His eyes drifted close, wincing at the feeling of the blunt object pressed firmly against his fresh wound. Taking in a deep, shaky breath, he slowly rose his hands… it didn’t take a genius to figure out what was held to the back of his head was the cold tip of a gun.

“I must be dreaming, I must be dreaming…” AJ silently chanted to himself, knowing their trip couldn’t have suddenly turned this drastic.

“Well, let me wake you up from this fucking dream.”

Before AJ could register what the man behind him had said, unbearable pain exploded in the back of his head. He immediately collapsed to his knees, his hands flying up to hold the back of his head. “FUCKING SHIT!” he cried out.

He pushed himself up from the ground, leaving bloody handprints on the tiled flooring, and unsteadily whirled around to face their tormentor. For a moment, his conscious threatened to leave him, but he straightened himself out long enough to connect eyes with the man that had just bashed him in the back of his head with a gun. Angered by what had happened earlier and the current situation they were in, he was ready to lunge himself at the man, not thinking clearly and apparently not caring about the fact that the man had a gun.

Kevin sprung up from where he sat and quickly wrapped his arms around AJ, reeling him back. “Don’t you dare do anything stupid.” he whispered harshly into AJ’s ear before he placed him down on the couch between Nick and Brian.

Tears cascaded freely down AJ’s face, but he didn’t care, he was experiencing excruciating pain. He placed his hands back to the wound and applied pressure, hoping it would dull the constant pain that seem to pulsate every second.

The man had his gun trained on all of them, “Is there anymore of you fuck faces in this lodge?”

They all thought about Adrianna, but AJ could care less if the bitch had walked down and was knocked in the head as well. Just as he was about to rat Adrianna out, the sound of someone running downstairs kept him quiet. This bitch will get hers, AJ thought to himself.

“What’s going on?” Adrianna asked as she approached the guys, oblivious to the fact that there was an armed man in the room as well.

The man stalked up to Adrianna from behind and wrapped his arm around her waist, reeling her back. She released a startled yelp, but was soon quieted when the man placed his hand over her mouth and the gun to her temple. “Is this the last one?” he asked, fingering the trigger.

Kevin rose his hands, gesturing for the man to remain calm. “Yes, we’re the only ones in this lodge. Just please… don’t do anything to her.”

AJ snapped his eyes over towards Kevin’s direction, what the hell was he saying? The bitch knocked him in the head earlier and Kevin doesn’t want anything to happen to her?!

“Aww, becoming ever so protective of the bitch, are we?” the man cooed as he grabbed a fistful of her hair, yanking her head back.

She cried out, tears springing forth from her eyes. The movement alone cause the four of them to jerk forward in their seats, as if wanting to do something to get Adrianna away from this crazy man, but AJ sat there, a small smirk on his face, despite his pain.

“Perhaps we can figure out what you guys wanna protect her so much.” he trailed his gun down her chest. “I mean, one girl in a lodge with five guys… this is all so interesting to say the least.” the gun found solace near her lower region. “You don’t mind if I test this out, do you?” he asked as he leaned in and forced a kiss upon her. Whimpering, Adrianna squirmed in attempts to get away.

Kevin’s fist balled up, not liking the fact that the poor woman was being violated by this man, right in front of them. “Don’t you fucking tou-”

All of their mouths fell agape when they saw Adrianna stop struggling and wrap her arms around the armed man. They remained silent as they watched the two engage in a deeper, meaningful kiss.

Adrianna finally, yet hesitantly, broke away. “About fucking time James, what in the hell took you so long?”

“Had to take care of fucking blondie over there.” James replied as he gestured over towards Nick. “What about you, what the hell were you doing upstairs?”

Adrianna glanced over at AJ, “Well, one of them was trying to take advantage of me.”

AJ’s eyes widened, “BULL FUCKING SHIT YOU DUMB BITCH!” Nick and Brian immediately shot their hands out, in hopes to restrain their riled friend.

James walked away from Adrianna and slowly sauntered over towards AJ, “So… you trying to fuck with my bitch, is that it?”

Normally, AJ was one to quickly divert any sort of tension or drama, but when provoked, he was quick with his tongue and didn’t care to watch what he said. “I wasn’t trying to fuck with no one, least of all your dumb bitch over there.”

“You do realize that I’m the one with the gun, right?” James chuckled. “If you wanna put that dirty mouth of yours to some good use, you should start thanking me that you’re still here, sitting on that fucking couch because I don’t put up with people with smartass mouths.”

AJ bit his tongue, knowing James was right. He was the one with the gun, and he could end his life in the blink of an eye if he wanted to. Right now was not the time to get mouthy.

James tucked his gun in the waist of his pants, “You guys must be wondering why we’re here, and it really doesn‘t take a fucking genius to figure it out… you guys can consider us the modern day Bonnie and Clyde.”

“Wait, baby?” Adrianna spoke out sheepishly.

James slowly turned to face Adrianna, “What the fuck are you interrupting me for?”

“Just figured I would tell you something you should know before you go on.”

“Are you fucking kidding me, right now?” James asked her with a sigh, staring at her for a while, before he finally looked away and started shaking his head. He pulled his gun back out, aiming it directly at the guys. “Don’t try anything stupid, because I swear if you do, you’re fucking dead.” and with that, he and Adrianna walked away and situated themselves behind a wall to talk.

“Who the fuck goes to talk behind a wall when they have hostages?” AJ whispered to no one in particular. “We’re outta sight for them, we could just fucking leave if we wanted to.”

“But we’re not gonna do that.” Kevin said in a warning tone. “You, for one, are in no shape to be doing anything strenuous, and we’re not risking it.”

AJ rose his hand to touch the back of his head, wincing slightly. He sighed when he felt that he was still bleeding, “As if getting hit in the back of the head once wasn’t enough.”

Brian glanced over to inspect the damage; he could clearly see the fresh deepened gash, and the fact that his hair was matted with his thick, dark blood made it look messy. “Looks like you’ll need stitches for that. Until then, we’re gonna have to clean that up and keep it covered, and of course ice down the swelling.”

“Considering our situation, I don’t think I’ll be needing those stitches.” AJ grumbled, he was starting to feel lightheaded.

Kevin shot him a look, “Don’t talk like that Alex.”

“Maybe they’ll just take our shit and leave.” Nick spoke out for the first time, trying to remain optimistic. He was seemingly in a daze.

“I highly doubt that. We’ve seen their face, we know their names… there’s no way in hell they’re gonna let us g-”

“Alex, enough.” Kevin warned once more.

“I’m just saying, if we really wanna get outta here alive, we’re gonna have to do something. There’s two of them, and five of us.”

“There’s two of them with a gun, and just five of us.” Howie corrected.

“Aside from the fact that they have a gun, we have the upper hand. Lets just think of a plan and all we have to do is execute it properly.”

“Like I said, you’re in no shape to be doing much of anything, both you and Nick. You do not wanna mess with head traumas.” Kevin replied. “Look, I’m trying to think of something, but until then we’re not gonna attempt anything stupid. Especially you Jay with that mouth of yours.”

AJ sighed heavily; the only reason why he was fussy and ballsy in the first place was because of the given situation they were in. First he was being hit on by the girl they saved, then the same girl decides to smash a vase over his head, then he goes downstairs to find his brothers being held hostage by a bandit, then the bandit decides to knock him over the head again, for good measures, and now here they sit, nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.

Before any one could say anything, both James and Adrianna walked back into the living room, “Well gentlemen, looks like I have some good news for you guys,” James started, “we’ll be extending our stay… oh, and I hope you don’t mind company.”