Have you ever woken up from a nightmare that seemed so real that when you woke up, you weren't sure if you were still dreaming or not? Well that's exactly how I felt when I came to.

My body was covered in a cold layer of sweat and I could feel myself shivering. I also felt a pair of strong arms wrapped around me, and that's when my eyes flew open only to be greeted with more darkness. I started to panic and tried to sit up but a dull pain in my side caused me to cry out and I shut my eyes before flopping back against a hard wall.

No, not a wall, a chest. I was lying against a chest.

"Easy." A familiar voice soothed.

I groaned and opened my eyes slowly, this time a small light illuminated the small space around me. Archer's worried face came into view and I almost sighed in relief. I thought I had been cuddled up with some psycho, and then just like that I was panicking again, but this time for an entirely different reason. While I wasn't cuddled up with some psycho with a knife, I was cuddled up with Archer Daniels and that was even more dangerous if you ask me. In fact I had gone way past cuddling, I was basically sitting in his lap with his arms wrapped around me.

Nope, I was having none of that.

Trying to ignore the pain in my side I tried to lift myself up and out of Archer's lap, slower this time, but he slid his hands to my hips and tightened his grip.

I turned and glared at him, mentally burning a pair of matching holes into his forehead.

"Archer..." I warned.

In the dim lighting I saw him raise his eyebrows.

"Gemma..." he said copying my tone.

"Let me up."

One corner of his mouth lifted in an amused smirk.

"Why? Does this bother you?"

I tried to keep my attention on his eyes as I answered.

I attempted to look down my nose at him although he was taller than me, even sitting. So, it didn't really work how I wanted it to.

"If you must know, then yes, this does bother me. Now if you don't mind..." I gestured to his hands, which were still firmly placed on my hips.

"If you must know, I actually do mind. You just fell at down a man hole. The last thing you need to do right now is move. So you're staying put."

A man hole?! Well that probably explained the pain in my side.

Forgetting my current position I asked, "What happened?"

Archer stared at me with a blank expression. "You fell." He said simply. "I thought I just made that clear."

I sighed in frustration. "I know that much, thanks. I'm talking about why I blacked out, how'd you get down here, and what's going on with my side? It feels like it's on fire."

I reached down to try and get a look at my side but before I could Archer caught my hand.

I looked back up at him with a frown on my face.

"What?" I demanded.

"Don't touch it." Archer snapped.

"Why not?"

"Because you dislocated one of your ribs."

My eyes grew wide. "I...what?!"

"You." Archer said while pointing at me. "Dislocated." He waved his hand in the air. "Your rib." He pointed at my aching side.

I glanced down at my side, then back up at him, then down again, before looking back up at him.

"Then why isn't it poking out or something? How come I'm not screaming bloody murder? How come..."

"Because," Archer quickly cut off my questioning. "I pushed it back into place."

"You... what?!" I'm pretty sure I was making a complete fool of my self by acting like this, but I couldn't help it. If my rib was dislocated then I wanted the details dammit.

"Are you even qualified to do something like that?" I demanded. "What if you put it back in wrong? What if you messed something up and now I'm gonna end up looking like Quasimoto?!"

Archer shook his head and ran his hand over his face before sighing heavily.

"First, your rib isn't some puzzle piece, I can't exactly 'put it in wrong'," He used air quotes for that. "If I had then you'd be dead, and second, do you see a fucking doctor down here or anybody else who would even give a damn if they came across you lying down here because I don't. So, instead of just letting you sit there, I helped your ass, but if you want to worry about something like qualifications down here of all places, in the situation we're in" Archer waved his hand around. "Then by all means, go right ahead." Archer turned his head away from me and stared into the darkness with an angry glint in his eyes.

For the first time, in my eighteen years of life, I was speechless.

To say I was shocked by Archer's little speech would have been an understatement for a number of reasons. One was because, even though I hated to admit it, I knew he was right. If any of those people who had taken off earlier came across me lying in a pool of my own blood with my leg chopped off and a horn growing out of my forehead, I doubt they'd give me a second glance if they thought it might cost them their chance at getting out of here. It wasn't like there was a doctor down here either. The second reason was because of all the people I'd expect to save my ass, Archer was the last person on the list. Sure he had stood up for me on the subway train, but down here I'd secretly expected him to ditch me and make a run for it the first chance he got. So, for him to actually stick around and help me after I'd fallen, well that was a lot for me to take in, but he was still right.

I bit my bottom lip nervously. "I wasn't trying to make you mad. It's just that this isn't the easiest situation to be in obviously and I'm really close to peeing my pants, I'm scared as hell, I'm hungry, and my whole body feels like it was run over by a steam roller. I didn't mean to snap at you. I'm actually really grateful that you stuck around and helped me even though you didn't have to even though it may not seem like it. It means a lot that you'd do that for me... and... and I'm sorry."

I jerked back a little when Archer whipped his head back so he could look at me, his green eyes shining in the dim light of his cell phone.

I swallowed nervously and stared back at him, waiting for some kind of response. I froze when he reached up and pushed a damp piece of my hair behind my ear. My heart just about exploded when he let his hand linger on my face.

What was he doing? Didn't he know that there were people after us? Shouldn't we be running for our lives right now?

I was even more aware of my position on his lap than I was before. This felt extremely dangerous. There was no way I should've been sitting on his lap and letting him touch me like this. I needed to get up. We needed to keep moving

"Archer." I whispered quietly, ready to tell him just that as he started to lean forward.

I know this boy was not about to do what I thought he was.

Our faces were a few inches apart, close enough so that I could feel his breath on my face, making my eyes flutter.

I was ready to raise to slap his face.

His nose had just lightly brushed mine and I had just raised my hand to make true on my promise and slap his face before and ear splitting scream rang through the tunnel.