I never knew it was so relieving to cry. To feel the wet tears forging rivers down your cheeks until they drip with lonely abandon from your chin and onto your shirt, your hair, your arms. I have always loathed people who cry instead of take action. But now... now I was one of those people. Fleeing for my life while my sister is trapped in a stone prison, waiting for the knifes to strike her tender flesh. I was a coward. I didn't deserve the freedom so willingly being forged for me by a familiar stranger. 

         I was leaving her to die.

         The tears ran down my face as I ran with that familiar stranger down undeniably familiar halls. They blurred my vision, making me relay fully on the strange guy for guidance. I couldn't seem to make them quit. We were becoming one, my sadness, tears, and I, as if Jordan was already dead. As if I was the one that killed her. 

        Wasn't I?

         I relayed so much on the strangers guidance, far too much, that I guarantee you it was like he had to establish a second pair of eyes to see from, a second vantage point. Somehow, it still came as a shock to me when I repeatedly slammed against the wall as he cut quick corners. But he didn't slow down. A few bruises was worth the advantage in the long run, right? 

         I didn't even get to say goodbye.

         Eventually, we started running into people, scientists that were roaming the halls, probably as unknowing as anyone else as to what was happening. When this happened, the stranger took them out with quick, fluid movements, hardly even pausing in our trek. I could just stand on the sidelines, staring with unseeing eyes, until he grabbed my hand and we resumed running. If I had my senses more firmly around me, I would have had the sense to ask where he was bringing me, considering we were slowly getting deeper into the heart of the laboratory instead of closer to the surface. Unfortunately, my wits where far to scrambled for coherent thought.

         It was when we were rounding a sharp bend in the hall that we ran into our first group of guards. The guy quickly let go of my hand, moving before the guards had any time to react. There were only two guards, and the guy hasty removed the helmet from his head and threw it at one of the guards. It smacked against that guards visor, which shattered under the impact. The stranger didn't pause before launching his body at the same guard, wrapping his arms around the guards neck and twisting him around, smashing his head into the hall, then throwing a quick kick at the other guards legs, sweeping them out from under him. As he fell, the stranger grabbed his tas-gun from its holster and let off two quick shots, both into the legs of the fallen guards. They convulsed on the spot, limbs jerking, but the guy didn't even hesitant. Keeping the tas-gun by his side, he yanked on my hand and off we went. 

         We ran into two more small groups of guards that the stranger had to quickly subdue. If I weren't so dazed, I would have been impressed by his quick, effective maneuvers and lethal grace. But as it was... 

         Maybe my distraction was why I didn't notice the guard that was quickly gaining on us from behind. The stranger was so busy looking ahead and guiding us both that he completely forgot to watch his back. Either way, a guard, who appeared out of nowhere, suddenly seized my arm from behind and wrenched me backwards. I slipped out of the strangers grip, and flew through the air, smashing my head against the wall. For several seconds, my vision went completely black. And for several moments after that, I could just helplessly blink as the room spun dizzily. Out of the fuzz, I distantly noticed several guards circling around the stranger, and the guard that threw me against the wall steady advancing on me. For a second, I was knocked out of my gloomy thoughts by the hilariously (at least to me at the time) ironic thought that I was going to die before I had even escaped, and that Jordan wouldn't be all alone wherever it was she would be after they killed her. Rescue was busy, after all. The stranger had four guards all grappling with him at once, and though it appeared he was holding his own, it didn't look like he would be able to stop the guard in front of me before he pulled that trigger one to many times. I was still too dizzy to stand, let alone attempt to fight off a bigger, more experienced person. This was it. Death was literally staring me in the face.

         I couldn't help but squeeze my eyes shut as the guard raising his tas-gun to eye level and placed his finger on the trigger. Even through the blaring alarms, I heard the shot as it exploded out of the barrel of the gun, and I braced my body for the shock of electricity. 

         ...But it never came. I peeked open my eyes, expecting to see the stranger, miraculously having defeated all those guards in that short time, with a still aimed gun. At least I got the gun part right. But who was holding the gun, I would have never guessed.  

         A familiar face stared back at me. Dr. Hailey's usually impeccable bun was loose, with strands falling out to dangle around her face. She threw down the gun, and reached down to me. Dully, I let her pull me to my feet, hardly believing my eyes. My gaze traveled down to the fallen guard at our feet. There was a dart sticking out of his shoulder, and his body continued to pulse with the electricity filtering through it. "Umm..." It was the only coherent thought I could seem to form.

         Abruptly, I felt a hand on my shoulder, spinning me around. The strangers angry face swam into view....and then it was lost again when he starting violently shaking me. 

         "Hey!" Hailey said, indulgently pushing against his shoulder, trying to get him to let me go. But the strange guy barely seemed to notice. He hissed through gritted teeth, "Get a hold of yourself! I can't be looking two ways at once. I need you to stay focused, so SNAP THE FUCK OUT OF IT!!" 

         This made a spark of anger blaze through me, waking my senses up. Who the hell was this guy? What right did he have to pull me away from the only family I knew and just expect me to be okay with it? For me not to be fazed? I raised my fist, and, putting as much strength as I could muster behind it, drove it into his face. 

         He stumbled back, banging against the wall, his hand covering his cheek, his eyes staring at me in shock. But at least he had stopped shaking me and had let my arms go. I raising myself to my full height, however unimpressive it was, and glared at him. "I think I can handle myself." 

         Though his eyes blazed with anger and he looked like he wanted to punch me back, he restrained himself. Instead, he pushed his body off of the wall, straightened his suit, and turned back towards the hall in front of us, barely even sparing a glance at Hailey. "Come on."

         We hadn't even gotten past the next corner when the alarm shut off abruptly, leaving the familiar clang of echoing boots. The strange guy stopped, and pushed his body flat against the wall, gesturing for us to do the same. He peeked around the corner, and whatever it was he saw must not have been good because when he turned back around, his eyes were frantic, scrambling around in search of somewhere to hide. He pushed against my shoulder, starting to whisper in my ear to go back the way we came, but Hailey stopped him. "Follow me," she whispered softly, and started hurrying down the hall. She stopped in front of a plain white door with no markings or words to tell you what was inside. Quickly, she punched the code into the keypad, and we all scrambled over each other in our rush to enter, barely closing the door before the boot clanks sounded from outside in the hall. 

         Hardly daring to even breath, we waited in the dark room, listening to the buzzing of the monotone guards as they found the unconscious guards in the hall where we left them, and debated what they should do next. One guard called it in, and there was silence for a few moments as all the guards listened to the answer. Than as a unit, they answer, "Yes, sir." And the boot clangs echoed again as they started moving, getting further and further away. It wasn't until they faded entirely that I let my breath rush out of my chest. I reached for the door handle, expecting us to continue on, but Hailey stopped me. 

         She turned towards the stranger, and regarded him, distrust clearly in her eyes. The strange guy just continued to lean against the wall, eyes weary as well. Just when it seemed you could cut the tension with a blade, Hailey asked, "Do you have a plan?"

         "Yup," the stranger answered, shrugging his shoulders as he straightened. "Get the hell out of here."

         Hailey appeared to be speechless, but honestly, so was I. He didn't even have a plan. He had just slaughtered in here, claiming rescue, and had just expected me to follow like a lost puppy. And I had. I fell right into it, and now...now I was just as trapped as before, only this time when I was caught, I wasn't just going to be put in a gloomy cell for years. I was going to be killed. 

         Anger slowly built inside of me, and I wanted to slam my fist into his other cheek, so that he could have two fastly developing bruises to match. Gosh, I hardly even knew the guy, but already he was starting to really piss me off. I sputtered, trying to find the right words, and finally just settled on staring at him in absolute shock. 

         Hailey, on the other hand, seemed as if she had plenty to say. Her face turning a strange mixture of purple and red, she practically screamed. "Please tell me you have a better plan then that." While I could completely get her irritation, her voice was far to loud, so I gestured for her to keep it down. She didn't even glance at me, but when she spoke again her voice was softer. "You have a better plan, right?"

         He sighed, and pushed himself off of the wall. "Look, lady." ("Dr.," Hailey hissed) "I had a plan before I came in here. But that plan hadn't involved her." This said with a pointed look in my direction. "Now that plan wouldn't work, since it was devised for only one person. So, the best I can do now is try to escape, and go from there."

         I couldn't keep quiet anymore. "So you just decided to come in here proclaiming your heroic deeds, and if the damsel died then so what because at least you tried, right?" I suddenly felt like my lungs weren't working properly, and I leaned a hand against the wall. "God, I almost died, and for what?" I spun on him suddenly, and smacked his chest with my palm. "For what?"

         "Easy there, tiger, keep your claws sheathed." I bristled even more at the nickname, but he merely plucked my hand away from his chest. Frustrated, I spun around and buried my hands in my tangled mess of hair, turning my face to the ceiling. I couldn't believe this guy. How much self confidence must you have to be able to just strut in a locked down prison with no plan what-so-ever and still not panic? 

         That was when I saw them. Pipes. Huge metal pipes that interlocked across the ceiling, disappearing through small cutouts in the walls around us. A sudden light blinked alive in my head. Drowning out the argument still happening between Hailey and the stranger, I dropped my hands to my side and stepped further into the room. It looked to be some sort of utility closet. I walked still further into the small room, my gaze dropping from the ceiling to the walls. Or one wall in particular. 

         There was a large box attached to that wall, where all of the pipes seemed to lead. As I got closer to that box, I noticed that it was open, and inside was a complicated jumble of pipes and wires. I stopped just in front of the box. Along some of the larger pipes and wires were small pieces of paper or white tape, and on each piece of them were words. Labels. I read electricity, gas... there. 

         "Hey, guys," I interrupted them, turning with a ghost of a smile on my face. "I think I have a plan."