Gym Buddies II: Part Eight
#8 of Gym Buddies II
Gym Buddies II: Part Eight
I swallowed hard and snapped my head from one face to another, unsure where to look. Tom seemed to be the ringleader, so I focused my attention on him.
"What do you mean? What mess?" I got no response and hoped they were just trying to scare me with silence. I shook my head and made my way for the exit, only to find the otter as an obstacle. "Move it, otter. Unless you want to lose some teeth?" He sniggered as if this was extremely unlikely.
"Andrew," Tom said to the otter, "you're not gonna let him speak to you like that, are you?" Andrew shook his head and squared up to me. Instinctively, I took a step back, landing my paw on the panther's. I felt a hard fist land on the back of my neck, making me recoil. I turned to face him, and now I could see he was grinning wildly. I stood up and clenched my paw into a fist, readying myself to strike the next one to attack.
Next, it was the cheetah that punched me in the kidneys, and when I turned to swing I was greeted by a hook to the jaw. I clutched my maw and felt the inside of my lip run with blood. When I looked up at him, he was standing in a boxing position and hoping for me to strike back. "Come on, mutt! What are you gonna do?"
I stood to my fullest and inhaled before pointing a shaking finger at him. "You wanna know? You wanna know what I'm gonna do?" I closed my finger into the rest of my paw and held it back as if I would strike him in the face. Instead, I balanced myself on one leg and shot a back kick into the panther's solar plexus. He doubled over, so I raised my foot and delivered a heel drop to the back of his head, knocking him instantly to the floor. I got the chance to push my fist into Tom's stubby little snout. It was more than a little satisfying to wipe the smile from his face. Before I could run away, the cheetah's leg caught mine and grounded me. He flipped me over and stood on my paw, the otter taking the other one. Tom made his way to me and snickered.
"Aw," he said, his voice wet with mock sympathy, "look at the poor husky. Helpless ickle baby... not so good when the shoe's on the other foot, is it?"
I shot him a confused look. "What? What are you talking about?" A small trickle of blood ran down his nose, which made me smirk. I'd wanted to do that ever since he sneered at me for the first time.
"Like you don't know," a winded panther called out, clutching onto his stomach with one paw and rubbing the back of his head with the other.
"Ryan, are you all right?"
"I will be," he assured the tiger, "and once this is over, he'll be all right too." I wondered what the Hell they were talking about. Something about the tone of his voice made me know he wasn't talking about me. Tom picked up on my still confused look. He kneeled into my chest and leaned to my face
"So what were you planning on doing to Dan tonight?" My breath became heavy as I kept silent, not knowing the response Tom wanted. He clamped his paw around my muzzle and dug his claws into the skin. I winced and my entire body shot into the air as I tried to pull my head away from him. "Answer me," he screamed.
"I... I was... we were... Argh, stop!" The tiger let go so that I could answer him, but I could still feel his claws inside me. Through heavy breaths, I answered him slowly. "We were g-gonna have sex," I said, quite embarrassed by the statement. He snickered and shook his head.
"Is that what you call it? You were going 'share a beautiful moment', were you?" Again, I didn't answer. "I know what you were gonna do. And it sickens me."
"What? What do you mean?"
"I've seen the way he acts around you - nervous, scared he's gonna say the wrong thing. I heard from Pippa that just this morning he was worried you were gonna get mad. He was crying - tell me why he might be crying, Luke."
It took a moment for it to click. He couldn't possibly think that, could he? I'd never hurt Dan and I'd certainly never force him to do anything he didn't want to.
I might have been a bit of a bully, but I wasn't a rapist.
"Tom, y-you've got this all wrong, I swear-"
"Shut the fuck up," he interrupted, pushing the side of my head into the floor. The otter stood up from my paw, and two worn-down trainers were standing in front of me.
"Lose some teeth," I heard the otter cackle. I looked up into his eyes and then back down to his trainers. He moved one of them back and I whimpered, knowing what was coming. I clamped my eyes tightly together and willed myself to wake up from a nightmare.
My mouth swelled with blood as the force took out my front teeth. The pain made me scream and my screams made them laugh. I spit out the bloody incisors and canines as the dry copper liquid filled my maw. I felt my arms free, so brought them to hide my face from any other attacks. The other more prominent reason was to hide from the horror of what was happening.
"Scott," Tom purred, getting off on my pain, "why don't you grab one of those dumbbells? Say one of the sixty pound ones?" The cheetah cackled as he ran to the weights with a skip in his step. I dreaded to think what they were planning as a waterfall of blood gushed from my lips. He soon returned, his arm struggling under the square weight. He let it fall with a deafening thud which caused the ground to shake. "Well, Mister Dixon? Left or right?" The feline considered each of my paws, then settled on the right one. The otter and the tiger held my arms down for him, stretching my right one far out. I saw him raise the dumbbell as he opened my fingers from my paw. He pushed my thumb back and positioned himself.
"No," I begged, "no, please! Please don't!" Beneath my screams, the next sound I heard was the crack of bones as my thumb hit the floor and was crushed beneath the weight. I felt the blood ooze underneath the skin before a second thud hit it. The paw was now shaking in pain and tears were streaming down my face. I felt pathetic and helpless, the same way they imagined Dan felt every day. All I wanted to do was curl into a ball and cry for Dan, but they wouldn't let up from my arms.
"That doesn't hurt, does it?" Scott asked, now pulling my thumb so that it was flat against my wrist. My screams were deafening, which the otter was getting tired with. He slammed his fist into my windpipe, causing my shrieks of help to become mere wheezes and coughs. Another spit of blood. I heard someone walk in and realised that the panther was missing from the torturous gang.
"My turn, Tom?" The tiger nodded and sat on my paw. The otter did the same and I was left totally exposed as the panther stood over me. "Scott, get his legs, won't you? I don't want him kicking me in the balls when he's got the chance!" The cheetah placed the weight on my legs and then sat on top of it. I writhed and tried to wriggle free, but couldn't. When I saw what he was holding in his paws, I froze. In one was a jug of water. The other was gloved and holding one of the rocks from the steam room. The glow it was giving told me it was still boiling hot.
"No," I tried, though my crushed trachea didn't allow the sound. He poured the water over my head and half-way down to my chest. I let out giant wails of terror as I realised what he was planning on doing.
"I can't believe what a sadistic fucker you are, mutt," he purred at me. "Remember when I asked you how he burnt his paw? You didn't give a fuck how he felt, did you? You liked making him suffer. What did he do to you, though? Hm? Why did you burn him like that? That's really fucking sick." He brought the rock to my eyes to let me see it. The immense heat nearly made me puke. I pressed my head to the floor, which only made him smile. "Ooh, look at this neck!"
He poured the rest of the contents of the jugs onto my neck, threw it to the side and held my muzzle down. The heat came closer and closer to me and I whimpered in despair. I found my voice as the rock touched my skin and a nasty hiss issued from the steam. My neck burned further as he pressed in as much as he could.
"How do you like it? Hm? How do you like it when someone does this to you, you evil..." he slammed his fist into my jaw, "fucking..." and again, "cunt!" He threw the rock to the side and hit the fresh burn. I jolted and my arms and legs were suddenly freed. The panther spat on me as he got up.
I curled up as much as I could, my paws covering my face and neck. I whimpered through a wheeze into them. "I didn't do anything... I didn't do anything... please..." They all stood around me, Tom now flicking something metal in and out of his paws. I had to hold back a flood of vomit - only because I thought I'd never stop if I started. I cried and begged that Dan would be here to help me. Tom laid me flat on my back and showed me what he was holding - a deadly-looking switch blade. His claws found their way into the burn and pulled at the melted flesh, causing me to scream and close my eyes tightly.
"Open your eyes, Luke!" I did, wincing at the sight of the blade. "Now, I'm gonna give you two options. Blade or claws? Which one kills you?" I started to cry again and felt the blade press against the skin on my throat.
A loud bang ricocheted through the room, and everyone's attention was diverted to the exit. I heard it swing open and someone rush inside, to which the four gang members ran. Tom's claws tugged out of my skin as he left. Left alone, I wept gently, trying not to listen to the violence that was going on. I heard a thump or two, a grunt and a definite cry. I knew it was Tom that shouted out, but took no pleasure in it.
A set of footsteps ran out and one rushed to me. I heard three beeps of a phone's keypad as a familiar teary voice said something. "Ambulance... yeah, it's my friend, h-he's been attacked and... and... Christ, Luke, can you hear me?"
I rolled on the floor to face the voice, but my vision was blurred. I didn't know if it was the extreme pain or the nausea, but I couldn't make out a thing.
"Luke, can you hear me?" I nodded a little - at least I thought I did. The question was repeated until I made a noise. "What? What did you say?" I repeated it softly before everything around me disappeared into black silence.
"Al..."