It seemed as if he was frozen in place, body wanting to move forward but mind pulling it back.

Another second and the officers will be here, we don't have much time. I grabbed Zane's wrist and gave it a tug in the direction of the stairs. The movement attached him to reality and he leapt into action. Cards danced out in the hallway, sticking to the cameras and we ran towards the stair.

I took a step down and my ears started ringing with my own heartbeat, I breathed heavily, straining my legs to be quiet on the stairs leading down, away from our exit.

I jumped down the last step and as soon as my feet collide with the floor I stumbled back. There were two ways on either side, the right one had stairs leading further down and the left one had an office on the left line.

That wasn't it.

"Didn't I tell you this yesterday?" the man leaning on the door frame of the office called with a laugh. Swinging on the door forward and backwards.

"He is coming back today, we need everything in order," he answered in the same position, I glanced back. We were at the bottom of the stairs, maybe hidden for now but if anyone from up were to glance down, or this man decides to look to the side?

I peered at Zane, he was already contemplating our options, glancing at the stairs leading down to what I assume was the lockup. Footsteps echoed above the mouth of the stairs and Zane nodded at me.

I took a deep breath and ran to the stairs. My glided across the short corridor and I descended the stairs with Zane beside me. Four steps down and I turned left under inertia. I was suddenly pushed back against the wall with a heavy arm across my stomach. I took in a sharp breath, my chest rising and falling with the panic that I refused to take shelter in me.

With the next breath the cold stench entered my nose, it reeked of metallic blood and foul sweat. I didn't notice this before but the walls have changed, the floor turning into a harsh concrete the closer we got to the lockup.

I tried to swallow the heavy breath, keeping my eyes focused on Zane who had me trapped against the wall with his eyes and ears on the surrounding. I held the next breath to quieten down and listen.

But everything was quiet, drops of water from a leaking pipe echoed in a maddening rhythm in the empty silence. I couldn't hear more than that, couldn't see in the dimmed light that painted the basement in shadows.

Zane loosened his grip on me, taking a step back. He gave me a nod and I blinked in confirmation. He took hold of my wrist and stepped down the last step, turning left. I let him guide me in the unchartered territory. The basement was smaller than I had anticipated, lockups lined side by side in a U, maybe ten in number. I kept my eyes open, widening them at what I saw.

These were not simple lockups, they were prison cells with iron bars and cement beds. A single row of dimmed light illuminated the path and the occupants of the cells.

But it was still hard to make out anything besides bodies slumped on the floor. I took in a shuddering breath, wrapping my hand around Zane's wrist that was holding my hand. My legs felt week and I wanted to cower from the pictures of torment written on the walls. They are prisoners, criminals.

I took a deep breath to hold myself together. The door of a cell at the corner creaked, its hinges groaning as it was opened one-fourth way. I stopped in my tracks once I realised where Zane was taking me.

"Where is Kai, I need him down," Someone called from the mouth of the stairs, it echoed loudly down to us, I snapped my panicked eyes at Zane. Someone took a step, then another. But the steps were fading away.

"We need to hide Ariel," Zane whispered, turning to face me, face painted in a steal cold emotion. I shook my head at him in a no, but then I nodded a yes. He said he was coming down, with officers.

With a single thought, I called my colour, wine red dripped down my arms to my elbows and to my wrist in Zane's hand. He pulled me to the cell with him, one hand shifted the door open. He didn't even hesitate before stepping inside. I stepped after him, my eyes scanning the murky walls. I glued my gaze to the only body in the cell.

A man with shaggy blonde hair was propped against the wall, legs thrown in front of him as if he was too exhausted to even sit in a better position. He was slumped down, breaths echoing loudly in the otherwise empty cell.

Zane tucked on my wrist and I snapped my attention to him. There was a niche in the poorly made cell, a wall curtaining a small space in the cell where two people can easily fit. I stepped towards it, my breaths coming out as shaky as my legs felt.

"Come on, hurry," Zane whispered, motioning me to step inside.

The prisoner groaned, and I jumped my attention to him, my body tensing as he tried to stand up. I coiled my fists, my colour getting thicker around my arms. He tried to prop up on his arm but fell back with a grunt, his hand slipping from under him, "The door," he whispered out in a throaty voice.

To my horror Zane stepped towards him, He grabbed the prisoner's arm and attempted to hoist him up.

"Zane what are you doing, he is a criminal," I whisper yelled at him, my colour drawn into cold daggers if the prisoner were to jump him.

"There are no criminals in these cells Ariel, they are the ones roaming outside" Zane snapped sharply at me, helping the prisoner to sit up.

"Ariel?" the man's voice turned clear in astonishment, the youth returning to him as he tried to sit taller. I tensed. Clenching my fist and narrowing my eyes to appear threatening.

"Ariel," he didn't question, he called me in a wavering voice. His eyes moistening in blue and yellow memories.

I didn't respond, he asked again, "What are you doing in Urydale?" that tensed me more, the hair on my neck raised in alarm.

"Who are you?" I whispered to the man whose slumped body looked broken and whose face was masked in the shadows.

"How can you forget the boy who used to come to your house for your mom's special strawberry cake and Kayden's video games," he whispered quietly, but his statement weighed like bricks on my shoulders, turning my blood to lead. Only one name echoed in my head repeatedly. Only one person who was that special to Kayden to tease his sister relentlessly.

"Resen?," Kayden's childhood best friend.

Our whispered conversation was cut short by the hollow sound of footsteps approaching the cells. My ears ringed in alarm, I quickly stepped in the niche behind the wall into the cramped space. I shuffled inside, between the two walls. There was enough space for three people to stand but it wasn't tall enough. When Zane stepped in after me his head was visible above the partial wall. We quickly ducked down, bending on our knees to take a seat in the cramped space. I sat down, the grainy texture under my hand making bile rise to my throat, the poisoned smell wasn't forgiving either.

The door groaned once the drumming of the footsteps came to a halt. They are here.

"Resen, where were we," a faintly familiar voice drawled out in a mock sigh. The dragging feet falling silent as the dripping of water became the only sound that echoed in the defining silence of the basement.

"Oh yes, I remember," the officer said after a short pause, drawing out the terror. A thud, like something, broke against a fist. Resen groaned, his deep breaths sounding louder and pained.

They-, they are beating him up, I realised with another shaky breath. I slowly pulled my phone from my pocket as the thrashing doubled along with the cries of pain. My hands trembled as I turned on the video and placed the mobile on the wall, its camera visible by a centimetre and screen towards us.

I shouldn't have done that.

Kai picked up Resen by his collar, his feet struggling to support his weight as he coughed out blood. My eyes couldn't leave the screen. Kai drew his arm back and aimed it at Resen's face like a dagger ready to stab. He punched his face, Resen's head snapping to the side with an audible crack. His legs stopped thrashing and his hands stopped clawing at Kai's grip.

"Thank you for increasing the work for us," Kai's voice, I recognise growled in resentment, a maniacal smile on his face.

Another punch and Resen's head whipped to the right, his broken nose smashed in a bloody mess. Kai, dropped him down with a thud, his body slumping in a lifeless heap. A sob clawed up my throat, my hands trembled as tears strung at my eyes.

Zane placed his hand on mine, letting me withdraw my hand from my phone. I taped my hand on my face, pressing it so tight that my jaw hurt in my own grip.

"Thank you for activating your social media and leaking Xile knows what information about Urydale," Kai yelled again, every statement ending with more punches. I pinched my eyes closed as the thuds got louder, repeating as he Resen was tossed and kicked around. Beaten until he could feel the pain deep in his bone. I covered my face with my hands, pulling my legs tighter.

Zan's arm reached around me, a familiar weight on my shoulder. He pulled me to his chest, making me lean my body on him. I rested my head on his chest, curling myself at his side as I tried to breathe through it.

"I will ask you only once, how did you do it?" Kai screamed, his voice like nails on a chalkboard. But he only received a tortured groan in reply.

Kai never once stopped hitting.

I heard every crack of bones, every kick and every punch like it was to my own gut. I pulled my self closer to Zane, taking comfort from his warmth as I gripped his shirt in a fist. I tried to hide in him, under his arm that was placed around me. His hand stroking my head. But nothing got rid of the sickening sound. It won't stop.

A thud, a groan, a crack. It pierced my mind like a needle, reaching through my ears, my eyes to pick apart any self-control I had. I shivered like a leaf, the echo of Resen's agony scratching at my spine. I can't take this. I can't sit here.

I ran the scenarios through my mind, every false fairytale ending up with me saving Resen and killing Kai along with the officers. Anything to soothe the ache of disappointment, regret and betrayal that coursed through me. I tightened my grip on my ears as the sound got louder than my thoughts.

"He must have found a loop in our servers," Someone said, reaching a conclusion. It was silent after that, the laboured breaths of the officers mingled with the painting of Resen.

"Well, then thank you for being a sneaky bitch." Kai's voice was hollowed, the whisper of a click that followed had the hairs on my hand standing in alarm. I pulled straighter, tears blurring my vision. But not enough to cloud the gun visible in Kai's hand.

"Don't do it now," another officer stepped in, he placed his hand on the gun and lowered it down.

"Why? He is already supposed to be dead, no one knows that he is in Urydale. No one will care." Kai questioned casually, already heeding to his superior's command.

"Sorin will be back in a few hours, let him deal with this scumbag on his own" the same officer replied, crouching down to inspect Resen that was sprawled in his own blood.

"And what about the girl and her brother? They are up to something," Kai questioned, placing the gun back.

"Wait one more day, if they don't leave by tomorrow's train then either throw them down here or out of Urydale,"