With an effortless swift motion, I jumped from the tree and soared over Dedric's head landing behind him in a graceful steady stance.

I turned around, my eyes void of emotion.

I was void of control, my body moved on its own to keep me alive as it did whenever I needed it most.

This happened when I was held captive, this happened when I had a gun to my head, this happened when I was fighting for air under the surface being pushed down by a hunter.

With graceful, rhythmic bounds I kicked his stomach, hoping he'd catch it.

He did and he latched on providing me the platform to push off of with enough strength to wrap my other leg around his neck.

My other leg broke free and I head into him, legs wrapped around his neck as he grabbed the sides of his head and I violently twisted it to the right with enough force to launch me off his back and tumble to the ground.

But it was also just enough force to snap his neck and he fell to his knees, then slowly to his stomach, lifeless.

I felt like I could catch my breath again and autopilot turned off as the consciousness, humanity, and pain returned to my body.

I turned to face Shenck, rising to my knees, panting heavily.

I wanted to speak to him, demand answers as to why he killed, why me, what he did to Anna, how the trio saved his life, but my jaw was snapped and out of socket and there wasn't anything I could do without breaking it further.

"If you have somevhing to say, vhen say it," he sneered.

Out of option I signed to him my raging questions and ended with the universally known sign of the middle finger.

He growled and a twig snapped beneath his feet.

'Why?' Was all I'd asked him.

It was enough to provoke a response, "I'm not stupid enough to relay my plans or intentions to you when I'd sooner drain you dry."

'But what does that mean?' I'd quickly signed.

He snickered and laughed like the evil German villains in every American movie about World War Two.

This man was a monster.

Maybe literally inhuman, I couldn't be so sure.

I wasn't sure what to think anymore.

I was bleeding, bruised, broken, had just killed a man and was staring down the most dangerous monster I'd ever encountered.

I snarled like a wild animal, crouching low, ready to spring if need be.

"Shame you survived, usually the vinner gets to live but I'd never assume you vould be the vinner. You're too knowledgeable to vet go," He clicked his tongue in false pity and prepared to tear me apart, to string me up by my ankles as he did with Lena; like he might've done with Helmut.

The world moved in slow motion.

So did my vision, and in the corner of my eye, I saw Antonio.

He rocketed at inhuman speeds and slammed into Shenck knocking the monstrous man across the clearing with the force of a raging stampede.

Antonio let lose inhuman, raging, beastly snarls and a screech of pure rage.

I tried to scream to him it was too dangerous but all I could do was reach out my hand to him, asking him silently to take it, to leave without me and run.

I didn't recognize him when I looked into his eyes, the Antonio I knew wasn't present, only hatred remained.

I was pulled to my feet by Gilbert and Francis behind me.

Their eyes darted across the scene in horror.

Dedric was dead, Heidi was mangled beyond recognition, blood was everywhere and the fumes were overwhelming.

"Francis," Gilbert snarled, "I entrust her to you, Toni and I'll finish vhis bastard."

Francis nodded and cradled me into his chest.

I was curled in a ball and squeezed my eyes shut as he raced through the forest with precise quick movements and ease like he'd known the terrain for centuries.

My mind was racing as fast as my adrenaline filled heart and I was squirming, desperate to move, to take action, do something.

Fight.

Fight. My mind screamed for me to fight.

But I could do nothing in the grasp from Francis and tried forcing myself to relax.

It'll be okay.

But Gilbert and Antonio are fighting a monster and that's not okay.

I whimpered trying to form sentences with a broken jaw.

Francis shushed me soothingly and made it to the car. He sat me in the passenger's seat and hit the gas, speeding up like there was nothing in the way.

He screeched to a halt in front of the hospital and ran inside with me.

The nurses were alarmed by his urgency.

Francis left my side for a moment to inform the staff of what was happening.

Gilbert and Antonio needed me and I was in a hospital bed laying comfortably.

I could only focus on the absence of the trio.

Francis kissed my forehead like saying goodbye and he ran back to his car and sped away.

I was left speechless and so were the doctors who were gossiping already about the murderer. The real murder.

They were in as much shock as me by the truth though I'd suspected it for days already.

They adjusted my jaw back in joint and the break wasn't bad enough for surgery.

I could speak but it hurt and they suggested bandaging my head but I left out the ambulance bay as quickly as I'd arrived and followed the skid marks from Francis's car.

The guards at the hospital tried following me but they gave up as no amount of pain kept me from running home.

I had to save my friends and no one was gonna stop me.

My clothes were dirty and bloody but the police weren't called. All of law enforcement was dispatched to the forest.

I arrived at the forest the same time as the last cop car as they investigated the scene and found nothing but the dead bodies of Heidi and Dedric.

Where were they!?

"My friends were here!" I cried over the commotion.

What had Shenck done to them!?

The police held me back and were taping off the area already.

A police investigator sat me down on a fallen log nearby and gave me a jacket to wear as comfort.

He asked me things but I didn't have the attention to listen to him.

I apologized and excused myself.

He had to let me go, there was nothing they could do to arrest me.

All questions could wait as I ran to our house.

Ours.

Gilbert's, Antonio's, Francis's and mine.

My mind raced as I dive through bushes and under trees and out onto the neighborhood streets I'd been pursued on not more than seventy minutes ago.

The street was called Tod street.

Tod meant death in German and I realized the odd coincidence.

Coincidence again? Or was all of this really just fated to happen.

Meeting the trio wasn't fate, is was the beginning of their end.

Tears streamed down my face as I struggled for breath. I'd run from pursuers to the hospital to the forest back to the house and I was finally here and nothing changed.

The lights weren't even turned off and the door was still splintered in and the blood Anna dragged in strained the decorative rug in the living room.

There was nothing I could do now. Nothing but wait, and my adrenaline couldn't accept that, my anxiety couldn't accept that, I couldn't accept that.

I turned the shower on and stripped off my clothes and cried as the water rained down.

I sobbed and shrieked in anguish for an hour until the water ran cold.

I turned off the shower and cradled myself back and forth in the tub, hyperventilating trying to calm down trying to cool down.

But I wouldn't feel okay, not until they were home.

I got dressed slowly, finding little will to do anything unless they were okay. I needed to know if they were okay.

As if prayers were answered my phone rang and it was to 'Barbie girl' Gilbert's ring tone.

I gasped and immediately answered but couldn't get a word in over the static shouting.

"Are you vhere!" Gilbert yelled and I turned my phone down to the first notch.

"Yes," I answered tearfully.

"Where are you!" I heard Francis shout.

"My room why-"

"Turn zhe lights off, find a replacement door and meet us in zhe living room, five minutes!" Francis ordered and hung up abruptly.

What the hell was happening?

Were we still in danger?

I freaked out trying to figure out how to get a replacement door and guesstimated the back door was around the same but how was I supposed to get it off its hinges?

Thinking fast I found a hammer outside thrown on the porch after last being used.

I hammered the hinges until the wood splintered and the door started to fall.

I jumped back but caught it in time and dragged it to the front door.

I left it lying to the side so they wouldn't need to push it out of the way getting inside.

I turned off all the lights and heard screeching tires in the distance.

Francis hit the breaks at the last second lurching them forward in their seats as the car almost crashed into the house.

Gilbert shouted at Francis about reckless driving and I watched them from the bedroom window as I turned my light off too.

They burst inside shouting for me desperately, fear more evident in their voices than I'd ever heard before.

As I came sprinting down the stairs I screamed in horror.

Antonio was mangled and disfigured, bleeding profusely.

"Toni!" I screeched.

He couldn't possibly be alive, he couldn't possibly!

I cried and ran to him but Gilbert shoved me back aggressively.

Francis sighed of my use of the backdoor but positioned it to block the entrance entirely.

I was still in shock not only was Antonio possibly dying but Gilbert had aggressively pushed me back.

Gilbert and Francis crowded their friend pleading he answer them.

I felt the tears sliding down my cheeks but I was too horrified to move, my body shook in fear and silent sobs.

They turned on a dim light not strong enough for anyone outside to see us inside.

They tried repositioning Antonio like he'd magically get better.

Francis was crying and I'd never seen either of them so panicked.

"Francis ve have to, It's the only vay!" Gilbert shouted and they argued about something I didn't understand.

Francis finally took a deep breath calming himself down and looking at me with fearful eyes.

"___..." He said slowly, "we need to ask you a favor..."

"Anything!" I insisted and crawled over to Antonio's side.

I cradled his head in my arms and held back loud sobs.

Francis pried me away from him and forced me to look him in the eyes.

"We will tell you everyzhing about us we always said was secret, but first we need you to do what we say without questions," he pleaded.

I nodded my head frantically.

He helped pull Antonio into my crossed legs, Antonio's lips touched my inner thigh and I shuddered. But I wasn't uncomfortable it was because I was so afraid I'd never get to feel him tenderly kiss me again.

"Tell him you give him permission," Francis instructed.

Not asking for what, not even caring what for I looked down at my dying friend and nodded.

"Anything for Toni," I wept.

Was he even capable of hearing me?

I got my answer soon enough when his jaw opened slightly and...

He sank his teeth into my leg.