Rhys asked a lot of question.

Bruce tried to keep the answer quick and short, not wanting to lose a sign of approaching danger.

Once he even got the caution old man to say more than just simple answers when the old man tackled what looked like a shadow figure with a cloak on and it seemed to be looking out the window. The rest of the group came rushing into the room as they heard the bodies go into the wall and the clashing to the floor. Their guns were in front of them ready to put a dozens of bullets into whoever decided to cross them, but when they flashed their lights on the two people, they saw it was just a mannequin in a dark cloak.

Everyone dropped their guns as they let out a sigh while Rhys let out a childish laugh and Bruce - fully red in the face- shoved the mannequin off of him and got up. He let out a grunt as he snatched his backpack off the floor and stomped out of the room.

"So you believe in Shadow People?" Rhys asked as he ran after Bruce with his head tilted and looking up at the big guy. "Do you think what they say is true?"

"I think the shadow people are nothing but cowards who hide in the dark and nothing more." He huffed through the variety of colored yarn, needles, thread, and cloth.

"You don't think they are as powerful as everyone says they are?" Rhys continued. "I hear some of the kids saying if you kill one of them , you get their power."

"That's just a myth, kid." He matter of fact responded as they stood at the door on the look out. "As I said they're cowards. "

"Then why are you scared of them?"

"I'm not scared of them."

"Then why you'd attack that mannequin so quickly?"

"Because it's dangerous to not act quickly and you don't know if people are around waiting."

"If they're cowards then why is everyone scared of them?"

"Because people are scared of something they know nothing about and sometimes stupid people use that as a scare tactic to get others to do what they want."

"Are you not scared of them?"

"No." He said quickly. "As I said they're cowards."

"Then why do you yell at Madi when she asks them for help, if they're not dangerous?"

"Because Madi is a ditz that don't know who's on her side and who isn't." He responded rather aggressively. "And just because they're cowards doesn't mean they're trusting. They could slip in something deadly into whatever they give her and kill the weak. You can't just trust people you know nothing about."

"Well they haven't given her a reason to not trust them." He folded his arms and looked up at the older man with his big green eyes.

"But they haven't given us a reason to trust them either." Bruce threw back.

Rhys looked away with his lips pursed and to the right. He furrowed his eyebrows as he looked down the street. "They haven't attacked us." One of his eyebrows went up as he side eyed Bruce.

"Yet."

At this point, there were a couple of hours left of light as the sun got past the half way point in the sky. The group was back on the street running between buildings and ducking behind cars and mailboxes. Their packs were almost full and raddling came from the backpacks as the pill bottles raddled together.

In an alley way between two concrete buildings, they moved closer together. Rhys noticed the green trash can that they had to move around and was in awe with how tall the building to his right was. It seemed higher because of the fire escape climbing up it. Rhys could hear the soft footsteps of his people. They were so much lighter compared to his. He looked down at his own feet. He needed to work on how to control his loud footsteps.

He was so concentrated on the sound of their footsteps that the sudden penetrating scream cut through the air and his nerves to the point that he physically jumped before running right into Bruce. When he looked up at everyone, their guns were up and Bruce's hand was held out to stop everyone from exiting the alley.

The screams were high pitched and sharp, which caused a couple of birds to take flight. Bruce flattened himself against the wall and inched little by little to the edge to take a peak around the corner. One of the guys pushed himself against the wall across from Bruce and slipped down into a crouch positions. When they peaked out, all they saw was a woman running out into the open.

Her grey top and blue jeans were covered in dirt stains and enough blood to see from where they were. Her hair was dull, kinky and hairs were out of place.

She looked behind her as she ran and let out a piercing scream for help. Suddenly, behind her followed two men that chased her down. One grabbed her arm and yanked her back while the other smashed the butt of his gun into her face causing her to fall back off her feet. Her back hit the asphalt with a disturbing thud and they could hear her suck in a breath. They watched as the woman turned on her stomach and tried to crawling away as she continued to scream for help.

"We should help her." The only woman that went on the run with Bruce whispered. "There's two we could take them."

The guy across from Bruce holds up his hand in a wait kind of motion. After a while, more men popped out to the street and they surrounded the women still trying to get away. Bruce's guy held up a five fingers and then three. Eight men in total that surrounded the poor woman. They all had red and brown stains on their white or gray shirts with their black jeans and combat boots.

From behind them, they could hear their friend mutter a never mind to herself as they kept watching. They watched as the lady got close to one of the guys and his boot connected to her nose causing her head to go back and fall back into the center of the men. Her nose was dripping with blood and the blood dripped between her fingers as she held her face, crying out in pain.

Suddenly, they were all startled by a voice that boomed through the city, "Look what we have here."

Four more men stepped onto the street with two of them where dragging a bruised and almost unconscious man, who looked to be in his thirties, with them. When they got close to the other group, they shoved him to the floor letting his forehead hit the asphalt.

The women moved her head to see what the thud on the floor was. When her eyes laid on the broken and beaten man, her screams started to mix with sobs. And when the man heard the woman's sobs, he tried to force himself up just as the woman made an attempt to go for him.

One of the men flipped her around to face him and held her down as she struggled to fight back. She threw her arms out and tried to kick but he grabbed her arms and held them down.

As they watched on, Bruce felt a small gentle push on his arm but he was so focused he didn't even bother looking. Not even when Rhys shaking whispered voice called out to him.

"Let her go." The beaten man tried yelling. "Leave her alone."

"Bruce." Rhys tried again and still nothing.

"Please stop." The woman cried as the man took his knife and carelessly cut her shirt open.

"Stop!" The beaten man voice got a little louder.

But as quick as his voice picked up, it soon turned to gurgles and a metal against concrete filled the streets mixed in with the woman's shrieks.

There was a big puddle of blood staining the street and the man was almost unrecognizable. Once he has been dealt with, the men started ripping her clothing off her body. She flung her arms around and kicked but there were too many men that were too strong for her.

"Bruce." Rhys his voice came out as a shriek this time and he instinctively hit Bruce in the arm.

"What?" Bruce looked at the boy, who's eyes were widen and he was staring down the alley. Bruce furrowed his eyebrows at the kid. He was trying so hard to squeeze himself between him and the wall.

Bruce finally looked up at what Rhys was looking at.

"Surprise." The voice was a bit high pitched but ruff. Bruce couldn't tell whether or not the man standing in front of them was a grown man or boy. He was skinnier than the rest and paler. The difference between this one and the rest was the fact that this man was pointing a rifle at them. "Put the guns down."

Bruce took a step back and Rhys followed in sync.

"Hold still." The pale man shouted a little too loudly. The sudden change in volume caused Rhys to jump back and ultimately tripping over Bruce's over sized boot. He let out a squeal as he hit the concrete. From his peripheral vision, Rhys noticed the sudden change from a grey to complete sunlight. A small gasp left his lips as he froze in his spot on the sidewalk.

The other three eyes went wide and the man closer to Bruce looked up to see the men circling the woman have turned their attention to them. "Run!" He screamed at them and the blue eyed man closest to the skinnier guy rushed him causing the gun to go off and the two men hit the wall. The other male quickly grabbed Rhys by his collar and haled him to his feet. The woman ran past the two men wrestling around as everyone else followed. Blue eyes got on top of the skinny man, put both his hands on the side of the guys head and started bashing it against the floor. His head made a sickening thud with every hit on the floor. When the skinnier man wasn't fighting back, blue eyes got up and ran after his group just as he started hearing multiple footsteps coming towards them.

"Chris !" Bruce heard from behind them. Probably the kid that tried to hold them up. "Get him back to base and get him a doctor." One of the men shouted ordered, "The rest of you with me ! "

Bruce and his team moved as quickly as possible, zig zagging through the city.

Rhys couldn't see what was going on around him. He was being pulled ever which way and on some occasion he felt like he almost smacked right into walls. His legs started burning after a couple of blocks. His feet were keeping up with everyone else's pace and started feeling like every other step was him jumping.

Suddenly, they had to ditch the narrow alleyways for the open street, if they wanted a better chance at surviving. Rhys heard a loud boom behind them then a whining sound go past his ear and just a step in front of him pieces of wood flew out from beside him. They all crouched down to the floor for just a moment but continued to run when bullets kept flying.

After a while of trying to dodge the bullets, they started hiding behind anything they could and fired back but never stayed there for too long.

Hide

Shoot.

Run.

Even when his heart was thumping and everything in his legs seemed on fire, Rhys was able to keep up with the man who pulled him up. He hid where he did, he never got in the way and he ran when he needed too. Every time they stopped, Rhys though it'd be a good moment to let his legs rest but the more time they spent in one spot for more than a couple of minutes, the more his small legs felt heavy and going to break.

The man pulled Rhys to his side before shoving him forward so he could get ahead run and be furthest away from the group chasing them.

In the second they began running again, Rhys was laying face down on the side walk. The right side of his jaw felt like tiny little bee stings going up and down his jawline. His breathing became shallow; and with every exhale, it became harder to inhale. He couldn't move. His arms slightly moved and one of his legs but he couldn't move his body or his other leg as he struggled to move.

"Ryan !" A female voice shouted.

Bullets kept flying past them so Rhys frantically covered his head with his arms and looked around for any cover. He looked to his left and saw two cars with just enough space for him to fit. Rhys wiggled around trying everything he could to move again. He let out a small scream as he grabbed onto the curbside as best as he could, kicked his legs around and pulled himself closer to the edge. When he felt some of the weight being lifted, he dragged one leg to himself, pushed himself up and moved between the two cars. He looked over at the sidewalk to see what it was that held him down and he saw the man that pulled him up and held on to him.

Rhys went to try and pull him behind the cars too but bullets kept flying past him so he stayed put watching as blood began to flood the concrete. A woman with shoulder length hair crouched over Ryan trying her hardest to get him up.

"Ryan, come on. Get up!" She groaned as she tried lifting him from his under arms. "Someone help me." She grabbed onto one arm and tried dragging him but he wouldn't budge.

"Leave him!" Bruce yelled as he dragged the woman off and they dashed across the street.

Rhys saw them cross the street and got ready to run when the cars tail light exploded. He dropped himself to the floor and covered his head. "Hey! Wait!" Rhys shouted.

Bruce turned around, took a few shots and took off.

"No! Wait!" Rhys cried. "Bruce, don't leave me!" He watched the alley that they disappeared into hoping that one of them would realize he was missing and go back. After a couple bullets flying towards him, he realized he was stuck there.

He looked around him. He had to figure a way out of the situation he was in. He could try for a building and make a run for it.

He peeked around the car to see if they were approaching him.

"Looks like the kid's ours, boys!" He heard one of them laugh out.

He sunk back behind the car and brought his knees to his chest, letting out a whimper. I never should of came out here. He thought. Dad was right I'm not ready.

"Come out, kid." He heard another yell, "We ain't gonna hurt you. Just come out."

You need to run!

Where? They have guns, I'll be dead.

Just pick a side and run!

I'll get shot. I don't want to be shot.

JUST DO IT!

His vision blurred as tears began to run down his face. His tears began to soak his blue jeans when he heard one of them speak again.

"Just grab him." The voice boomed throughout the streets, "It's just a kid."

Run!

As quickly as possible, he got to his feet and ran.

Within seconds, his left arm was pulled back and his body twirled with it. His fist went into whoever was holding him.

He scratched.

Punched.

Kicked.

And pulled away, without a seconds thought. Everything Bruce taught him went out the window right then and there.

"Let me go!" His voice broke, "Let go!"

"Stop fighting, kid." the man grunted.

"Let me go." He cried, "Let me go. Let me go." He pulled away as hard as he could with every word, "Help me!" He screamed, "Someone, please!" His voice began to get harsh.

Rhys swung his body to the car causing the man to stumble a bit but his grip did not falter. He kept repeating for the man to release him or screaming for help.

"Let..." He groaned as he pulled his arm back, "Me... G-"

His face became warm and wet as he heard a sickening thud. His mouth was open as he let out a gasp. For a moment, he thought he's been shot, but felt fine. Nothing except his arm hurt and everything was still intact. He opened his eyes to a soft gurgling and wheezing sound that filled his ears. His eyes went wide, he wanted to scream at the sight before him but couldn't manage to make a sound.

The older man's eyes almost popped out of their socket as he stared down the arrow sticking out of his neck and dripping with his own blood. His hands were up- one around his neck and the other slightly touching the arrow. His mouth was parted as red blood spilled out of the corners.

Suddenly, he dropped to his knees- almost at eye level with Rhys- still making gurgling sounds.