Dane

He rolled out of bed so quickly Lila gasped and groaned because he'd jostled her rib. But Dane couldn't take his eyes off Chris's wide-eyed face.

​​

His brother looked left and right before he slipped into the room, mostly closing the door behind him, but leaving a sliver of light coming in through a crack and turned to face Dane who stood in front of him, arms at his sides, feet shoulder width apart, and his head buzzing with confusion.

It couldn't be. This wasn't possible. How had he done this? "What—Chris, how?"

"There's no time," Chris hissed. "We followed your trail—nice touch leaving the car. It's housekeeping night and the team has got the security guy knocked out, but your dad's only in the next building. I can only get one of you out, and we have to go now!"

"Take Lila," Dane said without hesitation.

Lila was still hissing through her teeth, but she'd gotten out of the bed and onto her feet on the carpet. Dane almost wept to see her thin little legs, one bare from well above the knee, as she tried to stand with a blanket tugged drunkenly over one shoulder and clutched to her chest. "What… who… Chris?!"

Dane and Chris both shushed her.

"I'll try to come back for you, Dane, but he's could be back any minute. I wasn't supposed to come—we'd agreed we would wait—but when he left… I knew… I knew I had to get at least one of you out of here. He's working on something, Dane. We don't have all the details yet, but he's planning something. When I saw the trash and laundry bin at the door I just… I just ran. But we have to get out of here. We have no time."

"It's fine. Tell me what you're using," Dane said, his voice emotionless.

"I've got the bin right outside the door. She'll fit in one, I think. I can roll her out as long as I pick up a couple more trash cans on the way. But housekeeping are contracted to be done by one am, and it's twelve fifty-six. We have to go. Now!"

"Do it." Dane said.

"What?!" Lila whispered. "Dane, we're not leaving you here!"

"We have to!" Chris snarled.

"Lila, there's no time. We have to get you in there, now!" Dane croaked.

"But—!"

Chris turned to him. "Dane, you have to eat the food. He has to believe you were drugged and not involved, it's your only chance. He's going to know it was us, and he's going to… he's going to take it out on you. You have to give him a reason to think you got hurt by us not taking you. It's the only chance he'll leave you alive."

Not the only one, Dane thought to himself, but didn't say it. He nodded instead. "I will."

"Eat enough for two, they need to think you were both out of it and we just took her."

Dane nodded again, then moved to walk next to Lila, towards Chris, towards her escape, a strange pit opening up in his stomach, a yawning canyon, hedged on one side by hope and joy, and on the other by deep despair. "I'll handle it, don't worry." Lila groaned and he leaped to help her. She was struggling to walk standing upright. "She's injured," he whispered to Chris, giving her support on her good side. "You have to get her to secure medical immediately."

"I will. And we will come back for you, Dane, it's just we weren't prepared for an extrication tonight—"

"No, you can't, Chris. You know he's going to move me now." He raked his hand through his hair. "You can't… just don't. Leave it to me. I'm… it's all under control." He stood in front of Lila, holding her face as she stared at him, wide-eyed.

"You remember everything I told you? Everything about what he does and how he works? You remember all the ways I warned you and… everything I told you today?"

She nodded, dumbly, her eyes lined in silver tears.

He gripped her face and cupped her jaw, his fingers curling at the nape of her neck. "I love you," he said, and his voice cracked.

"Dane, I can't go without you—"

"We have to go now!" Chris hissed.

"It's okay, Lila. It's okay." He gathered her into his arms, carried her to the door and as Chris rolled the bin inside, he laid her inside it, wincing when she whimpered as she was forced to curl on her sore rib. "I love you, babe. I love you more than life."

"I love you, Dane," she whispered, gripping his hand and clinging. "Come home to me. Please. Please, Dane. I love you."

"I love you."

Chris stepped between them then, gripping Dane on the shoulder for one passing second, then hissing at him over his shoulder to eat the damned food. Then… they were gone.

Dane stood in the middle of the floor, staring dumbly at the door, gaping.

Had that really just happened?

Had Lila really just gotten out of here?

He could hear the wheels of the trash bin rolling down the hallway for a few seconds before they passed out of hearing through the thick door.

Let her be safe, God. If you get her out of here it's a miracle. But it's not over. Get her out of here. Safe. Keep her safe. It's not over until she's truly safe.

Then, with a stifled sob, he strode over to the abandoned food tray in the corner and started eating in bites as big as he could manage, taking bites out of every serving, chewing, and swallowing, even when the food tried to come back up.

He ate enough for two and his vision was already beginning to blur when he washed it all down with a couple large swigs from the bottles of water that had been left.

He only barely made it to the bed before he collapsed. His last thought was, get her out of here.

*****

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