Blaze POV.
I stared out of the grimy motel window at the strange landscape. We’d travelled for a few hours then pulled in at a motel for the day. I guess that they wanted to avoid any police that might be looking for me. If mom had called them. I hoped that she had, but then I didn’t know what these guys had threatened her with. My life probably. The three guys that had taken me from my room had been joined by two more, both tall and heavily muscled. I knew that weak little pathetic me never stood a chance of escaping from all five of them. They booked one room in a crummy little motel. I took refuge in the only chair and sat huddled in a corner, too scared to do anything else. God only knew what was going to happen to me. I was far away from the only life that I knew, locked in a motel room with 5 strange guys dressed only in my pyjamas. I was imagining the worst.

One of the guys walked over to me, a glass of water in hand and crouched down in front of me. He was one of guys that had been in my room, the one that had been giving orders to the guy by the window.
“Hey Blair, I’m Zacky. Look, I know that you gotta be scared right now, but I promise that we are here to help you. We’re not going to hurt you.” I said nothing, but shrank a little further back into the chair, as if I could force myself through the wall. He sighed. “Ok, ok. Here. You gotta be thirsty by now huh?” He held the glass of water. “It’s only water.” He reassured me as I eyed it warily.
“You could have put anything in that.” He sighed again.
“Why would I want to drug you?” I didn’t reply, just stared at him. “Alright. I can see why you would think that. But I promise you that we’re not going to hurt you Blair.”
“Give it up Vengeance. She’s not going to trust you.” Snorted the third guy that had been in my room, lighting a cigarette. The heavily muscled guy that had been driving snatched the cigarette out of his hand, crushing it under his foot.
“Shut it Gates. If you wanna smoke, go outside.”
“Tell me you’re kidding Shadows.” Gates sounded incredulous, as if the idea of smoking outside was a ridiculous idea. Shadows stared him down until he finally huffed and sat down on one of the beds. He nodded and pulled his cell outta his pocket.
“I’m gunna call in. You guys behave.” He ordered, giving everyone a stern look, but his gaze lingering on the guy that they all called Gates. Gates stared back for a while before sighing and looking away. Seemingly satisfied that everyone was going to follow his order, Shadows walked out of the room, dialling a number on his cell.

“If I take a drink of this, then will you drink it?” Asked Zacky. I shook my head again. Whatever was in that glass might do nothing to him, but who knew what it would do to me. “Suit yourself.” He mumbled, taking a sip out of the glass and setting it down on the floor next to him. He moved so that he was sat next to me, but on the floor, his legs stretched out in front of him, one bent so that he could rest his arm on it. I shrank further back into the corner. The other guys moved about the room, whispering quietly and occasionally glancing over at me. The clock had obviously stopped working ages ago, its hands stuck at seven twenty six, so I had no idea how long passed. It felt like hours, but it could have been minutes for all I knew. Zacky made no move to get up at all. Other than the other guys’ whispers, the room was silent. I hated silence. So I broke it.
“Wh…What do you want with me?” I asked, wishing that my voice wouldn’t crack so that I could at least sound a little less terrified than I felt.

“Wouldn’t you like to know sweetheart.” Drawled Gates from the bed where he still lounged, flicking his lighter on and off. All of the other guys glared at him almost simultaneously, which, in any other situation, would have been funny. He ignored them and winked slowly at me. I shivered and shrank further back into my corner.
“Quit it Gates, you aren’t helping.” Snapped the tallest of the group. Gates just shrugged as if he didn’t care. He probably didn’t. Next to me Zacky sighed.
“Ignore him Blair. He’s just being a dick.” He mumbled, not answering my question.
“Is it my Mom? Has she done something to you? Does she owe you money?” Zacky chuckled, almost humourlessly.
“She’s part of the problem, but she’s not the main reason that you’re here.” I sighed. Why wouldn’t he just answer me? “Let me introduce you to the guys.” Zacky didn’t get up from the floor next to me, but raised his arm and pointed at the guy that he had called Christ in my room. “That’s Johnny. He’s also known as Christ.” Johnny looked up from the card game that he was playing with the tall guy and waved. I didn’t respond. Was I just meant to wave back like these men hadn’t just kidnapped me from my own home? Zacky just carried on. “The tall dude, that’s Jimmy. We sometimes call him The Rev.” I frowned.
“Why?” Jimmy grinned and tossed a card onto the pile between him and Johnny.
“Because I give these guys spiritual guidance.” A collective snort rose from the other three guys, but none of them said anything.
“The guy making the phone call is Matt. You’ve heard us call him Shadows.” I nodded. “That’s Brian on the bed. He…” Brian interrupted Zacky.
“It’s Synyster Gates to her.” He snapped, glaring at me. I tried to shrink further into my corner to escape the hate in his gaze. Zacky returned his glare.
“Back off Brian.” It almost sounded like he was growling. “You’re making things worse.”
“Like that’s hard.” He mumbled, turning his attention to the card game that Johnny and Jimmy were still playing. Zacky sighed and returned to his original position.
“I’m sorry about him Blair. He does grow on you eventually.” I didn’t reply, just thought about the implications of his statement. Eventually he pushed to his feet. “Try and get some sleep. We’ve got a long way to go.”

~*~

Despite Zacky’s warning of a long journey ahead, I couldn’t sleep. How could they expect me to sleep in a room filled with strange men? No matter how nice some of them were trying to be. Instead I turned my back to them and pretended to sleep, hoping that this time it would fool them. As I faked sleep, I listened in on their conversations.
“Shadows has been gone a while.” Commented Jimmy as the sound of shuffling cards came from where the four guys were sat.
“Do you think something’s happened?”
“Don’t be stupid Christ, what’s likely to happen?” Snorted Synyster. “Besides, if something did happen Danger can handle it.” Silence for a while.
“He’s right Johnny, there’s nothing that Danger can’t handle.” Agreed Zacky. I hadn’t met him and already I didn’t like the sound of this Danger guy. They were quiet for a while longer.
“Shit.” Mumbled Jimmy.
“What’s up?”
“I’m hungry.” Silence. You know that feeling that you get when someone’s looking at you but you can’t see that? Yeah, I was getting that feeling times four. I just knew that they were all looking at me. They lowered their voices so that I could only hear snatches of their conversation.
“…control it…”
“I’ll text Shadows, he …”
“bad?”
“Keep it down…can’t know yet…” You also know that feeling you get when everyone else knows something that you don’t? I was getting that too. And this time it wasn’t something stupid like she made out with him yesterday during biology. This time it was something big. And I mean really big. And dangerous. And boy was it out to bite me.