Chapter Nine
Benji
Benji really should have thought a bit harder about what he said before he did because by the time the two were done beating the living shit out of him, he felt like he was going to keel over.
It was honestly a miracle that he was conscious.
He didn’t know the names of the four men in the room.
It wasn’t like that was going to make much of a difference in anything.
No matter what he knew about them, they were still his captors.
He did wish that he knew why he was though.
Sure, context clues led him to understand that they thought he was Andi.
That made sense. Andi was a unisex name.
He just didn’t know how they knew the name or why they thought Andi had done some egregious thing to them.
Everyone in their little business had enemies.
But it was rare when they were called by name.
And it was even weirder that she was. She always kept her name under wraps but he was sure there was a way to find it somehow.
Andi could surely find the name of anyone and if she could, someone else probably could.
The whole thing was rather suspicious though. Were they waiting for him? How did they know he was going to be there? The whole facility was closed off. Was it their facility? That would make the most sense… But they didn’t seem very concerned with what he was doing so that couldn’t be it. Could it?
His mind was reeling from all the questions he had and zero answers.
Benji’s body slacked forward as much as his bonds would let him.
His head hung forward as well with blood oozing from it.
He heard a snicker in front of him and he was pushed back against the chair again.
Benji swallowed down a groan and stared blankly at the man in front him.
His fists were bloodied from the assault he had given him and Benji’s blood was spattered all over his body now.
The other guy that was behind him that had been doing the beating looked similar.
They did not pull any punches on him. Not that he was expecting it.
The other two hadn’t really budged much.
The short one kept cackling though and Benji hated the sound.
It was something that was going to haunt his nightmares, surely.
And why was he there anyway? He hadn't done anything besides cheer. The one beside him though… He just stood there and stared at a spot on the ground. He had been doing that the whole time. Benji couldn’t help but notice it when the other three were so interested in him and that guy just wasn’t.
“Are you still biting your tongue, Andi?”
Benji scoffed quietly and snorted. Blood immediately coated his mouth again. He spat another large glob of it on the ground near both of their feet. His gaze stayed lazily upon them, figuring that was a decent enough answer.
The leader, he was assuming, smirked then nodded his head.
“Good,” he leaned forward, impossibly close to Benji’s face, and placed his hands on his shoulders.
“I didn’t want to be done with you so quickly.
” He gave his face a good three pats then slammed his fist into his face.
“Learn your manners.” The man seethed softly before he turned around and walked up the stairs.
Two of the other guys immediately followed.
The other aggressor and the cackler. The quiet one stayed, not lifting his gaze from the ground until he heard the door close.
Benji was pretty sure he heard a click of a lock.
That made sense. It would be foolish not to.
For a while, Benji just stared at the guy and the guy stared back.
It probably went on far too long but that wasn’t his fault.
He was the one attached to a chair, unable to move.
All he could do was stare and try to figure out how to get the hell out of there.
However, after a while, he couldn’t stand it anymore and he looked away.
Particularly at the blood that had pooled on his stomach from his mouth.
That seemed to be enough to get the guy to start moving.
Benji couldn’t really see what he was doing but he heard some drawers open and water running behind him before he reappeared.
He had a wet cloth and some bandages. “What are you doing?” Benji asked as clearly as he could with his swollen face, genuinely curious.
“Cleaning you up.”
“Why?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“Why would you?”
The guy just stared at him. “Would you rather I leave you alone?”
Benji stared back.
Taking that as a no, he reached out, which made him flinch and Benji hated himself for it.
He didn’t flinch. It was pathetic. The man just held his hands up, trying to show that he really didn’t mean him any harm before he gingerly gripped Benji’s chin and began to wipe away the blood on his face.
Benji kept his gaze steadily upon him, taking in his features.
The first thing he noticed were his eyes.
They were honey brown and they were so incredibly sad.
They were weirdly familiar to him. He tried to figure out why they were.
His gaze shifted over the rest of him and that was when he noticed the butterfly tattoo on his hand.
“You attacked me?” Benji asked.
“What?”
“You heard me.”
The man shook his head but didn’t say anything.
“Answer me.”
“No. I didn’t attack you.”
“Why should I believe you?”
He shrugged. “No reason, I suppose. You just have to accept my word at face value.”
Benji released a breath and turned his gaze away. “You were there. When I woke up.”
He nodded. “I was.”
“But you didn’t attack me? In the bunker?”
“I didn’t, no.”
“So, why were you there?”
“Part of my job.” The man frowned a bit at that before he moved to walk behind him again. Benji listened to the water running again and a few moments later, he returned. The rag was rinsed out as best he could get it before he returned to cleaning him. This time, he moved down to his neck.
“What is your job?”
“Why are you asking me so many questions?”
It was Benji’s turn to shrug. “You’re the only one here. And you seem nice enough to answer.”
The guy nodded his head then shrugged his shoulders. “I can’t answer that one,” he said, “You can ask another though.”
“What’s your name?”
He shook his head. “Another.”
Benji nodded a bit. He was pressing his luck with that one. “Where am I?”
“In a basement.”
“No shit. Where?”
The man smiled. Benji couldn’t help but think it was a good smile. Which really made him question everything in his life. He shouldn’t be thinking about that when he was tied to a chair in a basement. “New Jersey.”
His brow furrowed a bit. “Did you know I was going to be there?”
The man shook his head. “Next question.”
Benji frowned. “Do you like your job?”
There was no answer for that one. He just said “that’s enough questions for now” and lifted up Benji’s shirt.
He looked down at his torso and groaned at the sight of it.
It was covered in welts, bruises were already steadily forming and there were a couple deep gashes.
Benji couldn’t help but notice one on his side was particularly deep.
The one the main guy dug his fingers into and kept doing it while questioning him.
The guy knelt down, placing gauze over the wounds before taping them.
“It should at least help the bleeding.” His voice was soft. “Are you light headed or anything?”
Benji shook his head. “No.” He had a headache but he supposed that was to be expected after two doses of chloroform and a beating.
“Okay,” the man stood back up after a few minutes and walked towards the stairs. “I’ll be back down in a bit.”
He watched him disappear up the stairs and listened to the door unlock, open, close, then lock again.
Even though he was absolutely exhausted, he took the time to assess his bonds for the first time.
His ankles were tied tightly to the legs of the chair.
He attempted to tug them off but the rope wasn’t budging.
His wrists were equally as stuck, if not more so considering they were handcuffed to the back of it.
A rope he could maybe manage. But cuffs?
No. He wasn’t Superman. He couldn’t break through metal.
Benji figured he had at least a few days before they got sick of him and decided he wasn’t worth the effort.
As he sat there, attached to the chair and in some extreme pain, he did try to formulate a plan of escape.
He would clearly need help from the guy who had just cleaned him up and that probably wasn’t going to happen.
And he didn’t have any weapons on him. Even if he did, it wasn’t like he could grab them.
As he proceeded to try and think of some sort of a plan, his head lulled forward and he somehow managed to fall asleep. Which was probably a good thing because he was going to need all the energy he could get.
He didn’t jostle awake until he heard the sound of someone coming down the stairs again.
Rather lazily, he lifted his head and saw it was the guy who had cleaned him up.
And he was bringing down a bowl of food.
Benji’s brow furrowed as the man approached him once again.
His eyes looked to the bowl, then up to his face, then down at the food again. “Everything okay?” The man asked.
“You’re feeding me?”
“Is that a problem?”
“I…” Benji began, but shrugged slightly. “No, it’s…it’s fine, I’m just–”
“Confused, I see.”
“Confused.”
The man smiled just a bit as he grabbed the spoon and stirred what looked to be stew of some sort around.
“I figured you could use some actual food.” He lifted the spoon and presented it to Benji, which a look of suspicion immediately crossed his face.
“I didn’t do anything to it,” he said. “I can understand why you wouldn't believe me, but I promise it’s fine.”
Leaning forward, he took a quick sniff of the spoon and admittedly, Ben didn’t smell anything odd.
So, he risked it and took the bite. It wasn’t the best stew he had ever had but beggars certainly couldn’t be choosers.
He was grateful for just about anything at that moment.
The food would certainly help his headache.
“I won’t be able to get you food like this all the time,” the man said while scooping up another spoonful. Benji could see in his eyes that he felt bad about that. “It’s just not possible. But, I’ll do what I can for you.”
He took the bite once again, now suddenly savoring the stew knowing it wasn’t going to be a regular occurrence. “Why are you doing it in the first place?”
“Like I said, I figured you needed some food while I could get it.”
Benji still didn’t understand it. Why would one of his captors patch him up and give him food out of the goodness of his heart? The others had to know what he was doing, right? “They wouldn’t like it if they found out, would they?”
The man shrugged. “They wouldn’t be pleased, no. But they want you alive and food keeps you alive.”
They were silent for a few moments while Benji was fed the stew before he broke the silence. “How long are they planning on keeping me alive?”
He shrugged. “Until you tell them what they want or they get frustrated.”
“How long until they get frustrated?”
“Depends on the situation. This one?” He huffed, “Honestly not sure.”
Benji just nodded his head and tried to keep his face as neutral as he could, but he could feel the frown tugging at the corner of his lips.
He was going to be stuck for some unknown amount of time.
His family would have no idea where he was or if he was even alive.
Did Spence even know he got taken? Was Spence alive?
There were so many questions and he had absolutely zero answers.
But he supposed he could try to ask. “Did you take anyone else?”
The guy raised his brow. “Do you see anyone else here?”
“So, you keep everyone you take in the same place?”
“We don’t usually take more than one at a time. It gets tricky.”
Well, that was somewhat good to know. Spence was probably okay. All he knew is that he couldn’t let them know that he wasn’t Andi. He would hold onto that until his last breath. He would rather die than let them find her.
“Are you here to…watch over me or something?”
The man nodded once. “More or less.”
“Okay,” he sighed, dropping his gaze towards the floor.
From what he was gathering, the guy was okay.
Or, at least, he was better than the others.
Maybe things wouldn’t be as miserable as he thought if he had him around.
Not that he was going to have a good time down there, but if he had someone on his side in some capacity, that would help.
Their conversation had come to a lull at that point.
Neither one of them were willing to say too much, which wasn’t surprising.
At one point, however, Benji started to get squirmy in his chair and he needed to take a leak.
He half expected to have to piss himself, but there was a toilet in the corner of the room beside a makeshift shower.
Interesting. His helper brought over a urinal bottle which was one of the most awkward moments of his life.
Zero eye contact was made while his dick was pulled out so he could piss then quickly tucked back.
Thank fucking God. He even kept his gaze turned away when he heard the bottle being dumped into the toilet and flushed.
From the set up in the basement, Benji gathered it wasn’t uncommon for the guy to have to do that.
But that didn’t make it any better, honestly.
Again, hours passed and the silence carried on until he watched the man lay down on the mattress. “Are you going to bed?” Benji asked.
“Yep.”
“Down here?”
“Yep.”
“You can’t go to your room?”
“Nope.”
He hummed softly then turned his head away. “Can you sleep with the light on like that?”
“I have in the past. I can do it again.”
Benji just nodded again and fell silent.
He didn’t expect to have the guy sleeping down there but he supposed it made sense.
The captors seemed to think highly of his skill set (which kind of felt good, honestly) and didn’t want him escaping.
And from what he could see, there were no cameras down there.
He supposed that made sense. Why spend the money on a camera when you had a live in spectator down there?
After a good ten minutes of silence, the man spoke up again. “Sawyer.”
He turned his head. “What?”
“My name is Sawyer.”
For the first time in hours, Benji smiled. Just a bit. “Nice to meet you, Sawyer.” His tone dripped with sarcasm.
Sawyer immediately snorted. “Nice to meet you, Andi.”