The Criminal Diaries

      Anna, Raquelle, and Natalia do not have to stay alone and suffer from suspense and a bad presentiment that possesses them more and more. Some time later, after the talk with Letitia, Anthony, and Adriana, Christopher Morgan and Kevin Spencer suddenly paid a visit to Daniel’s home. They are Edward’s friends, who got along with all the men from his gang. Passing by here, they thought they would persuade someone to join their hangout. But they were horrified when the girls told them everything about the story of Marcus and Peter, whom Terrence, Daniel, and Edward went to save, and saw how quiet and depressed the dog Sammy looked. The dog that, however, accepted a little caress from them.       “Oh, wow!” Christopher pronounces surprisingly, sitting comfortably on the sofa next to Kevin and the girls. “What a story!”       “And haven’t the guys told you anything yet?” Kevin specifies. “Haven’t you gotten any news from them?”       “Not yet,” Anna throws her hands up. “It’s been like two hours, but we still know nothing about them.”       “The guys’ phones are turned on, but nobody answers,” Natalia adds. “We tried to call them, but no result. Most likely, they don’t hear or left them in the car.”       “And does the captain of the police, whom you talked with, say nothing to you?”       “Sadly,” Raquelle shakes her head. “Though he recently sent me a message about the operative group being on the way.”       “But it’s gonna take like one or one and a half hours to go to that house,” Natalia notices. “Plus, they need to orient themselves somehow. And it’s gonna take some time, too.”       “In short, we will find out something in two or three hours in the best case,” Anna concludes.       “Oh, it’s okay that guy helped you find Peter!” Christopher exhales with relief. “Otherwise, that asshole would’ve done with him easily, so that you knew nothing.”       “We didn’t know Pete would really love to go there alone,” Raquelle confesses. “Yes, we understand he wanted to make it better. He didn’t wanna put the guys in danger. But it wouldn’t have made things better. Marcus has many accomplices, and Rose won’t deal with all of them.”       “Damn, what does Marcus need from Peter?” Kevin wonders. “Did that bastard come back to the old ways and decide to kill people for nothing again?”       “Aha, does it mean the second wave of mass murders will start soon?” Christopher gets suspicious.       “There’s a possibility that Peter is related to Marcus,” Natalia confesses. “They may probably be a family.”       “Family?” Kevin and Christopher ask surprisingly. “Marcus and Peter?”       “They have some resemblance, didn’t you notice it? At least, Marcus looked really similar to Peter at a young age.”       “Do ya wanna say Marcus may be a father of Peter that he has known nothing about?” Kevin asks with mistrust.       “Everything is possible, guys,” Raquelle shrugs. “We can’t confirm anything, but the theory is not a delirium.”       “But even if it’s so, why would Marcus kill Peter?” Christopher wonders. “What did that guy do to him? How did he hurt him?”       “We don’t know, Chris,” Anna shakes her head. “Peter can’t answer this question. But it’s clear that Marcus knows much more about him than the blond himself.”       “Yeah, moreover, we found out that Peter remembers nothing about his childhood,” Natalia adds. “I mean, he made himself forget it. Something happened, and it was hard for him to take it.”       “Do you think it has to do with Marcus?” Kevin specifies.       “At least, he should know it since he talks about it so confidently and quietly.”       “There must be an explanation for his words about the world trying to get rid of Peter,” Raquelle adds.       “Hardly, girls!” Christopher exclaims. “I don’t think it means anything. That man can say that for nothing.”       “We’re gonna say more: there’s a possibility that Peter was tried to be killed before,” Anna says confidently. “At least, when he was in the hospital after his suicide attempt. When he got much worse after the second blood transfusion.”       “But we know a certain doctor just violated the rules of safety!”       “They could do it on purpose, by the order of Marcus himself. He probably knew about it well ‘cause everyone talked about Peter’s case. And he could have a familiar, whom he asked to do something. Maybe, even for money.”       “Oh, I dunno…” Christopher exhales slowly. “Of course, it sounds true, but I’m not sure.”       “There’s even a suspicion that Peter could be silent about other attacks,” Raquelle states. “Moreover, he sometimes had a little confused and scared look.”       “Does that guy have his own demons?” Kevin frowns slightly. “Isn’t he the one he pretends to be?”       “No, Kevin, we’re sure Peter is innocent,” Natalia says determinedly. “He is too decent and good to harm someone.”       “But Marcus got mad at him because of something!” Christopher throws his hands up.       “No matter what the reason is, we’re sure that the blond doesn’t have to do with all of this,” Raquelle says confidently.       “Well… I also don’t believe Peter can do a bad trick. He’s a good guy in my opinion. Of course, he’s sometimes a little timid and insecure, but we can hardly call him bad because of this.”       Sammy barks confidently in approval.       “Let me ask you if you had some friends or relatives who died because of Marcus?” Raquelle wonders.       “Oh, yeah, yeah!” Kevin nods energetically. “That asshole is the one to blame for the death of one boy, who lived in the same building as I did. He was a little older than me, but we often played together. But some time before his death, we fought over a stupid thing and didn’t make peace. That’s what I still regret. I’m sorry about not apologizing to him. I started it first, but he was guilty of nothing.”       “And my aunt died because of him,” Christopher confesses. “She walked quietly on the street after work and bothered nobody. But then, as the witness said, someone hit her on the head from behind and took her away in the car. After a short search, her corpse was found outside the city. Several gun wounds in the stomach, arm, and leg, but they weren’t mortal. The cause of death was a bullet in the forehead.”       “Marcus killed some of our familiars,” Natalia sighs heavily. “But some of them managed to run away from him. Just like Helene, for example. She ran into him face-to-face when she was a child, but she saved herself from death magically.”       “Yeah, but he’s trying to get rid of her again,” Anna adds. “And he will get rid of her if the guys don’t stop that deadbeat in time and find Helene.”       “Listen, I just recalled something interesting,” Kevin confesses, clicking his fingers.       “About Peter?” Natalia specifies.       “Yup. I was in my car, standing at the red traffic light. And I saw Peter walking far from me with a packet and a phone in his hands. At some moment, an unknown man with a mask on his face came to him from behind, called him, and said something. Rose snapped back, and the man said something else. Then he took a bottle from his pocket and tried to spit what was inside on the blond’s face.”       “In the face?” Raquelle opens her eyes widely.       “At first, I thought it was just water, but then I noticed the liquid ended up on the asphalt and started to corrode it.”       “Wait, do you wanna say that man tried to spit acid on Peter?” Natalia concludes.       “Most likely.”       “Wow, my gosh!” Christopher pronounces surprisingly.       “Luckily, Peter suspected something and turned his face aside in time,” Kevin says. “But acid ended up on the sleeves of his coat and left holes in it.”       “Are you sure it was really Peter?” Anna asks hesitantly. “Maybe, it just seemed to you?”       “No, Anna, I was sure that was him. Everything happened in a place where there was nobody. In a narrow passage between brick houses.”       “What if it’s true?” Natalia puts her hand on her heart. “What if they really wanted to make Peter ugly?”       “Do you know how long ago it happened?” Raquelle specifies.       “Oh, a long time ago…” Kevin confesses thoughtfully, scratching the back of his head. “I think I didn’t even know all of you and didn’t talk to Edward.”       “And how did you understand it was Peter?”       “I got some suspicions when Edward introduced that guy to me. Besides, at some moment, Rose came close enough to the roadside and went to the bus stop, and I managed to see the birthmark on his neck.”       “Birthmark?” Anna frowns slightly.       “Yup, on the nape of his neck. It reminds me of a map of the city. You don’t know about it?”       “Nope, honestly…” Natalia shakes her head. “I’ve never noticed it.”       “Yeah, we paid more attention to the cuts on his hands,” Raquelle confesses. “I mean, his wrists that he always covered with bracelets. And… As far as I remember, he didn’t have any suspicious burns, cuts, or something like that.”       “So, the birthmark was the reason why I recognized him when Peter turned his back on me,” Kevin says confidently.       “You’ve been silent all this time?” Christopher opens his eyes widely.       “At first, I wasn’t sure and thought I was wrong. But the more time I spent with Rose, the more I was sure about it.”       “Indeed, Kevin, why the hell didn't you tell us anything?” Raquelle wonders. “Why didn’t you tell us that Peter was tried to be spit with acid?”       “Sorry, girls…” Kevin inclines his head slightly. “I’m really very sorry…”       “So, if you say it happened before you met us, it means our guesses are correct,” Anna concludes. “It all started a long time ago, but we didn’t even guess it.”       “And Peter told us nothing,” Natalia adds. “The men, you, and I knew nothing about that.”       “Yeah, it seems like the case is more serious than it seems,” Christopher assumes thoughtfully, stroking his chin. “And they started a hunt on Peter.”       “Damn, if we’d known it all before, we would’ve had a chance to solve the problem,” Anna exhales sharply, putting her hand on her forehead.       “I wouldn’t be surprised if Peter met Marcus and learned about his plans much earlier than the day he was tried to be kidnapped,” Natalia says confidently. “But he lied to us.”       “And that case with acid was one hundred percent not the only one!” Raquelle exclaims.       “Hey, guys, could you try to remember something else?” Anna asks. “What if you knew or saw something?”       “Nope, I can’t remember anything like this,” Kevin throws his hands up. “Though I’m surprised that I memorized that case, ‘cause everything happened instantly, and the traffic light turned green quickly.”       “Oh, I remembered that I met him one day after meeting all of you!” Christopher confesses.       “He was tried to be killed again?” Natalia specifies.       “Can’t say, but I walked by and saw a certain man swearing at him and threatening to let go of his doberman that he kept on the leash.”       “Doberman?” Raquelle opens her eyes widely.       “Really aggressive. And big. It hissed and barked at Peter so hard that he squeezed in fear and didn’t literally breathe. If that bastard hadn’t held him by the leash, the dog would’ve attacked him and torn something else, except the sleeves of his coat or pants.”       “My gosh…” Anna shakes her head with horror in her eyes and swallows nervously as she remembers the dog that attacked her in her childhood.       “I couldn’t go by and decided to help the guy. I had an umbrella with me and started to fight off the dog with it. I was scared when that asshole let go of the leash, but I didn’t show it and kept fighting. Getting all the attention on myself, I told Peter to get out immediately. Rose didn’t hear me at once, but then he ran away faster than a hurricane.”       “And did you get away from that doberman?” Anna asks.       “Yeah, I was really lucky. I was fighting off with the umbrella, shouting at the top of my lungs, and climbed up to the roof of the box, where the dog couldn’t get me. In short, it barked a little, hissed, and lost interest. I mean, the owner told it to stop and took it away rudely. He understood that he’d get problems and got out of harm’s way.”       Sammy barks quietly at this moment.       “And Peter?” Natalia asks surprisingly. “Where did he go?”       “Ran not far from that place. I caught him and asked if he was alright. He said he was fine. Though Peter looked scared to death and pale.”       “I wonder if it has to do with what’s happening?” Raquelle frowns slightly. “Or wasn’t he just lucky to end up at the wrong place, at the wrong time?”       “Who knows, Raquelle,” Christopher shrugs. “But the neighborhood was actually popular and not dangerous. People walked there. Everyone saw what was happening. It’s amazing that nobody came and kicked that man and his dog out.”       “My gosh, what did Peter do?” Anna wonders. “Why does he have to take it all? He lived quietly and bothered nobody, but now these things are happening.”       “We thought we knew everything about him…” Natalia sighs heavily. “Actually, we knew nothing about Peter and still have to try to examine his soul and learn all his secrets.”       “Yeah, Edward no longer seems a dark horse against him,” Kevin says thoughtfully. “Though I used to think he was strange and secretive.”       “That’s right!” Christopher agrees. “Of course, MacClife did a lot of bad things somehow and even pretended to be someone else. But I think we know everything about him now and are sure he’s not so strange.”       “I think when we know all the truth about Peter and help him remember everything he decided to forget, that man will become normal little by little,” Raquelle expresses hope.       “Oh, but when will we find it out?” Anna leans back on the sofa.       “Anyway, you can always count on us,” Kevin says confidently. “We will do our best and are ready to help you with everything.”       “Thank you so much, guys,” Natalia smiles sadly. “We’re so happy to have someone by our side in this situation.”       “Yeah, that’s cool you decided to come here,” Anna adds. “Otherwise, we would’ve gone crazy, waiting for the news all alone.”       “We just passed by for the business and decided to come,” Christopher shrugs. “We thought we’d meet Daniel and the others.”       “Aha, but as we know, they went to play heroes, not wishing to leave this thing to the police,” Kevin adds.       “I bet that Edward was the one to come up with this idea.”       “Not guessed,” Raquelle protested. “Though we don’t deny that Edward was really happy with this chance.”       “Daniel decided to play a hero this time,” Natalia confesses. “He talked about it first, but the MacClife bros supported him.”       “Well, Perkins and Rose are thick as thieves!” Christopher laughs. “They have their own atmosphere, while the MacClifes enjoy theirs.”       “Yeah, they’re fighting the dangerous criminals, but we have to sit here like on the needles and pray that nobody kills them before the police come,” Anna crosses her arms over her chest.       “At least, they’re doing this for a good thing – to protect Peter and save Helene,” Kevin notices. “And actually, we should pay tribute to the guys ‘cause they act determinedly in these situations and would turn anyone to dust for their close people.”       “I’m personally as scared as never ever,” Raquelle confesses in a little shaking voice. “They’re having a deal with the extremely dangerous criminal who deserves to be executed for all his bad tricks. And you know how wild and horrible all his crimes were.”       “We know, but let’s believe the guys will get through this,” Christopher expresses hope. “Hold on until the police come.”       Sammy barks quietly multiple times and accepts some attention from Kevin and Christopher, who caress the dog’s back or scratch him by the ears. Natalia and Anna sitting on both hands of Raquelle look at each other and their friend and puts their heads on her shoulders, while she presses both of them to herself and caresses their heads softly, not being able to get rid of the bad presentiment that is the reason why every beat of the heart echoes in the chest and makes them feel a strong discomfort.       

***

      The view of Edward, Daniel, and Terrence lying unconscious on the floor makes Peter feel that he is squeezed from a strong tension, the burning frost runs over his back, and he lacks air. He would not have thought he would get such a bad surprise, which he tried to prevent so hard by saying nothing to his friends on purpose.       “Holy shit…” Peter pronounces in a little shaking voice. “Guys!”       While Marcus keeps standing in the same place with his arms crossed over his chest and sneers evilly, Peter rushes to his friends, falls to his knees, and tries to reach out to Daniel by shaking him by the shoulder.       “Daniel!” Peter claps Daniel slightly on his cheeks. “Daniel, can you hear me? C’mon, brother, c’mon!”       Now Peter creeps to Edward lying near and tries to wake him up in the same way.       “Edward! Edward, answer me! Edward!” Peter claps Terrence on the cheeks already. “Terrence! Terrence! Guys, please, say just something!”       After taking another unsuccessful attempt to wake up someone, Peter breathing heavily moves his bloodshot eyes sharply to the sneering Marcus.       “What did you do to them?” Peter demands the answer loudly and irritably and opens his eyes widely. “WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY FRIENDS? ANSWER NOW!”       “I did nothing,” Marcus shrugs. “But my guys just helped them go to sleep for a while so they could carry their bodies here quietly.”       “Bastard…” Peter hisses through his teeth and clenches his nails into his hands painfully. “FUCKING BASTARD! FUCKING ASSHOLE!”       Peter gets up sharply on his feet, runs to Marcus, grabs him by the collar, and shakes him strongly.       “DID YOU DECIDE TO DRIVE ME FUCKING CRAZY, HUH? YEAH? MOCKING MY GIRLFRIEND WAS NOT ENOUGH FOR YOU! YOU WANT TO KILL MY FRIENDS, TOO?”       “Don’t pretend to be an idiot, Theodore,” Marcus replies quietly and pushes Peter sharply off himself, while he is super tense. “You knew well what would happen if you brought your friends here.”       “I DID NOT BRING THEM HERE! THEY KNEW NOTHING ABOUT MY TRIP TO THIS PLACE!”       “When did you the fuck catch them? WHEN DID YOU KNOCK OUT AND DRIVE THEM HERE?”       “My people told me these three bastards walked near my house and started to fight, bite, and snap when they were caught in a crime.”       “If something happens to one of these guys, I swear I shall crush your head,” Peter threatens in a rude, low voice. “I SHALL BREAK YOUR NECK! KILL YOU! BURY YOU IN THE GROUND ALIVE!”       “Something will surely happen to them. They will die. As well as your precious Helene.” Marcus sneers evilly. “Their gals are about to grief so hard… It’s going to take a lot of time…”       “I said everything, honorable. You did the fuck get me super mad by what you did to Helene, but I shall start to destroy everything in my way if you or your bastards touch the guys with just one finger.”       “Yeah, wouldn’t your pants get wet?” Marcus wonders falsely. “Wouldn’t you turn out to be cowardly? You are nothing without your friends! You can only pretend to be sassy when they are next to you. Though you still remain a pathetic coward in this case.”       “Do not wake up an animal inside me, old bastard,” Peter growls irritably, clenching his hands into fists. “OTHERWISE, YOU WILL HAVE TO REGRET IT! YOU AND THESE BASTARDS!”       “All your threats sound like the cry of a child to me. A little, unprotected, and weak child.”       “You will know how weak I am. You will the fuck see what I can do if,” Peter points sharply at his friends lying unconscious. “something happens to them.”       “Relax, Theo, you will not help them.”       “I AM NOT THEO!”       “Maybe, you will only have time to say a couple of words to them and say goodbye. And then my guys will deal with them with great pleasure. And I shall shoot you on your forehead in the end.”       “We will see it, bastard!”       “Relax, boy, these assholes will wake up now. Well, before it happens, I shall leave you for two minutes. To talk to my guys quickly and give them some orders so nobody else stops us from getting rid of you.”       Marcus turns around and wants to come to the stairs that leads to the up.       “They will not stay here anymore!” Peter shouts. “I will not let it happen and will do my best for the guys to get out of here!”       “Nobody will leave my house alive,” Marcus assumes. “As the corpse only. That nobody will ever find.”       Laughing evilly, Marcus goes upstairs and goes to the living room with his head proudly raised. Peter moves off sharply and tries to follow him, but stops in the middle of the way and just watches him with a heavy breath and eyes full of hate. Not thinking a lot, he rushes to his friends and tries to wake them up again.       “Guys…” Peter pronounces excitedly. “Guys, c’mon? C’mon! Wake up! C’mon!”       Peter looks at his friends with widely open eyes full of horror.       “Fuck, you are fucking kidding me!” Peter laughs nervously. “It would be okay if one of you was out, but there are fucking THREE of you! WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO TO YOU?”       Peter grabs his hair for two seconds.       “C’mon, guys, c’mon!” Peter jabs excitedly, clapping Terrence and Daniel on the cheeks. “Fuck, why are you all out? Do I have to wake you up all by myself?”       After Peter shakes Edward by the shoulder and claps him on the cheeks, he stops his eyes on two red, fresh spots on the curve of the neck of his friend.       “Hm, Edward’s been hit with an electric gun…” Peter finds the same spots on Daniel’s neck after he looks at him quickly. “Daniel, too…”       Peter looks at Terrence but does not see any similar spots on his neck.       “Terrence’s got nothing… It’s strange…”       And while Peter tries to understand how the criminals neutralized Terrence, it seems that Edward starts to wake up first. The guy winces slightly with a quiet, painful moan and starts moving his whole body carefully: he moves his fingers and feet first, but then he turns his head aside. Then he opens his eyes slowly with the heaviness in his head and looks around with a confused look, completely understanding that he is now nobody knows where and does not know how he ended up here, despite his unclear vision, slight dizziness, and little weakness.       “Peter?!” Edward pronounces faintly in a little hoarse voice and tries to raise himself slowly on his elbows.       “Edward, fuck!” Peter exhales sharply with relief, creeps to Edward sharply, and helps him sit up, holding him carefully. “Finally, someone has woken up!”       “Fuck, I’m so happy to see you alive! To know these bastards haven’t killed you yet.”       “I’m happy to know you are alive!” Peter glances at Daniel and Terrence. “I hope nothing serious happened to them.”       “What?” Edward opens his eyes widely when he also glances at Daniel and Terrence, who are still unconscious. “Shiver me… They’ve been knocked out, too?”       “I think so… They gave me a fucking mission! To wake up three men!”       “Hey, guys! Guys! Can you hear me?”       Edward claps Terrence on the shoulder first and then does it to Daniel.       “Terrence?! Daniel?! Answer, someone! Guys, wake the fuckup now! Hey, hello, fucking pensioners! Get your fucking asses up!”       “It ain’t works, I’ve tried several times,” Peter exhales sharply. “They’re out now.”       “Fuck!” Edward swears.       “Hey, quiet, quiet, buddy, calm down, don’t be so fast,” Peter advises, pulling Edward down when the guy wants to get up, despite the weakness. “You just woke up, but you wanna get up already.”       “No time to think of a bad condition! We’ve got a very important business.”       “Don’t worry, I will get through this. But you and the guys must get out of here now.”       “Are you fucking kidding us?” Edward opens her eyes widely.       “No, I am absolutely serious! I won’t let Marcus and those bastards do something to you!”       “Oh, no, Rose! Don’t even hope we will leave! Even if we do, we will leave with you.”       “I must solve it all by myself. It has to do with me and that old bastard.”       “We will help you with it,” Edward assures, putting his hand on Peter’s shoulder.       “No, Edward, I mind it!”       “Nobody asked you about it.”       Meanwhile, Terrence winces strongly and moans painfully, but then he moves every part of his body slowly, putting his hand on his forehead with a sense of a strong headache. Opening his eyes, he looks around everything he sees with an unclear vision and starts to hold his head with both hands as he feels dryness in his mouth.       “Oh, my head…” Terrence moans painfully, bending his legs at his knees.       “Oh, the second one is with us again!” Peter exclaims, moving his eyes to Terrence.       “Bro, thank God!” Edward exhales sharply.       “What happened to us?” Terrence wonders and, groaning quietly, sits up slowly with the help of Edward and Peter. “Oh… My head is gonna explode from pain.”       “The last thing I remember is the way they release an electric wave through me.” Edward massages his neck a little. “My heart was beating like crazy…”       “And I think I was hit on the head from behind.” Terrence massages his temples energetically, bending his legs at his knees and putting his head between them. “After this, it’s a blackout…”       “Marcus’ pals did it, as I understand,” Peter assumes. “One of them ran to him fucking happily. My eyes did literally hurt from his radiant smile!”       “They couldn’t try so hard…” Terrence chuckles quietly and runs his hand over his hair. “We wouldn’t have left without our friends anyway.”       “Alright, guys, stand up and get out of here now before those bastards grill you on a spit.”       “You know, Rose, I thought you were smarter. But you are an idiot. The idiot, who the fuck decided that he would deal with that fucking gang all by yourself.”       “Don’t read me lectures,” Peter throws gloomily. “You will not stay here for a second.”       “Hey, pretty boy, I am the oldest one here. And I decide who leaves, but who stays. So, I advise you to shut up and do what you are told.”       “I give a fuck about who’s the oldest! I said you must get out of here, it means it will happen.”       “No!” Edward and Terrence pronounce determinedly.       “We will not leave you alone!” Terrence exclaims. “And we’re ready to kick the ass of that old bastard and his whole gang.”       “I said everything, guys,” Peter replies confidently. “Terrence, take Edward and Daniel out and get out of here now. Don’t meddle in this case! I will end it all by myself!”       “One against that whole gang? It’s a dead point!”       “I have no choice!”       “Exactly, you have no! Because we will leave with you and Helene. The girls are counting on us.”       “MacClife!”       “Shut up!” Terrence snaps.       “Hey, guys, why hasn’t Dan woken up yet?” Edward frowns slightly, looking at Daniel lying motionless on the side.       “Indeed, why hasn’t he? Is he okay? Is that guy actually alive there?”       “Alive,” Peter calms down. “He’s breathing, he’s got a pulse. I checked it. He was hit with an electric gun, judging by the spots on his neck.”       “Hey, Perkins…” Terrence creeps to Daniel, shakes him by the shoulder, and claps him on the cheek. “Perkins, c’mon, stop! Wake the fuck up! Hey, tough guy?”       “Don’t dare to leave us!” Edward exclaims and claps Daniel on the shoulder. “Or we will personally get you out of the afterlife! Know it!”       “Fuck, he’s been unconscious for too long…” Peter expresses anxiety. “What did those bastards do to him? How hard did they hit him with the electric gun?”       “He was awake when they hit me on the head,” Terrence confesses. “Who the fuck knows what happened next and how long Dan managed to hold on.”       “I don’t think he did for too long,” Edward pronounces thoughtfully.       “Hey, guys, look!” Peter exclaims. “It seems that he’s waking up!”       Edward, Peter, and Terrence move their anxious glances to Daniel, who starts waking up last. He moans quietly, winces, makes a deep sigh, and starts moving his whole body little by little. After opening his eyes barely with a sense of the heaviness in his head and dryness in his mouth, he, even with his unclear vision, can see his friends looking really worried.       “Guys?” Daniel pronounces with mistrust in a little hoarse voice.       “Fuck, Perkins, finally!” Peter puts his hand on his forehead, exhaling sharply.       “Why the fuck do you scare us, idiot?” Edward jabs.       “Uh-huh, we’re awake already, but you don’t wake up!” Terrence exclaims.       “Are you okay?” Daniel expresses anxiety. “Are you alright?”       “Yup, we are. Not saying about my head that’s gonna explode from pain now.”       “Aha, I’m afraid to imagine what would happen if those bastards hit me with 220 volts,” Edward massages his neck.       “Yeah, that asshole hit me fucking hard…” Daniel moans painfully, rubbing his forehead with his hand. “I think they could charge a cell phone from me.”       When Daniel raises himself slowly on his elbows, Terrence and Edward help him, and Peter takes him in a strong, amicable hug for two seconds with an exhalation full of relief, and the brunet answers it, however.       “People are right that a crowd is stronger than someone who fights alone. I didn’t hold on for two minutes after you two were knocked out. One twisted my arms, another hit my balls, and a third one hit me with an electric gun.”       “We got it,” Edward nods.       “Listen, where are we now?” Daniel looks at everything he sees around with a confused look. “Where did these assholes carry us?”       “The basement at Marcus’ home,” Peter replies quietly. “One of those bastards said you were caught, and he started to pull me here. Like, I've got a surprise for you, Peter.”       “Wow… It’s been so long, but you’ve got no scar. We thought those assholes hit you fucking hard here.”       “Nope, that old man made a full confession. Told me why he started it all.”       “And why?”       “Long story. The story I still can barely believe.”       “Okay, we’ll talk later.” Daniel claps Peter on the shoulder. “We’ve gotta get out of here first.”       “You’ve gotta. Gotta get out.”       “Oh, no! We won’t even move off without Helene and you!”       “I have very many interesting questions for you. But the one I care about more is what did you the fuck forget here? Why did you the fuck come here?”       “Came to save you!” Daniel throws, rubbing his temples. “The brainless idiot, who seriously thought everything would be super easy and quick.”       “And how did you know I was here?” Peter wonders. “How? I didn’t tell you anything about it!”       “It doesn’t matter,” Edward pronounces quietly. “The most important thing is that we actually found it out.”       “Aha, otherwise, you, idiot, would’ve been dead!” Terrence exclaims. “How you would say it in German… Ah! It got outta my head!”       “No, you are idiots!” Peter throws gloomily. “You are going to dies das Ende! Sie werden dich dafür hängen!”       “We didn’t the fuck understand what you said, but take a note that you will not get away from us,” Daniel says determinedly. “No matter if you want it or not, but we will stay, deal with all these jackals together, find Helene, and get out of here to the fuck.”       “I told you the fuck nothing on purpose! I didn’t wanna put your lives in danger! Do ya think that bastard is bluffing and playing with us? Not the fuck at all! He is as serious as never ever!”       “Ha, do ya think it should scare us?” Edward asks surprisingly, rounding his eyes. “Should make us pee our pants in fear?”       “We’ve guessed that you didn’t let go of your phone yesterday for the reason,” Terrence adds. “You hid your chat with Marcus, who made you come here.”       “Please, guys, get out of here, while you have a chance,” Peter says quietly. “You shouldn't have come here. It’s my problem, and I must solve it all by myself.”       “Yeah, you will solve it and end up in the fucking grave!” Daniel breaks into a cry. “Or just in the ground, without any signs!”       “I get it, but… I can’t risk it like this. Risk your lives. I… If something happens to you… I will not forgive myself. Never.”       “Of course, it’s noble and wonderful, but you must think just a little and control your strength,” Terrence replies confidently. “Remember that you can’t fight that gang all alone.”       “It would be okay if Marcus were alone!” Edward exclaims. “That’s an old and powerless freak that can only work his tongue. But he’s got a whole fucking army of ass-lickers!”       “And we’ll try so hard to get a victory over them all together!” Daniel notices.       “In short, man, come to yourself and get your asses now,” Peter says determinedly. “I will try to let you out of here. And then you will get into the car and get out of here as fast as possible.”       “We will get up, yeah,” Terrene nods. “To bend all these jackasses over. No matter how hard our heads tear from pain. And how weak we are.”       “Damn, what stubborn donkeys you are!” Peter growls quietly, putting his hands on his forehead. “I tell you, tell you, but you insist on what you want.”       “You’ll say, ‘thank you’ to us!” Edward says, clapping Peter on the shoulder, gets up on his feet slowly, and runs his hands through his hair. “Be sure!”       “Why?” Peter gets up quickly, as well. “For not being able to hold you by the pants when you wanna jump off the roof with your head down?”       “Dude, nobody can hold us,” Daniel notices with his head proudly raised. “Even us. Because we’re rebels that do what they want and what they think is right.”       “Alright, babies, stop working your tongues!” Terrence exclaims and wants to get up by himself, but he does it with the help of Edward giving his hand to him. “We’re here for the reason. Not for beating faces. For saving our friends. Not letting that old bastard kill them.”       “I’m gonna say that Helene ain’t here,” Peter replies quietly, gives his hand to Daniel, pulls him onto himself to help him stand up, and keeps holding him since the brunet shakes slightly due to the dizziness. “Marcus is hiding her in a different place, but he didn’t say which.”       “It’s okay, if we don’t make them speak, the police will do this,” Edward assures.       “Aha, if they find us!”       “They will!” Daniel exclaims. “The girls know we’re here. They have the correct address of the place where we went. It means they’ll one hundred percent contact Mr. Johnson.”       “If they decide not to waste time, it’s gonna be okay,” Terrence adds, rubbing the back of his head that hurts, while Edward holds him tightly under an arm.       “In short, let’s get out of here to the fuck!”       “What were you supposed to do if these bastards knocked you three for a moment, but you got no scars?” Peter wonders.       “Huh, we didn’t even fight with them enough! We fought a little, and then the helper with a baton and a second electric gun showed up.”       “Yeah, these bastards gave us no pleasure,” Edward throws gloomily, glancing at his hand. “I was expecting more.”       “You'd better finish at a gym class when you're fisting the punching bag,” Terrence advises. “It would be much safer!”       “Shut up, idiot!”       “Alright, let me help you get out,” Peter says confidently. “Marcus didn’t kinda close the door. It means we can get up.”       But when the four come to the stairs that lead up, they see Marcus smiling slyly and Luther making the guys step back with just one appearance.       “Nah-ah, not so fast, cockroaches,” Luther shakes his index finger.       “Oh, shit!” Daniel blunts under his nose.       “You should’ve worked less!” Peter throws gloomily. “And gotten out much earlier!”       “Hey, there’s the other door there!” Edward exclaims, pointing at the closed door on the other side of the half-lighted room. “Maybe, it can lead us outside?”       “Yeah, let’s try to go there!” Terrence agrees.       But again, the four run into a bad surprise. When they come to the door they need and open it, they see Bob and Ronald looking at them closely with their arms crossed over their chest. Though the men notice silently that they can really go outside on the stoned stairs that lead up.       “Where are you going, brave fellows?” Bob surprises falsely.       “Are you leaving already?” Ronald asks. “Without saying goodbye to us?”       “Fucking bastards…” Peter clenches his hands tightly into fists. “I wish you had died…”       When they step away from Ronald and Bob, Terrence, Daniel, Edward, and Peter end up in the middle of the room and see the opponents surround them from all sides, not letting them any chance to leave. At some moment, the guys press themselves to each other with their backs, looking at everyone closely as the villains come to them closely and make them feel like scared bunnies that only have to accept their fate.       “We’re in a trap, guys,” Daniel pronounces tensely. “They’re everywhere… They won't let us go.”       “No panic, bros, we will get out of this,” Terrence replies as quietly as possible. “We can’t be defeated so easily.”       “No matter what their plan is, we can get through this,” Edward says determinedly. “Because we are a team. And we’ve got the power of four.”       “Are ya really ready to get into this shit instead of sitting at home and doing something much safer?” Peter asks.       “The whole world can wait when your best friends are in trouble,” Daniel raises his head proudly. “When some bastards think they can scare and break us. And make us run like fucking cowards.”       “Wow…” Marcus smiles slyly, coming closer to the men and looking at the four closely as they are standing in the fine already. “Do I finally face our brave company that hasn’t been letting him bring the case to an end by guarding Peter’s ass all day, all night?”       “It’s not a pleasure to meet you, asshole!”       “M-m-m… Our shabby mice are trying so hard to escape the mousetrap that the bad men got them caught in.”       “It’s vice versa, honorable,” Terrence says confidently. “We aren’t trying to escape. We were coming here. Coming to protect our brother.”       “Come on!” Marcus claps his hands. “Were you coming here to die at your wish?”       “Don’t dream, pathetic old man,” Edward adds. “You will have to work super hard to have the notes about us and photos of us added to your diaries.”       “Ah, guys, guys…”       Marcus starts walking slowly in front of Terrence, Edward, Daniel, and Peter, as they do not stop looking at him closely.       “Why did you not stay at home? Why didn’t you stay there and fuck your gals? You did know how it all would be over! You knew I wouldn’t keep you alive if you kept saving your friend and walking with him everywhere.”       “Of course, we highly appreciated your incredible effort in such a mission as turning Peter against us, but you met a failure,” Daniel says confidently.       “Yes, you turned out to be too stubborn. And you, bastards, ruined all my plans!” Marcus glances at Daniel, Edward, and Terrence with contempt and hate. “So, you, assholes, will pay a lot for this.”       “Right, you screwed it up!” Edward exclaims. “Because you don’t know how strong our friendship is. Don’t know we’d tear apart anyone to dare to hurt our close person.”       “But to be honest, I am not surprised by your appearance,” Marcus confesses. “I was sure you would come here. And this thought made me super mad.”       “I didn’t take them with me!” Peter protests. “And I told them nothing about the meeting.”       “Don’t lie to me, Peter. You are too cowardly to go to the meeting with bad men who wanted to get rid of you all alone.”       “Think what you want, but I do not know how they found me.”       “I will not believe that they knew nothing but left everything and went after you when they got some news.”       “We give a fuck about whether you believe it or not!” Daniel cuts off rudely. “We do not want too much: not harming Peter, setting Helene free immediately, and leaving them alone once and forever.”       “Your claims are categorically impossible,” Marcus smiles innocently. “I cannot mercy them, I cannot let you go.”       “No jokes, Mr. Longbottom,” Terrence pronounces quietly. “We will not leave until we see our friend.”       “Who has been fucked by some bastards like one hundred times!” Edward adds coldly. “They gave such a strong psychological trauma to the girl that she is going to spend months forgetting everything and coming to herself.”       “I guess the boys who are watching her now did not miss a chance to fuck her for the last time,” Bob smiles slyly. “She is really a dolly.”       “Another similar phrase about my girlfriend is going to have me cut your fucking balls and your fucking fingers!” Peter threatens irritably and loudly. “So, you have nothing to get into holes and feel something up with!”       “Relax, boy, my guys took everything they could out of the gal,” Marcus says with his head proudly raised. “And she did not resist. When she was knocked out or drugged by light drugs for her reluctance to listen to our orders.”       “If my girl were instead of Helene, the dicks of all these bastards would be put in boiled water or burned with fire,” Terrence clenches his hands tightly into fists. “Or they would burn themselves in it.”       “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’m aware of your mental health issues and problems with control of your aggression toward people.”       “Ha, I am an innocent angel next to you! I have never killed hundreds of people, many of whom had a whole life lying ahead, just for fun.”       “Angels don’t exist, six-foot-tall column,” Marcus replies quietly. “Everyone’s got their sins. Including all of you. For example, you are a first-class hysterical girl. Your little brother is a guy who almost became a convict. And Peter’s main protector is just a pathetic piece of shit. The piece of shit that, however, almost sent his friend to the afterlife by bullying him hard.”       “Gosh, how it’s boring…” Edward yawns demonstratively, closing his mouth with a hand. “It’s all the same again and again…”       “Don’t worry, puppy. I promise you will not feel bored before your death. You will know a lot, you will do a lot.”       “Thanks, sir, but I’m not interested in the verbal diarrhea that gets out of your dirty mouth in a river.”       “This kid is the most talkative and active one in their gang,” Luther notices, crossing his arms over his chest as he is standing on the doorstep. “The first thing you should start with is cutting his long tongue.”       “I will need my tongue, but having a dick may be super dangerous for you.”       “Don’t worry, boneheads, we will cut your whistles first,” Ronald promises with a sly smile. “Though everything is so bad about it that nothing will change.”       “Sorry, cross-eyed, but I’m too lazy to take my pants down and show you my powerful unit,” Daniel replies with an evil smirk.       “It’s the only thing you can talk about,” Marcus throws his hands up. “Penises. Because you have nothing else to brag about. Your gals have nothing to squeeze, caress, and suck.”       “We have no time to give you a long list of our merits that make many people proud of us,” Terrence puts his hands on his hips. “Because it’s extremely long. And we are on the mission.”       “So, yeah, old bastard, c’mon, tell these bastards to bring Helene here so I can finally get out of here with my friends,” Edward insists. “And never see your winced, wrinkled, and dry face.”       “You will be much uglier in thirty years, don’t worry,” Marcus sneers evilly. “Though… It will not happen! Because you will die young and handsome! You will remain the one forever!”       “Alright, honorable, roll your old tongue in a tube, put it in your mouth, and let my friends get out quietly,” Peter demands determinedly. “I will not let them stay here longer. I will not let you harm them. I will not!”       “You will not play a hero, my boy. You will not save those whom you doomed to death yourself by taking them with you. I think I clearly explained my position to you, but you didn’t hear me. It means the death of three people will be your sin. The one you will die with.”       “While I am alive and can stand, see, breathe, and fight, you and all these assholes will not dare to touch my friends with a finger.”       “Ugh, I feel so sick from all this sweet shit!” Ronald winces strongly, waving his hand in front of his nose as if he feels a disgusting smell. “From attempts of some pathetic freaks to show they can do something.”       “And I feel sick from attempts of nasty bastards to prove that they can scare us with some words and a wish to seem big and threatening bears,” Edward replies.       “Hey, baby, shut your mouth down before one of us hits your head against the wall,” Bob smiles evilly.       “You’ve got a baby hanging between your legs. I’ve got a good vision, but even if I stand here, I can’t see any hints at something you can be proud of.”       “Ar-r-r, fuck!” Luther growls irritably, grabbing his hair. “Why didn’t we the fuck kill you some time ago? We felt so good when you all passed out, and we carried your bodies here quietly.”       “M-m-m, didn’t you break your backs as you carried us?” Terrence smiles sweetly. “It’s much harder than making tornado kicks and working your tongue.”       “We got fucking tired of dealing with you because you are fucking fat and heavy!”       “Am I fat?” Terrence laughs loudly and contemptuously. “Me? Fat? You made me laugh hard, mate! You couldn’t say it better!”       “We will watch you laugh when we make cutlets out of you for several minutes,” Ronald crosses his arms over his chest. “Of course, it’s a shame that they won’t be tasty, but we will get so much pleasure from getting a victory.”       “Ugh, do ya really eat corpses?” Daniel winces strongly. “Are you fucking necrophiles? Though… Knowing your beloved lord is fucking ill, we shouldn't be surprised. Maybe he also ate human flesh after killing people. Maybe that’s why corpses of many people haven’t been found.”       “What kind of shit, pink-belled woodpecker?” Bob smirks evilly. “Did you overheat under the sun?”       “Alright, guys, stop talking!” Marcus exclaims determinedly. “I spent too much time telling Peter why I wanted to bury him in the ground so badly. And I want to waste no more seconds. Moreover, we should also deal with the gal and this brave trio. The members of which really liked me more when they were lying here unconscious.”       “You will not dare to hurt these people!” Peter says rudely. “Over my dead body!”       “Sorry, sonny, but you will have to see the death of those you call your close people. I have told you I want to make you suffer. As much as I did when I was told about Julia’s death.”       “I am not guilty of your wife’s death! I AM NOT! I DID NOT KILL HER!”       “You did, Theodore. You did.”       “Theodore?” Daniel, Terrence, and Edward frown slightly, looking at each other questioningly.       “Who’s Theodore?” Terrence wonders.       “Whatever he says, it’s going to be a lie!” Peter cuts off coldly.       “No, my boy,” Marcus shakes his head. “The fact that you are my own son is not a lie, it’s the clean truth.”       “What?” Edward, Daniel, and Terrence open their eyes widely. “Your own son?”       “Yes, guys! Peter Jackson Rose, born Theodore Wilson Longbottom, was born in my marriage with Julia Whitney Longbottom.”       It takes several seconds for Daniel, Terrence, and Edward to accept what they heard somehow, looking closely at Marcus with widely open eyes, each other, or Peter, who shakes his head as if he says he does not believe it.       “No way…” Daniel pronounces in a little shaking voice. “No way! Peter… Is your son? The son of the criminal?”       “I will not tell you details because my tongue is tired after the story Theo heard,” Marcus says determinedly. “But all you need to know is that I never wanted this child, but it was too late when I decided to save myself from the threat of becoming a father by getting a vasectomy. And it was too late when I found out that the childbirth was mortally dangerous for my Julia, and she knew it well. She suffered from an aneurysm, which was the reason why she wasn’t allowed to give birth. Her vessels were too weak and could burst from such a load as a pregnancy. She eventually gave birth to this bastard and died herself the next day, despite the doctors’ attempts to save her.”       “You are lying!” Edward protests. “Peter cannot be your son! He cannot be the son of the bastard, who terrified the entire country in the 90s!”       “Look at me closely, guys. Don’t you see the resemblance between Peter and me? Almost the same height, the same hair color, eye color, features, habits… And he inherited something from every relative: a propensity for suicide from his grandmother, a little bit of craziness from his uncle, a low self-rating from his mother, and a thirst for blood and violence from me.”       “Ha, we see you’ve got many freaks in your family,” Daniel sneers evilly.       “Exactly! And your dearest friend is one of us. He has had mental issues since childhood, but life turned out to be too unfair to him and made his condition worse. However, Peter would have suffered from depression and killed himself even without all of this, just like my mother did.”       “It’s a lie, LIE!” Peter explodes. “I am not your son! IT’S NOT THE TRUTH! As well as the fact that you tried to sell me like a thing to nobody the fuck knows whom, nobody the fuck knows where!”       “Sell you?” Edward frowns strongly.       “Couldn’t miss a chance to get rid of the hateful child that killed my wild and earn some money,” Marcus smiles innocently. “Though in the end, I got a lot of money because they paid so much for Peter that I still have something.”       “Seriously?” Daniel horrifies. “Do you mean you sold your child? You sold Peter like an item? Are you fucking crazy?”       “I thought I would never see him. I thought they would sell him somewhere abroad and give him into slavery to a rich family. But no, the fuck! One bastard stole him and gave him to the woman that he called his mother all his life! Even though she is nobody to him.”       “What?” Terrence rounds his eyes. “That alcoholic woman is not Peter’s mother?”       “Nope, she is an adopted one. She changed the boy’s name and gave him her surname. And now you know this guy as Peter Rose, not Theodore Longbottom. And yeah, if you’re wondering why she the fuck started to drink, it’s easy: her beloved husband just left her. The husband, who wasn’t happy with his wife, who turned out to be barren, met another woman, and got out when she brought the strange child home. Jeffrey didn’t want to raise a random fucking kid that was nobody to Cornelia and him.”       “Yeah, can’t believe it’s the guy’s fate!” Edward horrifies, shaking his head. “His mother died, his father sold him to someone, someone else stole him… He lived with a random woman, who started to drink… Peers bullied him, adults gave a fuck about his problems… Fuck, even a healthy person would go crazy from this life!”       “No wonder Peter has been harming himself for ages and tried to kill himself,” Daniel agrees. “Because it’s fucking unbearable! I thought my life was shitty, but my best friend had a much worse one.”       “Don’t listen to him, guys, it’s not the truth!” Peter jabs excitedly with a heavy breath. “I don’t believe any of his words.”       “Accept it, Rose-Longbottom, this is the reality you are living in,” Luther adds. “All this time, you have been living the life you were not meant to live.”       “IT’S A FUCKING LIE! LIE!”       “Yes, it’s hard for you to accept it,” Ronald says quietly. “Hard to believe you have been treated like this. But your father did not lie to you.”       “THIS BASTARD IS NOT MY FATHER! NOT MY FATHER! AND THE WOMAN IN THE PHOTOS IN THE LIVING ROOM IS NOT MY MOTHER!”       “You know, I give a fuck about it,” Marcus shrugs. “I told you everything and explained why I wanted to kill you. I am not going to make you believe it. Just like I am not going to love and take care of you.”       “Fuck yourself, old bastard,” Peter hisses through his teeth, running to Marcus sharply and setting his contemptuous look into his eyes. “I wish you were swallowed up by the ground. I wish you, bastard, had died with torture. AND NEVER STOOD IN MY WAY AGAIN!”       Marcus slaps Peter strongly in the face, making him grab his cheek sharply.       “You will pay me for everything, creeping reptile,” Marcus threatens in a low, rude voice, pointing at Peter. “For everything… I shall kill you… Take revenge for the death of my wife. Killer… A fucking killer who is the reason why my whole life WAS RUINED TO THE FUCK!”       Marcus sharply takes the pistol from behind, points it at Peter, and puts it against the guy’s forehead. While the blond gets a little pale and steps back in surprise with a heavy breath. And when Daniel tries to move off and help his friend, Ronald stops him from behind, grabbing him under an arm and by the hair and pushing him against one of the walls. That’s why the brunet hits his shoulder strongly and falls to the floor like a stone, rubbing the area that starts burning from pain.       “Oh, oh, look, our protector rushed to save his friend first,” Marcus sneers contemptuously and starts threatening the tense Terrence and Edward with the pistol, while they are standing in a fighting position. “Hey, do not move, you, two-face-alike folks!”       “If I see a gun against Peter’s face again, I will crush your fucking skull!” Daniel states in a low, rude voice as he gets up on his feet.       “I see you are brave! Or you are pretending to be the one too well!”       “I give a fuck about what you think. I just warn you: if you dare to harm my friend, you will have to regret it.”       “That’s why I want to deal with the protectors of my son so he feels lonely and unprotected. And I suggest that we start with you, asshole.”       When Marcus barely presses the trigger, Daniel wants to jump aside. But he does not even have time for this because Peter standing near grabs him under an arm much faster and pulls him aside. That’s why the bullet gets into the brick wall against them.       “Guys, catch this whole gang quickly,” Marcus orders. “Let’s torture them a little so they do not feel good when dying.”       “The one who will not have fun now is you,” Peter states.       “I am going to have a special talk with you.”       Peter manages to hide behind the wall when Marcus tries to shoot at him. He looks around the whole room chaotically to find more places to place, while the criminal comes to him determinedly. He rolls quickly on the floor to another side, while he is under the shooting, and presses against another wall, looking for a hideaway in the same way multiple times. Unfortunately, he has to project himself by himself because Luther, Bob, and Ronald attack Edward, Daniel, and Terrence, do not let them relax and help each other out, and hope to get them exhausted with an intensive fight with hands and feet.       “Give up at your will, freaks,” Ronald advises, giving Terrence an unsuccessful hit in the jaw and getting a successful one back. “Don’t waste your time waving your wings.”       “Nothing personal, we’re just protecting our brother and ourselves,” Terrence states determinedly, grabs Ronald’s arm and twists it sharply, making him scream.       “Don’t try hard,” Bob throws and tries to hit Daniel in the solar plexus with his feet, even if the brunet manages to jump back in time. “You will die anyway.”       “Our old enemies said the same things,” Daniel notices, gives the same hit to Bob in a jump, and hits his opponent strongly in the spine with his elbow. “But where they are and where we are now?”       “Ha, is this everything you can do?” Edward laughs, protecting himself successfully from Luther’s attacks, chooses a good moment, and smashes his fist against his nose. “How did they give you a blue belt in karate? You can’t even fight well! And you only have a brain to get your little dick in girls.”       “It’s alright, kid, I shall kick the crown off your head,” Luther threatens and tries to answer Edward with the same hit with no success, and hits him in the face with his foot in a twist. “You are going to lie here half-dead.”       “It’s gonna be about you and your friends.” Edward grabs Luther’s foot easily when he tries to hit him in the face again. “The guys and I have a lot of experience in fighting with some evil spirits.”       Edward pushes Luther strongly off himself so that the opponent falls to the floor and hits the back of his head. Then the guy hits his foot against the enemy’s bleeding nose. Terrence deals with Ronald with no problems, striking him down after a short fight quickly and brilliantly. Daniel fights off Bob successfully, taking a baseball baton lying in the corner and getting a victory over the opponent with a powerful hit on the head after a couple of bad attempts.       And Peter is doing well at dodging the attacks of Marcus, who tries to choose good moments to shoot at him since he does not want to use all the patrons. The guy uses everything he sees to protect himself and tries to ignore the places where his friends are, since he is worried that a bullet may get into someone.       “You will not hide from me, Theodore!” Marcus says confidently. “I shall kill you anyway! Whatever it takes!”       “Don’t overload, daddy!” Peter laughs evilly. “You can’t hold anything heavy at your age. But you’re playing here with a gun.”       “YOU DARE TO TALK, YOU, FUCKING MILKSOP?”       Marcus takes another shot, but Peter manages to get down in time and hide behind the barrel where the bullet gets into.       “You think I really want to play catch with you? DO YOU THINK I NEED IT? But who the fuck would have thought you were alive and where in the same place where I was!”       Marcus goes around the barrel Peter is hiding behind while sitting on the floor and points the pistol sharply at him, making him start to creep back.       “And every failed attempt to get rid of you made me really angry. I could not spit acid on you, I could not hit you with a car, I could not have a dog attack you. You, bastard, survived, even after the blood infection when it seemed that nothing would help you. YOU SURVIVED!”       But when Marcus decides to press the trigger, Terrence attacks him from behind, grabbing his neck with his elbow and squeezing it strongly. Daniel twists the arm of the opponent sharply, making him scream painfully, and weakens his fingers by force to take the gun and throw it as far as possible. Meanwhile, Edward helps the tense Peter breathing heavily get up on his feet by taking his hands.       “WHY ARE YOU STANDING, IDIOTS?” Marcus gets enraged, trying to get out of Terrence’s strong grip. “GRAB THEM! HELP ME!”       “So, can’t you do without these bastards at all?” Daniel sneers evilly, grabs Ronald and Luther running to him by the collar, pulls them onto himself, takes them by the hair, and hits them against one another’s forehead so strongly that they fall to the floor with a quiet shout. “Is the age too old? You can’t do the fuck anything now! These ones have a whole life lying ahead, a lot of energy, and a lack of brains. Perfect variant!”       “Moreover, everyone knows that a crowd always wins,” Edward adds, grabs Bob’s arm with a baton in his hands, twists it painfully, takes the gun, and puts it sharply into his opponent’s stomach, making him wince in pain. “And the bigger it is, the better it is.”       “My army is not full at the moment,” Marcus states. “If those who watch the gal and get ready to kill her come here, you will have no chances.”       “If the country is small, it doesn’t mean a large one can defeat it completely,” Terrence notices proudly. “While you underestimate something small, it may be your greatest problem. You know what they say? Small but mighty!”       “Comfort yourself, bastards, comfort. You will not defeat my guys. And my fucking sonny will not hide from me now.”       “Hey, bastard, get your hands off my brother!” Edward roars and smashes his fist against Ronald’s groin when he wants to attack Terrence from behind and strike him down.       “Mr. Longbottom, catch it!” Luther exclaims and throws the pistol to Marcus after catching it from the floor.       After making a lot of effort to get out of the trap, Marcus grabs the pistol that gets into his hand and starts threatening Peter, Edward, Daniel, and Terrence one by one, while Luther, Ronald, and Bob surround him for two seconds.       “Ah, I’m about to raise a little hell and recall the old times when I got pleasure from the sufferings of my helpless victims,” Marcus says with enjoyment.       “I used to wonder how someone could live quietly after killing one person, but now I am overwhelmed by someone who feels excellent after killing more than one hundred people,” Terrence confesses.       “I do like to watch people suffer and hope for mercy and salvation so badly. And the adrenaline that boils in your blood when you try to do everything quickly and carefully is a real pleasure. This feeling is one of the reasons why I killed people. And I stopped doing this because it became something like a regular job. It didn’t make me happy anymore. In the opposite case, I would not have stopped. And it doesn’t matter if it’s been ten years or twenty.”       “Fuck, what a shame to be a son of a psycho…” Peter exhales sharply. “And I, idiot, was shy of my mother drinking as fuck. Ha! Next to this man, that woman was just holy!”       “And if everyone had known it, the school bullying would’ve been much worse and more heartless. You would’ve been buried, not waiting for you to wish to hang yourself.”       “Right, in this case, I would’ve preferred to shoot myself down. Especially, if nobody had cared.”       “Killing people was an endless pleasure to me. Especially at the peak of it. But I shall get a much stronger pleasure when I deal with you. When I do what others could not do. When I put you in the grave personally.”       “Since you’re ready to kill your own child, I have nothing to say,” Edward replies gloomily. “You are not a human. You are worse than any other living creature.”       “Many animals murder their own children in their world. And not everyone loves their children so much. Sometimes they hate them so much that they’re ready to kill them. Just like I want to do this now. I shall not calm down until I can say Peter Rose is dead.”       “If your wife died, it’s not Peter’s fault,” Terrence says determinedly. “And if she got pregnant consciously and knew she was in danger, no comments then.”       “I tried to love my son! And I spent one year taking care of him after Julia’s death. But I did not get rid of my hate for him and the thought that I became a widower because of him. I did not want this child, and I never loved children, but I accepted it for my wife, who wanted it so much. And what he did killed all the good things that started to settle in my soul.”       “Whatever people say, childbirth is always a risk,” Daniel notices. “There’s always a chance that something may go wrong. A mother and a child may suffer.”       “The child was born fucking healthy! Even too healthy! But my wife got a strong bleeding and many complications. She needed surgery, after which she did not get well.”       “It’s not a reason to take it on the child! Your own child! You must have thought of your wife since you praised her so hard! Thought about what she would’ve felt if she’d known about your plans for your own son.”       “Yes, I can’t get Julia back after murdering Peter. But I shall be sleeping quietly with the thought that I took revenge for my wife, and the killer of her is punished for that.”       “Alright, we will not change your mind since it’s worthless,” Edward raises his head. “But just remember that we will not give our friend to you so easily.”       “Yeah, since the world is against Peter and really wants to get rid of him, we will not turn our backs on him,” Terrence says confidently. “We will be the ones he can always count on.”       “We will be friends until the last breath,” Daniel adds not less determinedly and hugs Peter around the shoulders. “We will be brothers, whose connection nobody and nothing will break.”       “Fuck, men, I will vomit now,” Luther growls irritably, rolling his eyes with his arms over his chest. “From all these emotional confessions of love and touching speeches that do not have any meaning.”       “Close your ears if you don’t like!”       “Alright, boys, stop wasting time,” Marcus says quietly. “Let’s end them quickly. I want to get rid of the killer of my wife, his protectors, and his gorgeous sweetheart.”       “I told you not to dare to hurt these people!” Peter hisses through his teeth, clenching his hands tightly into fists with a heavy breath.       “Late, the cage is locked, and the birds can’t leave. Guys, kick the asses of these three bastards and torture them as much as nobody has done to them before. I shall deal with Peter by myself.”       “So what, nasty bastards, are you ready to swallow your own blood and eat the dust from the floor?” Bob hits his fist against his palm with an evil sneer.       “I saved special tricks in martial arts specifically for this day to knock you out immediately,” Luther states.       “We’ve fucked the gal in all her holes, and now it’s your time to make you beg for mercy,” Ronald adds. “But you will not get it.”       “Hey, cross-eyed bastard, I shall break your head now,” Peter gets enraged.       “You will not! You will have your pants wet in fear. So, that even a diaper will not help you.”       “You are dead, asshole!”       Peter just runs to Ronald and hits his face strongly before Marcus makes the guy double over with a strong enough hit of the fist against his kidney. And another hit on his stomach makes the blond moan from pain and fall to the floor like a stone. Ronald, Luther, and Bob immediately prevent the attempts of Edward, Terrence, and Daniel to get close to their friend and start fighting them with hands and feet much more cruelly than before. They do not choose one opponent and fight all of them at the same time, showing their skills of dodging quickly and answering the attacks through any kind of pain.       “Oh, I like this much more!” Edward exclaims with a smug smile, smashes his fist against Bob’s jaw, pushes Ronald off himself with a hit of his foot against his stomach, and hits Luther on the head with it. “We’re about to taste the dessert…”       “If you like pain so much, we promise you will get an orgasm again and again,” Bob states, getting through Daniel’s attacks more or less successfully in an equal hand-in-hand fight.       “Of course, I love the feeling when you get a victory,” Daniel says cheerfully, pushes Bob off herself, hits Ronald strongly with the head against the wall, and squats down sharply when Luther tries to smash his fist against his face. “But in this case, the battle is not so interesting.”       “It’s alright, you have a little time to wave your wings,” Ronald sneers evilly and tries to hit Terrence in the face with his foot in a twist. “You will pay a lot for not listening to the advice from our lord.”       “Yeah, we’ve understood that you live a luxury life thanks to the money he got from selling his own child,” Terrence states, ends up in the trap of Luther, who squeezes his neck with his elbow, after a short hand-in-hand fight, but flips his opponent over his shoulder easily enough, and strikes him down.       “The murderer must be punished for the murder of the person, who meant a lot to the lord,” Luther replies coldly, gets up on his feet sharply in a jump, and tries to hit Edward and Daniel with both hands at the same time, while they jump aside in time.       “You noticed it right,” Daniel sneers evilly and hits Luther in the chest in a jump. “The murderer of hundreds of people must be punished.”       “It’s a shame that bastards like him were not deprived of the ability to multiply,” Edward notices and hits Luther in the face with an irritated growl in a full-twist jump.       “But that’s good Peter was raised by other people,” Terrence adds, runs to the horizontal bar hanging on one of the walls, grabs it in a jump, pulls himself up slightly, pushes Bob off himself sharply with a powerful hit of his feet in the chest, and gets down. “That’s good he didn’t turn evil and become an asshole that got mad at this whole fucking world, even with the indifferent people that surrounded him.”       While Daniel, Edward, and Terrence keep fighting cruelly but equally with Luther, Bob, and Luther, Peter has to protect himself all alone from Marcus, who chases him determinedly and tries to shoot at his own son again and again. The guy tries so hard to get close to his opponent, but the old man does not let him do this, not attacking him with the thought that he is not able to fight the young enemy due to his age.       “Relax, sonny, you will not hide from me,” Marcus says with a sly smile, chasing Peter in a quick step.       “Can’t you do this without a gun?” Peter smirks evilly. “Can you catch me with your own hands?”       “Run, run, maybe it can help you get tired soon so it’s easier for me to deal with you.”       “Keep dreaming, daddy! I’ve got such a trained organism that I can easily handle a two-hour intense workout.”       “When I shoot at you, you will not be so active anymore.”       Marcus takes another shot at Peter but fails again since the guy squats down shortly. Then Rose has to run and roll on the floor for some time since the opponent keeps shooting him hard.       “Fuck, too alive bastard!” Marcus gets enraged when the bullet is two centimeters away from Peter’s shoulder, but he gets into the wall against him. “When will you finally die?”       “I can ask you the same question, old bastard. When will you the fuck DIE?”       Peter grabs the half-broken brick from the floor and throws it strongly at Marcus, who manages to dodge in time. Then Rose tries to throw a couple of glassy cans at his opponent after taking them from one of the shelves, and barely rolls aside on the floor and hides behind the wall when Longbottom takes a couple of more shots.       “Ar-r-r, bastard, I hate you to the core!” Marcus growls irritably and gets closer to Peter determinedly. “My hate is growing more and more every second that you live in this world.”       “You and I have a ‘mutual love’,” Peter throws rudely, grabs Marcus’ hand with the gun sharply, and tries to get it by force. “Very mutual…”       “No matter how hard your friends show off, you will not get a victory,” Marcus snaps, resisting Peter as hard as he can. “You will die anyway…”       “I would love to know what you would do if you didn’t have all these bastards. If they stopped licking your ass and pleasing you fucking hard.”       “My guys will always be with me. But you will get no protector because they will die now.”       “Over my dead body!”       Peter pushes Marcus off himself rudely with a loud shout and strikes the pistol out of his hand with a hit of his foot. That’s why it gets high in the air and falls to the floor with a crash. Then he slaps the one who calls himself his father, strongly in the face, and looks around quickly, seeing Edward, Terrence, and Daniel having a cruel fight with Bob, Ronald, and Luther. But when he moves off to join them and help, Mr. Longbottom grabs him by the collar and pulls him onto himself.       “Stop, bastard,” Marcus roars in a low, rude voice. “You will go nowhere.”       “What would you do to me?” Peter asks surprisingly. “What would you do without your gun? You’re afraid to get into a fight because you understand you cannot deal with young people.”       “And you and your friends will not be running from us forever. You will not spend hours pretending to be superheroes who can throw their opponents with just one hit of the fist.”       “Yeah? But these bastards can?”       “I believe in my guys and know they can do this.” Marcus glances aside and smiles slyly. “I mean, they are starting to be successful. Your protectors are starting to get tired.”       Luther, Ronald, and Bob getting sick of constant failures decide to be much crueler and get a victory in this battle. That’s why Daniel, Terrence, and Edward start to miss hits at times and do not always dodge attacks from their opponents.       “You weren’t kings for too long.”       “Don’t give up, guys!” Peter encourages. “Don’t let them deal with you! Watch out!”       “Good job, boys!” Marcus exclaims. “Catch these bastards! Show them everything you can do!”       “With great pleasure, my lord,” Ronald pronounces with his head proudly raised and hits his foot against Daniel’s kidney. “These bastards are about to discover our power.”       “You will pay a lot for being so self-confident,” Terrence says coldly in a low voice and pushes Bob off himself with a hit of his foot against his groin.       “No, we will strike the crowns off your heads,” Bob throws and smashes his fist against Terrence’s jaw. “Just like we did it when we knocked you out.”       “You shouldn't have tried so hard – we would’ve come here at our will to save our friend,” Edward sneers evilly, getting out of the grip of Luther, who uses a chokehold on him, with a hit of his foot against his ankle.       “Don’t show off, freaks, you will be the fuck screaming from what we prepared for you,” Luther states and hits his knee against Edward’s groin after grabbing him by the nape of his neck and bending him sharply.       “You know, I’m not too impressed yet,” Daniel replies and shares a lot of slaps with Ronald. “After such a cruel fight, I only have a couple of scars and bruises. I was expecting more.”       “So what, men, we warned up a little – it’s enough. It’s time for a more serious game. Which is going to be run by the team of Mr. Longbottom.”       Luther grabs Edward painfully by the hair and pushes him strongly against the wall, against which he hits his head. Then the guy falls to the floor like a stone and starts rubbing his hurt temple, while his opponent uses the moment and beats him with his feet, giving him powerful hits on his chest, stomach, and groin, and smiling wider and wider, while the guy tries to hide the vulnerable parts of his body. When Daniel and Terrence rush to help him, Ronald and Bob grab them by the collar or hair and hit their foreheads against one another so that they rub them energetically as they fall to the floor with a tormenting moan.       “Guys!” Peter shouts.       “Oh, yeah…” Marcus pronounces with enjoyment and takes Peter tightly under his arm when the guy tries to rush to his friends and does not let him move.       While Bob and Ronal cruelly beat Terrence and Daniel lying on the floor, Luther quickly finds several skeins of rope in the corner of the room and throws a couple of them to his friends, who nod with a sly smile as if they read his mind. Then he raises Edward holding his stomach and moaning in pain by the collar, seats him rudely on one of the rotten chairs, twists his arms sharply behind his back, and ties them up tightly. Meanwhile, Ronald and Bob tie Daniel up to one of the columns, and Terrence is not lucky to end up hanging on the horizontal bar with his hands tied up to it. Although the men try so hard to resist and help themselves and each other, their attempts are failed because they end up in a trap with no chance for salvation due to their tied hands.       Peter sees what’s happening all this time and tries to save his friends, but Marcus is holding him under his arm amazingly tightly and does not let him go. That’s why the guy gets angrier and angrier and takes much more determined attempts to get out of his opponent’s grip.       “No, guys!” Peter screams desperately.       “You are caught, bastards!” Marcus smiles smugly. “You didn’t resist for too long.”       “Untie me now!” Daniel demands loudly and rudely, making a lot of effort to tear the ropes, even though it’s still not enough. “UNTIE ME, I SAID!”       “Hey, undeveloped freaks, take the ropes off me now!” Edward roars, clenching his tied hands into fists and trying to weaken them by spreading them apart. “TAKE OFF THESE FUCKING ROPES!”       “You will pay for this, fucking bastards!” Terrence growls irritably, trying to find a way to set himself free as he is standing on the floor, and his hands are tied up to the horizontal bar. “PAY! I WISH YOU ALL DIED HERE!”       “So, guys, are you nervous?” Marcus sneers evilly. “Because you are in the trap and cannot do anything: neither save yourself nor save each other?”       When Peter moves off to help his friends, Luther and Ronald rush to him and start holding him tightly and pulling him, not letting him get close to Daniel, Edward, or Terrence, who look at each other at this moment.       “Let me go, assholes, LET ME GO!” Peter explodes. “LET ME GO, I SAID!”       “Calm down, Rose, you can do nothing now,” Ronald pulls down. “Your friends are powerless and cannot play heroes, too.”       “Do not dare to touch them with a finger! Or I swear YOU ARE ALL DEAD! I SHALL THE FUCK KILL ALL OF YOU TO THE FUCK!”       “Hey, freak, shut your fucking mouth up!” Luther throws rudely and hits Peter strongly on the back of his head. “AND DO NOT WAVE YOUR HANDS!”       “I SAID, LET ME GO NOW! DON’T DARE TO HARM MY FRIENDS! DON’T DARE!”       “Guys, save me from the need to listen to his shouts, please,” Marcus makes a gesture to order, wincing strongly. “And to run after him in the whole basement.”       Peter fights for just two or three seconds before Ronald hits him on the neck with the sharp edge of his hand. That’s why he freezes at first with a sense of sudden dizziness, and then falls to the floor like a stone with closed eyes, falling into the indefinite darkness and stopping to realize what’s happening.       “Peter!” Daniel, Terrence, and Edward scream at the same time.       “What did you do to him, bastards?” Daniel gets enraged. “WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?”       “It’s much better,” Marcus smiles smugly. “My head started to hurt because of his voice.       “You’re right, lord,” Bob agrees and hits his foot strongly against the stomach of the unconscious Peter. “Can’t wait to deal with him.”       “Pull him somewhere aside now. We will deal with him later.”       “As you wish, sir,” Ronald nods.       While Edward, Terrence, and Daniel try so hard to weaken or untie the ropes, Luther and Ronald grab Peter lying motionless under his arms, drag his limp body across the floor, and leave him on the other side of the basement. After not missing a chance to hit him in the nose, stomach, and groin with their feet, the two men come back to Marcus looking forward to mocking his victims right now.       “What do we do now?” Daniel wonders. “These ropes are tied too tightly!”       “I can’t weaken them, too,” Edward winces strongly. “Fuck, it’s too tight…”       “And my arms are gonna be numb in this hanging condition,” Terrence complains. “I mean, I can’t feel them already…”       “Oh…” Daniel exhales sharply. “I hope the girls won’t leave us and have already called Mr. Johnson.”       “They’re our only hope now. And I really hope they’ll find us quickly. Otherwise, this bastard will kill us.”       “Don’t give up, guys!” Edward encourages. “We must untie ourselves! Try! Rose did it once, and it means we can do this.”       “Don’t hope on me – I’m in a hopeless situation. But you can do this. Try, guys, try! Otherwise, we’re all gonna be dead!”       After talking something about to his accomplices, Marcus comes to Daniel, Edward, and Terrence with his head proudly raised and looks at them by one with an evil smile.       “So what, as I promised, let’s deal with the protectors first,” Marcus says confidently. “Of course, you tried so hard, and I highly appreciated it. But pardon, you have lost this battle.”       “Which torture should we start with, sir?” Luther asks, takes a small knife from the pocket, pulls Edward’s head back sharply, and puts the blade against his throat. “What would you like to see first? Maybe we should start with cutting?”       “Or let’s play with fire a little?” Bob smiles evilly, holds the button on the lighter, and brings the flame close enough to the neck of Daniel, who tenses all his muscles at this moment.       “Or let’s just use them as a punching bag?” Ronald suggests and smashes his fist strongly against Terrence’s stomach, making him tense all his muscles and scream from the burning pain. “So, we can warm our hands up a little…”       “Leave my brother alone!” Edward demands loudly, shakes his hands sharply, and screams when Luther gets the edge of the knife into his hand and runs it over the one sharply.       “I wish an airplane fell over your heads!” Daniel wishes rudely and makes a heartbreaking scream when the small flame burns his skin on the elbow, leaving a bright red track. “A-a-a-a! I wish you all died!”       “Don’t even hope we will be begging for mercy!” Terrence roars and screams after Ronald’s hit with his foot against the groin. “Never!”       “It’s alright, guys, it’s alright, we just started,” Marcus replies quietly. “A couple of hits on your face will do nothing to you, of course. But if it lasts for a long time, you will not hold on for too long.”       “What about burning your hair a little?” Bob smiles slyly, brings the flame to Edward’s hair and then his face, while the guy opens his eyes widely and twirls nervously on the chair. “Or make your faces ugly? With fire. Or acid.”       “Aw, I do love the feeling when you dominate the opponent that is much weaker than you and cannot do anything to you,” Ronald confesses with enjoyment and smashes his fist against Daniel’s face from both sides. “When they can only scream in pain and beg for mercy.”       “Maybe, they will not beg us for mercy, but they will scream for two hundred years ahead,” Luther smiles slyly, raises Terrence’s t-shirt sharply, and runs the blade of the knife over his stomach, leaving shallow bleeding cuts and making him scream heartbreakingly in pain. “Oh, yeah, pleasure!”       “We will not give up!” Daniel states determinedly, spits some blood out after another hit on the jaw, and winces when Ronald’s fist smashes his stomach strongly. “You won’t break us down!”       “Relax, assholes, nobody will save you,” Bob smiles slyly and smashes his fist against Edward’s jaw so strongly that his head gets pulled aside sharply, and he understands that the world goes black for a moment. “The cops won’t find you, your gals will not meddle, and the only protector of yours is lying there unconscious.”       “Keep dreaming, they do know we’re here!” Edward states. “And the girls will come up with something if we don’t let them know about us for a long time.”       “Even if the cops come here, they will find nothing,” Marcus states determinedly. “Because we will get rid of you and cover all the tracks of the crime.”       “You can’t avoid the punishment for all your tricks and act as if nothing happened forever!” Terrence replies loudly and screams loudly when Bob runs the flame over his arms, leaving a specific black spot on them. “You cannot!”       “As you see, I can. It’s been so many years, but nobody has caught me yet. They will never catch. Because I always cover the tracks well. I can pretend to be an innocent lamb and keep calm in any situation. A criminal gets caught not only thanks to clues but also thanks to their behavior. A suspicious behavior.”       “Did your father beat you and humiliate you since you grew up into such a sick bastard?” Daniel asks rudely and winces strongly when the bloody blade of Luther’s knife is pressed tightly to his throat. “Another jackass, whose issues are caused by what happened in childhood.”       “Hey, shabby rooster, who are you to teach our lord how to live?” Luther growls irritably and runs the blade sharply over Daniel’s cheek, on which a bright red line shows up. “A fucking adult man is standing in front of you! You must respect him!”       “I do not respect assholes who murder people, mock them, and treat their children horribly. Those who dare to sell them to the same bastards.”       Daniel screams painfully when Luther runs the blade over his palm and twists the knife a little, while Edward and Terrence try so hard to set themselves free.       “Ha, why the fuck should we respect this bastard?” Edward surprises loudly. “An age doesn’t give you the right to act like an asshole and say it’s fine. If you smell like a non-educated one, you shouldn’t expect people to stop considering you a bastard.”       “Exactly!” Terrence agrees. “If you want to be at least respected, behave nice and don’t act like a bastard. Even if you have wrinkles on your face, hurt legs, and heart issues, it doesn’t mean you have the wisdom everyone talks about.”       “Guys, give these bastards some education lessons,” Marcus says with a sly smile. “The friends of our Theodore are too arrogant, as I can see.”       Ronald finds a rope not far from himself, puts it around Edward’s neck, and starts squeezing it very tightly. Meanwhile, Bob grabs one of the electric guns lying on the floor and gets the electric wave through Terrence by putting it against the man’s chest for a short time. While one chokes from a lack of air and tries so hard to weaken the ropes that tie his hands tightly, the other screams at the top of his lungs and shakes in seizures with a sense of a fast heartbeat and a painfully strong tension in every single muscle. Daniel breathing heavily watches all of this with widely open eyes and pulls his hands sharply, growling irritably at some moment and starting to get mad at himself more and more for being absolutely powerless.       “Stop, enough!” Daniel explodes. “Stop mocking my friends!”       “Shut the fuck up, rooster!” Luther roars and squeezes Daniel’s throat with his fingers, making him choke from a lack of air. “SHUT UP!”       “So, don’t you like to feel unprotected?” Bob sneers evilly and hits Terrence in the face multiple times, seeing blood starts getting out of his nose. “Don’t you like to lose? You want to be heroes all the time?”       “Do you really love torturing people so much?” Terrence asks in a low, rude voice and spits blood in Bob’s face on purpose, while the opponent wipes it with contempt. “Or do you just work off the money that this old bastard pays you so hard?”       “Aha, you suck him by one just like girls suck their sugar daddies,” Edward says with a heavy breath in between a cough after Ronald moves the ropes off his neck.       “Don’t pretend to be sassy and bold, freaks,” Marcus advises, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning on one of the tables with some needless stuff with his buttocks. “I do know you are scared, discouraged, and confused deep inside. You are used to getting a victory all the time, but you have been grabbed by the collar like kittens and tied up.”       “We aren’t girls that would cry and beg to let them go,” Daniel throws rudely, clenches his hands into fists, and tenses them to the pain to weaken the ropes.       “You will do this. You will. If I don’t tell my boys to stop torturing you. If their methods are much crueler.”       Daniel, Edward, and Terrence scream almost at the same time at the top of their lungs as they are being tortured by Luther, Bob, and Ronald with a wish to make Marcus happy. While the old man gets a lot of pleasure from what’s happening and does not even try to change anything, not doubting that his helpers know what to do anyway.       “Maybe, it’s time to break your bones and make you disabled?” Luther asks with a sly smile after he finds a hammer among the stuff in the basement and hits it strongly against the knee of Edward, who screams painfully from the pain that echoes in his whole body, with his head leaned back.       “Good idea, buddy!” Bob exclaims and hits Terrence on the stomach with a thick metallic chain that he finds in the corner of the basement and takes from the floor, forcing him to strain his vocal cords and tense all his muscles.       “Oh, they will get a lot of pleasure,” Ronald agrees and twists Daniel’s tied hands so sharply that he cannot hold down his painful scream.       “Let’s add more!” Bob hits Daniel in the stomach strongly with the same chain.       “And more!” Luther exclaims and gives Terrence a hit with the hammer against his kidneys.       “It’s fucking awesome!” Ronald smiles slyly, grabs Edward rudely by the hair, leans his head back, and pours a lot of water over his face from a two-liter bottle, while the guy coughs at times and chokes since it gets right into his nose.       “Come on, guys, come on!” Marcus encourages cheerfully. “Deal with these assholes! So they suffer a lot before they become the food for the ground.”       Luther, Bob, and Ronald keep having Terrence, Daniel, and Edward under all the possible tortures, running to one or another and not stopping to find something that can help them in the basement. Marcus is just standing quietly in front of them and watching what’s happening with interest. He gets a lot of pleasure from the suffering of other people and knowing that nobody will see or hear them here. The guys themselves are absolutely powerless at this moment and can do nothing to save themselves or help each other out. They have to watch their sufferings with widely open eyes full of horror, starting to lose hope of leaving this place alive.       It seems like everyone forgets about Peter still lying on the floor unconscious behind the wall where nobody can see him. But at some moment, he barely moves his fingers and then starts moving the other part of his body slowly as he moans painfully. The guy barely opens his eyes and looks around everything he sees, suffering from strong dizziness, seeing everything unclearly, and hearing the sounds as if through a deaf wall. Nevertheless, the blond makes himself sit up carefully by force, puts his hand on his forehead, and shakes his heavy head slightly, feeling a much stronger dizziness after this. When he rubs the area under his hurting nose with his finger, Rose sees his own blood on it. It helps him remember what happened more or less, even if he keeps being a little disoriented.       But the heartbreaking screams that he can hear not far from himself wake Peter up immediately and make him forget about any discomfort because these are the voices of his friends. Overcoming the weakness and the pain, the man gets up on his feet and comes to the wall on his weak legs with a sense of dizziness, leans on it to have the support, and looks out of it carefully. The blond’s eyes open widely immediately and get full of true horror, and a quiet shout gets out of his mouth when he sees what has happened to Edward, Terrence, and Daniel after all the tortures they have to get through: blood on the face, bruises, holes in some areas on their clothes, and even extreme burns on open parts of the skin. Rose sees Bob squeezing the rope on Perkins’ neck tighter and tighter, while the guy looks terribly pale from a lack of air. Luther getting a powerful electric wave through MacClife, Sr. by pressing the electric gun against his groin and making him shake in seizures and scream loudly. Ronald hitting the coughing MacClife, Jr. in the face and solar plexus multiple times, and seeing that he is breathing heavily and having a bright bruise under his eye.       Peter understands he must do something immediately to save his friends, but he does not know how he can deal with all their offenders by himself. However, he cannot stay aside as he sees the powerless guys in a hopeless situation when the bad men mock them in all possible ways. So, the man looks around to find something that could be good for him, takes the electric gun that nobody needs, and finds a heavy enough baton. Then he looks around again, trying to find a way to get closer to the opponents quickly, without any noise, and help his friends out.       “You just look, these freaks still have the strength to smile,” Luther resents and hits Terrence in the face, nose, jaw, and stomach multiple times. “THEY DO NOT THE FUCK DIE! THEY ARE TOO ALIVE!”       “They probably think someone will save them heroically now,” Ronald assumes, leaving swallow cuts on Daniel’s stomach after raising his t-shirt, while the guy strains his vocal cords. “Someone will strike us down, twist our arms, and untie these morons.”       “Aha, they are going to be our damsels in distress,” Bob laughs contemptuously, closing Edward’s mouth and nose to make him suffer from a lack of oxygen. “They hope the gals will save them, threatening us with a finger with a long, extended nail, not men on horses.”       “It’s alright, guys, we are on the right track,” Marcus nods with a slight smile. “They are super exhausted already and can only move their eyes. And they will not be able to scream soon.”       “You will not get away from this!” Edward screams as he catches the air greedily. “YOU WILL NOT! Early or late, you will burn in hell! End up where you belong!”       “Hey, kid, shut your fucking mouth up!” Bob roars, hitting Edward strongly on the head.       “I swear when I have a chance to set myself free, I shall break your skulls,” Terrence states in a low voice. “For everything you are doing to my brother and my friend. I SHALL DESTROY YOU, BASTARDS!”       “You will not save them, old man,” Luther laughs evilly and squeezes Terrence’s throat strongly. “No matter how hard you snow off. You cannot do this!”       “Yeah, now you will see how easily and quickly I shall cut the throat of this bastard,” Ronald threatens, putting the knife very tightly against Daniel’s throat and grabbing him by the hair rudely, while the guy winces strongly. “He will have NO LITTLE CHANCE to survive. He will die FIRST! Right BEFORE YOU EYES!”       But when Ronald decides to get the blade sharply into Daniel’s throat and runs it over his skin, his whole body starts shaking due to the powerful electric wave that gets through every single cell of it. He screams hysterically for two or three seconds before he falls to the ground with his eyes rolled up. The one to blame for this is Peter, who moves his arrogant look to his opponent lying motionless with his head proudly raised.       “Pete, bro…” Daniel smiles faintly but truly, while Terrence and Edward look at each other happily.       “What?” Marcus gets enraged.       Peter just shares a slight smile with Daniel before Luther and Bob want to attack him. But the guy does not get confused, dodging successfully from several attempts to hit him in the face and answering them with the same thing. Then he beats Luther strongly on the head with the baton with a cruelty that is not typical for him. That’s why the man falls to the floor immediately, without any resistance. And then the blond puts the electric gun determinedly against Bob’s groin, holding the bottom for a few seconds and sneering evilly when the opponent ends up on the floor and does not move after this.       “Of course, I’m not a prince on a white horse,” Peter says confidently, throwing the electric gun in the air and catching it without looking. “But I am the one who will not stand aside when some bastards dare to hurt my brothers.”       “M-m-m, it’s like I should say something like, ‘Good job, sonny, I am proud of you’?” Marcus smiles innocently.       “I give a fuck about what you want to say, daddy. But remember one thing.”       Peter comes to Marcus determinedly, threatening him with the electric gun.       “I shall cut your throat for my friends and girlfriend. YOU WILL BE DROWNING IN YOUR FUCKING BLOOD! YOU, ASSHOLE, GOT IT?”       “What you did now doesn’t mean anything,” Marcus crosses his arms over his chest. “The pretense of your friends gives you confidence. Without them, you would shake in front of my people and me like a cowardly rabbit.”       “I have some fears, I don’t deny it. Everyone fears something. But when any asshole dares to do something like what you did to all these guys, I am not going to be silent. I shall crush you all like pearls even without an army, all alone.”       “Don’t show off, Theodore. Don’t overestimate your power.”       “After what I saw, I can do anything. Anything, honorable. So, I advise you to fear me. At the sight of the bad appearance of these guys, I already wanna put your head in the stove and burn you in the upper and lower modes at a temperature of more than two hundred degrees.”       “It’s not everything, my dear. The torture your pals were put under is nothing. You will lose your head after what happens to your girlfriend.”       “Don’t dare to hurt her and my friends, HEAR ME!” Peter hisses through his teeth. “DO NOT DARE! OR YOU ARE DEAD! YOU WILL GO TO YOUR LATE WIFEY!”       “You know, I spent a lot of time thinking whether you could tell your sweetheart some words and see her for the last time. But after talking to the guys, I decided to let you do this. You can’t hug and kiss her, but you can share some snotty phrases.”       “I don’t want just to hear Helene. I want her to stand right HERE, IN FRONT OF ME! ALIVE AND HEALTHY! And if it does not happen, you, old bastard, will be dead.”       “You will see her alive. Wait for a while.”       Marcus glances aside and smiles slyly.       “I shall leave you and your friends with my guys for two seconds. So, the guys play with you a little more. And I shall drink a cup of coffee. I have my throat dry after all these confessions. And I shall work on the video call with those who are preparing the gal for the inevitable death.”       “I wish that coffee stood across your throat,” Peter wishes rudely. “I wish it had the poison you added to the cup you offered me so hard.”       “I shall lock you in the basement so you don’t dare to run away with these bastards. My guys will deal with you, while I do my business.”       Marcus turns around quietly and comes to Bob, who has come to himself more or less and gets up on his feet slowly, holding his groin and still feeling how tense his muscles are.       “Hey, Bob, come with me! You will help me make a video call with Elijah. So, my son says goodbye to Helene Marshall and watches her death along with his friends. She will not avoid it for sure.”       “Yes, sir,” Bob nods, wincing strongly from pain. “As you wish.”       Taking Bob under his arm, Marcus goes upstairs, leaves the basement, and locks the door with the key from the chain that he takes from the pocket of his pants. Peter follows them but stops when they hide, looking at the closed door for a few seconds and tensing at the thought that he and his friends are in a trap. Then he thinks of them and comes back to the guys, who are still tied and have been trying to come to themselves a little after all the torture, after which they have a lot of bruises, cuts, and burns. The guy takes the jackknife that he found among the stuff in the basement from the pocket of his black denim jacket and cuts the ropes that tie Terrence up to the horizontal bar.       “Oh, fuck, my arms…” Terrence moans painfully, rubbing and warming up his hands energetically, seeing that he has the tracks from the ropes on his wrists. “Damn, Pete, you’re our savior! Our hero!”       Terrence takes Peter in a strong, amicable hug to thank him for saving him. Then the first one runs to Edward tied up to the chair and tries to untie the ropes on his hands, and the second easily sets Daniel free with the knife.       “Oh, fuck…” Daniel winces, rubbing his wrists energetically. “It hurts…”       “Hey, Terrence!” Peter exclaims and throws the jackknife to Terrence.       When he catches the thing thrown to him, Terrence quietly cuts the ropes that tie the hands of Edward, who gets up sharply after he is finally free, saying, “Finally, freedom!” And he shortly finds himself in the strong hug of his older brother, who caresses his head and exhales with relief at the thought that his close person is alright, even all these awful things. While Daniel squeezes Peter in the same strong hugs with a wide but exhausted smile.       “Good job, Pete, you’re awesome!” Edward encourages and claps Peter on the shoulder after he hugs him tightly. “You struck down all these assholes all alone so powerfully!”       “How are ya feeling?” Terrence expresses anxiety. “Do ya feel good?”       “I’m fine,” Peter replies quietly. “The important thing is that you’re okay.”       “Ah, these bastards burned me as fuck,” Daniel winces, feeling severe pain from a slight touch to the red area on the skin of his hand covered with bubbles. “Even touching it hurts…”       “I guess you’ve suffered much more,” Terrence says thoughtfully, putting his hand on Daniel’s shoulder and noticing that one of his hands is all in blood after several cuts on it.       “Yeah… I can barely touch my stomach. It has cuts and burns…”       “Not just you.” Terrence raises his t-shirt, looks at the bloody wounds on his stomach, the muscles of which he tenses strongly due to the pain in them. “I’ve got a bloody mess here. And tons of bruises. And it’s like they kicked my guts as fuck…”       “And I almost choked when that bastard was spitting water over my face,” Edward confesses and coughs quietly, grabbing his throat, on which there is a red track after the rope he was tried to be strangled with. “When they squeezed my nose and mouth. And while they tightened the rope on my neck.”       “We’ve gotta get out of here immediately before these bastards come up with something else,” Daniel says determinedly. “They won't leave us alone until they kill us.”       “Aha, that old bastard locked us here with those morons!” Peter exclaims. “As well as the reserved door. I saw one of those bastards lock it with a key when they came here.”       “Yeah, Rose, your father is a fucking bastard!” Terrence puts his hands on his hips. “If someone brought a big tank here, he would be happy to crush it to the fuck.”       “I wanna put my head in the noose and throw off the chair to the fuck at this thought.”       “I’d do the same if my father were a criminal who had killed thousands of people,” Daniel crosses his arms over his chest.       “Alright, guys, we have no time to talk,” Peter says determinedly, putting his hands on Daniel and Edward’s shoulders. “We’ve gotta solve the problem somehow. We can’t sit here and wait for that bastard to come back with a new idea of torture.”       “Maybe we can kick off or break the second door?” Edward assumes. “The reserved door’s supposed to lead us outside! There is much shit that can help us.”       “Leave it to me!” Peter exclaims. “As far as I remember, the door opens by pulling it on you… It means we can kick it off with a foot or a scarp. And I think I saw it here…”       But when Peter moves off, Ronald and Luther show up out of nowhere and start coming closer to him confidently after coming to themselves and getting up with each other’s help.       “So what, bastards, let’s start a second round?” Ronald hits his fist against his palm with an evil smile.       “Alright, we’ll deal with the door later,” Peter replies quietly, coming to Edward, Terrence, and Daniel backward. “First, we’ve gotta deal with these bastards.”       “You will not hide from us now,” Luther says confidently. “We are locked. You have no place to run. The lord gave us another incredibly generous gift that we would play with pleasure.”       “Don’t be too sassy, bastards!” Daniel hisses through his teeth. “There are two of you, while there are many more of us.”       “Yeah, the power is not equal,” Edward agrees. “And luck isn’t at your side.”       “Do you really think you can keep jumping here like goats after you three got your asses kicked as fuck?” Ronald surprises truly.       “Ha, is this what you are bragging about for us?” Terrence shows off with an evil smile. “If you could do just something, we would be lying here dead. But as you can see, we can breathe and stand.”       “Don’t worry, bastards, when the lord gives us a sign, you will die in a second,” Luther states with his head proudly raised. “But now we have one goal – to find your weaknesses and do our best for you to watch the gal’s death in a half-dead condition.”       “If you’re not afraid to lie here half-dead, go for it then!” Peter throws, clenching his hands into fists and standing in a fighting position. “If you don’t care about our double advantage.”       “You are dead, blond-haired asshole. I shall crush you like a pearl.”       “You’re first in my list, bastard. For drooling over my girlfriend and daring to spread her legs and get YOUR FUCKING DICK into her!”       After shouting the last words, Peter rushes to Luther and smashes his fist strongly against his jaw, making him shake with a sense of dizziness. It provokes the beginning of another cruel fight, in which the power is not equal. While Daniel runs to help Rose out, coming to the opponent from behind and squeezing his neck with his elbow, Edward and Terrence start fighting Ronald together, beating him shamelessly with feet and hands. Under the influence of adrenaline, everyone forgets about any discomfort and runs through the whole room like crazy and uses everything they see to protect themselves and each other.       “Why are ya breathing so heavily?” Edward surprises, successfully dodges the slap from Ronald, and gives him a powerful hit with his fist against his nose. “Are ya tired already? You only have the strength to work your tongue?”       “Everything you’ve gotten through is nothing,” Ronald states and tries unsuccessfully to hit Edward on the head with the case of dirty glass. “We saved the most delicious dessert for later.”       “We are not sorry that we have to ruin your appetite,” Terrence replies, hits Ronald strongly on his temple with the wooden mop handle, and strikes him down with a powerful kick of the foot in a jump.       “We give a fuck whether you have a will and haven’t decided who is going to inherit your holy underwear.” Ronald tries to push off the handle that Terrence presses tightly to his throat, raising himself above him.       “Oh, I was wondering why this place smelled worse than the sewer,” Edward says thoughtfully and hits Ronald on the kidney with his foot, making him double over in pain. “As it turned out, your socks smell like this. Though I think you don’t also wash your balls and ass.”       “So, undeveloped kid, do you feel at home? Familiar smells, as I can see?”       “Hey, cross-eyed, shut your fucking mouth up,” Terrence hisses through his teeth. “Or I shall sew it! Once and forever!”       “We will see it, hysterical gal!”       After pushing Terrence off himself with a hit of his knee against his groin, Ronald gets up on his feet in a jump, takes the handle from him, and tries to hit him with it. But Edward puts the rope on the opponent’s neck and squeezes it strongly, depriving him of the ability to breathe. When he pulls him far from his brother, the guy hits his face against the surface of the shabby table. Then MacClife, Sr., raises the enemy’s t-shirt by force, gets the edge of the knife in his stomach and runs it sharply over his skin, having hate in his eyes as he watches the criminal screaming painfully and trying desperately to catch some air that he lacks catastrophically.       “Yeah, I don’t really understand why you got a blue belt in karate,” Daniel laughs contemptuously, hits Luther in the jaw, twists his arm behind his back easily enough, and turns it so sharply that the man starts to rack his cords. “A child would fight hundreds of times better than you wave your shabby wings.”       “Don’t be so self-confident!” Luther hisses through his teeth, sets himself free with a hit of his foot on Daniel’s ankle, and tries to hit him with his heel against his temple, but the man dodges in time. “Now we will twist you four now and deal with you, after all.”       “You aren’t good at waving your wings, so-called karateka,” Peter says in a low, rude voice, dodges from Luther’s slap in the face, and hits his nose with a fist and with his elbow much stronger.       “It’s alright, soon, I shall show you all my power.” Luther takes something sharp from his pocket and tries to get it into Peter’s neck, while the blond grabs it tightly with both hands. “And you, Rose, will be the first one to test a couple of new tricks of mine.”       “And I've been dreaming of testing tricks of my favorite fighters without rules,” Daniel sneers evilly, hits Luther with his elbow against the kidney sharply and quickly, doubles him over, smashes his fist against his spine, and strikes him down with just one push, hearing him groaning and moaning painfully. “And you are perfect for this.”       “You haven’t impressed me yet. And you have less time to do this.”       “You know, we haven’t seen anything that would make us overwhelmed,” Peter states.       “So, it’s time to fix it and show you everything Luther Winchester can do.”       Luther pushes Peter off himself with a hit of his foot against his groin so sharply that the blond gets thrown two meters away, falls to the floor, and, doubling over and grabbing his stomach, makes a painful moan. While Rose gets up in a jump, Winchester wants to hit him with the chair on the run, but Daniel prevents it shortly, giving his opponent a hit against his head with a big plate that he takes from a bunch on one of the wooden shelves. Luther tries to hit Perkins in the face with his foot in a jump with a twist with an irritated growl, but the man jumps and squats down in time when the same plate gets into him. But next, the guy gets up, hits his opponent in the chest with his foot on the run, and gives him a strong hit against his nose that makes his head shake sharply. Then Peter hits his foot strongly against his back, using the moment when his opponent is lying on the side, burns up a small wooden stick with a lighter, and brings the fire to the open part of the skin of his enemy with coldness on his face, while he starts screaming painfully from the unbearable pain.       “Hey, bastard, whatcha doing there?” Ronald gets enraged, seeing Peter burning Luther’s arm with the fire. “ARE YOU FUCKING CRAZY?”       After pushing Edward and Terrence against each other with their foreheads and not even looking at the men, who fall to the floor like a stone, Ronald rushes to Peter in a fast, sharp step to hit him strongly on his temple with his fist. But Daniel answers with the same hit to the criminal, hits him against the wall with the back of his head, and strikes him down with a hit of his foot against the small of his back.       “So, asshole, you like these feelings?” Peter sneers evilly, grabbing Luther tightly and bringing the burning stick to his face, while his opponent is breathing heavily by the hair. “And it’s nothing. I just burned your arm a little. What would happen if I burned your whole face? Or your fucking balls? You would scream like crazy!”       “A-a-a-a, I wish you died, bastard…” Luther screams with an irritated growl. “As well as your pals and your gal.”       “With all my heart, I wish the same to you, your friends, and that old bastard, who calls himself my father.”       After Peter gets up on his feet and hits his foot against Luther’s nose, which starts bleeding, he comes determinedly to Ronald still lying on the floor and burns his arm with the fire on the stick, making him scream in pain and tense all the parts of his body.       “This is for what you did to my friends, bastards,” Peter says in a low, rude voice, pressing Ronald’s arm to the floor tightly and watching the skin on it get red and covered with bubbles without emotions on his face. “For WHAT MY BROTHER HAD TO GET THROUGH SOME TIME AGO!”       “Wait, asshole…” Luther hisses through his teeth, barely sitting up, and winces strongly when he barely touches the burn on his skin with his fingers. “When Marcus gives an order, I swear your death will not be quick and sweet. I SHALL MAKE A CUTLET OUT OF YOU!”       When Luther breathing heavily wants to creep to Peter and use a chokehold, Edward runs to him and makes him fall to the floor again with a powerful hit of the foot on the back of his head.       “Fuck, you’re too alive assholes!” Ronald shouts and rolls onto his stomach after Peter moves the stick with the fire off his arm. “You were half-dead, but now you are jumping like horses!”       “You should’ve thought twice before getting in touch with us,” Terrence replies with his head proudly raised and hits Ronald’s forehead against the floor, grabbing his hair strongly.       “Yeah, you are really too alive,” Luther laughs contemptuously. “You moan, squeak, and barely creep from pain, but you show the fuck off.”       “First, we will save our friends, and then we will be lying on the floor and dying of pain,” Daniel states determinedly. “We will not give up until some shit stops harming them.”       “You are too self-confident, boy!” Marcus’ voice pronounces, while he gets downstairs to the basement after opening the door. “Be shyer. Why would you show off and say what doesn’t have to do with you.”       “I’m not lying when I say we will save Peter and Helene. Because we will save them. Whatever it takes.”       “You will not do this, freaks!” Bob exclaims, following Marcus obediently. “Your friend and his gal are doomed. Just like you three.”       “If you don’t harm all these people, I will probably be nice and forgive you,” Peter says coldly, comes to Marcus with his head proudly raised, putting down the fire against the concrete wall and throwing the stick aside. “If you do, I shall destroy everything in my way. I shall be as heartless as any tornado.”       “We will see it right now,” Marcus smiles slyly. “We will see if my cowardly and insecure sonny has signs of thirst for blood. Whether he calls himself healthy, while several relatives of him suffered from one or another psychological illness.”       “Don’t wake up an animal inside me, Marcus Longbottom. Trust me, it will not lead to anything good for you and your bastards.”       “Don’t worry, Theodore, it will end soon.”       “I’m not Theodore!” Peter throws irritably.       “Bob, make a video call to Elijah, please,” Marcus addresses Bob and gives him his laptop. “What do I press, I didn’t get it?”       “One second, lord!” Bob exclaims.       After taking Marcus’ laptop, Bob puts it on one of the tables, opens the lid, and makes a couple of clicks on the touchpad, opening the necessary app to start a video call. A few seconds later, Elijah shows up on the screen holding his smartphone at some distance from his face and speaking to it as he looks into the front camera as if it’s the other person’s eyes.       “Hiya, Hartley!” Bob greets.       “Salut[1], Goodwin!” Elijah waves his hand. “Oh, hello again, Mr. Longbottom. Hey, guys!”       “Hello, Elijah,” Marcus pronounces amicably, and then Ronald and Luther do the same thing.       “How is everything doing?”       “Everything is awesome, dude!” Luther clicks his fingers. “The mouse has fallen for a piece of cheese and ended up in the trap!”       “Not just one mouse!” Ronald adds cheerfully. “Three more mice showed up!”       “M-m-m, what amazing luck!” Elijah nods in approval. “You rock on, folks!”       “What about you?” Marcus asks. “What about Shawn, David, and Darren?”       “Shawn is supposed to come to you soon, and David and Darren are watching the gal. And I’m standing outside and smoking a cigarette.”       “I hope you did everything I said?”       “Don’t worry, my lord. Everything is ready. We are ready to do your order of getting rid of the gal at any time.”       “Excellent,” Marcus smiles slyly.       At this moment, Peter, Daniel, Terrence, and Edward standing behind look at each other questioningly and listen to everything the criminals say much more closely.       “So, smoke then and come back to the guys. Show me the gal. My son wants to see her so badly. Just like his gang of freaks.”       “As you wish, sir.”       While Elijah puts down the cigarette and comes to where his friends are waiting for him, Edward, Daniel, Terrence, and Peter examine the place they see on the video, hoping to understand where they should go to find Helene.       “Hm, interesting…” Edward says thoughtfully. “I’ve seen that house somewhere before…”       “You know where it is?” Peter rounds his eyes.       “I dunno, I’m not sure yet.”       “I guess that’s an abandoned one…” Terrence frowns slightly. “In the woods…”       “Have they been holding Helene in that half-ruined shitty place all this time?” Daniel horrifies.       “Think, guys, think!” Peter says excitedly. “We must know where she is.”       “Damn, damn!” Edward swears, grabbing his head. “What’s this place? What?”       Some time later, Elijah gets up to the last floor of the abandoned house and moves the camera to David and Darren standing near the open door and waving their hands when they see some familiar faces.       “Hi, everyone!” David and Darren pronounce at the same time.       “Hi!” all the criminals greet.       “What’s your mood, boys?” Marcus asks cheerfully. “Ready to defeat the gal?”       “We’re assuring you that only ash will be left of her soon,” Darren states confidently.       “We did everything you told us,” David adds. “The gal will not escape when we burn this house to the fucking ground.”       “I knew I could count on you,” Marcus smiles smugly. “And now show me that cutie, who you have fucked multiple times. The one who will pay for all the sins of her past soon.”       “With pleasure, sir!” David exclaims with a wide smile.       David and Darren enter the room with the open door first, while Elijah follows them, picturing everything that surrounds him with the camera of his cell phone.       “Poor girl…” Edward pronounces with horror in his widely open eyes. “Has she had to spend more than one week in this awful condition?”       “Oh, shit, it’s definitely a wonderful place for cockroaches, rats, and other living creatures!” Terrence exclaims. “And it’s probably fucking cold, judging by the holes in the walls!”       “I’m afraid to imagine what we’re gonna see now,” Daniel expresses anxiety.       A few seconds later, everyone can see Helene herself on the screen of the laptop. She is sitting on the chair with her hands and feet tied up and her mouth closed with a rag. Seeing someone come here, she glances at the men and starts moaning painfully and shaking her hands nervously, while tears roll slowly down her red, puffy eyes.       “Here’s Marshall herself!” Darren exclaims cheerfully with a wide smile, pointing at Helene.       Marcus laughs evilly and raises his head proudly, while Peter, Daniel, Edward, and Terrence open their eyes widely, ooh quietly, and get sharply pale from horror caused by the condition Helene is in now.       “H-hel-lene?” Peter pronounces quietly in a shaking voice, starting to breathe heavily enough.       “Shiver me…” Daniel shakes his head. “Is that… That’s really her?”       “Oh, shit, what happened to her?” Terrence closes his mouth with a hand, looking at Helene’s face when it’s close enough to the camera. “She’s all pale, exhausted, and skinny… And her puffy eyes make me horrified!”       “Shit…” Edward puts his hand on his heart. “Fucking shit! She’s also all bruised!”       “So, what, Helene Marshall, your time has come,” Marcus says confidently. “Only ash will be left of you very soon.”       Helene starts moaning much more painfully, choking from a lack of air, twirling nervously on the chair, and looking at all her offenders with widely open eyes.       “She says she can't wait for this moment.” Elijah moves the camera to his face. “She is fucking sick of the company of rags, bugs, cockroaches, and mosquitoes.”       “It’s alright, my girl, everything will be over soon,” Marcus promises. “But since you have not been behaving nicely all this time and refused to befriend us, you will have to suffer a lot before your death.”       Again, Helene moans painfully with a wish to say something, but she cannot do this because her mouth is closed with the rag. Not waiting for a special invitation, Peter rushes to the laptop placed on the table, pushes Marcus and Bob aside rudely, and moves his excited look to the screen.       “Helene!” Peter pronounces excitedly. “Helene, I’m here!”       Helene opens her eyes much more widely, feeling a great relief when she sees Peter on the screen. The one whom she is missing so badly. But sadly, she cannot say anything to him and just moans with great pity, with tears in her eyes.       “Hey, you, take the rag off her mouth!” Marcus orders. “Let the lovebirds say something.”       When David moves the rag off Helene’s mouth, she starts screaming loudly and desperately with heavy breath:       “Peter! Peter, thank God!”       “I’m here, my girl,” Peter says in a little shaking from excitement voice. “It’s gonna be okay!”       “Take me out of here! I don’t wanna stay here! I’m scared! I’m really scared!”       “Don’t worry, sweetheart, I will find you. These bastards will do nothing to you.”       “Please, sweetie, save me from these people! They’ve been mocking me for nobody the hell knows how long. I have no strength anymore!”       “I promise they’ll no longer touch you with a finger.”       “Don’t leave me, Pete, please!” Helene begs in a heartbreaking way and makes a loud sob. “I need you so badly! I can’t get through this without you! I can’t!”       “It’s gonna be okay, Helene, we’re here!” Daniel promises after he, Edward, and Terrence come to Peter. “We will not leave you!”       “Daniel!” Helene pronounces excitedly. “Terrence! Edward! Guys…”       “It’s gonna be okay, sweetie,” Edward says confidently. “We will find you wherever you are.”       “My God, guys… What happened to you? Why are you all in blood and bruises? What did those people do to you?”       “Nothing, it will be gone soon,” Terrence replies. “The important thing is that you’re alive.”       “Please, take me out of here. I will no longer take all these tortures. These people insult me, beat me, rape me… They… My life is like hell here. I wanna get out of it!”       “Hold on, friend, we will take you out of there!” Daniel promises determinedly. “Just don’t worry.”       “I can’t take this anymore!” Helene sobs desperately. “I wanna go home! To Grandma, to Sammy… I wanna hug the girls… Wanna hug all of you… I feel so bad here…”       “We’re coming, sweetheart,” Peter replies excitedly. “Just hold on! Just hold on!”       “And don’t do stupid things!” Terrence warns, “Keep calm if you don’t want to make it worse.”       “I promise we will not leave without you,” Edward says confidently. “We swore to the girls to find you and take you out.”       “Please, guys, please…” Helene chokes on tears. “I need all of you so badly! Like never ever! Help me, please… Please… Please… I don’t wanna die! I don’t! I can’t e-m-m-m…”       Helene does not speak her mind because Darren puts the rag on her mouth again, making her keep moaning painfully.       “Alright, Dolly, stop it now,” Darren says with a sly smile.       “Fucking bastards!” Daniel explodes. “What did you the fuck do to the girl? Skin and bones are all that's left of her! She must rush to the hospital in this condition!”       “Relax, freaks, nothing will help her anymore,” Elijah assures with a sly smile and squeezes Helene’s jaw with a sly smile with a free hand, while drops of tears show up in her eyes. “And you will not save her because nothing will be left of her.”       “I SHALL KILL YOU, BASTARDS!” Peter gets enraged. “IF YOU TOUCH HER WITH A FINGER AGAIN, I SHALL BREAK YOUR FUCKING BONES!”       “Oh, yeah, how are you going to do this through the screen of the laptop?” David laughs with mockery.       “Yeah, Rose, calm down there,” Darren advises and grabs Helene tightly by the hair, leaning her head sharply back. “You cannot do your best for her to remember you as a superhero.”       “Let Helene go now, you, fucking dogs!” Edward demands rudely. “She is guilty of nothing for you and this old bastard, who has ill relatives.”       “By starting to date Rose, Marshall made a great mistake that is going to take her life,” Elijah states. “If she weren’t his girlfriend, Mr. Longbottom would not have touched her with a finger.”       “Peter doesn’t have to do with the death of the wife of this bastard!” Terrence exclaims. “She died of other reasons! It’s not his fault!”       “The lord wants your friend to feel all the same that he felt when he was told about the death of Mrs. Longbottom,” Darren says. “What he still feels when he checks on the grave of his wife at the cemetery with flowers and talks to her.”       “I have warned your friends already, but now I shall say it to you, scums,” Peter hisses through his teeth, clenching his hands into fists. “If something happens to my friends or my girlfriend, I shall pity the fuck nobody. I shall destroy everything and everyone in my way. YOU WILL ALL PAY ME FOR THIS! YOU GOT IT, ASSHOLES?”       “Hey, freak, you better go change your diaper,” David roars. “You have probably peed everything in fear. Even if you took these three bastards, who lick your ass fucking hard.”       “DON’T MAKE ME WILD, BASTARDS!” Peter hits the table with his hands with widely open eyes. “YOU WILL THE FUCK PAY ME FOR THIS AND FOR DARING NOT TO JUST LOOK AT HELENE BUT ALSO FUCK HER!”       “So, did you like the photos of our group sex?” Darren smirks evilly and grabs Helene by the throat from behind. “The gal made us get a fucking wild orgasm and let us fuck her by one.”       “I SHALL BREAK YOUR DICKS AND YOUR HANDS! CUT YOUR TONGUES! SO YOU HAVE NOTHING TO SUCK! NOTHING TO GET INTO ALL THE HOLES! NOTHING TO FEEL UP WITH!”       “We’ve told you that the gal is not loyal to you,” David smiles innocently and massages Helene’s breasts with one hand, while she screams painfully with widely open eyes and twirls on the chair. “Well, since she sucked us and spread her legs for us so easily, the gal has obviously never been loyal to you.”       “You KNOCKED HER THE FUCK OUT!” Daniel screams. “And she DID NOT AGREE on this!”       “Mr. Longbottom gifted this gal to us,” Darren shrugs, spreads Helene’s legs by force, and caresses the inside of her thighs, while she resists so hard, and Elijah shows everything that’s happening on the camera. “He said we could do anything we wanted to her. And we’ve been using the moment for this whole week to the fullest.”       “The gal is really fucking sexy,” Elijah smiles mysteriously when he moves the camera to himself for a short time. “Her boobs and ass are awesome.”       “Ah, we wanna be with you…” Ronald pronounces with enjoyment. “We wanna feel her up boobs and fuck her…”       “A-a-a-a, I feel it’s tight in my pants when I just look at her…” Luther growls quietly, scratching his groin a little.       Daniel and Peter move off sharply, rush to Ronald and Luther respectively, and strike them down with just one powerful hit of the foot against the jaw. When Bob gets his finger into the hole he makes with the fingers of his other hand with a sly smile, Terrence twists his arm painfully and then knocks him out with a hit in the neck with his elbow.       “If I could, I would hang all the bastards who rape girls, by the balls above mortal acid,” Edward states rudely. “And I would burn their fucking dicks as fuck.”       “M-m-m, how would you burn?” Darren sneers evilly. “Like this?”       With these words, Darren takes the electric gun from the table, puts it against Helene’s scapula, and presses the button to release the electric wave. The girl starts shaking in seizures and moaning heartbreakingly as she twirls on the chair like crazy. And two seconds later, when the torture ends, her body gets sharply limp, and she moans with pity and a sense of a fast heartbeat.       “Leave her alone now!” Peter roars, squeezing the lid of the laptop tightly. “DON’T EVEN DARE TO TOUCH HER WITH A FINGER!”       “Aha, what would you do to us, mistake of nature?” David smirks evilly and slaps Helene in the face strongly, making her scream hysterically. “What?”       “I SHALL TEAR YOU ALL APART! HEAR ME?!”       “Come on? Tear us apart!”       David smashes his fist against Helene’s chest, depriving her of the ability to breathe well.       “Stop it!” Terrence gets enraged. “LEAVE HER ALONE NOW!”       “Who would stop us?” Darren wonders falsely, takes the jackknife from the pocket of his coat, opens it, and runs the blade over Helene’s forearm, leaving a shallow bleeding cut, while she screams in pain. “Who?”       “The lord promised the gal’s death would not be easy and quick,” David recalls, puts the electric that he takes from Darren against the curve of Helene’s neck, and releases the electric wave. “She will have to suffer. Suffer a lot.”       “M-m-m…” Helene moans powerlessly, looking at her offenders with dead eyes and twirling on the chair due to the severe pain in her muscles.       “Are you fucking crazy there?” Edward hits his hands against the table. “STOP MOCKING HER!”       “Exactly, she’s sitting there half-dead!” Daniel resents.       “Yeah, Marshall turned out to be much weaker than you three,” Marcus notices quietly. “Nothing can the fuck defeat you, but the gal can barely think already.”       “We would also go crazy if we were tortured like this every fucking day!” Peter replies rudely. “Beating, drowning, raping, strangling… Hitting with electricity! Burning with fire! No wonder she’s sitting there half-alive! NO FUCKING WONDER!”       “When she was full of energy, we spent a lot of strength on her,” Elijah notices and gives the phone to Darren, so that he keeps picturing everything. “But when the girl spent several days without water and food, got a couple of hits, and lay unconscious for most of the time, she stopped doing stupid things. And we stopped to react to her permanent whining about feeling bad and wishing to go to her grandma and dog.”       With these words, Elijah takes the rope given to him by Darwin, puts it around Helene’s neck, and starts squeezing it strongly, depriving the girl of the ability to breathe.       “Hey, let her go now!” Peter demands. “LET HER GO, I SAID!”       “Ah, it’s so good nobody can stop us now!” David pronounces with enjoyment, squats down, and caresses Helene’s legs from all sides, while she shakes them so hard. “These freaks are far, but the gal can only moan.”       “Keep doing this, guys,” Marcus nods confidently. “Torture the gal. Let Theo watch his sweetheart for the last time. Let my son suffer a lot before he wants to die himself.”       “I shall kill you, bastards, KILL!” Peter screams with a heavy breath. “KILL! YOU WILL ALL BE LYING IN THE GROUND! I AM GOING TO PITY NOBODY!”       “You’ve got a club of unhealthy bastards here!” Daniel throws rudely. “One asshole is sicker than another!”       “What do we expect from the man, whose mother was mentally unstable, brother suffered from schizophrenia, and father beat his son for a reason and without?” Terrence crosses his arms over his chest. “No wonder we eventually got a bloodthirsty bastard. The asshole that sold his own son for a lot of money and is now trying to kill him.”       “The bastard, who will never regret this,” Edward adds.       “But don’t play too long, guys,” Marcus says. “I completely understand that you’re getting pleasure from it, but remember that I want to kill my son, his gal, and his friends as soon as possible.”       “Just give us an order, sir!” Elijah exclaims, still squeezing the rope tightly on Helene’s neck, while she feels dizzy from a lack of air. “We’re just waiting for your approval.”       “Don’t dare to hurt her, DON’T DARE, BASTARDS!” Peter screams. “I SHALL KILL YOU IF YOU STAND IN MY WAY! KILL! I SWEAR!”       “We know nothing, we hear nothing,” Darren smiles innocently.       “C’mon, Elijah, squeeze it tighter,” David insists and leaves a cut on the other forearm of Helene, who understands more and more that everything goes blurry before her eyes. “Much tighter…”       Elijah follows David’s order and keeps making Helene suffer from a lack of air. She is still twirling nervously on the chair and making some quiet sounds. At some moment, she rolls her eyes slowly, being afraid to lose consciousness again to the shake in her knees, because these people may use the moment and do something awful.       “Oh, shit, she’s sitting there kinda blue,” Daniel closes his mouth with a hand, opening his eyes widely.       “And we can’t the fuck help her with anything,” Peter exhales disappointedly and grabs his hair with both hands. “WE CANNOT HELP HER!”       “Fuck, what do we do?” Edward wonders. “She is about to die!”       “No, no, we can’t screw it up,” Terrence shakes his head. “We can’t! The girls are counting on us! We can’t let them down!”       A few seconds later, Helene’s body goes limp on the chair, and she closes her eyes powerlessly, while her head is put on her chest. But even after this, Elijah keeps squeezing the rope for a few seconds before he removes it, glancing at the track on her neck.       “Alright, we can take the rag off quietly,” Elijah says confidently and takes the rag off Helene’s mouth, noticing that her lips are some kind of blue. “She is out and won’t be screaming.”       “Stop torturing her,” Peter demands in a low, rude voice, breathing heavily enough. “Stop… If you need a victim, choose me. Do anything you want to me.”       “Don’t worry, my boy, your time will surely come soon,” Marcus assures. “After we deal with your close people before your eyes, I shall deal with you then.”       “Don’t dare… Don’t dare to hurt them! DO NOT DARE!”       “You have already lost to us, Rose,” Darren says cheerfully after he gives the phone to Elijah. “You only have to accept it.”       “NEVER! I SHALL NEVER ACCEPT IT!”       “Alright, boys!” Marcus takes a word, glancing at Edward, Terrence, Daniel, and Peter breathing heavily and looking tense. “I shall leave for two minutes again and help the guys treat their burns, but you can watch your girlfriend. If she wakes up, you can say goodbye to her quickly. And then the unforgettable show I’ve been waiting for a bigger part of my life will begin.”       “Yeah, we will probably get out for a while,” David replies thoughtfully. “We will smoke another cigarette.”       “I will leave the phone here so these freaks can talk to the gal,” Elijah says confidently and puts his smartphone on the small tripod that he takes from the pocket of his coat and unfolds on the table right in front of the unconscious Helene.       “You know what to do, men,” Bob adds, holding the neck and massaging it slightly.       “We believe in you!” Ronald exclaims.       “We will come back now and watch the epic show,” Luther smiles slyly.       “Come with me, guys,” Marcus says quietly. “You should keep your hands under cold water and treat the burns.”       With these words, Marcus hugs Luther and Ronald around the shoulders and takes them and Bob with them, going upstairs and closing the door. After massaging Helene’s breasts a little, running their fingers over her neck, and caressing her belly after raising her top, Elijah, David, and Darren leave the room and take packs of cigarettes and lighters from the pockets of their coats on the way. While the video call continues, so that Terrence, Peter, Edward, and Daniel see their friend, whom they do not know how to save from all of this.       “Helene!” Peter pronounced loudly and excitedly, leaning on the table with the laptop with his hands. “Helene, answer me! Can you hear me? Helene!”       “I don’t know what to do,” Terrence throws his hands up. “It seems that this is the end.”       “No, we can’t let it happen!” Daniel protests. “There must be a way!”       “What?” Edward surprises. “Even if we knew where to find her, we wouldn’t have time. That place is definitely far from here!”       “No, no, no…” Peter pronounces in a shaking voice as he shakes his head. “No, it can’t be the truth! I can’t lose it! I can’t let Helene die! I CANNOT!”       “Helen, please, answer us!” Daniel begs. “Hold on, don’t dare to die!”       “Is she actually alive?” Edward expresses anxiety. “I can’t see if she’s breathing or not? What if those bastards defeated her?”       “I dunno, I can’t see it from here,” Terrence replies. “But Marshall looks too bad. If we can save her, we must rush her to the hospital immediately.”       “Fuck, it’s so disgusting…” Peter throws in a rude, low voice. “It’s disgusting when you can’t the fuck do anything. It’s disgusting that you have to be far and just watch your beloved person die. RIGHT BEFORE YOUR EYES!”       In anger, Peter grabs the glassy vase from the table and throws it strongly against the wall so that it breaks into a million pieces that are thrown on different sides.       “Fucking Marcus Longbottom… I wish that bastard had died! I wish he drank the same poison that he tried to feed me with! I hate him! HATE! I HATE! AS WELL AS HIS WHOLE FUCKING GANG OF JACKALS!”       “Hey, guys, look, she’s waking up!” Terrence says. “Look at her!”       The four men come to the laptop immediately and see Helene opening her eyes slowly with a quiet, painful moan and make a great effort to make a deep sigh. After looking around with her dead, blurry eyes, she moves her hands and feet sharply, but they are still tied tightly, and the ropes rub her tender skin painfully.       “Helene! Helene!” Edward exclaims. “Helene, can you hear us? It’s us!”       “Guys…” Helene pronounces faintly and coughs quietly.       “We’re here, sweetie, it’s okay,” Terrence says quietly. “Just don’t worry.”       “It’s the end… They’ll kill me… I can’t get out of here…”       “We’ve gotta understand where to go to help you,” Daniel replies confidently. “That bastard showed the house where they’re holding you, but we can’t understand where it is yet.”       “I don’t know where I am, guys.” Helene sobs quietly. “But it’s awful to be here! Cold, holes everywhere, I’ve been bitten by mosquitoes multiple times, and mice and cockroaches walk here like they're at home. Though I fear mice to death! And it’s dark… I can barely see everything. There’s just a small window here.”       “Please, Helene, try to help us a little,” Peter begs desperately. “Drop some hints so we can think and orient.”       “I can’t! There are only woods around! I can’t even see the city from here! And… I dunno which house you’re talking about. But I can surely say they’re keeping me on one of the latest floors ‘cause it’s too high.”       “We can’t save you if we don’t understand where you are.”       “I know, Peter, but I can’t help.”       “Alright, we’ll solve it a little later,” Edward says quietly. “Now you must try to untie yourself.”       “Yeah, Helene, if you can do this, just take the phone and show us what’s outside,” Terrence says. “Maybe it can help us understand something.”       “The ropes are tied too tightly,” Helene replies in a shaking voice. “I can’t even move my hands now.”       “Try to tense as strongly as you can and spread your hands aside,” Peter advises. “It weakens them a little.”       “I will try…”       Helene makes the effort she has to do what Peter wants, but she cannot do this.       “Nope, I can’t… I’m too weak…”       “C’mon, c’mon, try again!” Edward insists. “You’ll probably have to do this multiple times.”       “I can’t! It’s too hard!”       “Okay, can you feel up the end of the rope or some knots?” Daniel asks. “Maybe you have an opportunity to pull them?”       “There’s something, but I can’t reach it. Can’t twist my hands. It gives me pain…”       “If you can weaken the ropes, it’s gonna be much easier for you,” Peter notices.       “Weaken the ropes if you don’t have any chance to get a knife and cut them,” Terrence advises.       “There’s a knife on the floor, but I can’t grab it,” Helene replies and, groaning, tries to untie her hands again. “Otherwise, I would just fall alongside the chair.”       “Just try to weaken the ropes and knots! Turn your hands on different sides!”       “C’mon, friend, you can do this!” Daniel exclaims. “Use the moment while these assholes aren’t near.”       “Does it make sense?” Helene exhales sharply. “I can’t escape anyway! I have no strength and have no idea where to run. And I think I’m getting ill… I’ve got a sore throat, and it’s getting stronger. And I feel cold… Too cold…”       “It’s gonna be okay, honey,” Peter promises. “We will find a way to solve this problem. Even if we’re far away from each other.”       “God, did I deserve it?”       Helene tries to untie the ropes and turn her hands on different sides as much as possible, even if it does not lead to any result.       “Damn, I’ve got no strength…” Helene pronounces as she chokes and groans. “Can’t take it anymore…”       “C’mon, c’mon, Helene, we believe in you!” Terrence exclaims.       “Don’t give up, Helene!” Edward encourages. “Don’t let those bastards get a victory!”       “The girls are worried about you and believe we will save you,” Daniel adds.       “And Sammy?” Helene asks and tries to untie her hands by force again. “They wounded him on the day they drove me here!”       “He’s fine, he has recovered fully,” Peter calms down. “But he’s missing you so much and having a depression: he doesn’t eat, doesn’t drink, doesn’t play, and doesn’t sleep.”       “As well as your grandmother,” Daniel adds. “She’s been restless and has rarely gotten out of her bed since you disappeared.”       “My God…” Helene pronounces with tears in her eyes. “Grandma…”       “You’re strong, you can do this!” Terrence exclaims. “Remember, your friends were also in a hard situation! Natalia was really brave, confident, and determined when being at Uncle Michael’s house. Anna didn’t break down after all the torture Potter put her through and hit him on the head to save Daniel. And Raquelle actually saved herself magically from falling off the roof of the high building when she and Simon fell. I am still shocked by what she did!”       “If the girls did it, you can do this, too,” Edward adds. “You’ve got a strong motivation – your close people. You could crush yourself for them.”       “Do this for us,” Daniel says. “For the girls. For Sammy. For Mrs. Marshall. For Peter. He’s gonna go crazy if something happens to you. Do you actually know he was pulling his hair out and worried when we knew nothing about you? We did everything we could to help him hold on, but our effort wasn’t enough.”       “I know, guys,” Helene replies in a shaking voice and sniffs loudly. “But I am too weak. I wanna drink and eat. I’ve had stomach pain for several days. I feel dizzy, it’s like I’m about to faint. I mean, I’ve fainted several times. I can’t even stand or walk. I feel too bad. And these deadbeats injected me with something that made me pass out or think barely and consider everything something unreal.”       “I get it, Helene, but please, don’t give up,” Peter begs desperately. “At least for me. I don’t really know what I’m gonna do if I lose you. It’s disgusting that I can’t be next to you now. It’s disgusting that I’ve literally lost.”       “Forgive me, Peter…” Helene tries to weaken the ropes so hard. “I’m sorry, Daniel… Terrence… Edward… I can’t… I can’t!”       “No, Helene, don’t dare to give up!” Terrence demands determinedly. “Hear me! Don’t dare!”       “There’s no hope, there won’t be! You’re too far, but I have no strength!”       “Listen, we can also barely stand on our feet after all the torture Marcus and his pals put us under,” Edward replies quietly. “We’ve got bruises, blood, and burns… But we’re still holding on. Because we know you need us. Peter needs us. We need each other.”       “I really wanna fight, but it’s impossible in this case.”       “Please, Helene, don’t give up!” Peter breaks into a high cry. “Don’t dare! I am banning you! I AM FUCKING BANNING YOU!”       “Sorry… I’m really very sorry… I…”       Then Helene feels the smell of something strange and sniffs it much better.       “Oh, no…” Helene opens her eyes widely.       “What’s wrong?” Daniel frowns slightly.       “Fumes… It smells fumes now… Too close to me…”       “Hey, it’s smoke there!” Edward notices loudly, pointing at the screen of the laptop. “It’s all black!”       “Fucking shit!” Daniel grabs his hair with both hands. “It’s gonna be over badly…”       “My gosh, my gosh…” Helene repeats in a shaking voice with a heavy breath. “No, no…”       “Untie yourself now, Helene!” Terrence exclaims. “I think these bastards decided to set fire.”       “I can’t! I can’t do this!”       “Do what you want, Marshall, but you must untie yourself!” Peter exclaims determinedly. “Untie the ropes and run away before the fire starts!”       “Don’t waste time!” Daniel adds excitedly. “The door is still open! You can get out of here!”       “Take a deep breath and make a lot of effort to weaken the ropes,” Edward insists. “Imagine yourself working out and spreading your legs or hands.”       After another attempt to untie the ropes, Helene starts to breathe much more heavily, understanding that she feels hot and having drops of sweat on her forehead.       “These ropes will be weakened early or late,” Terrence notices. “Just don’t stop doing this thing again and again.”       “Faster, Helene, faster!” Peter pronounces loudly, clapping his hands on the table. “You must get out of there!”       “The smell of fumes is getting stronger,” Helene confesses. “And I think I see smoke far from here…”       “That’s why you must put yourself together! While we’re able to talk, we have a chance to help you even at a distance.”       “I wanna go home…” Helene complains, crying bitterly. “I wanna see my grandma… I wanna wake up and realize it was just my nightmare.”       “Hold on, friend, hold on,” Edward says quietly. “Just do what we say, so that it’s gonna be okay.”       While Helene says nothing and keeps crying bitterly, she hears someone’s heavy steps that get closer and closer – at the side of the door that is still open. She does not see it, but Peter, Terrence, Edward, and Daniel notice Darren and David holding two big canisters, the liquid from which they spit in every corner, at every single thing they see, with an indifference on their faces.       “W-w-what?” Helene freezes. “What are you doing?”       “These bastards are spitting kerosene!” Daniel opens his eyes widely. “They’re gonna burn everything to the fucking ground!”       “No!” Helene screams. “No, please, don’t do this! Don’t do this! Please! For God’s sake!”       “Hey, bastards, spit that shit on yourself and burn yourself down!” Peter roars. “Otherwise, I SHALL DO THIS BY MYSELF!”       “Guys, please, save me! Please, do something! Don’t leave me! Please, guys!”       “Your time has come, Helene Marshall,” David smiles evilly after spitting everything from the canisters out. “You will die now. And you will not escape. Your protectors are far from here.”       “NO, PLEASE!” Helene squeaks as she twirls nervously on the chair. “DON’T DO THIS! LET ME GO! DON’T DO THIS!”       “Watch your sweetheart die now, Rose,” Darren smiles slyly. “And you, assholes, watch your friend for the last time.”       “PETER, PLEASE! DON’T LEAVE ME! PLEASE!”       “Your Peter is far, dolly. Even if he and his gang of sheep guess where to find you, they won’t have time to do this. And when these bastards come here, they will only see the ash. And your burned bones.”       “I shall bury all of you fucking alive!” Peter explodes. “YOU WILL ALL BE DYING UNDER THE GROUND! WITH NO AIR! WITHOUT FOOD! WITHOUT WATER!”       “Please, pity me…” Helene chokes on tears.       “Fucking bastards!” Edward screams. “I wish a fucking airplane fell over your heads! BURN IN HELL, YOU ALL!”       “You will pay for daring to hurt our friend like this!” Daniel exclaims determinedly.       “M-m-m, see how nervous our guys are…” Darren surprises falsely. “They do completely understand that they can do nothing and have to watch their friend die powerlessly.”       “Do not dare to stand in my way, jackasses,” Peter hisses through his teeth. “Do not dare to stand in my fucking way. I swear I shall skin you alive. YOU WILL BE SCREAMING AND MOANING FROM PAIN! CALLING YOUR DADDIES THAT SUCKED THE BASTARD NAMED MARCUS SO HARD!”       “Say goodbye to this gang, cutie. Because we will now throw a burning match, and the fire will spread throughout the whole house quickly and destroy everything. Including you.”       “A-A-A, DON'T DO THIS, LET ME GO!” Helene screams in a heartbreaking way. “LET ME GO! I DON’T WANT TO DIE! PLEASE!”       “While you’re spending your last minutes here, we will go to the home of Mr. Longbottom and help the guys kick the asses of these bastards. And kill them when they are neutralized and unable to resist.”       “HELP ME! SOMEONE! SAVE ME!”       “Bye, shorty,” Darren waves his hand with a slight smile. “It’s a shame you didn’t suck us. But you spread your legs very well. We will remember sex with you all our lives.”       Helene keeps crying bitterly and screaming so heartbreakingly that it breaks the souls of Peter, Daniel, Edward, and Terrence and makes their hearts squeeze so that they feel severe pain. And the fact that they are powerless in this situation makes them terribly nervous, breathe heavily, pull their hair out, and feel disgust and offence at themselves. Because they cannot keep the promise they gave themselves, each other, and their girls.       “This is our fiery farewell,” David says with his head proudly raised after Darren and he come to the exit from the room.       David takes a box of matches from the pocket of his coat, opens it, gets one thing, and burns it along with Helene’s heartbreaking pleas and Peter’s emotional scream, and throws it on the floor quietly. That’s why the bright red tongues of fire set the floor on fire immediately.       “And this is the gist from me, the guys, and Marcus Longbottom!” Darren exclaims, takes a couple of more matches from the same box, and burns them. “Everyone you have ever hurt.”       Darren throws the burning matches on different sides of the room with no hesitation. That’s why the floor and the walls made of wood start burning, and the fire spreads slowly throughout the large room, thanks to the kerosene spilled everywhere.       “Aurevoir, petite fille!” David waves his hand with an innocent smile. “You have several minutes to say goodbye to these assholes.”       “Bye-bye!” Darren says goodbye, laughing evilly. “You are over, and the next victims from our list are these four bastards.”       “NO, PLEASE!” Helene screams hysterically, twirling on the chair and pulling her hands and feet nervously. “LET ME GO! PLEASE! DON’T LEAVE ME HERE! NO, PLEASE! DON’T DO THIS!”       But Darren and David ignore Helene, leave the room quietly, and block the door with something heavy so she cannot get out of here for sure. The girl herself screams with widely open eyes when the burning wooden boards fall from the ceiling with a crash.       “Oh, my God, my God, my God…” Helene starts breathing much more heavily, looking around with wet, widely open eyes. “No, no, no…”       “Calm down, Helene, it’s gonna be okay,” Terrence says quietly but in a little shaking voice.       “It’s the end, guys! I will die here. I can’t get out of here.”       “Faster, Marshall, untie the ropes now!” Daniel insists. “As you want! You still have time!”       “I don’t! I think these men blocked the door with something. I heard the crush. As if they moved something heavy.”       “No panic, we will sort it out later,” Edward says determinedly. “Now you must untie yourself.”       “I can’t!”       “You can!” Peter protests. “You must untie these fucking ropes and get out of here!”       “I have no strength…” Helene coughs quietly, feeling that the smell of fumes gets into her nose. “I can’t…”       “You have very little time! The fire is spreading rapidly through the room!”       “I know, Pete, but I can do nothing!”       Helene puts her head on her shoulders and screams very loudly when a wooden board falls off the ceiling two meters away from her again.       “If you do nothing, you will surely die,” Terrence says determinedly. “It must not happen. You must fight. For all of us. For those who need you.”       “Sorry, guys…” Helene shakes her head and sniffs. “But I’m giving up… I can’t…”       “No!” Peter, Daniel, Terrence, and Edward shout at the same time with horror in their widely open eyes,       “Don’t dare to do this, idiot, DO NOT DARE!” Peter breaks into a cry. “I WANT TO HEAR NOTHING LIKE THIS, HEAR ME!”       “I’m so sorry… But I’m about to die…”       “If I hear something like this again, I swear I shall the fuck STRANGLE YOU WITH MY OWN HANDS! YOU GOT IT? STRANGLE!”       “Hey, quiet, buddy, quiet…” Terrence calms down, taking Peter by the tense shoulders. “Quiet…”       “If you give up so easily, you don’t wanna live so much and don’t value those who love you,” Daniel states confidently. “In the opposite case, you’d crush yourself to do what you should do, whatever it the fuck takes.”       “No, it’s not the truth!” Helene protests. “I value you… I love all of you so much.”       “Then, FIGHT, the fuck!” Daniel breaks into a cry, hitting his fist against the table. “While you can see, breathe, and move, you CAN fight. While you have legs and hands, you CAN fight. The only excuse for your wish to give up may be death. You can only give up if you are dying. NO OTHER WAY!”       “Sounds harsh, but Daniel’s right,” Edward agrees. “There can be no other reasons to give but death. But you can avoid it if you do something for it. And screams and tears will not obviously help you. One thing will help – actions. Determined actions.”       “We’re with you, Helene,” Terrence says softly. “We will be with you until the end/ We’re friends, we will always be the ones. You helped us to bring Peter back once, and now it’s our time to help you. And be sure, we will do this.”       “I’m in a trap…” Helene replies in a shaking voice and exhales sharply with closed eyes. “I’m surrounded on all sides…”       “Fight, Helene, I’m begging you,” Peter begs desperately. “Don’t dare to give up. If you do this and die, I’ll have no meaning to live in this world. I can’t. I need you. I’ll always need you. No matter what happens between us.”       Helene says nothing for a few seconds and looks at everything she sees with wet eyes, seeing the fire is spreading rapidly throughout the room as well as the black smoke.       “I will try…” Helene says hesitantly and coughs quietly. “I will try…”       Getting some confidence after the words of her friends and boyfriend, Helene tries to weaken the ropes on her hands with a painful groan. The girl spends the rest of her strength on it, but she gets it in a magical way when she looks at the men supporting her wish with their glances full of begging and hope.       “C’mon, girl, you can do this!” Daniel encourages. “You’re doing this well!”       “Again!” Terrence exclaims. “Take a little break and try again!”       “Good, Marshall, good!” Edward exclaims. “Keep doing the same!”       “Turn your hands on different sides!” Peter advises. “Let the ropes kind of rub!”       “It’s happening…” Helene pronounces with a shake, feeling that her heart stops for a moment as she rubs her hands with the ropes. “I think it’s happening… H-h-happening!”       “C’mon, sweetie, c’mon! You’re awesome! Don’t stop! You can do this!”       “Hey, I think I felt up the edge of the rope! Something is hanging…”       “Okay, okay, you need a little!” Terrence exclaims. “Weaken the ropes a little more and try to take them off.”       “I think something broke…” Helene smiles exhaustedly. “My hands are freer now…”       “It’s okay, friend, it’s okay!” Daniel jabs. “Again! C’mon!”       “The ropes are getting tinier! They’re tearing!”       Rubbing the weakened ropes actively, Helene gets much more confident and even starts to hope that she can get out of here with the help of her friends, who support her with such great enthusiasm.       “It’s happening…” Helene pronounces happily, breathing heavily enough. “It’s happening! My God!”       Some time later, the ropes break, after all. Then Helene just takes them off her hands and massages her wrists a little, seeing some painful red rings on them.       “Yeah!” Edward, Daniel, Terrence, and Peter exclaim.       “You did it!” Daniel smiles widely.       “Untying your feet is gonna be easier,” Edward assumes.       Helene does not have any problems with getting rid of the ropes that tie her ankles, finding the edge, pulling it, and untying a tight enough knot. In the end, the girl throws the ropes aside and massages her ankles a little before she gets up from the chair.       “Damn, I broke all my nails…” Helene sighs with sadness in her eyes, looking at her hands.       “Okay, now find a rag and close your mouth and nose with it!” Peter demands. “So, you don’t breathe in too much smoke.”       “Oh, I’ve breathed in much…” Helene coughs louder and longer, closing her mouth and nose with a hand and looking around. “And my eyes hurt and water… I feel dizzy…”       Trying to ignore her discomfort, Helene barely comes to the table with a small rag made of thick fabric and does not look clean and closes her nose and mouth with it.       “The fire is almost everywhere!” Helene horrifies. “It’s getting closer to me!”       “Take the phone and move the camera to what’s outside,” Edward says. “So, we have a landmark.”       “There’s nothing but woods here.”       Helene takes the smartphone from the table, comes to the only window, and moves the camera to what’s outside.       “Indeed, woods only…” Daniel pronounces thoughtfully.       “I think these bastards decided to burn the whole house down,” Terrence notices, while Helene moves the camera from one side to another.”       “Is there no way to get through the window?” Edward asks.       “Nope, the window is too small, I can’t get through it,” Helene shakes her head after she moves the camera to herself. “And it’s too high here. I may break something.”       “Devil!” Edward claps his hand on his forehead.       “Check out the door!” Peter exclaims. “If there’s a chance to open it, kick with something, and leave through it?”       Choking from a cough that gets stronger and stronger, and struggling with a sense of nausea and perspiration, Helene comes to the door and starts pulling and pushing the handle.       “Locked!” Helene exclaims. “No pulling, no pushing!”       “How does it open?” Daniel specifies.       “Gets pushed from my side. But it doesn’t open. As if something heavy doesn’t let.”       “You can’t do this?” Terrence asks.       “Nope! I told you these men propped it up with something heavy!”       “Fuck, shit!” Peter swears, grabbing his hair with both hands.       “I’m in a trap, guys!” Helene exclaims excitedly and jumps back sharply when she hears a clap not far from herself, and a couple of burning boards fall from the ceiling. “I can’t get out of here!”       “How heavy is the thing the door is propped out with?” Daniel specifies. “Can’t you move it at all?”       “I can’t! It may be a sofa or something else!”       “Maybe there’s another window?” Edward asks. “What if it’s hidden behind a closet or something else?”       “There are no windows here! And the door doesn’t open! I can’t escape this place!”       “Is the window so small that you can’t get through it?” Peter wonders.       “My head can get through it in the best case.”       “Fucking shit…” Terrence puts his hand on his forehead with a heavy breath. “What do we do?”       “My gosh, my gosh… Did I deserve it? Why? God… God…”       Helene starts walking from one side to another in search of any salvation, but she starts to lose hope since the fire is getting closer and closer to her and has already destroyed something by this moment, so that the ashes are left.       ‘No, no, no, no…” Daniel shakes his head sharply, choking from excitement. “It cannot be the truth! It cannot be the end! We can’t lose it!”       “You said that place was familiar to you!” Peter recalls, turning Edward on himself. “Where is it? Where?”       “I don’t know, I swear!” Edward shakes his head.       “You must know!”       Peter takes Edward tightly by the shoulders and shakes him.       “Think, MacClife, think!” Peter demands in a high, loud voice. “Rack your fucking brains! You must know it! You know the whole fucking city as well as your fingers!”       “I just said that house was familiar to me,” Edward replies hesitantly. “But I can’t remember where it is.”       “REMEMBER THE FUCK! REMEMBER NOW!”       “Does it make sense?” Terrence wonders. “We can do nothing now! The fire is spreading everywhere, but Helene is gonna burn in it!”       “I can’t let it happen! I CANNOT! THERE MUST BE A WAY! THERE MUST BE!”       “Terrence’s right, Rose,” Daniel replies. “Even if we knew where to go and went there immediately, we would only see a bunch of ashes.”       “NO, IT WILL NOT HAPPEN! IT WILL NOT!”       Peter grabs the laptop lid with both hands, not suspecting that Marcus, Luther, Ronald, and Bob have been standing near the stairs for some time and watching what’s happening with sly smiles on their faces.       “Get out of there, Helene!” Peter demands harshly. “Do what you want, but you must stay ALIVE! I CANNOT LOSE YOU!”       “I’m sorry, sweetheart…” Helene apologizes with tears in her eyes. “I can’t do anything…”       “DON’T DARE TO SAY IT! I SHALL NOT LET IT HAPPEN!”       “There’s no way out, there will not be! The door is blocked, and the window is too small!”       “BREAK IT! CRUSH THE WALL WITH A HAMMER! DO WHATEVER YOU WANT, BUT GET OUT OF THERE!”       “I can’t!” Helene chokes on tears. “I can’t…”       “Helene, listen…” Daniel tries to take the word.       “It’s the end, guys… The end…”       “No! Don’t dare to say it!”       “If I’ve ever hurt you, I’m asking you not to be mad at me and forgive me. I…” Helene makes a couple of sobs, squeezing the smartphone with her fingers. “I’ve never wanted… To harm you… Never…”       “No, Helene, no!” Edward pronounces excitedly in a shaking voice. “Don’t say it! We will come up with something! Not everything is lost yet!”       “Please, tell the girls I love them so much. Take care of my grandmother… Don’t leave Sammy alone. And ask them for forgiveness on my behalf.”       “Stop, Helene, please, stop!” Peter begs desperately, understanding that all his muscles tense with the pain, he lacks air, and his eyes water with tears. “I don’t wanna hear it… I don’t wanna hear these speeches. It cannot be your last goodbye. IT CANNOT!”       “I love you, Peter…” Helene confesses as she chokes and coughs loudly. “Very much…. You… You’re the best thing in my life… I… I’ve never had a better friend than you… A better boyfriend than you… I… I’m so happy we met…. Befriended… And started to date… I… Hoped we’d… Spend our whole life together… But… It’s clear I… Don’t deserve it…”       “Please, don’t break my heart…” Peter grabs his throat with a hand with a sense of a lack of hair and a pain in his heart. “Don’t hurt me much more. I feel too bad now. I do wanna take a rope and hang myself. I’ve wanted this all my life. The world wants to get rid of me, but I don’t mind it.”       “You… You didn’t attack me with charges without a reason… For a lie… I… I was really… Not quite… Honest with you… I was hiding something… Something about my past… It’s… It’s ashamed for me to talk about it and remember that… But… Marcus knows the truth… He knows what I did…”       “What do you mean?” Daniel frowns slightly.       “I’m really not so innocent… I have something to hide… It doesn’t have to do with you, Pete… It has to do with the girls… Not just… I… I hurt many people… Who had great problems because of me… Someone solved it, but someone… Hasn’t proved their innocence and… They have to pay for… What they didn’t do.”       “Gosh, Marshall, what are you talking about?” Terrence wonders.       “The case is… The case is that…”       Helene does not speak her mind because something heavy falls from the ceiling and hits her strongly on the head. The girl squeaks loudly and, despite all her attempts, cannot keep her balance, falling to the floor in the end with a strong headache and weakness in her whole body. At this moment, she lets go of the smartphone that falls with the screen down – that’s why Edward, Peter, Terrence, and Daniel see the black screen only, but can still hear the sounds of the fire and things that fall with a crash.       “Helene!” Peter, Edward, Daniel, and Terrence scream, opening their eyes widely.       “Helene, can you hear us?” Daniel asks excitedly. “Helene!”       “Some shit fell over her head from the ceiling,” Edward horrifies. “It has probably knocked her out.”       “Answer, Helene!” Terrence pronounces loudly. “Helene! Let us know you can hear us!”       “No, no, no, it cannot be her final,” Peter shakes his head sharply, setting his widely open eyes on the black screen.       “I’m sorry about saying it, but it seems like we’re powerless now,” Daniel replies hesitantly. “We can’t help her. Just like that old bastard said, we only have to watch her die.”       “NO! Marcus cannot win! My father and his gang of sheep cannot get away from this! Helene cannot die because of him. SHE CANNOT! IT’S UNFAIR! I SHALL NEVER ACCEPT IT!”       While the four pull their hair out, choke on a lack of air, walk nervously from side to another, and try so hard to reach Helene, who stopped answering them, Marcus, Bob, Ronald, and Luther watch what’s happening with an evil smile on their faces and look at each other at some moment. They do not hide their happiness about things going the way they planned, and the girl is in a trap she cannot get out of. And they know that no matter how hard the brunette tries to do something, she is going to breathe in too much smoke and choke, and hot tongues of fire will burn her skin and bones to the core.