" John says back as James comes over and puts tape on my mouth so John doesn't have to keep his hand on my mouth, then John hands me over to James and James brings to the side of the building that I'm not guessing is probably an abandoned house and he pins me against the wall so I can't move. "You're gonna have to find a way to get that money sooner than later Luke, for Maddie's sake." John says into the phone "Put her back on the phone I wanna hear that she's okay." James looks at John as he overheard what Luke said and John just nods his head and walks towards me with the phone in his hand. "Alright Luke you wanna hear her here ya go." Says John as he aggressively rips the tape off my mouth, "Maddie!?" Luke asked worriedly, "Luke!" I say "Maddie are you okay?" Luke asks me softening his tone slightly "I'm Okay for now, I am at a aband-." I start to say but then James puts the tape back over my mouth so I can't say anything more. "There you heard her again now go figure out how to get the money and when you do you call me." I could tell Luke was about to say something but John hangs up before he could, John starts walking towards me, "You really don't know when to keep your mouth shut do you Maddie?" John asks in a threatening tone. "OH, Luke's gonna love this." John said as he walked towards a tree stump and started recording a video he looked into the camera, "This is what happens when you don't have what we want and when little Maddie doesn't know when to keep her mouth shut." John says as he started walking towards me the he kicked me in the stomach hard I doubled over in pain but not for long because James held me up so I couldn't do anything to ease the pain I just had to deal with it John then brought his knee to my face and kept kneeing me repeatedly then lifted my head up so the camera could see the blood all over my face. Then the video stopped and John took the video and sent it to Luke. James walked me to my room and threw me in and locked the door. I instantly fell to the ground groaning in pain holding my stomach. I watch as the blood from my face stains the hard concrete floor.

Luke gets mad that John hung up on him but he needed to get that $10,000 dollars to them before they hurt Maddie. Luke goes to walk out of his wretched apartment when he is greeted by a kick to the face by Chris then Adam and Charlie walk in behind him and they all start beating on Luke. Adam holds up Luke from behind when Chris starts kicking and punching Luke over and over again till Luke is a bloody mess, Adam then lets go of Luke making him drop to the ground groaning in pain as they all continue to beat on him then when Luke stopped moving they left. Luke was playing dead so they would leave then he sighed heavily as he heard his phone go off he reached for it on the floor and saw that John sent him a video he hesitantly clicked on the video and saw what John did to Maddie made his angry but also guilty because he thought that this is his fault and he need to make it right.

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