Chapter 28: 27

'Overdose' - EXO

Unedited

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Zayn and the rest of the crew silently crept into the hallway as soon as the guards were out of sight. He knew the way to the basement and all the exits which he thankfully had the foresight to share with the rest. He sharply veered right into a narrow corridor then down a flight of stairs. He waited for the men to leave, then he crossed the large dimly lit hall to another staircase which finally led to the basement entrance. He heard voices and immediately stopped and listened.

Feminine voices. He relaxed. The girls were here. But what if they were other women who were willing to be here or that were on Vinnie's side?

Oh well. They'd just have to risk it.

He twisted the handle carefully, pushing slowly so that the door didn't creak. It didn't even budge. It was locked. But this bitch was smart enough to always keep bobby pins on him so he knelt down and inserted them in and fiddled around.

After basically grappling with them for five minutes straight he finally heard the satisfying click which signalled his success. The rest sighed in relief; Zayn shot them a dirty look before standing up and poking his head inside.

He saw mannequins. With outfits on. Extremely revealing outfits with such tall heels. He felt sick. This was what they were gonna force them to do. He didn't know why they could just go pay for real ones. What the fuck. Anger boiled in his veins, he wanted to take the mannequin and shove it up Vinnie's arse so maybe he could have a reason to act so stuck up.

He couldn't see anyone yet so he entered, beckoning the rest to follow him. He turned around the corner to see a large group of girls scattered around the room, confined in their chairs. Most were gagged.

"Who are you?!" one demanded, eyes wide.

She seemed familiar. He looked to Shahzad who raised his eyebrows.

"Marinette?" Zayn asked.

She sat there, stunned, before replying.

"It's Marionette, actually,"

"What are you doing here?" he asked, confused.

"Vinnie. My dickhead cousin. Put me here when I refused to comply with him. He's the one who forced me to stay with you that day. I was supposed to keep on injecting you to keep you knocked out but I ran when your friend came." she explained.

"Is he here to help us or what?" Inquired another towards the back.

"Yes. We all are but-"

Where the fuck was Syra?

"Have any of you seem Syra? She must have come just before us,"

The girls looked to each other, confused. His heart sunk.

"Well he was going on about a special guest he had to 'deal' with before us so she could be here," Marionette interjected.

Zayn's ears piqued up.

"Do you know where he might have taken here?" he asked hopefully.

"In his main office. Top floor all the way to the far left end, if I remember correctly."

"Thank you, thank you very much. These lot will help you get out while I go fetch her,"

Zayn nodded to them and the begun untying the ropes around each of their waists, wrists and ankles, and removing the gags of those who had it.

"You guys leave with them, I'll deal with Vinnie and Syra," Zayn announced to the rest.

"You sure bro? You can take one of us." Sajid offered.

Zayn shook his head. He didn't need to drag them in any further. The fact that they already did so much was more than enough.

"No I'll deal with this on my own. For now just get each of these girls to the police station and let them use your phones to call their parents."

"Ight, cool. Don't be dumb." warned Marcelo.

"I've been dumb enough. Doubt I can be more."

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This bitch couldn't be more wrong. In his haste to get to Syra, man forgot the directions. He just couldn't recall what Marinette had said.

He had followed the hallway for a bit but he hid on the side as he heard voices approach. The footsteps came closer and two men could be heard conversing.

"Dude, Boss got that gyal, the one that Kaine snagged but managed to run away. They took her right from her own garden cuz she was waiting for her manz who didn't even show up," one spoke, while the other guffawed.

Zayn resisted the urge to step out and strangle those dickheads. Instead he took it in stride, realising that if he just came out a little earlier she wouldn't have been taken. Now there was no need crying over it but a lesson was learnt. He decided to follow the two, assuming they were going to the man in question.

Finally, Zayn stood infront of a door. This was obviously the door to Vinnie's office. He walked up soundlessly, glancing quickly in both directions before pressing his ear to the door. But he couldn't hear jack. He would just have to enter.

He pushed down the handle slowly, gently pushing the door open. He slowly popped his head through the crack to see what was going on inside. And boy, he had never been so revolted in his life.

Syra was pinned to the wall. She had like this metal thing come from the wall in between her legs to connect with one thick line around her waist. Her wrists were cuffed with chains connected to the ceiling. The same with her ankles but the chain going down to the floor. Her body was being stretched to her limits. Thankfully she was fully dressed and unharmed, and she seemed more angry and disgusted than anything. But that wasn't it.

Vinnie say behind his desk, shirtless. And was pushing a girls head down repeatedly over his crotch. Didn't take a genius to clock what was going on.

What the fuck. Zayn was two motherfuking seconds away from puking his guts out.

Zayn looked around around quickly before Vinnie noticed him - or Syra actually as she had her eyes screwed shut - and looked for some sort of weapon. A cricket bat. Perfect.

He seized it and walked over to Syra, placing a hand over her mouth so she didn't make any noise. Startled, she snapped her eyes open, going wide as she recognised who was infront of her. Zayn raised a finger to his lips, mouthing sorry, holding back from crushing her in his arms.

He had the foresight to nick the keys from the guy stationed down the corridor. He was positive they would free Syra. He just prayed it wasn't too noisy and that the girl prolonged it.

The keys were separated into 3 parts with two in each. The first pair he used was for her wrists, then he knelt done and freed her ankles and finally one on the side of her waist and between her legs. The belt contraption swung open and she fell forward as it was only thing holding her. Zayn hugged her right, relishing the feel of her soft body, her familiar scent of lavender, thanking God under his breath repeatedly.

"Are you okay, meri jaan? Did he hurt you or anything cuz I swear -" (My Life).

This time Syra put her hand over his mouth. She pointedly looked to the door and jerked her head in the direction, signalling him to leave. Just as they turned they heard a little 'oomph' and a zipper being pulled up. Zayn turned around and shoved Syra behind him.

The girl was under the desk, trying to get herself up and she had been pushed down. Vinnie was now standing up, twirling a dart between his fingers.

"Been a while Zayn hasn't it?  Ever since I let u win, I haven't seen ya in person. Heard plenty bout you but you prolly was just too chicken to face me." he said in a patronising tone, slowly taking steps around his desk.

Zayn laughed without humour. Let him win, his ass.

"Why would I visit you in you cell? Kinda sad how your 'influence' couldn't even for you out so now you're indebted to someone who's way high and mightier." Zayn shot back.

He needed to stall Vinnie. Get his phone out and just hit send on that message. He had typed it out and left his phone open just for this. That way Shahzad could come and take Syra. He would rather die than leave Syra in this hell hole for any longer. He knew she was already zoning out as she tried to remain in control.

Vinnie spewed some more bullshit as Zayn successfully slid his phone up, hurriedly glancing down to see where he should place his thumb. Boom. Done. Shahzad should be here soon. Thankfully Vinnie had glance back at the girl who was now standing. Seeing the way she was dressed, Zayn spared no further glance at her, but kept her within his range of sight. He did not trust her one bit.

Vinnie had now reached in front of him. Zayn gripped the bat tighter and pulled Syra even closer to him, shielding her.

"Are you even listening, you twat?" barked Vinnie in his face, giving Zayn a whiff of tobacco and weed. He almost gagged.

"I couldn't care less. We're done here - we didn't have any business to start with anyway. So go back to fucking her and all will be good. You'll have an audience soon so keep the noise down I'd say -"

A fist came whipping at Zayn who dodged it just in time. Alright. Violence it is then. Zayn quickly retaliated by swinging the bat up between Vinnie'a legs.

Vinnie shrieked loudly, almost bursting Zayn's eardrums.

"Syra, jaldi, jao yaa se, samji? Shahzad ara hai tou tu uskai saath challi jaanaa. Please. Apna dehaan rakhna. I'll literally be right after you," Zayn turned and whispered to Syra, pleasing with her. (Quickly, go from here, understand?) (Take care of yourself).

Syra pressed her lips in a firm line, clearly not happy. But she nodded, leaned forward to peck his lips before turning and bolting out the door.

Whew.

At least she was safe. He knew he had to give time for her to reach Shahzad and for them to leave unnoticed. He waited as Vinnie struggled for a bit, rolling and moaning on the ground and the brunette tried to help him, cooing at him like a baby. Zayn swung the bat once more at his back, just before his phone vibrated. He checked it quickly to see Shahzad confirming that he got Syra. Relief poured through him. Just a little more time and then he could leave too.

Zayn zipped up his pockets and slipped his gloves on. Time to deal with this bitch. As Vinnie recovered he dragged the girl by her hair to the chair. He felt no remorse. Woman or not. He couldn't give a fuck.

"Bastard," she hissed, clawing at his hands.

He ignored her and pulled out his penknife and pressed it on her inner thigh, right where he knew if he slit it it would cut her archery. This instantly stopped her from resisting. Zayn quickly tied her to the chair using some discarded rope, securing her wrists and ankles with the same cuffs that were used on Syra. As he stepped away from the bitch, he felt a pair of hands clamped down on his neck and press down.

Zayn stumbled back, gripping onto the desk, before swinging his leg backwards causing Vinnie to topple over.

Fuck. He still needed to feel his phone vibrate when Shahzad notified him that he was out the building.

"You fucking bastard. You think I giving you a piece of my mind right now cuz I'm scared of you? Funny. Your 'boss', thanks to Rafael, found out about your plans to double cross him. So you're his to deal with - and the authorities too. No one to bail you out now. I just want to be as far away from this as I can. Dumb of you to go back to your old antics and expect not to be found out."

"Oh I knew. I knew I was gonna be found out. Figured why not enjoy some time with that girl Sara. Caught my eye much earlier on you see, even before you met her. A sweet one, pity I didn't get to have any fun-" Vinnie was cut off by a swift punch to the jaw.

Zayn slammed the bitch onto the ground and repeatedly kicked him. Again and again. At his sides, his head, everywhere. He found it rather therapeutic. As if going to a rage room. Na scrap that. He enjoyed it. It brought him happiness to be inflicting pain on this scum. Calm him psycho or whatever. This was way better than the fight they had all that time ago. He felt his phone vibrate yet he continued. Until he finally registered the faint sound of sirens.

The girl was crying hysterically, her layers of caked chavvy makeup messed up. And that Vinnie was unmoving.

This wasn't good. He couldn't be caught like this. Based on what anyone would see, he came and attacked the couple. No. He had to leave. But he couldn't be seen. He glanced around the room before his gaze settled on the window.

He was high up. Jumping was outta option. He was thinking about how he'd climbed all that way done before he remembered Marionette telling him about a staircase on the side of the building. He could climb up right to the top then go down via that.

He stepped over Vinnie's body, smirking at Vinnie's hoe before sprinting to the window. After much prying he shoved it open and climbed onto the ledge. He could now hear shouts in the house. He had to hurry. It gave him flashbacks of when he first sneaked into Syra's house.

Zayn leaned down to see some pipes where he could stand on. He did so, trying not to look down. He reached for the ledge on top of the window and hauled himself up on it. If he tiptoed, he could touch the edge of the roof. He saw some protruding bricks slightly higher which he could step on. Taking a deep breath, he leaped onto them, sweaty fingers scrambling to hold something.

He now heard a voice in the room. They would surely notice the open window and investigate so he needed to move.

He gripped into the edge of the roof tightly, his elbows resting on the edge. He pushed up, his foot slightly slipping as the brick slid out.

He squeezed his eyes shut and focused all his strength on pulling himself up. First his upper body, then his legs. He was finally on top of the flat roof. He trudged a little further before collapsing on his back from exhilaration. He had almost fallen to his death.

"Ay Peter you saw that? That brick falling outside the window?" a strong cockney accent rang from the room.

"See! I told ya the window was open for a reason. You reckon someone escaped from it?" a voice answered to the first.

Shit. He needed to move. Zayn stood up and saw he was on the bottom left corner of the rectangle rooftop. He knew the staircase was in the right. He walked across the roof, careful not to walk too close to the front incase someone saw from the bottom. He found the staircase and dropped onto it, and began making his way down.

He saw no one here. No police or Vinnie's men. Good. He could climbed over the fence which had a park on the other side, which gave him cover. Then he would go to where the rest were. They had all taken Ubers but he had his bike.

His phone buzzed. He reckoned it was Shahzad's message saying they had reached the rest but the vibrating continued. He pulled out his out his phone to see an incoming call from Shahzad. Anxiety pooled in his stomach. He accepted the call.

"Did anything happen to Syra?" were Zayn's first words as soon as the call connected.

Silence.

Zayn stopped walking down the stairs.

He knew something must have happened.

Shahzad's voice sounded scratchy. He sounded like he dreaded what he had to say, "One of Vinnie's men tailed my Uber. I didn't realise. And he crashed into us at full speed. The driver was on the right side so he didn't survive. I was on the left so I've just got a few scrapes but Syra was on the right too. She's unconscious right now. In the hospital. They are operating on her."

Zayn felt his world crumble around him.

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So as I have exams in Nov (and it's July as I write rn) and have yet to begin properly revising, I'm just tryna finish this book before cuz I won't be on this app when revising. So plz bare with me if there are errors or if it's kinda rusty as I will be going back and editing the shit outta this (no plot changes). As soon as my exams are finished I shall be starting the second book of the series, which is going to be called Shahzad. And the idea for that book has been stuck in my mind for ages so I can't wait to get it down. For the third book there just like a rough plan which I need to expand on. Pls pray I get good grades man I'm so nervous like remembering shit is my weak point - bruh I have immigrant parents whom I cannot disappoint further. Anyways pls take care of your selves yh. X

2980 words.