Tainted -- Chapter 4
Here's chapter four, guys :) Hope you like....
Title: Tainted
Beta: the lovely and talented amproof :P
Pairing: Kris/Adam FS and possibly more eventually, temporary Kris/OFC
Rating: R
Warnings: non-con(off page), violence, torture
Disclaimer: none of this ever happened and God I hope it never does. Just fiction, and the people in the story are not mine, obviously :P
Summary: Someone wants Adam out of the way, and they'll go to any lengths to make that happen. Can Kris's and Adam's friendship survive this ultimate test?
Chapter 4
Adam huddled against the wall of the room that had become his prison, trembling violently with shock and pain. His hands were bound behind him now, fastened to a point nearly at floor level, so he could feel his hands again - not that he was at all sure at the moment that more feeling was a good thing. His physical and emotional pain were amplified by the fact that he was still blindfolded, trapped in a world of darkness where the only thing he could focus on was the pain, and the only thing he could see was the brutally vivid memory of what had happened to him a few hours earlier.
He shivered, his bound body trying to curl in on itself to protect him from the cold that went deeper than bone-deep, deeper than anything physical, right into his very soul. When he’d been left alone this last time, after hours of unspeakable abuse and violation, he’d been left broken and damaged and naked - stripped of both his clothing, and his very dignity.
The gag had been left off this time when his captor had left him.
He probably knew that Adam no longer had the strength of will or body left to make himself heard outside these walls.
Adam flinched when the door opened with an echoing crash, turning his head away and swallowing back a despairing sob. He hadn't known there was any piece of him left to break, but something within him shattered at the prospect of more suffering and degradation.
Please… no more… please, no more, I can’t…
His dignity left in tatters at his feet, it was all Adam could do to hold back the pleading, desperate words; and the only reason he did so at all was because he was afraid of the consequences if he dared to speak without permission. He cringed at the sound of the now-familiar footsteps crossing the room, shaking his head almost imperceptibly in a silent plea for mercy from someone he already knew had none.
The man reached down and jerked Adam’s head back, and Adam bit back a cry of pain. By this point, his scalp was very sore from all the abuse it had taken over the past - however long he had been here. He had no idea at this point. At first he’d tried to keep track of the time, to guess at how long he’d been missing, and how long it might be before someone tried to find him. By now, though, his entire world had been reduced to agony after endless agony.
Reality before this hellish place almost felt like a cherished dream.
Adam tensed, taut and trembling with dreadful anticipation. He could feel the heat rolling off the other man’s body as he crouched in front of him, and he instinctively tried to draw back further, though his folded legs were already pressed against the wall behind him as far as he could go. His captor reacted to his pitiful attempt with a cruel laugh.
“What’s the matter, Adam?” he taunted softly, reaching out to brush his fingertips lightly over his captive’s trembling lips. “Don’t you like me anymore?”
Adam’s skin crawled from the degrading insinuations of the words, as much as the suggestive touch of his captor’s hand. His face hot with humiliation, his stomach lurching in revulsion, Adam tried to pull away, and was rewarded with a brutal slap across his face, followed by cruel fingers digging into his jaw, roughly holding his head in place. He shuddered from the man’s warm breath on his cheek and the harsh, menacing words that followed, in a far different tone than before.
“Don’t you move, you stupid little whore. Don’t you dare fight me, do you understand? You’re nothing but a pathetic little bitch who’s going to keep still and do exactly as he’s told! Aren’t you?”
He shook Adam by the painful grip he had on his face, knocking his head into the wall, and Adam winced with pain, trying to nod against the vise-like hold, biting down on his lip until he tasted blood to keep from crying out. Panic nearly overwhelmed him at the reminder of his own helplessness; and in that moment, Adam would have done anything to keep from experiencing the same abuses that had been forced upon him the last time.
Please… please, don’t… please don’t…
The man’s voice softened slightly as his touch gentled on Adam’s jaw, and then began to trail suggestively downward. Adam shuddered, but dared not try to pull away again. He offered no greater resistance than a choked cry of pitiful protest and a slow, pleading shake of his head. Even as he tried to silently plead with his captor, however, Adam’s shoulders shook with silent sobs of despair.
He knew he would find no pity or compassion here.
“That’s better,” the man soothed him. “That’s more like it. Easy…”
Adam lowered his head in shame at the approval in the words. He was disgusted with his own submission - but he couldn’t fight, he couldn’t escape. He hated himself for surrendering to the attack that had taken place before, but he had no choice. This situation was completely outside his control; he was helpless to do anything except whatever it took to somehow survive another minute.
At least… that’s what he kept telling himself.
Believing it was another matter entirely.
“Now… if I let you live, Adam… if I let you go… you’re going to keep your mouth shut. Aren’t you?”
Adam’s heart leapt up into his throat, an uneasy hope rising within him. He hadn’t even considered the possibility that his captor might intend to let him live when he was through with him. He caught his lower lip between his teeth for a moment before nodding hurriedly, swallowing hard.
“Yes,” he agreed in a hoarse whisper. “I… I won’t tell anyone… I swear…”
“Shhh,” his captor soothed him with false gentleness, covering his mouth and silencing his tremulous, pleading words. “You’re not going to say a word about what happened. I know.” He paused, and his voice was somehow soft and hard at the same time as he continued with quiet, certain authority. “The first time I hear of a single detail of this incident being released to the press… or the cops… I’m coming after you, Adam. You and Kris. Do you understand?”
“Y-yes,” Adam whispered, struggling to speak as the man removed his hand from Adam’s mouth. “I-I understand…”
“And you’re going to stay away from him, aren’t you? You’re not going to tell him why - but you two are suddenly not going to be such good friends after all, are you?”
Adam hesitated, wincing at the emotional pain of that very suggestion. He bit his lip again, struggling to find the words to answer.
“You don’t want him to get hurt, do you, Adam?” his captor prompted. “You don’t want for something bad to happen to Kris, because you couldn’t man up and do what you had to do, do you? How would you like to spend a couple of hours just watching… tied down like this so you can’t do a damn thing… while I do to Kris what I just finished doing to you? Does that sound like something you want to happen, Adam?”
Adam shook his head desperately, swallowing back a sob, unable to form words under the intensity of the terror the man’s cruel threats created. Unsatisfied with his wordless response, his captor slapped him and shook him hard as he snarled again.
“Does it?”
“No,” Adam gasped out, barely over a breath. “Please… please, no… please don’t…”
“Well, Adam,” the man continued, his voice patient and patronizingly gentle again. “That’s up to you, now, isn’t it?”
He was quiet a moment, allowing that thought to sink in, before he continued in a pitiless, threatening whisper in Adam’s ear, gripping the side of his face so he couldn’t pull away, his other hand trailing over Adam’s body with obscene intimacy.
“You’re going to need medical care, Adam. I know I… did a lot of damage.” Adam could hear the smirk in his voice, and his skin crawled with the horrific images that flooded his mind. “So… there won’t be any avoiding some details getting out, will there? But you are going to be very uncooperative with any investigation that might happen, aren’t you?”
Adam nodded hurriedly, too frightened by the threats that had been made to even pretend to resist any longer.
“You’re going to say you don’t remember anything… didn’t see anything… don’t know anything. No descriptions of me, or this place, or anything. You should thank me for the blindfold; it should help with that,” the man pointed out smugly before going on. “You will keep your mouth shut about everything that’s happened these past few days, as much as possible. And you will stay away from Kris Allen. He’s gonna be concerned at first. He’s gonna want to make sure you’re okay. He’s a good friend, isn’t he, Adam?”
Adam nodded weakly, a dull ache building in his chest at the thought of how true those words were - how much he was going to have to give up to keep himself and Kris safe. He let out a silent, shuddering sob, fighting to keep silence, to keep that small additional satisfaction from the sadist tormenting him with cold, commanding words.
“But you’re going to shut him down, aren’t you? You’re going to shut him out completely. He’s not going to understand, and he’s going to try to figure out what’s wrong - but you’re not going to let him figure it out - and you’re not going to let him in. Isn’t that right, Adam?” Adam hesitated, and the man grabbed him painfully, eliciting a choked cry of anguish from his trembling lips, as he leaned in closer, his voice seductively, deceptively soft in Adam’s ear.
“Isn’t. That. Right?”
Adam hurriedly nodded, his shoulders shaking with sobs as he forced out a trembling, desolate whisper. “Yes… yes, I’ll… I’ll do w-whatever you say… please… just d-don’t… don’t hurt him…”
“Like I said, Adam,” the man murmured, running idle fingers through his hair in a parody of affection, “That’s up to you.”
A moment later, Adam felt the cool, hard sensation of the gun against his throat, and his stomach lurched with fear, his mouth going dry as he drew in a sharp gasp of alarm.
Was he lying? Was that all just a sadistic mind game, and he’s gonna kill me anyway, after all that?
“If you try to fight me... if you try anything… I will blow you away, right here, Adam. I’ll kill you. You gonna behave yourself?”
Adam nodded, swallowing hard despite his sore, abraded throat.
He was abruptly released, then a moment later stunned to feel his bound wrists being unfastened from the wall behind him, then unfastened from each other. He collapsed forward onto the floor, cradling his numb, sore arms against his chest as he gasped for breath.
“Take the blindfold off.”
Adam hesitated. A shivery sensation began in the pit of his stomach. Why did he want him to take the blindfold off?
If I see his face, there’s no way he’ll let me live…
He felt the gun at his temple, heard the command issued again with chilling softness.
“Take it off, Adam.”
He had no choice but to obey, removing the blindfold with clumsy, shaking efforts, made more so by the hours of restricted blood flow. He braced himself for the gunshot blast he just knew would follow the moment he saw his captor’s face, his heart racing, pounding in his ears so loudly that he thought he might pass out. He kept his eyes closed even after the blindfold was removed, trembling with dread.
“Look at me, Adam.”
He shook his head slightly, pleadingly, hardly recognizing the weak, trembling voice that issued from his own lips. “Please… d-don’t… don’t make me…”
“Look at me.”
Knowing that he had no option but to obey, Adam finally looked up into the face of his captor - only to see that it was once again covered with the same ski mask he’d been wearing when Adam had been taken. Thin lips twisted into a vicious smile, and the man laughed as Adam nearly collapsed with relief, shaking violently with the release of some of his terror.
Something soft and a little heavy struck him in the side, and he glanced down to see his t-shirt and jeans wadded up beside him on the floor. His captor turned toward the door with slow, heavy steps. He issued a final order before closing the door behind him.
“Get dressed.”
*******************************
Kris sat in an armchair in the hotel lobby, his head resting wearily in his hands.
Larissa was leaning on the arm of the chair, rubbing slowly up and down his back in a soothing motion. They were surrounded by security, who’d accompanied them down here because the hotel room seemed too small, too stifling, and Kris just had to get out. Unfortunately, the lobby was as far as they would allow him to go.
They’re probably afraid if they leave me alone for long, I’ll take off…
… and they wouldn’t necessarily be wrong.
Three tour dates had been cancelled already, and the concert scheduled for the following night, three hundred miles away, was supposed to go on as planned. Hours of coaxing and arguing had finally pushed Kris into agreeing to go on with the tour - but he had immediately felt terrible for giving in. He knew that he was accomplishing nothing by sitting here in a hotel room, waiting and doing nothing. There was little that he could physically do to help his friend, and they couldn’t just stay on in this town indefinitely.
Still, going on with the next show felt like the same thing as betraying Adam.
He had outwardly agreed to the plan. Still, when the buses pulled out in a few hours and made their way toward the next stop - Kris wasn’t quite certain that he was going to be on one of them.
I can’t just leave him… I can’t…
Even if he stayed, though, he didn’t know what he thought he could actually do. He didn’t want to think about the dreadful ideas that kept edging into his mind, but he couldn’t completely keep them out.
What if he’s never found? What if it’s already too late to save him?
“I’m so sorry, honey,” Larissa murmured, sliding her arm around him and leaning her head on his shoulder, as if she’d read the darkest of his thoughts.
Kris wished she wouldn’t try so hard to comfort him. All it accomplished was to make him feel worse. “I can’t…” he whispered, shaking his head. “I just… we can’t just… just leave him here…”
“They’ll find him, sweetie,” Larissa insisted gently. “They’ll find him eventually…”
“No.” Kris shook his head again, looking up at her through wide, fearful eyes “No… they say if they don’t find a missing person within seventy-two hours… the chances of their being found at all are slim to none. It’s been… seventy-five hours, Rissa. God, what if he’s… if he’s…”
A commotion near the entrance drew his attention before he could finish, as a heavy-set man burst through the doors, breathlessly exclaiming, “It’s Adam Lambert! It’s him, outside on the sidewalk! He needs help!”
Kris was out of the chair and out the door before the security personnel could either stop him or reach Adam themselves. A small crowd was beginning to gather, keeping a cautious distance from the crumpled figure on the sidewalk a few feet from the door. It was difficult to tell, with his clothes ragged and torn, his face and arms covered in blood and bruises - but Kris knew immediately.
It was Adam.
He rushed to his friend’s side, pushing through the crowd and falling to his knees beside him. Adam was half-kneeling, half-lying with his long legs folded awkwardly beneath him. His eyelids were fluttering weakly, as if he was struggling to remain conscious, and he tried to lift his head, groaning hoarsely with the painful effort.
“He shouldn’t move,” someone in the crowd called out anxiously. “He could have a spinal injury!”
Kris gently pushed Adam’s shoulder down with one hand, brushing back the dark, matted hair that fell across his eyes with the other.
“Shhh, it’s okay… just be still, okay? You’re gonna be okay…”
But Adam had stopped moving, his head lolling lifelessly against the sidewalk, and Kris’s heart clenched with panic. His hand tightened on Adam’s shoulder, and he resisted the urge to shake him, desperate for some sign of life.
“Adam? Adam, can you hear me?"
TBC...