Safe?.... Hardly! (Re-edited for easier reading)

HONEY, I'M HOOOME!"

Bert called, as he locked the door and walked towards Gerard, who was sleeping, with his eyes taped open, the drugs having finally worn off.

Gerard awoke with a jolt as the sudden loud voice echoed through the empty building. He couldn't see the other man as he approached him, his eyes burnt to blindness, but he heard his footsteps, and flinched as his tormentor stroked his messy hair from his face.

"Hey there GeeGee, miss me?"

Bert chuckled.
Gerard didn't reply. He didn't cry, and he didn't scream. He was broken now. Emotionally, physically and mentally. He just wanted this to end... He just wanted to die.

"Gerard? Can you hear me?"

Bert leaned in close to his ear, a small frown on his weathered face.

"Bert?"

Gerard whispered, his voice so small and fragile, it was truly heartbreaking.

"Yes Gee?"

Bert lowered his voice to match the others soft tone.

"Please..."

His voice cracked.

"Please what?"

"Please... Kill me?"

Silent tears fell from his ruined eyes.
Bert sighed deeply, running his fingers through Gerard's slightly greasy hair again.

"I'm sorry Gee..."

He almost sounded it too.

"...but I can't do that."

Gerard's chest heaved in huge sobbing breaths as he started to break down once more, listening to Bert walk back over to his "toy" table.
Just then, Bert's cellphone rang, and after a moment staring at the somewhat familiar number, he answered it.

"Hello?"

"Hello Bert"

"What do you want?"

He didn't have time for this shit.

"Oh, just to tell you that you were followed."

The voice answered, a hint of irritation in his words.
Bert scoffed.

"No fuckin' way! ...I was careful... WHO?"

"Cops. I suggest you get out now, before they get backup and surround the place... Only a thought."

Then the line went dead.

"FUCK!!"

Bert hollered, throwing his phone clean across the room, and hearing it smash on the concrete as it landed.

"Shit"

Glancing, briefly, at Gerard's pale, cold, shaking figure, Bert turned and ran toward the front wall, and quickly climbed the metal ladder that lead upto a high walkway, and a row of narrow, dirty windows, the only source of natural light in the place.
Peering out, he quickly spotted the two men, trying to be inconspicuous, as they leaned against a dirty blue car, across the street from the warehouse. Damn, definitely cops. They were watching the building, while one talked on a cell, the other chain smoked angrily.

"Fuck!"

Climbing back down, Bert considered his next move. Their backup would come quickly, and they'd probably have sharpshooters with them, so he needed to get out soon. Crossing back to Gerard's side, he pulled out his hunting knife.

"I've got to Gee.."

He whispered.

"But I'll see you again one day, and so you don't forget..."

He dragged the blade through the pale skin of Gerard's arm, the pain making him hiss and whimper.

"Mine!"

He spat, carving the letters deep into the trembling flesh, blood beginning to flow in heavy red rivers to the floor below.

"You will always be mine!"

With that, he walked away, and as Gerard's mind slipped towards unconsciousness, he could faintly hear a banging, then scraping, like metal on metal, then more banging,... then silence.

The only sounds that remained within the warehouse, were the soft *drip, drip drip* of Gerard's lifeblood as it drained from the wounds on his arm, and his shuddering breaths as they begun to slow, his heartbeat faltering in his chest, and his mind shutting down to darkness.

Outside, the detectives continued to wait for backup.

Notes