Remember Me?

Randy was startled out of sleep by a violent banging on his hotel room door,

"I'm coming, I'm coming" he shuffled to the door and was shocked to see Vanessa and Tessa at the door, both crying,

"Nessie, what's wrong?" he murmured, drawing her inside "What are you doing here?"

"They.....took......Cody," Vanessa sobbed.

"What?" Randy held Vanessa close while she broke down into sobs "Do you know where they took him?"

"Probably back to the warehouse," Vanessa muttered.

"Well can you take me there?" Randy demanded "I've got to get Cody out of there!"

"I can't drive Randy," Vanessa said. "I never learned."

"But if I drove, could you navigate me there? Surely you remember what part of town it's in!" Randy was starting to grow frantic,

"I can try," Vanessa said.

Randy nodded "C'mon then" he led her out of the room and down the hall "Let's go!"

Meanwhile....

Cody was in trouble, VERY BIG trouble. One of the goons using him as a punching bag had hit his abdomen especially hard and now Cody could feel blood leaking from his ruptured stitches. If the blood flow wasn't stopped, eventually he would lose consciousness...and most likely never wake up.

Vanessa nodded, trying to picture the warehouse in her head.

"Turn here" Randy nodded and stopped when he saw the warehouse up the street.

"Okay" he turned to Vanessa and Tessa "You two, stay here, I'm going to go over there and see what the situation is, then I'll be back, okay?"

Vanessa nodded, too scared to reenter the warehouse.

Making sure the car was locked, Randy snuck over and climbed up a pile of crates so he could peek into one of the dusty windows. What he saw made his blood boil; Cody was lying in a bloody heap on the floor, his arms tied behind him, a broken chair laying not too far away. For a moment Randy wondered if he was too late, but then he saw Cody weakly twist his head and sighed in relief, he was still alive, but for how much longer?

"It's not good" he murmured when he got back to the car "Nessie listen, do they LIVE in that warehouse or do they stay somewhere else?"

"They live in there," Vanessa said.

"But they can't stay in there ALL the time" Randy sighed, staring at the building where Cody was slowly being beaten to death "I can't get him out right now, not with five guys in there, surely they'll leave at some point?"

"They'll leave for a beer run soon," Vanessa said.

Randy nodded "We'll wait then." He sat back and kept his eyes focused on the warehouse doors. His only worry was that Cody might not be alive when they left...

Vanessa bit her lip and waited.

An hour later, the moment Randy had been waiting for finally arrived. The warehouse door opened and the five thugs came tumbling out, clearly pleased with themselves.

"Alright" Randy rubbed Vanessa's shoulder encouragingly "I'm going to go get him, make the backseat ready for him."

Vanessa nodded, clearing the seat quickly.

After making sure the goons were gone, Randy darted out and ran across to the front door of the warehouse. Prying the rusty lock off, he shoved the door open and rushed in, panicking when he couldn't see Cody anywhere,

"Cody!" he ran around frantically, looking everywhere "Cody, answer me!" He went to the back and stopped when he heard a muffled groan. On one side of the warehouse was a large pile of rubbish, and it was from this pile that the weak noises came. Coming closer, Randy started to run when he saw a bloody arm sticking out from under a broken piece of furniture.

"Oh no, oh god Codes...." Randy heaved the debris away and pulled Cody into his arms. There wasn't one part of Cody's body that wasn't bruised or bloody, one hand was clenched with a death grip on his stomach, dark red blood leaking through his fingers.

"Cody...Cody..." Randy rubbed his cheek tenderly and kissed his scarred forehead "Codes can you hear me?"
Roused by the older man's gentle touch, Cody stirred and opened his eyes, weakly looking up at the man holding him,
"R..Randy..." Cody coughed, blood trailing from his mouth "I...sorry...I..."
"Shh...shhh...it's alright" Randy whispered, gently picking the young man up and heading for the door "I've got you now Codes, I've got you."

Vanessa's eyes widened when she saw the state her brother was in.

"Cody," Vanessa said softly.

Cody moaned when he heard his sister's voice, but his eyes stayed shut.

"It's gonna be okay Cody I promise you it's gonna be okay," Vanessa said.

Cody didn't respond the entire drive to a new hospital on the other side of town. His chest barely rose and fell, it would be a miracle if he survived.