A gunshot goes off and chaos breaks loose. People scream and shout, out of fear or to each other, and running bodies fills the room.

I, on the other hand, barely notice anything at all and am almost thrown at the floor as Nick abruptly rises from his place on the sofa, but he catches me in the last second before I would practically faceplant the floor.

He tries to desperately drag me towards one of the exits, but I'm still numb and he curses in frustration as I move as much as a dead body. With other words, I don't move at all.

Zeke and the other guys are out of sight, somewhere in the sea of panicking bodies, and everyone moves towards the two exits, pressing against each other like if their lives depends on it - which it might as well do.

Nick pulls out a gun from the hem of his jeans, hid behind is back and shirt, and suddenly I'm pushed by my side - hard - by a creepy looking guy who runs past, probably not even noticing me. I, however, fall to the ground by the strength behind the push, bringing Nick down with me.

If I would think rationally - normally - I would've thought that Nick would get both of us up as soon as possible but instead, he throws himself over me to keep me down on the ground. Not that I would've moved anyway.

A bullet flies past me, over my head, and Nick's action makes total sense.

He aims his own gun and fire but I don't know if he hit something or not, I'm still in my own little world far, far away from what's going on.

Far far away from the chaos, and Nick's tense body that's pressed against mine.

What I don't know, is that most of the people who runs through the exit don't make it outside, because except from the four policemen inside, more and even more of them are guiding all doors and windows, and they keep coming, the sound of the sirens becoming mixed with the screams, shouts, and gunshots.

"Alex", Nick whispers-shouts in my ear even though I can't hear him, his breath panting, "you have to come back."

He's still on top of me, and he takes a firm grip on my chin and forces me to look at him.

"Alex, please. Come back, I don't care about how stubborn and angry you are. Heck, I don't even care about the fact that you hate me, not right now. All I want is for both of us to get out of here alive, and I can't do it without your help." His dark eyes, now full of worry, stress and nervousness, looks into mine, searching for some kind of proof that I'm here, back. He doesn't find any and neither do I find back to reality.

Nick starts to get desperate, knowing he can't carry me out of here, not if he wants us to be the slightest bit safe at least, and his lips attacks mine. He kisses me harshly, his lips moving against my numb ones, hoping for a miracle that will bring me back. Sadly, things like that only happen in fairy tales and movies and I can guarantee that I'm not the sleeping beauty and that Nick isn't prince Philip.

A tear, yes a tear, falls down Nick's cheek and lands on my chin. If it's caused out of frustration or sadness, I don't know.

"Damn it, Alex!" He curses as he pulls back, gun in hand.

The man, cop, with a mustache stands across the room and his eyes flicker through the room, finding Nick and me.

His hands, steadily placed on a gun, points at us, or more directly, at Nick.

"Leave the girl!" he shouts as he cautiously makes his way towards us, keeping an eye on everyone around as well, watching out for any gun pointed at him.

Apparently, he's not cautious enough and with most of his focus pointed at Nick and the gun Nick is holding, the policeman doesn't see Zeke who's standing a couple meters behind him, covered behind a panel by the scene. A glimpse of silver glistens in the light of one of the lamps above the scene and without anyone really noticing, Zeke pulls the trigger on the gun in his hand and it fires, the policeman falling to the ground with his eyes widened in surprise and shock. The bullet didn't hit him in the head or heart and the policeman drops the gun, not being able to hold it as pain is shooting through his whole body from his left side where a dark liquid starts pouring out.

"Nick, get your ass over here!" Zeke shouts.

"Alex won't move", he shouts back and Zeke curses loudly and turned his head side to side, checking his surroundings.

"Cover me", he yells over all the muffled screams before throwing himself into the sea of bodies, hoping he won't get shot.

The policemen at the east exit have fallen because of all the pressure from all the pushing people who fought for their lives to get out, and more and more people leaked out of the building. Some of the people weren't that lucky and are now lying on the floor, either because of a gunshot or because they fell under the pressure. However, the people on the ground has all luck against them and are stamped and kicked on by criminals who probably doesn't even know that the poor souls on the ground are there.

Zeke makes his way to Nick and me without getting hurt.

"Let's get out of here", he says, panting with sweat glistening on his forehead.

Nick nods and moistens his lips. The room is hot, too hot, and the air is full of smoke.

Too much smoke...

Nick's nostrils fill with the sticking smell of the smoke, but it doesn't smell like cigarettes, no it smells like real fire like something is burning.

With a nagging feeling in his stomach, Nick turns his head 180 degrees and is met by the sight of orange flames, not big ones, but still.

One of the many cigarettes in the room has caught fire to a few thrown away magazines, which have spread the fire to the nearby sofa.

The flames aren't that big, not yet, but it's only a matter of minutes before the smoke and heat become deadly.

Zeke and Nick takes a firm grip around my upper arms and forces my body up, throwing my arms over their shoulders before walking towards the east exit.

It's a miracle neither of them has gotten shot but I guess the police prefer talking with a big mouth then taking action. No one, except for these psychopaths that are holding me up and the criminals who are gathered here today, would enjoy shooting someone and even though I'm almost sure of that all of the criminals here aren't exactly best friends with each other, they would probably prefer getting away from the police than staying to kill one and another.

As we are close to the exit, we stop abruptly as the criminals who were pushing each other to get out, starts backing into the room again.

Nick and Zeke furrow their eyebrows in confusion before men, all dressed in blue, burst through the opening. Let's just say that there aren't just a few of them.

"Shit", they both say in unison.

The police are now overpowering the criminals by numbers, and the criminals in the room have realized it.

"Drop your guns!" a police officer shouts, like if he would be heard unlike the one before.

Instead of everyone dropping their guns, the effect get's the reversed.

Everyone starts shooting. Including the police.

We duck under one of the sofas, hiding from the gunshots, trying to keep out of the fight.

It's dark where we are, the lights - some of them trashed, shattered, because of gunshots - doesn't reach this far.

The smoke, on the other hand, will soon start forcing all of the people out of the building, where loads and loads of cops surely will be waiting.

"Where are the other guys?" Nick mutters, more to himself than to us, but Zeke answers anyway, his face suddenly tensing up and going a shade paler.

"There." He nods towards the scene, where Kirk, Will, and Danny stands with their hands behind their back, handcuffed by three cops who stands by their side.

I catch a glimpse of a familiar face moving towards the exit in a fast pace, accompanied by a man in blue.

It's Aubrey, and behind her, I recognize Nicole and Amy.

Crap, there's one girl missing.

The gunshots have toned down, the cops finally getting the upper hand, and no one stops the girls from slipping through the exit with the police officer.

A piercing scream is suddenly heard through all the other sounds, that now mostly comes from angry criminals who are busted and handcuffed.

As Nick and Zeke turn their head in the direction of the scream, they found Patricia in the arms of Vince, a gun pressed against her temple and two cops pointing their guns at both of them. Vince is shielding himself with Patricia's body, in case the cops would shoot.

"Hands up and let the girl go", one of the cops tells Vince in a raised voice.

Vince gives out a cold chuckle.

"You really think I'm that stupid?" he spits on the ground, "No. I won't let her go until you let me walk out of here freely."

Patria's eyes are full of tears, a few of them falling down her cheek.

"P-please don't do this..." she whimpers, directing her words at Vince.

He shakes his head in a no.

Something with her scream caught my attention, and something with hearing her whimper touched my heart.

It's not like it normally wouldn't, but since the shock settled in, I haven't cared or noticed anything.

Until now.

Vince pressed the barrel of the gun even harder against her temple, causing her to whimper out of fear again.

"Patricia..." I whisper, my voice raspy after not being used for a while. Both Nick and Zeke turns their attention towards me, eyes widened in surprise.

I ignore them and call for Patricia again, this time with a high voice.

"Patric-"

A hand covers my mouth before I have time to finish my sentence and I try to pin the hand off of me.

"Are you crazy?"" Nick says through gritted teeth. He's the one holding me. "The cops could have heard you!"

"They did", Zeke says slowly and takes a firm grip on the handle of the gun. Nick does the same and removes the hand from my mouth, leaning in closer to whisper in my ear.

"One second. You're back in one second and already screw up."

"I'm back in one second", I say, repeating his own words, "and I've already done something useful."

I turn my attention towards the cop who is slowly walking towards us.

"Be careful!" I warn her, "they got guns."

"A-allie?" Patricia stutters and I answer her immediately.

"Yes, Patricia?"

Nick gives me a glare, but quickly turn his head towards the cop in front of us. She is slowly moving towards us, her gun pointed in our direction, at Zeke to be exact.

"A-am I..." Patricia stars and my heart drop down my stomach as I realize where she's going, "Am I going to d-"

She's cut off by the sound of an explosion, and all of us in the room falls down to the ground.

The fire just got in contact with the stack of alcohol hidden behind the stage, and the small explosion it caused sat fire to some of the furniture that once was safe from the fire and now have turned into a part of it.

Smoke, more than ever before, fills the air and I cough and shield my eyes.

Someone, I don't recognize the voice, tells everybody to move out, exit the building, and I am quick to jump up from my place and run towards the door, but someone grip my arm and pulls me back.

"Not so fast, gorgeous" Nick sneers. "I've just got you back, which means I won't let you go again."

I know exactly what he means, even though he still technically had me as I was gone, but I don't have time to correct him. I fight against his grip but it won't loosen and I start to feel the panic creep up my throat.

"Nick, please", I say without making my voice sound pleading, "we have to get out of here now, otherwise we'll die of the smoke or fire."

"There's another exit behind the bigger flames which no one is watching, c'mon."

I know exactly which exit he means, it's the one we walked in through, and I also understand why no cops are guiding it, at least not from the inside. It's where the fire is at its highest, trying to get through the flames is pure madness.

Nick start to drag me there, even though I'm struggling to get out of his grip, and Zeke is already on his way.

"We can't leave Patricia!" I yell, searching around the room for her with my eyes. It's useless. The smoke is too thick and if I can't see her, it means she can't see me either, and neither can the police.

We're getting closer to the big flames, following the wall, and the heat is almost burning my skin and I cough once again, my eyes watering.

I trip at something by my feet and fall to the ground, once again dragging Nick down with me.

"We can't go in there!" I yell at him, "It's madness, suicide!"

"We can!" he shouts back, "I won't lose you again, let's go!"

He stands up again but I crawl backward and shake my head.

"No, Nick. It's over. You've lost."

I think he's looking at me in confusion but I'm not sure, the smoke is making my eyesight blurry.

"What do you mean?" he asks and I take a firm grip on the small object in my hands that I accidentally tripped over, trying to place my hands in the right position.

"I mean that it's all over", I say and cough a little, "I won the bet. I stepped out of the house without being broken. I'm out of the freaking hellhole, and I'm not scattered into a million pieces. And with that said, I'm done with you."

I raise the object in my hand with an uncomfortable feeling in my stomach as I feel the weight in my hand, but I can't back down.

"Alex, I-", Nick starts but he's cut off by me.

I pull the trigger on the gun in my hand, the gun I found as I fell, and the sound of the gunshot ring in my ears.

Nick screams in pain and I figure the bullet hit him but I don't walk to him to check. Instead, I drop the gun and run towards the east exit; towards safety.