Elena’s legs and lungs burned as she tore down the sidewalk, every now and then jumping out of the way of people and other obstacles. As soon as she made it out of the house she had been spotted by Howie and AJ, and just as Nick had told her she ran and hadn’t looked back. She knew she lost the man who was chasing her after a few minutes but couldn’t make herself slow down. The only thing keeping her going was a little adrenaline, and a lot of fear.

She must have been a scary sight for anyone walking down the street. There she was, dressed in nothing but a dirty tank top and a pair of shorts. Her long blonde hair was greasy, and she was shoeless. She was pretty sure she’d have all kinds of little rocks imbedded in her feet but still she kept running. 

A left turn and suddenly the average road turned into one far from average. Mansions lined the road behind gates on both sides and Elena knew she was almost home. She couldn’t keep herself from bursting into tears at the thought, slowing her down slightly, but she kept running. The past week of her life had definitely been the worst, and the most confusing. She’d been kidnapped in the middle of the night, held captive in the dark with only the village idiot to take care of her wearing almost nothing. From there she’d developed a strange friendship with the man who would eventually try to save her. She had no respect for Nick when she first met him, he had kidnapped her after all, but now she’d somehow ended up not only having a very awkward quickie in a crack house but had developed some feelings for him. Whether those feelings were real or just because of the strange situation she’d been in, she wasn’t absolutely sure.

Elena was worried that something might happen to Nick; it was then that she realized that she really did like him. She certainly didn’t love him – it was too soon for that, but she wished that they would have more time together. He was the type of person that she needed, her complimentary opposite, and she thought that he might feel the same about her. They levelled each other out. What he was missing she had and what she lacked he made up for, they seemed to go together quite well. That and he was the best quickie she’d had in a long time. 

Finally she could see her house around a bend in the road and she powered through, using whatever energy she had left to sprint to the finish. When she reached the gates though, she was disappointed. She had expected the place to be swarming with police officers like Nick had told her it would be. Instead, the long driveway was empty. No police, not even a single car was parked outside of her house. 

Her legs were weak and could barely carry her as she slowed to a walk and kept going towards the house. She couldn’t understand why there was no one there. Nick had specifically said the place would be crawling, where was everyone?

She finally made it to the front door, huffing and puffing as she fought to catch her breath. She reached for the door handle, almost crying out when she realized that the door was locked. No cars, the door locked, no one was there! Elena rang the doorbell repeatedly, hoping that there might be some sign of life. 

Nothing.

“Come on, how no one can be home?! There’s always someone home!” she yelled, pounding on the door with her fist. 

Elena fell to the ground in front of the door and broke down into sobs. In the back of her mind she was worried that Nick would get Brian there and with no police and no help in sight she would be kidnapped all over again and never see her family again. She did all that she could do, she sat, cried, and waited. 

Then in the distance she heard an engine in the distance and excitement rose up in her throat. There was definitely a car coming up the driveway. Someone was finally there! She rose to her feet in a flash, wiping tears away from her battered cheeks. She nervously shifted from foot to foot, wondering why the car was driving so fast. The first car came to a squealing halt when a second, more familiar vehicle, came racing down the drive. The feeling in her stomach was not a good one; she knew that something was not right. It was confirmed to her when Nick got out of the driver’s side of the first car and ran towards her. 

“Where is everybody?” he asked frantically but Elena was too busy looking past him to the other car where Howie and AJ were getting out. 

“Follow me,” Elena instructed, grabbing Nick’s hand. She pulled him towards the back of the house where the guest house was, “I can’t believe I didn’t think of this before,” she groaned, quickly digging inside a planter. She pulled out a small box with the key inside, hidden for the times that she came home late and didn’t want to disturb her parents with a knock on the door. 

“Why are we hiding?” Nick demanded to know as soon as they got inside the guest house, “Where the hell are the police and your parents?”

“Shut up,” Elena said as she bolted the door behind them and pulled him into the bathroom. 

“Why are we in the bathroom?”

“Do you ever stop asking questions?” Elena rolled her eyes, “We’re in the bathroom because there are no windows in here. When I got here there was no one around! I have no idea why, but everyone is gone! Shouldn’t they be here trying to find me?”

Nick took a seat on the toilet and ran his hands over his face in frustration, “How could there be no one here,” he groaned.

“You’re the one who said the place would be ‘crawling’ with cops!” she quoted him. The two of them quieted down when they heard the glass of a window breaking in the main room. 

“They’re going to kill us,” Nick whispered, staring at the door as if it was going to suddenly open any second. 

“Don’t say things like that!”

“I should have known though,” Nick continued, ignoring her last statement, “Nothing ever works out for me. Nothing I ever do is successful. I should just come to accept that I’m a failure; a worthless failure. I should let them kill me, I’d be better off.”

Elena couldn’t take his negativity any longer, walked over to him and slapped him clean across the face, “I said don’t say things like that! Things don’t work out for you because you don’t believe they will and you don’t try! You actually tried this time! You came up with the plan, and you executed it! You can’t expect everything to go perfectly; life doesn’t work like that so now we have to figure out what we’re going to do; now that the people who are trying to kill us are very close to being successful.”

“I can’t believe you just slapped me,” Nick held a hand to his cheek, surprised by her actions.

“Get over it,” Elena said bluntly and he nodded, showing their give and take chemistry at work.

“Well,” Nick prompted, feeling comfortable enough to give his assessment of the situation, “Speaking of things that probably won’t go perfectly, if I can take a moment to judge your abilities to run for your life. Your first move wasn’t exactly the best. I definitely wouldn’t have come in a room with no windows. How do you expect us to get out? We’ve kind of trapped ourselves in here.”

She bristled, knowing he was right, “Well they also can’t get in through a window!”

“No, they’ll just use the door,” he deadpanned.

“Oh... I didn’t even think about that,” Elena said in a small voice, moving to sit down on Nick’s leg, “I guess we’re fucked.”

“Yeah,” Nick nodded, “You should really leave the illegal things up to me in the future.”

“There’s a future?” Elena wondered, looking at him out of the corner of her eye.

Nick shrugged, clearly trying to be nonchalant, “I’d like there to be, if we’re not dead.”

“I’d like there to be a future too, if we’re not dead,” she said, smiling slightly. 

She found they always had their best moment right before things went sour, and this time was no different. They were quietly sitting together (on the toilet) waiting for something to happen. They’d been hearing noise outside the door for a few minutes, some shuffling and the occasional voice, and finally there was a knock. 

“If you don’t come out,” Brian’s voice spoke, “I’ll break down the fucking door.”

Elena looked to Nick for guidance but he was at a complete loss, “We’ll be right out,” he answered with a defeated sigh, wondering when Brian had woken up and discovered they were at his place of work. 

Nick helped Elena off of his lap and held her hand as they walked slowly out of the bathroom where Brian, Howie and AJ were waiting for them. 

“Isn’t this sweet,” Brian commented, looking down at their hands. He turned to the other two and told them to go start the car and wait for him, “I just have to take care of this and then I’ll join you.”

A sickening feeling rose in Nick’s throat as he watched AJ and Howie walk out of the guest house, over the glass they’d broken to get in. Nick had always thought he could trust Brian. Brian had saved his life after all, but thinking back to all of the things that his friend had done for him and what he’d done in return he knew that if anyone was feeling betrayed it was Brian. Now his actions were impossible to dictate. Brian would never be his friend again, even if somehow they made it out of this alive. He was his adversary, and Nick could tell from the look in his eyes that he never wanted to see his young friend again, no matter what the consequences.