The Silence That Surrounds: Screams of the Damned

Narrator’s POV:

Harry was laid down gently on his stomach, his back still dripping crimson blood. Thankfully some of the wounds had clotted and stopped bleeding but there were hundreds of thin lines across his back and they wouldn’t be healed anytime soon.

“Sophia?” He questioned, relaxing his tense muscles against the silk linen sheets and soft mattress.

“Zayn’s bringing her in after he gets Louis laid down in his room.” Niall responded softly.

“Liam?” Harry questioned, flinching when he tried to adjust. At the current stage, moving was probably not the best idea.

“Destroying the closet to track down that seal removal. Steel and Damien did a number on Louis’s mouth, mate. He will more than likely have third degree burns –it’s blistering his face and lips already.” Niall sighed, leaning over to help steady the curly, green eyed leader.

“I’ll b-be fine, get S-Sophie and b-bring her here.” Harry ordered weakly, laying his forehead against his pillow as the weight sunk inward to cradle his upper neck.

“I really need to clean these wou –“Niall started but Harry groaned and slammed his fist into the mattress violently.

“NOW! I d-d-don’t want her a-al-lone. S-she’s hurt!” He stuttered, the pain reaching a level that blurred his sight and made him shake in tortured agony.

Niall nodded.

“Very well, Harry. Stay here, I’ll be right back.” He reluctantly agreed, the medical kit sitting beside Harry’s broken body.

If Harry wasn’t about to pass out, chances are he would have rolled his eyes and replied with something sarcastic about where he could possibly go.

It was quiet in the room; empty almost. There was something missing in the atmosphere and he couldn’t quite place it.

A minute, perhaps two had passed before Niall came back with Sophia, the frontal part of her body pooling with fresh blood and deep cuts. Damien had hit her harder in those eleven lashes than what he had with Harry.

“She’s barely even conscious, Harry.” Niall began to start but Harry cut him off.

“I k-know! S-shut up!” Harry yelled but closed his eyes in frustration. The stuttering was driving him inane and he needed to get control of the pain.

“You know what? I’ll go get –“ Niall started but Zayn walked in, a deep scowl on his face.

“Liam found the seal remover but Louis’s lips aren’t coming undone and when Liam tried to get the cloth off his mouth that they also glued on, it took a small layer of skin with it. Unfortunately, Louis was coming to at that time so we had to sedate him to minimize his pain. The good news is, is if we continue to moisturize the burns the glue left, it might not scar but as for now he has a deep red burn line of two inches from one side of his face to the other. They used almost two tubes of super glue, Hazza. The stuff is literally sealed like plastic in and over top that is not dissolving,” Zayn explained, his eyes going from Niall to Harry after a short pause.

“Niall? Did you give them any pain killers yet?”

Niall shook his head, looking at the statue still girl and their boss.

“Alright, go get me four syringes of morphine and four extra strength Tylenol 4’s. I’ll take over in here and you go help Liam. I’ll get them cleaned up.”

Niall nodded and did a small solute.

“As you wish.”

Zayn shook his head and grabbed the first aid by Harry’s side, opening it.

“Sophia, first.” Harry murmured, his voice muffled by the pillow.

Zayn looked at the broken girl. Her eyes barely blinked and her mind seemed light years away from here. Almost like a mirage, a false image set in Sophia’s eyes that reflected the stars of Heaven, her irises a soft color of blue instead of her dark ocean pools.

“Alright, boss. Sophia first.” Zayn agreed.

Moving to where she lay, Zayn sat down at the side of her bed and smiled softly but it wasn’t one that reached his eyes.

“Hey, Angel? I’ve got some alcohol pads here; I’m going to clean these wounds, yeah? Is that okay?” Zayn asked gently, ripping one open and observing her. Not only were her shoulders, chest and stomach shredded but there were tears in the flesh of her vulva, right above the opening of her vagina.

Sophia blinked but didn’t respond, making Zayn sigh and get to cleaning her stomach first.

It was on the third alcohol pad did Niall enter back into the room with four syringes and four extra strength Tylenols 4’s.

“Got them.” Niall held them for Zayn to see, walking over to Harry and keeping two of the syringes and two of the pills, handing the others to his friend.

Zayn took the stuff offered and uncapped on of the shots while Niall did the same. He moved Harry’s arm out, injecting it into him, causing his boss to grunt in discomfort.

“Sorry Harry, I’m getting ready to inject the second one, okay? You should start to feel some relief so it will be easier to talk.” Niall explained, tossing the used syringe on the table and injected the second one, this time Harry remained silent.

A few moments of silence went by and as they passed Niall could see Harry’s tense muscles relax.

“That’s it Harry, relax, you’re in good hands now.” Niall promised, turning to Zayn. “Those pads aren’t doing shit, Zayn. Let me go get some alcohol.” Niall said, getting up again to rush out the door to retrieve the item. Unfortunately, Liam came into view at that moment from seemingly out of nowhere; causing the blonde boy to bump into him.

Liam stumbled back with an ‘oof’ but Niall got passed and continued his route back to the closet to get the desired liquid.

“Stupid leprechaun.” Liam muttered in agitation but rushed to Sophia, seeing Zayn had injected her with two morphine shots, the pills still needing to orally given. It may have seemed like a lot but it would keep the pain down for the next twelve or so hour, in addition to helping them get some much needed sleep.

“I finally got Louis’s mouth pried open, that’s the good news. Bad news? His lips are completely burned. He looks like he’s wearing scarlet lipstick and put it on like a two year old – it’s blood red but thankfully no bleeding. However, he or someone will need to put cream on his lips on the hour ever hour for the next three to seven days. That will determine if his lips will scar or not.” Liam explained, sidestepping so Niall could go back to the bed.

Without a word, Niall opened up the cap on the alcohol and poured a large quantity of the liquid over Harry’s back, making him cry out.

“Bloody Stupid fucking motherfucker!” Harry roared, his voice shaking the window.

“How can that hurt? You have enough morphine in you to knock out an elephant,” Niall questioned, looking at the bottle and then reading. His face falling. “Oh, do not use over large areas of skin and not recommended for deep wounds. Oops.”

Zayn rolled his eyes.

“Now you see why your talents are in the kitchen and not as a doctor. Liam? Her fingers need set, mate. Damien really fucked them up.”

“Niall? Why don’t you go sit with Louis until he wakes up? You know how painkillers and sedatives make him act. I’ll help Zayn get Sophia and Harry settled in for the night.” Liam suggested, nodding his head to the door in a way to let Niall know that he was dismissed.

Niall shrugged and left without a fight.

Liam sighed and went over to Harry, seeing the two left over pills.

“Zayn? Leave her for a moment, I need your help to lift Harry into a sitting position he needs to take these pills. They’re slower acting but they pack a punch when they take effect.”

Zayn nodded and took a fast glance over to make sure Sophia was alright before assisting Liam.

He came over next to him and together they turned and lifted Harry very carefully into a sitting position, mindful of his back.

“I’m just glad Damien didn’t scar his arse, I know it sounds terrible but I’m glad he just got his back because there would be no way he’d even be able to sit up.” Liam said, observing the pained and beaten expression in Harry’s bright green eyes.

Zayn nodded in agreement.

“Can you go get him and Sophia a bottle of water? It’ll make the pills go down easier – might even feel good on their sore throats.” Zayn asked, balancing Harry to keep him upright.

Liam nodded and hurried out to grab the items, leaving Zayn concentrated on his task.

“Harry? Mate? Are you with me?” Zayn asked, noticing his green eyes watering slightly.

“It was all my fault.” He replied, his voice hoarse.

“No, Harry. We’re not going to start thinking like that okay? You need to come back to me, come on, look at me.” Zayn commanded.

Harry’s eyes slowly made their way to Zayn’s, tears falling. Whether it was subconsciously from the pain or because of the abundance of pain medication he couldn’t be sure.

“Harry Styles doesn’t cry, come on mate. You need to snap out of it, okay? Are you hurting? Is that why your eyes are watering? Do you need to be laid down?” Zayn asked, panicking slightly. In all his years, he had never seen Harry cry. Not even when Caroline died.

“We can’t keep doing this Z-Zayn. Everything’s falling into chaos. I couldn’t even keep my promise, couldn’t protect her. We’re too invested, he’ll kill her, you know it. He’ll kill her if we don’t –“

Zayn shushed him, using one arm to balance him and his free hand to wipe away the tears.

“He won’t fucking touch Sophia. Do you hear me? Because if he tries, I will kill the bastard myself. There is no way I am letting him near her.” He growled, his eyes turning from a honey dew gold to a honey maple. He was determined and in Harry’s jumbled mind, he had no doubt Zayn would keep that vow.

Liam walked back in, carrying two water bottles, a loose fitting silk nightgown, and Harry’s boxers that were left in the basement.

“We need to dress them. Due to Harry’s injuries, he will only be wearing boxers for the next week as I truly do not want to agitate his lacerations. Sophia will not be able to wear any undergarments but will be able to wear a nightgown. The silken material should not agitate her injuries but after the wounds are cleaned out –which, you seemed to have did a really through job with, we can wrap them to make sure no dirt gets in.” Liam said, coming to Harry’s side, throwing the items on the bed except a water bottle.

Harry flinched at the snap of the cap being opened but did nothing else.

Zayn put the two pills into his mouth and Liam held the water bottle, tipping it up for Harry to drink.

The water refreshed his mouth, washing down to moisturize his esophagus, the pills following.

When Harry looked panicked Zayn tipped the water bottle back up, letting his boss take in preciously needed air.

“Harry? Come on mate, are you with me?” Zayn tried again, this time seeing Harry meet his eyes.

“I –what…what, I? –“Harry tried to get out but had no idea what to say.

Zayn sighed, taking Harry’s boxers and looked at Liam.

Liam nodded and set the water bottle down, replacing Zayn as a support.

Zayn took an attentive step, stretching Harry’s boxers out as the two leg holes became wider, making sure the boxers were positioned right. The last thing he needed was to put them on backwards.

He positioned Harry’s legs into the hole and slid them up to just under him, looking at Liam.

“How are we lifting him up to slide them on the rest of the way? We can’t lift him bridal style due to his back and no offence, I don’t want to cop a feel by having to slide my bare hands under him arse.” Zayn questioned, looking at Liam.

Liam thought a moment before getting an idea. He held his finger up, making Zayn steady the spaced out Harry, running back to get some medical gloves that he had forgotten.

When he returned he threw a pair at Zayn while getting his own on, taking Harry from him so he could follow suit.

“I feel like this is one of these jokes that go ‘how many idiots does it take to get a pair of shorts on a drugged guy?’ or ‘how many idiots does it take to walk a cripple to the loo?’” Zayn muttered, snapping his gloves on, looking to Liam for further instructions.

“We have two capable idiots. You and me and one incapable idiot – though despite that, I’ll give Niall a gold star for the effort of trying. Now, I’m going to lift Harry up by his armpits and you’ll pull the boxers on him. That way there’s nothing touching his back. Ready?” Liam asked, positioning his arms under Harry’s.

Zayn nodded and on the count of three Liam managed to lift the awkward bloke while Zayn easily slide Harry’s boxers up his hips.

When that was done, Liam and Zayn gently lifted Harry back down, a little winded for the efforts.

“Let’s get his back wrapped and start on Sophia.” Liam suggested.

Zayn nodded, at this point he was bloody tired and knew this would continue for the next week or so. Bathroom trips, unwrapping, cleaning, rewrapping. Making sure they were fed and given hydration; it was going to be a challenging week for the four of them when Louis was feeling better.

“Okay.” Zayn agreed, taking a large gauze wrap from the medical kit and unwrapping it.

Liam helped to roll the gauze from under Harry’s arms to just above his boxers. When it was securely positioned, Zayn took some non-ouch paper tape and stuck it to Harry’s skin where the roll ended, finishing up the task by placing gauze pads over the exposed wound on the back of Harry’s shoulders.

“Finally.” Zayn breathed, helping Liam turn Harry back over to lay on his stomach.

“Thank you.” Harry murmured, his muscles completely relaxed and his eyes closed.

“Are you okay?” Zayn tried again, wondering where Harry’s mind had vacationed to.

“No, but that’s the bloody point, isn’t it? Damien ruined her, she murdered -”

Zayn and Liam both shushed him, watching his eyebrows furrow.

“Stop shushing me!” Harry yelled with fatigue, getting frustrated.

Liam and Zayn became silent, looking to one another wondering if Harry even knew what he was saying himself.

“It’s annoying when people bloody shush me, how would you like it, huh?! I’m in charge.” Harry grumbled, making Liam smile a bit.

“You’re not in charge right now Harry, you’re tired. Why don’t you sleep it off?” He suggested, glancing at Zayn and nodded for him to give Sophia her pills.

Zayn understood the message and grabbed the unopened water bottle and uncapped it.

“Hey Angel, got your pills. Let’s get you set up, yeah?” Zayn suggested, coming to sit at the edge of the bed beside her head, grabbing her gently at the sides and dragging her back so her back met his chest.

She moaned and let her head fall back into Zayn’s chest, her muscles deadweight.

“Okay Flower Angel, can you open your mouth for me?” Zayn asked, readying the pills but frowned when all she did was stare straight ahead, almost unblinking.

“Sophia? Please? I need to give you these, they’ll help. I promise.” Zayn pleaded but she simply laid against him and continued to look blankly into space.

“Liam? I think she’s broken, I’m not getting a response.” Zayn fretted, his voice low and calm but still held an edge to it.

Harry groaned, turning his head toward Zayn and Sophia.

“Angel?” Harry hummed, his tone layered deep with a silky but rough finish. He smiled, seeing the light pools of her blue droplets.

“She’s dreaming, which is better than this hell.” Harry murmured, his own broken greens observing but hardly absorbing the happenings around him.

“Alright, let’s get her wrapped real quick, Louis should be up at any time. I didn’t use that much sedation serum, just enough to knock him out for an hour or so to get his mouth free. He’ll be doped up on painkillers though so we need to be careful of that. Last time, he took his clothes off and climbed up on the roof. It took us, what? Two hours to convince him to come down? Then there was Harry yelling at him that he couldn’t fly. That was fun.” Liam rolled his eyes sardonically.

“Makes you wonder how we even manage to dress ourselves in the morning some days.” Zayn chuckled, though the laughter felt out of place with the current situation and made him sober only a moment after.

Liam nodded in agreement, looking at Harry. He had his eyes closed but still didn’t turn his head away from the girl in Zayn’s arms.

“Alright, let’s get her wrapped.” Liam said, unrolling a new wrap of gauze and positioning up above her chest, stopping it to just under her stomach. Sadly, they couldn’t do much for her private area on her vulva but they had cleaned the wounds out with alcohol pads and that would do for now.

Once finished they taped the wrap and helped Sophia into her nightgown with ease.

“I think she’s losing weight.” Liam frowned, noticing when he placed the girl on her back again that she hardly weighed anything at all.

“We’ll get her body mass up while she’s healing, get them both on a schedule because Harry’s hardly been touching anything either.” Zayn confirmed.

Liam agreed and took the pills from Zayn, putting them gently in Sophia’s pallet and taking the water bottle while Zayn kept her head steady.

With careful intention, Liam poured the water into Sophia’s mouth one droplet at a time until she had a small mouthful. From there, he gently placed a finger at her throat, stroking fragilely.

Sophia swallowed after a few moments of the same monotonous action, carrying the pills down to do their job.

“I need a beer and a joint,” Zayn murmured, taking Sophia’s hand where her two broken fingers lay, cringing at the protruding bone just under her skin. “You sure you drugged her enough? Resetting those bones is going to hurt like a bitch.”

Liam nodded.

“If Sophia is this far gone into headspace, chances are she’s not going to feel a thing. It looks like an easy fix. You see where just under the knuckle? I need to pull up and then press back. From that point I will be able to wrap it.”

Zayn kept a tight hold of her hand, Liam touching one of the broken fingers, nodding.

Without hesitation he pulled up and back down, a crack of bone sounding in the hollow air like a tree trunk breaking off from its roots after being cut down.

Liam cringed but was happy with the result, repeating the same with her other finger, this time, almost as though Sophia made the connection of the happenings around her, she jumped with force that required Zayn to wrap his arms around the girl in a sudden tight embrace.

She whimpered, very aware now of the pain but because of the fog in her head, it tapered off again. Sadly, she was now aware of her surroundings.

“What are you doing to me?” Sophia staggered out with weakened breath.

Liam hurriedly got the splints from the medical kit that had been placed in there before being brought to the room and positioned each one to the correct finger, the metal around the padding keeping them straight.

“We fixed you up, Angel. Now we’re going to let you rest. Yours and Harry’s water bottles are on the table. He might need help with his but I don’t want you moving too much. You can call or whistle for any of us and we’ll come. I’m going to leave the door op –“Liam started explaining but Niall rushed in, scratching his head at the same time the front door slammed. Without a doubt, Zayn had a sneaking suspicion on what happened.

“Um, Louis took his clothes off and I couldn’t stop him.” Niall began unsure, making Zayn gently place Sophia back on the bed, sliding out from under her.

“Niall, where –“ Zayn asked but Niall cut him off.

“He says it was too bloody hot for clothing and stripped, he grabbed a set of keys and said he was going to London to pick up takeout.”

Zayn rushed out the door with Niall hot on his heels. In his personal opinion, the day could not get much worse.

“I told you to bloody watch him!” Zayn yelled, turning to glare at Niall.

“I did!” Niall defended himself.

“Yeah, you watched him. Bloody watched him grab keys and head out the door!” Zayn growled, pushing Niall in the chest, his motion stumbling back a little but he managed to go forward again as they slammed open the door and saw Louis stumbling in naked glory across the clearing to where the cars were hidden. He even appeared to be humming. Chances are – if he had even made it to London and not gotten lost somewhere else, he would no doubt regardless get picked up for drunk intoxication and indecent exposure. A good laugh for the cops, a bad thing to have to explain to Damien.

“Louis! Hey!” Zayn yelled, making his fellow partner turn around and give an unstable wave.

“Where you off to?” Zayn tried to get control of the situation by catching up with the tall brunette. Niall at his side not even a second later.

“London for take out.” Louis answered, his concentration on which key went where. He was completely knackered.

“We can’t let you drive like that, mate. I’m sorry. It’s just not a good idea…and you’re naked. Stepping out like that will make old ladies faint and you really don’t want to scare children, do you? Come inside, I’ll make us all something. Okay?”

Louis blinked with drugged eyes and smirked, opening his mouth to respond but Zayn shook his head.

“No, now come on back inside and get your clothes on.” Zayn commanded sternly rubbing the bridge of his nose at the absolute ridiculousness of the situation.

“I don’t want to.” Louis glared, turning to go towards the cars again.

“Exactly how do you plan on paying for the food, Lou? Come on, you can’t go out like this.” Zayn tried to reason, even though he was reasoning with someone being unreasonable and probably didn’t know his left from his right at the current point.

“You’re being ridiculous.” Louis muttered, continuing his examination of the keys to figure out which car they went to.

“I’M being ridiculous? Seriously, Lou? I’m not out here giving a bird’s eye view of things that should only be seen in a porno or mirror!” Zayn argued but Niall stopped him with an arm across his chest.

“Zayn we’re going to have to tackle him.” Niall reasoned, earning him a glare.

“Well, you should have done that at the cabin before he came out here to scare the local wildlife into probable years of therapy!” Zayn glowered with a scowl.

“Now you’re being ridiculous.” Niall agreed with Louis.

Zayn threw his hands up.

“Fine, we tackle him on three. Just make sure he doesn’t hit his head anymore.” Zayn agreed, looking up just as Louis pressed a button on the remote of keys, losing his balance to the ground when the car alarm blared noisily into the silent atmosphere, disturbing the hoard of birds, their wings flocking in distress to escape the disturbance caused by the dreadful human technology.

Liam ran out the door at this point, syringe in hand.

“Bloody hell, what the fuck are you two doing? Why are you letting him take the car?” Liam demanded, his face creased with worry lines, making him look older than anyone there.

“We were going to tackle him.” Niall explains but Liam shakes his head.

“You two are imbecils, you don’t tackle an injured person!”

Zayn glares at Niall.

“The next time you suggest anything other than ‘is this enough garlic’ I’m going to knock you into next week.” Zayn threatened, seeing Liam walk past them and kneel down to Louis.

He took the remote from the slightly older man’s grasp and shut the alarm off.

“Hey Louis, how you feeling?” Liam asked, uncapping the syringe and tapping the glass to make sure there were no air pockets.

“Hungry.” Louis responds, scratching the side of his mouth, some lose raw skin being picked into his nail.

Liam reached a hand up and stopped Louis from picking at his mouth and Louis seemed to remember something but he just couldn’t remember what.

“Sophia’s okay, yeah?” Louis frowned, his eyes going to the syringe in Liam’s hand.

“Yeah Lou, she’ll be fine. Come on, you need to get some more rest. You got pretty banged up by Damien as well. You three need to rest and let us take care of everything else.” Liam replied, sliding the needle into Louis’s arm and plunged the rest of the sedative into him.

Louis’s body relaxed, his eyes closing slowly to the world around him, moaning out a weak groan before the darkness surrounded him yet again.

Liam shook his head.

“I’ve lost all control of sanity around here and it’s only Monday.” He looked at the two boys that stood above him and sighed. “Take him back to his room and Niall, please watch him. I need to make sure his breathing stays regular and his medicine is applied to the burns. I don’t want his face to scar.”

Niall nodded and bent down to help carry Louis inside, Zayn assisted when they had to balance the unconscious bloke up the steps but in the end, with teamwork, they managed to get Louis tucked safely back into bed. ♠ ♠ ♠
AUTHOR'S NOTE: There will still be character POV's but I also added a narrator because in some chapters, the character's wouldn't be able to have a POV but yes, Niall, Harry, Zayn, Louis - all still get a POV but I added a narrator to help everyone to see what I see and through my eyes, something that's different from the first TSTS story. This is the start of the sequal as promised, Enjoy!

Notes