I started forward, eyes on Rosalie and Valarie as they cowered in the far corner of the room, but Coden grabbed my arm before I could go any further.  “Coden?” I whispered urgently, breathing all but stopping as I twisted around to face him.  Why was he stopping me?  We didn’t have time to sit here and debate whether going in there was a smart decision.  Dan or Samantha could look up at any moment and spot the girls.  My stomach pinched at the thought.  Oh god, if that happened… 

My eyes strayed back to Valarie and Rosalie.  What are you doing? I wanted to demand.  Get out of here before they spot you!  But doing that would require yelling across the room, and if I did that then we’d all be dead.

“Let me go in first,” Coden said softly.

The next thing I knew I was being tugged behind him, gaze forced away from the others as he stepped ahead of me.  I wanted to protest, to tell him there was really no point in changing positions, but there was no time.  So I just shut my mouth and let him lead the way, casting frantic glances between Dan and Rosalie and Valarie as I did so.

We were about half-way through the room when Rosalie spotted us.  She started toward us, her eyes wide and watery—

And then a shout.  “You!”

I froze, eyes snapping in the direction of Dan’s bark, unsurprised to find that his livid gaze was on me.  Panic slithered its way through my bloodstream, heading straight for my heart, but I forced away the images of one of Dan’s bullets lodging itself into me and shot a terrified look between Rosalie’s and Valarie’s direction and the direction we’d just come from.  We had two choices: we could either head back the way Coden and I had just come, or we could take the other exit.

Coden seemed to be following my line of thought, because he shot a quick look between the two doorways as well.  I opened my mouth to tell him which one I thought we should head for—the one Rosalie and I had gone through was the closest—but he grabbed onto my hand and tugged me in that direction before I could get the words out.  He let go of my hand almost instantly, and then we were tearing toward the girls, weapons gripped tightly in our hands.  Rosalie and Valarie followed our lead, twisting on their heels and fleeing toward the doorway.

I could see Dan coming for us out of the corner of my eye.  Which one of us would he try to shoot first?  Would he shoot me because he was pissed, or would he saved me for last for that same reason?  If not me, then who?  Coden?  Rosalie?  Valarie?

“Run all you want!” Dan bellowed.  “I will catch you, and this time I won’t miss!”

Dan’s threat travelled with me as we raced out of the room, echoing in my ears over and over again.  I will catch you.  I won’t miss.  I will catch you.  I won’t miss.  I prayed to God that he wouldn’t catch us, and, if he did, that he would miss.  But he was gaining on us, and fast.

Rosalie, who’d begun to lag behind, stumbled and almost fell.  I slowed just enough to grab her hand and tug her forward before speeding up again.  None of us could afford to fall.  Unlike last time, Dan would be expecting a surprise move or me to stab him.  He’d be on the lookout.  If one of us fell and he caught us…I didn’t think we’d all make it.

The thought of one of us dying here, in this manner, made me squeeze the knife with such force that it hurt.  I refused to lessen my hold, however.  Knowing it was there had a calming effect, and if I dropped it, I’d be defenseless.  Unless I chucked the flashlight at his face.

A shot fired, and Rosalie shrieked.  Oh god, had he hit her?  I glanced downward for a brief second, relieved to find that she was unharmed.  She’d just screamed because the shot scared her.  Thank god.

Another shot.  This time, Valarie screamed.  But her cry was not out of fear.  It was out of pain.

I chucked a panicked look in her direction and found her clutching her arm, tears swarming as she tried to stop the bleeding.  Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.  Please no—she couldn’t die.  She couldn’t.  She couldn’t.

 We veered into another hall, Dan following close behind.  My eyes flicked between Valarie, Rosalie, and Coden as I tried to keep the panic at bay.  Dan was much too close for comfort.  He was getting closer, closer, closer—

Rosalie and I let out matching screeches as Rosalie’s hand was ripped from my own.  I came to an immediate halt, twisting around and grabbing for her.  But it was too late.  Dan had her in his clutches.

Coden and Valarie came to a stop as well.  And there we stood, Valarie clutching her arm, me clutching my knife, and Coden clutching the scissors, watching as Dan pulled Rosalie toward him and pointed a gun to her head.  Just like the other boy.

Dan smiled menacingly, as though he knew what I was thinking.  “Just like last time,” he sneered.  “Now nobody move a damn inch, or I will put a bullet in her head.  No leg this time.”

My gaze shot over to Coden as I struggled to keep my breathing steady.  There had to be a way out of this.  There had to be.  Rosalie was not allowed to die.  However, when Coden’s eyes met mine, I saw that he had no idea how to get out of this.  Not with all of us alive, anyway.

“Weapons down.  Now.”  As Coden and I dropped our weapons, he made sure to add, “And don’t get any ideas about jumping me, boy.”

“S-S-S-Serenity,” Rosalie whimpered.

“It’ll be okay,” I whispered, though I didn’t believe it.

“Oh yes, little girl, don’t worry.  Your death will be fast.  I can’t say the same for you.”  He chucked a glower in my direction.  “You will suffer.”

His words sent a terrified shiver down my spine.  Not fear for me, exactly, though I was scared that I would die before we could make it out of this hellhole, but fear for Rosalie.  At any moment, he could pull the trigger, and she would be gone.  Just like that.  And there would be nothing I could do about it.

No.  There had to be something I could do.  I refused to believe that Coden and I had searched this long and hard to only have it end like this.  But, what?  Dan already made it clear that he was expecting Coden to jump on him.  He was ready.  One slight movement and he’d probably pull the trigger.

I wanted to beg for him to let Rosalie go, to please just take me instead.  I was the one he was angry at—not her.  But my begging would do nothing but satisfy him, and he sure as hell wasn’t about to give me what I wanted. 

My eyes shot to his hand, which was wrapped with what I assumed to be part of his shirt.  Blood soaked through the white fabric.

“Now, little girl, take a good look at your friend,” Dan snapped, removing the gun from Rosalie’s temple just long enough to gesture to me, “and remember that she is the reason you’re about to die.  This is her fault.”

As Rosalie’s lips trembled, I felt my hands curl into tight fists, fingernails digging painfully into my palms.  I wanted to scream that this was all him—him, Samantha, and Al—but my mouth seemed to be lodged shut.  Not just because I was afraid that anything I said would get Rosalie killed, but also because Dan was right, in a way.  If I hadn’t stabbed Dan earlier, he wouldn’t be this outraged.  He wouldn’t have made it a point to kill everyone I cared about.

I mentally slapped myself.  This wasn’t the time to feel guilty.  I had to figure out a way to get Rosalie out of this mess before—

“Say goodbye,” Dan spat.

And then, just like that, all thoughts of playing this safe, with the certainty that everyone would make this out alive, flew out of my mind.  All I could see was the horrifying image of Rosalie dead on the floor, and I just…reacted.

I pounced at Dan.

However, it appeared that Coden reacted on impulse, too, because he attacked along with me.  The ambush seemed to catch Dan off guard despite his warnings, and we all fell to the ground.  The gun flew from his hand, clattering on the floor.  I barely heard it.  My entire concentration was set on freeing Rosalie from Dan’s clutches.

Rosalie squirmed, crying freely as she tried to pry Dan’s arm off of her.  Dan just tightened his grip, and moved to wrap his other arm around her.  But Coden was there before he could, grabbing Dan’s arm and tugging it away, using his free hand to punch Dan in the jaw.

I struggled to keep Dan down as I attempted to force his arm away from Rosalie.  He was strong, and without Coden’s help, I’m sure he would have floored me by now, but Dan was too distracted with Coden’s flying fist and Rosalie’s frantic kicks to put up much of a fight.  His body still churned as he struggled to force us off of him, but not with enough force to send me flying.

“Come on, come on,” I muttered as I continued to pull at Dan’s arm.  How the hell was he keeping this firm of a grip, with everything that was going on?  Was he putting all of his focus on that?  Tears burned in my eyes as I resorted to hysteric slapping.  “Let her go!”

Dan cried out as my hand landed on his injured one.  My eyes widened.  Of course.  Of course.

Breathing hard, I brought my hand down his wound, fingers digging as deep as I could manage.  Dan roared, thrashing so hard that I flew off him, crashing to the floor with a small cry.  I scrambled up, eyes wide.  Had it worked?  Had—?

It hadn’t.  His grip loosened for a short moment, but almost instantly, he was tightening his hold on Rosalie again.  She stared up at me with wide, terrified eyes.  Help me, they cried.  Please, help me!

Coden hurried to replace my spot so Dan couldn’t get up from the floor.  Dan tried to push him off, but Coden re-grabbed his arm and twisted, hard.  Dan hissed.  Without hesitating, I rushed over to them, holding Dan’s arm in place so Coden could concentrate rescuing Rosalie.

“S-S-S—”

My gaze shot back over to Rosalie, and then down at Dan’s injured hand.  His injury was the key.  I knew it was.  We just had to keep inflicting pain and eventually he wouldn’t be able to hold Rosalie anymore.  “Coden,” I breathed.

Coden didn’t need me to tell him for him to understand what I meant.  One hand trying to pry Dan’s arm away, the other went down to Dan’s injury, fingers digging in like mine had.  Dan bellowed in agony and thrashed, but Coden didn’t fall.  He just kept digging, digging, digging—

And then Dan lurched with so much force that Coden lost his balance, fingers removing themselves from Dan’s injury.

No.

“Rosalie!” I shrieked before Dan could tighten his grip again.  Rosalie’s eyes sought mine, and I brought my hand up to my mouth, hurrying to imitate biting down on it.  At first she didn’t understand, but when I gestured madly for her to copy me, something seemed to click.  And then she chomped down on Dan’s wound.

The agonized howl that Dan unleashed was so loud and so pain-ridden it was almost too much to take.  But his grip loosened enough for Coden to pry his arm away, and Rosalie was finally free.  She scrambled away from him, her arms wrapped around herself as she backed away.

I would have closed my eyes in relief if it weren’t for the situation.  Rosalie was free from Dan’s clutches.  She didn’t have a gun to her head.  She was safe—well, safer than she was moments ago.

With Rosalie at a safe-enough distance, Coden and I simultaneously released our grip on Dan and stood up.  We barely got one step before Dan kicked me in the leg so hard that my knee gave out, and I collapsed onto the floor.  Coden moved to help me up, but then he went down too, Dan’s fingers clasped tightly around his ankle.

I started to get up, but Dan kicked me again and I fell back down, face scrunched with pain. 

Dan let go of Coden and stood up, his face contorted with fury as he took a threatening step toward Rosalie.  I got myself onto my knees, and was about to stand and run to Rosalie’s side, when Dan kicked me in the head so hard that I momentarily lost consciousness.    

When my eyes opened again, Dan was right in front of Rosalie.  She backed away—

Nausea hit me like a tidal wave, and the next thing I knew I was vomiting all over the floor.  All night, I’d been pushing down the urge to puke, and all it took was a nasty kick in the head to unleash it all.  I wanted to stop vomiting, to get up and save Rosalie before it was too late, but it was like my body had a mind of its own.  Please stop, I kept asking myself.  Please, please, please stop. 

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the puking came to an end.  I struggled to stand, hand to my head as it began to pound.  Not now, I wanted to cry.  Please not now. 

I took a step forward.  It was then, as my eyes landed wildly on Rosalie, Valarie, and Dan, that I realized Coden wasn’t with them.  “Coden,” I whispered, the pain in my head almost forgotten as I glanced down at the floor.  Coden was there, attempting to get up, his face contorted with pain.  Dan must have done something to him while I blacked out.

I wanted to help Coden, but Dan was too close to Rosalie for me to pause now.  So I turned back to Rosalie, forced myself to ignore the pain, and rushed toward Dan.

But before I could even get close, Dan was there.

I opened my mouth to scream, but Rosalie’s name died in my throat as I watched what happened next.

One moment Dan was closing in on Rosalie, and the next, Valarie was there, Dan’s gun pointed at his head.  My eyes widened momentarily in shock—when had she picked up Dan’s gun?  It was shaking in her grip, but her expression was one of determination.  I sucked in an anticipated breath as she pulled the trigger.

Nothing happened.

Dan chortled as Valarie pulled the trigger over and over again and cried out when, still, nothing happened.  He reached into his pocket and pulled out a revolver.  Valarie barely had time to cry out before he aimed the gun at her head and fired.

“Valarie!” I screeched.

 Valarie fell to the ground, her eyes wide and unseeing as they stared up at the ceiling.