Dox pushed Archer and I through the next car, where another one of his masked psycho companions was holding the blade of a knife to the throat of the old man I saw earlier.

I stopped abruptly causing Archer to run into my back.

"Gemma..." he warned quietly, but I wasn't paying him any attention. It was one thing to hold us hostage, but the elderly? Who does that?

They were meant to walk extra slow with their walkers, or ride the little motorized scooters around the grocery store and run into the shelves and knock all the food down. They were supposed to give you stale candy out of their pocket, and pinch your cheeks too hard, or even yell at kids to get off their lawn, but to have a knife pressed to their throat?

Words couldn't even begin to explain how wrong that was.

How wrong all of this was.

A small whimper caused me to glance to my left where I saw a little girl with strawberry blonde hair pulled into two pig tails. She had two pink ribbons in her hair and she was wrapped in a pink fluffy coat crying silently. Her eyes were wide with fear and red from all the crying. She was looking at the old man, and then to the masked man holding him with pleading eyes.

It was probably her granddad.

What kind of sick, twisted, person held a little girl's grandpa hostage with a knife pressed to his throat right in front of her?!

I was about to take a step forward, which would have been pretty stupid of me in my current situation given that I could barely protect myself, before the guy holding the old man slid the knife across his neck in one swift motion and a waterfall of blood rushed from his neck and he gave one gurgle before he collapsed to the ground, lifeless.

"Grandpa!" the little girl wailed and a chorus of horrified screams followed. She hopped out of her seat and ran to her grandpa before she sank to her knees next to him, his blood seeping into her white tights.

I stared, unable to move or breathe. I pressed the back of my hand to my mouth hard and bit down, trying to keep myself from throwing up.

I heard Dox chuckle darkly behind me before he began shoving at our backs again.

"Move." He growled.

Numbly, I put one foot in front of the other, forcing myself to move forward and tear my eyes away from the little girl and her grandpa. The image of the knife swiping across the old man's neck and the gushing blood, was imprinted in my brain.

We made our way through two other cars before we reached the front of the train where it was operated.

Dox opened the door and I had to bite back a scream.

There on the floor was the conductor with a bullet hole in the center of his head.

I couldn't take much more of this.

Dox lifted the man up like he was nothing more than a rag doll and threw him out of the compartment where he landed with a loud thump, before pointing the gun back at me and Archer.

"Get in." He ordered.

I walked inside slowly and my nose instantly wrinkled at the smell of blood. It was smeared all over the controls, like he had put up a fight before he died. There was also a weird looking metal device that had been jammed into the center of the controls and every few seconds a spark of electricity shot out from its center. I looked ahead, out the front window of the train, as we sped past flickering light bulbs in the tunnel. I wondered where we were headed now.

Archer walked in behind me and I saw his face scrunch up as the smell of blood invaded his nose too.

"I'll be back to deal with you two later."

That was all Dox said before he closed us in and made his way back towards the back of the train.

As soon as the door closed, I pressed my back against the wall before I slid to the ground and pulled my knees to my chest.

This couldn't be happening.

Archer knelt down in front me with his arms on his knees, as he stared at me intently.

"He just killed him." I whispered, shaking my head. "He didn't even flinch. He just slit his throat. Right in front of his granddaughter!" My voice rose and I think I was starting to hyperventilate. I was taking in quick shallow breaths and I started rocking back and forth.

This type of stuff only happened in movies.

"We're going to die. Oh God... we're going to die." I was seriously starting to panic now. What would my parents do once they found out that I had been chopped up into a thousand little bite sized Gemma pieces? Then there was Megan. She'd probably take it worse.

Archer snapped his fingers in front of my face and broke me from my horrid thoughts.

He placed both of his hands on my knees and spoke very slowly, "We're not going to die. Okay?"

My eyes started darting around as I continued to panic. "How can you say that? Did you not see what just happened back there? They killed—"

"Gemma, look at me." Archer's tone stopped me mid-rant and I focused my eyes back on him.

"We aren't going to die. Understand?"

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes trying to calm myself.

I wanted to believe him.

More than anything else right now, I wanted to believe in those words.

I counted to ten in my head before I opened them again.

I looked back up at Archer and nodded slowly.

"Promise me then. Promise me that we won't die down here. Not like this." I said as I felt unexpected tears fill my eyes.

I didn't want to die. Not here. Not like this.

I watched him with a frown as he reached out and wiped a stray tear from my cheek before letting his warm hand rest there.

I didn't push his hand away like I told myself to. Instead, I welcomed it, enjoying the brief comfort his touch brought me. I could use it right now.

"I promise." he said quietly.

I could only hope that he kept his promise.