Saturday, December Twenty Second, 5:59 A.M…

I got up. The sun was barely out. The hints of lights kissed the sky, making it blush. I was trapped in Ricky’s arms. He was holding me tighter than he ever did. I was buried into his chest, my hair splayed everywhere, but he still held on. It was like we were free falling but he refused to let go. I looked up, seeing that his raven hair was splayed over the pillow and his legs were wrapped around mine. This would make leaving hard.

That was his goal all along, wasn’t it? To make leaving hard.

I heard the clock chime a quiet ring. It must be about six o’clock. Perfect.

I leaned up on one elbow, gently hovering over Ricky’s sleeping frame. His breathing softened as I moved. I stroked his hair, quietly running my hands through the soft locks. He wiggled under my hand. The guitarist’s hands wrapped around me tighter. His eyes flickered open, slowly moving to meet mine. He seemed to realize what time, what day it was.

“Good morning, sir.” I murmured. He leaned up with me.

“Rory, what are you doing up?” He questioned, a sad knowing behind his half lidded eyes.

“It’s the morning.” I softened. He immediately pressed his lips against mine, catching my sleepy body off guard. Rick released after a moment, sorrow engulfing his body.

“Oh, okay. Do you need, uh, water or anything?” He asked, barely heard. I nodded. He reached over, bringing me into a tight hug. I turned, kissing his cheek. A tear dripped from his eye onto my shoulder. I barely turned my head, bring my lips to brush against his ear, making him shuddered.

“While I…get water…please stay here. Please, stay low, stay quiet, and stay in your bunk. And…I’m sorry, for anything.” I urged him, apologizing to him. He nodded and I turned away. I couldn’t bear to see anymore, or I might be tempted to stay.

“I love you.” He whispered as I hopped out of the bunk. I turned, nodding.

“I-I love you to, Ricky.” I murmured. He closed the curtains. The rest of the bands snored on. I had to take a look around, make sure everything was in order.

The Motionless in White boys were on the couches. The Sleeping with Sirens band was in their bunks. Ricky had taken the spare, my bunk. He would stay in there. He wouldn’t come out. I knew Ricky would be helpfully. Hopefully Gabe would be the same.

I saw empty beer bottles scattered around the bus. Good. They were drunk. This would make things a little easier. I snuck on bare feet, ghosting my way past a knocked out Vinny towards the coffee cabinet. There was a back panel, just barely visible. I pried it open, taking a large bundle of rope and the cutters.

There was one knot I learned in Girl Scout camp back when I was about ten years old. While the rest of the girls were all pleased that they could diaper a baby, or learn to sew, I was the tom boy of the group. I excelled specifically at three things: CPR, Wilderness Survival, and knot tying. When we were at a camp, one of the leaders taught me this knot since I was the only one who could tie it. I had long since forgotten the name, but I still could tie it. Basically, it was old knot that tightened if it was move. The more a person struggled, the more it tightened. It was like Chinese Finger Traps, but for rope.

I grinned wider.

Carefully snipping the rope, I was happy that Jason gave me an abundant supply. I mean geez, how much rope did this kid need!? I had at least thirty feet, although it wasn’t the thickest braid, so it was strong but thin. I cut three feet of rope per person with extra left over. Three feet should suffice.

Taking each strand, I laid it out on the table. I had to make this an efficient process. During my planning, I had to bet on one thing, and that was that the cattle prod had a dial, adjusting the shock. It would range from buzz to temporary paralyzing. Of course, it wouldn’t make the difference to a cow, but to a human, it would hurt.

I froze when Ghost stopped snoring. Once he resumed, I continued to their little toy box, quietly opening it and grabbing the cattle prod on top. I checked the bottom of the handle to find a dial. I nearly cheered in relief. Thank goodness!

Next, I went to the cabinet and took out rags, a whole handful of them. I took a few and threw them over my shoulder. The prod was charged, I had the towels and the rope, now I had to act fast.

I’ll take out Motionless in White first.

I crept over to Vinny. They were all drunk, all out cold. Hopefully, the cattle prod would keep them that way for a little bit. Their nerves would be fried and restraining any movement for a while.

Taking one rag in my hand, and turning on the prod, I spun the dial to red, to paralyze. I would feel bad, but he was one of the people that kept me in captivity, as if I was an animal.

So really, I would enjoy this.

Taking a hold on the cattle prod, I quickly shoved a rag into his mouth, muffling any screams or moans, and shoved the cattle prod right on his ribs. There was a muffled slur of strangled noises, but none that woke up the others. When I was done, Vinny was breathing, but didn’t move at all. His head didn’t even twitch.

I grabbed the rope and tied up his wrists, putting them behind his back and checking his pockets. The open end of rope slipped around the couch leg, and I secured it there.

The rest were sleeping.

I couldn’t believe how well this was working!

I moved quietly from each boy, repeating the process. I shoved the rag in their mouth, shocked them, then tied them up, scattered around the room so they wouldn’t escape. It was kind of hard to tie up the boys in their bunks, but I was able to attach them to the curtain rod, which happened to be anchored in the wood panels.

Luck was on my side today.

By the end, I had collected five pocket knives, eight wallets, a pack of cigs that I threw in the trash, and some lighters. I still had Gabe and Ricky to go. They were the last ones. I was afraid the others would wake up soon, although they wouldn’t be able to move for another six hours or so. Each buzz had shaken my arm, so I knew it had to be powerful.

I went over to Gabe’s bunk, ready to gently pull back the curtain. As silently but quickly as I could, I pulled the divider back to see a pair of sad eyes staring out at me.

“Just do it.” He murmured, turning around so his back was to me. Turning the knob down, I hesitated. I didn’t want to hurt him so much since he hadn’t wronged me like the others, but I needed this. I needed closure.

“Sorry.” I mumbled before shocking him. There was a groan and his head drooped. I tied his hands behind his back as he whimpered slightly. I went to Ricky’s bunk, pausing. I had something different for him.

Instead of immediately shocking him, I took out one of the bigger pocket knives, turning the Taser off and collapsing it down slightly. It felt warm in my sweatshirt pocket, but not dangerous anymore. I pulled back the curtain, throwing my arm around his neck.

“Come on.” I grunted, dragging him out of the bunk. I used one arm to wrap around his throat, basically choking him, the other hand held the knife up against his exposed chin. I saw tears streaming down his eyes, whether from physical pain or emotional, I didn’t know.

“Please, let go!” Ricky whimpered. I dragged him back into the front lounge. A very groggy looking Ryan’s eyes were barely opening. He didn’t move, he couldn’t move. I dragged Ricky back with me, throwing him to the floor. Every blow to him felt like another blow to me. He landed on his knees, choking and gagging, gasping for air and whimpering pleas to stop. I kicked him down and he landed face first on the carpet. Taking my last piece of rope, I tied his wrists behind his back, but left it loose, just loose enough for him to know.

“Bus keys, now.” I commanded, pulling Ricky up by his hair. I saw more tears escape his eyes.

“D-drawer. T-third d-down.” He whimpered. I let him go long enough to stalk over, grab the keys to the Motionless in White bus, and go back to Ricky. I made sure they weren’t this bus’ keys. Ryan was watching in shock now. Chris was just starting to wake up, along with the others. I hear muffled groans as people choked through their rags that I left stuffed in their mouths. Sure, sure, they could breath. I’ll let them live long enough to see their pain.

“Shut up.” I growled at Ricky as he was on his knees, head bowed down to his chest. I reached into his back pockets, searching for a lighter or knife or anything. I found a little torn up piece of paper. I took it out, barely glancing at a single word on the front.

Orion.

I couldn’t hesitate any longer. I stuffed the paper in my pocket and exchanged it. I bumped him roughly, making it look like I was hurting him, roughly checking for weapon. Instead, I slipped my hand into my sweatshirt pocket, grasping my ipod. I took it and slid it into his pocket, pulling his shirt down over it. Ricky moaned in pain again. I think he actually was in real pain, but I had a schedule to work on.

“Get up.” I snarled and dragged Ricky along with me. His complaints of pain rose in volume as I roughly shoved him along. I looped the loose end of rope around his bunk curtain rod, making him kneel.

“W-what’s going on!?” Chris raged, now fully awake. I knew he was struggling because I then heard him scream in rage and pain. I went back to the box in the front lounge. Everyone’s eyes were on me. Voices threatened my life, swearing on different objects and people, and promising that they would escape and teach me a lesson. Even Kellin and Jesse were shouting from their bunks.

But no one moved. No one could. Just their strangled voices failed to hurt me.

Without another word, I reached into the box and pulled out a whip. Turning around, I snapped it across Chris’s shoulder. He hissed and the bus fell silently.

“Shut. Up.” I whispered to him, sweetly as I could. Chris attempted to move, but he began to scream from his muscles alighting on fire, and from the rope tightening against his arms.

“Hey, you don’t-“

THWACK!

The whip cracked across the air, landing on Ryan this time. He fell silent.

“Shall I say it again? Quiet.” I silenced the bus. Turning to Chris, I grinned down at him. He was in front of the table, kneeling with his hands behind his back and wrists tied tight to the table. There was no way he could escape.

For the first time, I saw true fear in his eyes. He sat there, glowering, but terrified. I loomed over his frame, glaring down.

“How does it feel to be put down? To be tied up? To be whipped and to have to beg for it to stop!?” My voice rose with every word. I twirled the whip, flicking it down two, three, four times across his chest and shoulders. I reach down, taking a handful of fabric in my clenched fist, teeth bared. In my adrenaline and rage, I basically ripped it off his body. He groaned in pain, head touching his shoulders. The others couldn’t look away.

“Try it now. Be vulnerable. Be weak and helpless. Have no voice.” With every threat, I made a new red line appear across his body. A couple landed down his cheek and marred his forehead. They crossed his tattoos, his pale skin.

“Please, stop.” He whispered.

“What’s that? Louder, pet.” I howled in glee and sent a painful sting over his arms. He raised his head, tears of pain threatening to spill.

“Please! Stop!” He howled. I backed away, impressed with my work.

“What do you say?” I asked, straight faced. He didn’t answer. I flicked out the tip of my pocket knife, gently placing it on his throat and drawing a thin line to his collarbone.

“Please, stop….Master.” He relented. Vinny nearly gasped.

“Good, good, my pet.” I stroked his face. He knew what it was like to be lowered to this standard, to be forced to your knees and made to beg. I bent down to one knee, tucking the whip under my arm. I cupped his face in both hands, giving him a sickly sweet grin. A tear landed on my thumb. He had been lowered.

“Aw, the pet cries. How does it feel to be tortured? To be mistreated, as if you’re an animal? No, no, even dogs aren’t treated this cruelly. How does it feel to count the whips across your chest,” I dragged a finger against one bloody line. He whimpered. “and to count the seconds as someone chokes you?” I moved my fingers up, brushing them against his throat. All the while, he shook and sobbed.

“How does it feel to be near death, my pet? How does it feel to kiss death and think, please, please consume me?” I whispered into his ear.

“Tell me, my pet. Tell me how it feels.” I asked, tilting his chin up to look at me. His eyes were haloed in red. He couldn’t speak. Chris Motionless said nothing.

“You’re right. It feels like an agony that can never stop. Feel my pain and know what I went through. Now this is only been seven minutes. Seven minutes and you cry. Guess what, pet? I had three months of this. I had three months of this and it would go on, if not for now. Take that seven minutes, and make it endless…” I whispered, stroking his tear and blood stained cheek.

“I-I’m sorry, I-I’m s-so, so s-sorry.” He blubbered out. I backed away, standing up, watching him crumple to a mess on the floor. I reveled in it. Ricky gave me a horrified look from the bunk. I ignored him.

“You can’t give me those months back. You can’t give me back what I’ve missed. For that, I will resent you for it.” I growled before going over to Ryan. He was terrified.

“And being raped? Yeah, I don’t think so.” I shook my head. For the next five minutes, I listened to him howl, screaming my name to stop.

“That’s right! I screamed for you to stop, but you never did! Feel every ache and burn!” I howled in delight. When all was done, I backed away, let him bleed through his green shirt. The keys were in my pocket. I was almost done.

Walking back over to Chris, I knelt down at his side. If he could move, he would’ve jumped back.

“I’ll let you know something, pet. If you ever dare to hurt me, or anyone that I’ve ever loved, I will find you, and I will make you wish you never bought me from Oliver, do you hear me, pet?” I whispered in his ear. I turned his chin so he met my eyes.

“Y-yes!” He squeaked.

“You would make a fine pet. It’s such a…shame…I couldn’t stay around to enjoy you any longer.” I sighed, stroking his cheek as if he was a cat. He whimpered and sobbed softly as I stood up.

“I’ll be back, boys.” I murmured and stepped off of the bus, locking it behind me. We were in a small town, just barely hundred people or so. We were parked in a back lot, an empty lot of a home repair store. Perfect.

I walked in, opening the wallet of one of the boys, and forking over cash for a couple bottles of spray paint and lighter fluid. I took the spray paint and wrote one large word on each side of the bus in thick bold letters. The bus was black, so I had gotten white spray paint, so they would remember me by.

When I was done, I went back up the steps. It was deadly silent as I approached. Under their watchful eyes (Minus Ryan since he had passed out after the second shock), I pried through their belongings. I went over to Ricky’s stuff, throwing his laptop, notebook, and phone out of his bag. I shoved my spray paint, collection of pocket knives, two of the lighters, and the money from the wallets into the bag. I riffled through all wallets I had collected and took the money from each of them. After a moment, I watched as I snagged every credit card and driver’s license. I grabbed a pair of scissors, standing before all of them.

“Hey Kellin?”

“What is it, Rory?” He grumbled darkly.

“So this credit card of yours…”

“No.”

“Oh man, I can’t even imagine getting it replaced.”

“NO!” He shouted. I clipped it in two, tossing the remnants in the trash

“That’s going to be expensive.” I chuckled. He cursed me out as I proceeded to cut everything into tiny pieces, tossing them in the trash can. I didn’t have a lot of time left. It was already about seven o’clock. Everyone who saw me cringed. I turned to Ghost, feeling a slight bit bad. He hadn’t been too bad. I looked down at the one set of cards.

“Ghost, these yours?” I questioned. He nodded. I walked over to him, sliding the scissors in my backpack that I heaved over my shoulders. I carried the can of lighter fluid in one hand, the lighter in my pocket. I stood three inches in front of his face, shaking my head.

“You were never that cruel to me, although you were one that bought me.” I shrugged. He bowed his head.

“I’m sorry…Master.” He whispered. I gently cupped his chin.

“You catch on quick.” I winked holding the two cards out between my index and middle finger.

“Thank you, Master.” He hummed. I slid the two cards into his front pocket. He couldn’t reach them, still couldn’t move. He’ll get to them eventually.

“You would’ve been such a wonderful pet, you and Chris. Chris just need breaking. You, well, you would’ve been a faithful pet.” I cooed to him. He smiled weakly. I loved switching roles, making them beg before me. I loved that I could see their pain, not because I loved being a Master, no, but because I loved them experiencing what I had felt for three months.

“For being such a good pet, and not too bad a Master, I’ll let you have your precious cards. You’ll all be needing to buy clothes and supplies anyways, since the rest is on your bus.” I patted his shoulder, turning away. I took out the cattle prod, extending it and turning it on. The weapon hummed happily in my hand.

That’s when I heard a creak.

Whipping around, I saw Ricky walking past the bunks. I shook my head.

“Oh, Ricky.” I sighed and walked towards him. He shrieked and clawed at the back lounge. I felt really, really bad about doing this, but it had to be done.

“RUN!” Kellin and Jesse and Justin and all voices chorused. But Ricky couldn’t run. When his back was turned, I grabbed a fistful of his hair, pulling his neck back. He shrieked. I saw his eyes roll back, staring at me in sadness.

“I’m so sorry.” I whispered before slamming the cattle prod in his side. It wasn’t set to any higher than a two, but it was enough to send him falling to the ground, howling in pain. I stalked back to the toy box, turning off the prod and tossing it in. I grabbed my match and a pocket knife.

“I’ll throw you all a bone, pets. Here’s one knife. Get it, and you’ll be free.” I tossed the closed knife towards Ricky. It landed on his lap. I don’t think he’ll be moving anytime soon. He just gurgled something in pain and passed out.

I took the toy box and the whips and all their cruel instruments with me as I headed out of the bus. I snagged the SWS bus keys on the way out. Now, I had their keys and the MIW bus keys. I would only need to drive the MIW bus, though. Taking the keys, I put them on the ground, stepping on them and crushing the device beneath my heel. It cracked and popped. I knew it was dead.

Taking the box, I went onto the MIW bus, opening the door and working quickly. As soon as I was on, I knew I had to drive a while away from here. I couldn’t keep the bus. It would be too noticeable. If Chris called another band too look out for the bus, they could easily find me. No, I had to ditch the ride outside of town.

“Wait, I’m so stupid!” I chuckled and found a kitchen knife. Running out of the bus, I went to the tires of the other vehicle. Within two minutes, all of them were slashed and useless. Now they couldn’t escape unless they called a Triple A man. That would even take hours! I had plenty of time.

“There we go.” I sighed in contentment. Going back to my new vehicle, I started it up and began to drive it away. It hummed happily as I zoomed south, towards Arizona. I had a while to go since I was still in Utah, but I could put a few miles in on the vehicle.

Five miles later, I saw a truck pull out behind me. I flashed my lights a couple of times. He honked three sharp notes. The truck trailed me until it pulled off. I waved to Jason. He grinned wildly and gave me a thumbs up before zooming off.

He knew I had made it. He would give the call. I was left with careful instructions. I had to make it twenty five miles to High Peak County and go to the small town of Reed. Once I was there, I needed to make it to Wanderers Paradise, a local bar and Guide pit stop. There would be a ride for me back to The Restless Wanderer.

I had a feeling anything with the ‘Wanderer’ word in the title would be a Guide stop.

Fifteen miles later, I pulled to the side of the road on the abandoned way. It was okay to search for my stuff. They wouldn’t be trailing me.

I put the lighter fluid on the toy box, rifling through the other boys’ stuff. I pulled some shirts to stuff in my backpack, taking my empty can of spray paint out. I threw in a jacket, some pants, and a shirt. They were all Ricky’s. I don’t think he’d mind. I also stole some shoes and socks plus a beanie that I immediately pulled over my head. There was some food, water, and other essentials, but I left the rest alone. As I walked out, I took the kitchen knife and keys. I locked the door but left a window cracked, in case I had to jump back in.

With my backpack on my back and the box in my hand, I walked out into the dry sandy meadow. It wasn’t even really grass, just sand and some spare bushes. I set down the box with all the toys. I emptied all the fluid into it, setting the thing ablaze so that no one could ever use it again.

I was burning the past, the three months, the memories…all of it.

With a smile, I unbuckled my collar off my neck, chucking it into the raging flames, at least five feet high. The sunlight was making some of the orange disappear. The crackling pleased me. It was all done.

I was going home.

There was one last thing to do: Paint.

I took my can of paint and resprayed the same one word on each side of the bus. Now, both bands had my memory on their side. I looked at the word, just one simple word, but they would know what it was, what it means, who it was.

It was one word.

RAGE.

I let out one finally screech of victory and triumph before following my GPS road to where I was supposed to go. Follow the road ten more miles. I’ll get there.

And I had all the time in the world.

Notes

Sorry this chapter is so long, but she did it. Orion is finally free! She's heading off towards home. It's the long journey back.

But this story is far from over.

Will she make it back safely? What happens to the boys? Will she make new friends, enemies, and what happens to her sister?

You'll find out, soon.