I stared down at Valarie's body in horror, hoping that this was some sick joke, that this wasn't actually happening, but knowing that it wasn't. Valarie was dead. Dan had shot her. Valarie was dead. She was dead. She was dead.

"No," I whispered, chest tightening. No, no, no, no, no.

"Serenity," Coden called hoarsely, sounding like he'd had the wind knocked out of him. I didn't turn as he approached, but his voice brought me back to reality. As sick as it was, I didn't have time to stand here and process the fact that Valarie was now a lifeless corpse on the floor. Rosalie was still in danger.

My eyes snapped upward, over to where Rosalie was backing away from Dan with trembling legs. We had to find a way to save her, and fast. It was just a matter of how—

Coden reached me and pressed the knife handle-up into my hand. He gave me a meaningful look before turning his attention forward and jogging toward Dan. I followed his lead, forcing myself not to look at Valarie as I rushed for Dan as quickly and quietly as I could. If I concentrated on Valarie, I would lose it. And I couldn't afford to lose it. Not with Dan trying to kill Rosalie.

We reached Dan in no time, though it felt like hours. He didn't even notice our approach; he was too wrapped up in what he was doing. It was now or never. Coden and I shared a quick glance before lifting our weapons.

And then we stabbed.

Dan bellowed as our weapons dug into his skin. I pushed past my disgust, dug as deeply into his shoulder as I could, and twisted. Dan's bellow morphed into a roar, and for a moment I had the urge to slap my hands to my ears. But I didn't. I pulled the knife from his shoulder and took a stumbling step back, twisting around and grabbing for Rosalie. As our fingers intertwined, Coden removed the scissors from Dan's other shoulder. His eyes met mine in one fumbling moment, and then we were running again.

We sprinted down the hall, breaths heaving, lungs burning, feet crying. My head pounded so badly I wanted to puke again. But I ignored it all, my only thought on putting as much distance between us and Dan as possible. To get somewhere safer. Please don't let this be the end, I begged to no one in particular. Please, please, please.

We reached the stairs and raced up them. I couldn't hear Dan following us, but I didn't chance a glance back to see. I concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other, one-two, one-two, one-two, one-two.

It was when we reached the landing I realized Dan wasn't following us—or, if he was, he'd fallen behind. There was no sound of pounding footsteps on the stairs. I would have let out a shaky breath of relief if I wouldn't break into a coughing fit because of it.

Coden lead us into a room at random. There were a few good hiding places, and I pushed Rosalie toward the closest one, whispering for her to conceal herself now. I was about to do the same, but then Coden crossed the room to the window, and the thought shriveled into nothing.

"I don't think it will—"

Coden attempted to open the window, and when it was jammed just like all the other windows we'd encountered, he cursed and lifted his blood-drenched scissors, striking the window with such force it shook. My eyes widened. A crack. There was a crack in the glass. Oh god, was there hope? Could we actually—?

Someone grabbed me from behind and jerked me backwards. I let out an involuntary shriek, twisting, turning, wriggling, writhing, struggling to free myself from this person's grip. Let me go, I wanted to scream. Let me go now! Then something cold pressed against my temple, and I froze. Dan.

Coden spun around, his eyes wide. "Seren—"

Dan removed the gun from my temple. "I'm not playing games anymore," he snarled.

Then he fired.

And Coden fell.

"No!" I screeched, lashing my feet at Dan as hard as I possibly could, my eyes locked on Coden's fallen figure. Oh god, please don't let him be dead. Not Coden. Not Coden. "You son of a—"

I cut off suddenly as Coden lifted his head, his face contorted in agony. For a short moment, I went completely still. He was alive. He was alive.

And then I burst into action, letting out a small cry as I thrust my hand upward, stabbing Dan in the neck as hard as I could. The noise Dan made didn't sound particularly human, but I didn't care, just pushed my way out of his grip and grabbed his gun, which was now on the floor. I sucked in a breath, held it, and then pointed the gun at Dan. In that moment, it didn't occur to me that I didn't know how to work a gun and would probably miss. I just reacted.

"This was never a game," I said.

And then I shot him.

I had to close my eyes to do it. But when I opened my eyes and saw Dan motionless on the floor, I knew I hadn't missed. He was dead. I'd killed him.

I let out the breath I'd been holding, shoved the gun into my back pocket, and then rushed over to Coden, who was now struggling to get to his feet. And just like that, the brewing thoughts about Dan and his demise fell away. Coden had been shot. Shot. "Coden," I whispered, the panic I felt deep inside me seeping into my voice. "Coden, where did the—are you—can you walk?"

Coden looked up at me, and my tear ducts threatened to give way. His anguish was too much for me to take. "I don't know," he answered truthfully.

Whether he was answering all of my questions at once, or just the last one, I didn't know, but I didn't ask. Instead, I sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly. I didn't want him to see how much his being shot terrified me. It would only make things worse. Breathe, Serenity, my inner thoughts coaxed. Concentrate. You need to get out of here.

"Come on," I whispered, crouching down and shrugging his arm over my shoulders. Coden's face scrunched with pain as I heaved, but other than that he made no complaint. But that didn't mean the pain was unbearable. This was Coden. I had no doubt he was biting back any urge he had to tell me just how damn much pain he was in. I wanted to console him, but I didn't know how.

When we'd straightened ourselves out, Coden leaned heavily against me, his breaths raspy. "I've got you," I whispered. It was the only thing I could think to say.

One glance down told me he'd been shot in the thigh.

"S-Serenity," Rosalie whimpered.

My eyes shot over to her. She was no longer in her hiding place, but standing out in the open, wringing her hands as she stared at Coden's ashen face with scared eyes. "Let's get out of here, okay?" I returned my gaze to Coden, teeth digging painfully into my lip. We had to get him somewhere safe now. "I know just the place."

○

"Rosalie, can you get the door please?" I whispered, adjusting my grip on Coden. He hadn't said much since we stumbled out of the room with the now-cracked window, but he had tried numerous times to walk by himself. He could limp—kind of—but it took too much time and energy on his part. So eventually he gave up, accepting my help the rest of the way to our destination.

Rosalie nodded and scurried to open the door. The inside of the closet greeted us with open arms. I tugged Coden inside and lowered him to the floor, sinking down beside him after I tugged the gun from my butt pocket. As Rosalie shut the door behind us and locked it, I plucked the flashlight from where I'd hidden it, turned it on, and aimed it at Coden's wound.

The sight of the blood made me want to want to bawl my eyes out. While I'd known there was a huge chance one of us would get hurt tonight, I'd hoped it would never happen. But now the disturbing thoughts in my mind were coming true. Valarie was dead. Coden was shot. Would Rosalie be the next one hurt? Would I be?

"Serenity," Coden said.

I looked up at Coden's face, and I almost lost my battle with my tears. Coden's walls had been torn down, and I could see every bit of emotion in his face. The anguish, the terror, the despair. It was so unnerving to finally see how Coden was feeling. I was so used to him being our anchor, the one who always held it together. But now... "Coden," I breathed shakily.

Coden let out a pained breath of air. "If we don't make it out in time—"

I cleared my throat and shook my head, refusing to let the idea enter my mind. Not again. "You're going to be fine," I said. "We just—we need to stop the bleeding."

I set the flashlight between my legs, angling it just-so and pulling my shirt over my head. I tried to rip it, but that proved a lot easier in the movies than in real life, so I took the scissors from Coden and cut off the bottom. While I worked, Coden put pressure on his wound. "Rosalie," I said absently as I pried Coden's hands away and tied the tourniquet, "what were you and Valarie doing with Annabeth and the others? Why were you there?"

The thought of Valarie made me sick, but I had to ask.

Rosalie sighed shakily. "V-Valarie and I ran into Annabeth while we were looking for you. She told us about her p-plan to overtake Dan and Samantha. We didn't want anything to do with it, but we felt safer with other people. Annabeth agreed to let us stay with her until we found you guys. She grouped up the people you saw, and they made a plan to lure Samantha and Dan into the room and kill them both."

My mind drifted to the person Coden and I had heard running through the halls. "But how could they have been certain that they'd lead them into the room at the same time? You have to find them before you can lure them."

Rosalie shrugged. "I don't know."

I finished off the tourniquet. "Is that okay?" I asked.

Coden nodded slightly, his eyes closed. I shrugged the shirt back on, fell against the wall, and leaned my head back, watching Coden from the corner of my eye. He couldn't die. He just couldn't. The tourniquet had to be enough until we found a way out of here and got him to the hospital. I couldn't lose him.

But how were we supposed to search for the door now? Coden was in no condition to walk, not the amount he'd need to find the door anyway. And I couldn't leave him here. Just the thought made my stomach churn.

Coden's eyes opened. "Serenity—"

"If your sentence begins with 'if we don't make it out in time' then don't bother finishing it," I said, taking the flashlight in my hand and scanning the room. It was empty, excluding us.

"I was just going to ask," Coden said softly, his voice almost a whisper, "what you wanted for your birthday."

My lips pricked into a small smile as I glanced Coden's way. I was suddenly reminded of earlier, when Coden and I talked about our families in order to distract ourselves from the peril. Which was probably exactly what he was attempting to do now. "I don't really care what you get me," I replied, teeth digging into my lip again. "Though I am running out of my favorite nail polish."

Coden's head slid onto my shoulder. "What kind is that?"

"L'Oréal, Mango Get Em."

I returned to perusing the room, though there was nothing to look at. My eyes traveled over the floorboards, counting them. Anything was better than thinking about the blood Coden was probably still losing, and Valarie's body out there, deserted and alone. One, two, three, four, five, six—

"What's that?" I muttered.

"What's what?" Rosalie asked.

"There's something there." I squinted at the floorboards. After the sixth floorboard, there was an abnormality of some sort. It kind of looked like...a trap door.

My eyes widened. Oh. My. God.

"Holy shit," I breathed.

Coden's breath hitched, but he didn't say anything. I had a feeling he was in too much pain to speak. Rosalie shot me a wide-eyed, confused-filled expression, but she too remained silent.

"Rosalie, come here," I said, waving her over with a brisk twitch of the hand. "Hurry."

Rosalie crawled over to me, and I gently lifted Coden's head from my shoulder. As I shifted away, Coden's eyes opened. He stared at me with concerned and wounded eyes. "It's going to be okay," I told him. I placed my hands on his cheeks. "I need you to believe that, okay?"

Coden's eyes searched my face. I think he saw the determination there, because he gave a slight nod of the head. "Okay," he rasped.

I smiled slightly. "Good."

After making sure Coden was as comfortable as he could possibly be in this situation, I hurried over to the floorboards that raised my suspicions. One hand gripping the flashlight, I pried open the hidden entryway.

Darkness greeted me from the other side.

I let out a shaky breath. This was it. I knew it was. As I aimed the flashlight into the darkness and spotted boxes all around, I felt it deep inside. This—whatever it was—was the way to the door. This was our way home. "Guys," I whispered. "There's something down there. I—I think the door is this way."

"What?" Rosalie squeaked.

I glanced back at my companions. They were both staring at me, hope flickering in their eyes. "I'm going to check it out," I told them.

Coden shifted. "I'll go with you."

"No, Coden." I shook my head. "You're in no condition to walk."

"But—"

My pointed look silenced him. He knew as well as I that he was in no condition to do this, especially when we weren't sure what was down there. But, of course, that was why Coden wanted to go with me. He was still used to being the leader, the protector. But it was my turn now.

I smiled in what I hoped was a reassuring way before sitting down and dangling my legs over the edge. It was a long way down, but hopefully not so far that I'd hurt myself in the process. "I'll be right back."

"Be careful, Serenity," Coden said.

I closed my eyes for a moment to prepare myself, let out a long breath of air, and then jumped.

I landed hard on my feet, and needles spiked up my legs, but other than that I was fine. I ignored the pain and scanned the wide space with my flashlight. Boxes were everywhere. What was this? A basement of some sort? I had no idea, but I didn't care. All that mattered to me was finding the door. Please be down here, I begged. Please let this be it.

I needed this to be it. If it wasn't, then Coden...

No. I didn't have time to think about that right now.

My eyes devoured my surroundings as I picked my way through the room, searching fervently for any sign of a doorway. While I searched, I repeated the same words in my mind, over and over again: This has to be it, this has to be it, this has to be it. This. Has. To. Be. It. Even as time dragged on and no door was to be seen, I refused to give up hope. Why else would they go through the trouble of concealing this place? That's why they left a door with a lock on it, I realized. We all thought it was our safe haven, but, in reality, when we closed the door and shut out the available light, we blocked any hopes of finding the door and getting out of here.

As I passed, I spared a glance or two inside some of the boxes. They were all empty. Some of them were labelled "kitchen" or "bedroom", but when I peeked inside, there was nothing there. Curiosity and confusion spiked, but I pushed it down. This was not a mystery I cared to solve. Right now, my only concern was finding the door so we could all go home.

On and on I searched. So long, in fact, that I became tempted to turn back, just to see how the others were holding up.

But then I saw it.

It wasn't the type of door I was expecting. This door wasn't just a wooden slab with a door handle. No, this was a bulkhead door, made specifically for basements, placed above a seat of cement stairs. My breath hitched at the sight of it, and for a moment I just stood there, too stunned to move. And then I was racing to the stairs, legs pumping as fast as they possibly could. I banged into countless boxes on the way there, but I barely noticed the contact. Who cared? After a night filled with terror and bloodshed, we'd found it. We'd found it.

We'd found the door.

I reached the small set of steps and pounded up them, anticipation clawing its way through me. Even if I had any doubts that this was our ticket out of this hellhole, I wouldn't be able to register them. My excitement was too strong, too overpowering. This was it. This was it!

My hand grasped the door and flung it open.

An early morning sky. Trees. A breeze.

As that early morning breeze caressed me, a huge smile broke the surface of my face. Before I could stop myself, I laughed, flinging my hands in the air and throwing my head back. "Yes!" I squealed, ecstatic tears burning in my eyes. "Thank you, God. Thank you."

All night, I'd been tormented by the thought that I would never see my family again. I imagined never again catching Skylar reading at two o'clock in the morning when he was supposed to be studying, watching Netflix with Angie, playing board games with Tommy, or chilling with my parents. But, as I stared outside, those fears faded away.

I was going home.

We were all going home.