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stab-the-son-of-a · 1 year

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No. 14 DIE A HERO OR LIVE LONG ENOUGH TO BECOME A VILLAIN Desperate Measures | Failed escape | "I'll be right behind you."

Set after "Proof of Life".

Tag list: @teamwhump, @painsandconfusion, @pepperonyscience

CW: Mention of past non con, PTSD symptoms, knives, blood and murder fantasies

When the door rattled, Thom curled up tighter in a ball.

When the locks clicked, he buried his face in his knees. One. Two. Three. Four- Thom's head jerked up as one of the tumblers locked rather than unlocked. Wide eyed, he watched the door. In his peripheral vision he saw Summer push herself up the wall, arm straining against the chain connecting her to the floor. Dale crept closer, positioning himself between Thom and the door.

The lock quickly switched back to unlocked, keys rattling in the chamber, but then the door opened.

"Becky?" Thom rasped. He immediately tried to hide more of his body, the ugly scars, the thin film of previous hands that he could never clean from his skin.

Instead of answering, Becky rushed into the room, but when she approached Thom it was gently, slowly, and whenever he flinched she just sat back and waited, not moving any closer until he nodded minutely.

"I'm here," Becky whispered. "I'm getting you all out. I promise."

"How did you find us?" Dale asked, right as Summer asked, "How do you know Thom?"

Shaking his head, chest heaving, Thom silently begged her not to explain. Her warm brown eyes filled with worry and pity, but she kept her silence.

"C-Classmates," Thom offered the explanation. His voice cracked and wavered with pain and dehydration. Still, he offered a tiny nod to show he thought he could handle her approach. "That's… that's all."

"How did you sneak in? Do they know you're here?" Dale demanded. Moving gracelessly thanks to the stiffness and weakness in his leg, Dale propped himself up against the wall to improve his line of sight.

"Are they coming? Are they home?" Summer whispered, eyes never leaving Dale. Even when he shook his head, Summer didn't relax.

Becky looked over her shoulder at Dale and rattled the keys. "He won't be getting up for a while."

He. Only he? Thom's heart rate sped up. What about Shannon?

"Unlock me!" Summer blurted. "God, just get me out of this fucking thing!"

Thom couldn't think, but he also couldn't move. His mind raced. What did she do to get here? How had she sneaked in? How did she plan to get them out? A dark part of his mind spoke over the panic. It hissed that they'd leave him behind, and if they didn't, he should take the choice out of their hands. He would only slow them down. He would only get in the way.

He didn't deserve to leave this place. He didn't even want to see the light of day again- he didn't belong in society again. He couldn't belong ever again.

Thomas Grisham had shattered and melted down in the kiln of two sick bastards' ego trips. What was left was not anything that he had ever thought was part of him before now.

He never knew he was a coward at heart. He never knew he was so selfish as to prioritize a sandwich over Summer's health. His guilt dragged his attention to Summer's hands, and the swollen, blackish purple finger held stiffly out at an angle.

"I've got you, I've got it," Becky mumbled as she flipped through the keys. Beads of sweat formed on her brow and her dark, fuzzy hair seemed even more wild than usual, as if she'd been tugging on it or running her hand through it. Letting out a soft cry of victory she hurriedly fumbled with the cuff around Summer's wrist.

"Becky- Beck-" Thom tried to get his thoughts in order, but they flowed like tar and clogged his throat.

"Everything is going to be fine. We're going to get you out- all of you. Sir, can you walk?" Her attention was back on Dale now that she'd freed Summer. "You can lean on me."

"This is- this is bad," Thom mumbled. His words slipped under the roar of panic in his ears and Becky, Dale and Summer's hurried whispers. "This is- Becky-" He forced himself to stand on bambi weak knees. His head spun and his balance shifted with every breath he took, but he stepped closer. "Guys."

Summer glanced over at him, and there must have been something in his expression or appearance that terrified her because she went white and immediately situated herself under his arm to keep him steady.

"Let's go," Dale announced. "I'll go first."

Summer bit her lip. "Dale, your leg–"

"Will be fine." With that, Dale started down the hall, followed by Summer and Thom and finally Becky.

It was so odd to be outside that cramped room, to be in the adjoining hallway without Jaden or Shannon breathing down his neck. Or touching him.

His skin crawled. Glancing around, it really was such a small space, filled to the brim with cruelty, and there was only a couple flights of stairs between them and the living area.

Would Jaden still be unconscious? Thom hoped so. He hoped the bastard was brain dead, head caved in, hoped they'd walk upstairs and see Jaden lying in a puddle of his own blood. Rage boiled in his veins and lent much needed steadiness to his stride.

The living room looked exactly the way it had been when he first showed up. Nausea twisted in his stomach and he ducked his head, staring only at the floor. Slowly, so slowly, Summer rested the back of her hand against his cheek and held it there as he leaned into the touch. Frantic paranoia, joining the rush of bloodlust, prickled under his skin.

"I drove out here," Becky explained. "It'll be a tight fit but we can all make it."

Thom searched the room. There wasn't any sign of anything untoward. It looked so normal. Pictures on the wall, of a wedding and a family portrait, of a random landscape, a painting of a cabin. Books and lamps and a coffee table and a television. It was all so mundane.

He nearly tripped over a throw rug, foot catching and Summer only just barely catching him- but his blood ran cold. There was blood on the carpet.

Panic beat a rapid pulse in his throat, hammering his words back down to settle sickeningly in his stomach.

"Are you okay, Thom?" Summer whispered.

A hollow thud echoed in the small space, followed by metal and ceramic jingling to the floor. A shard of a pale green lamp bounced to a stop at Thom's feet. Bloodied.

"Leaving so soon?" Shannon purred as she stepped over Becky's unmoving form.

"Oh god Becky–"

"Summer, run!" Dale threw himself at Shannon. With a solid sounding crack, both bodies hit the floor and Thom and Summer bolted.

It was so similar. Too similar- and yet different in the worst possible way. He'd just be dead weight. Summer needed to get the word out. Needed to find help.

In a split second, Thom stopped short and shoved Summer forward. "It opens inward," he told her instead of acknowledging the way she stared at him in open betrayal.

She choked on a response, any response, but he was already hurrying to Becky's side and she bolted.

Becky was breathing, blood trickling down her neck, but she was breathing. Wild eyed, Thom flinched at another crash as Dale and Shannon continued to fight.

Bearing down on Shannon, Dale wrapped his legs on either side of her, knee planted against her chest, and his hands wrapped around her neck. She clawed at Dale's face, bloody furrows in his cheek but not deterring him whatsoever.

Behind him he heard the door slam against the wall. They just had to survive a little longer. Summer would get help. He closed his eyes. It was almost over.

It wasn't over. Not by a long shot.

"Let her fuckin' go or so fuckin' help you," Jaden growled. Summer kicked and squirmed and tried to go slack in his hold to buck his grip, very nearly breaking free- but that was his goddamn wife on the floor. Jaden just pressed the knife in deeper and pricked the tender skin under her chin. "Y'hear me, Boomer? I'll give her a tracheotomy."

The older man froze, a deer in headlights except it wasn't him about to lose his life. A manic bubble of laughter tore up Jaden's throat as Dale's arms immediately fell to his side, palms up.

"That's it," he panted. Adrenaline electrified his muscles, made him hyper aware of every inch Dale moved as Shannon shoved him off, of every choked breath Thom barely held back. Jaden kept the knife against Sunshine's throat and stepped closer, kicking the door shut behind him. "We're going to talk. Politely. Civilly." His grin grew even though it was the last thing he wanted on his face. "Boomer, if you don't march yourself down those fucking steps I'll toss you down them."

"Don't hurt her," Dale whispered, begged even.

Unlike before, he couldn't ignore the twist in his chest. He let it burn him, let his tone sharpen and lips curl, and he let the knife taste blood.

"Don't! Don't, please, I'm going!"

"Faster," he hissed.

Dale kept his hands up, an exaggerated appearance of submission, as he walked toward the stairs. His eyes never left the bloodied knife.

Tears joined the dribble of blood slicking his hand and he yanked Summer's arm up tighter against her back and twisted, twisted until bone cracked and her elbow popped and she howled like a little bitch.

"Thommy boy, you better follow along. Don't make Sunshine pay twice over for your fucking idiocy, now."

There was barely a human motion or fluidity in Thom as he crawled after Dale. Not even any panic, or hyperventilation.

His own chest burned and he twisted her arm again. "Shan, babe, you alright?" Jaden asked her, eyes raking her up and down as he cataloged her injuries. A split lip. Messy hair. Damningly dark red marks around her throat. She coughed and nodded, then kicked Thom in the stomach as he passed her by.

The pathetic little shit fell, losing his grip, and nearly stumbled all the way down the stairs. Instead, he crashed into the boomer.

Unperturbed Shannon went into the kitchen and came back with four zip-ties. She followed Thom and Dale down and smiled at him over her shoulder as she descended.

"You're monsters," Summer sobbed. "Let us go. You can't get away with this. Please… please let us go."

"Boo fucking hoo," Jaden snarled as he dragged her downstairs.

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heartyearning · 29 days

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sick and tired of seeing people use zip ties for boning. listen to me i am a costume designer stop using plastic which does not hold your shape (the whole point of boning) you do not need to buy proper coiled boning or anything: go to a hardware store and find flat metal tension spring (google tells me that's what it's called, unfortunately i also don't know what its used for in hardware store related things so i cant describe it if that isnt the correct translation, soz) you can get a roll of 15m x 4mm tension spring for about 15 euros where i live and then you just have to cut it with metal shears (you can use a regular cutting pliers probably but if you have metal shears you will be happier) then either file down the edges a bit if you're genuinely gonna wear it a lot, or you just wind some tape around the edges to make sure putting them in the channels isn't gonna rip your fabric and anyway now you have an actually functional boned garment. go to a hardware store and show them this pic btw:

^ this is what you want. also bc this is 4mm wide around stress points like closures you want to make 2 channels right alongside each other and put in 2 pieces of tension spring for stability

#seriously zip ties are so bad for anything you want to do with boning and like i get why people use them and i DO get that most ppl dont #actually want a corset in terms of shape restriction but then im just like. use a different fabric that's stiff and is gonna look structure #just by the fact of it being a thicker fabric and you putting a bunch of seams in it #and if you want it for underwear USE TENSION SPRING BONING ANYWAY its just better in every way than plastic nonsense !!!#costuming #cosplay #sewing #historical costuming #idk dude im not on costuming tumblr just. stop it. i hate that im writing 'listen up tumblypoos' posts but like #i just got an instagram reel with ziptie boning and its like. a) if you dont know about zip ties by now its too late and b) use tension spr #-ng. this was like some dude also who thinks himself a fashion designer like baby girl i know you are not actually designing with zipties #ok. tumblypoospost over

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