"Well, look what we have here," he said, giggling a little. He's wearing some kind of gas mask, must be to protect himself from radiation. "More survivors." I can't bring myself to say anything. When we don't answer, he raises his eyebrows and says, " Come one, we aren't here to hurt you. Just taking precautionary measures. I'm sure you two were doing the same trying to escape."He says this with an evil tone. I know that voice.
"Who are you?" I ask, trying to sound tough, but probably sounding wimpy.
     "Oh come one Sairen, think about it." He teases. How does he know my name? Did we go to school together?
     He leans close, and takes off his mask. It's Jax. That spoiled piece of shit somehow survived, and somehow found us. I spit in his face. He looks at me with a really pissed off look. Good, I hope he's mad.
     "Now Sairen," he grabs my neck forcefully, but doesn't start choking me, "That's not how you should treat a friend in these times." I can not believe he just said that.
     "Sairen who the fuck is this?" Mirari asks me. I realize this probably looks strange, I know one of the people that has dragged us and tied up. The second guy soon comes into the room to join us. He isn't wearing a mask, but I have no idea who he is. He sits down in front of Mirari, and starts to play with her hair
     "Leave her alone you creep!" I start struggling against the ropes, with no luck. "Fuck off!" I scream at the boy.
     Jax pulls back and slams my head into the desk behind me, "Now is that the way to talk to your friends? Sairen, you should learn to treat us with respect! I am the one in control here, maybe if you're nice I'll let you join us."
     My head starts bleeding, I can feel it. I look at him and start to say, "Jax we aren't friends, and I'm never going to j-"
     Everything goes black.

     When I wake up I'm in a familiar room. I'm still dazed, but look around and see that I'm back in the city, in my school. I suddenly remember what just happened, and start to frantically look for Mirari. She isn't anywhere to be seen. I look down and see I'm tied to another desk. I look at the ropes tied around my wrists. It's a simple knot, and the rope isn't too thick. I start to move my fingers and try to grab the knot. I get it in my grip and start to pull at different parts of it. I finally get it lose enough for me to slip my hands out. I stand up and search the drawers in the teachers desk, and find scissors. I check my surroundings once more for Mirari, then sneak out of the room.
     I quietly start walking down the hall, listening closely for any voices or sounds. I have to find Mirari. I peer around a corner, and decide to head to my right, towards the gym. I keep going, keep listening, occasionally checking over my shoulder. When I reach the gym I start to hear voices. I go closer to hear better, but quickly dash into a bathroom when the sounds get loud.
     "I'm going to check on Sairen, make sure she's up to no trouble." Laughs Jax. Little does he know I am up to trouble. I think to myself, should I stay hidden while he goes to the classroom I was in, or attack him on his way? If I attack him now he'll start screaming and alert the other guy, but if I let him go I have only 3 minutes before he sees I'm not there, and him and the other search the school for me. I don't know what to do, I've never faced this much stress before. I grab my scissors, and decide to choose the cold-blooded option.
     I wait until he passes the bathroom, then sneak out and come behind him. I reach my hand around and cover his mouth so he can't scream, then slit his throat with the blade. I close my eyes and wince at the feeling. Blood starts pouring out, and he tries to scream but only a muffled groan comes out. He falls to the ground, dead in seconds.
     I drop the scissors and cover my mouth. Tears start to slip out, I can't believe what I had just done. I've never gotten in a fight, let alone kill someone. I look at his lifeless body, and can't help but feel bad for him. Even though he was probably going to do terrible things to us, maybe even kill us, I feel like shit. I'm a murderer. Tears pour down my face.
     I bend and pick up my scissors. I have to get over this, I have to save Mirari. I have no time to mourn over someone as malevolent as Jax. I look at him, and suddenly I don't feel pain anymore.
     "This was for Stori," I say with pride, and flick off his corpse.
     I grab his jacket and mask and put them on. Maybe I can look like Jax for long enough to evade his partner. I put the scissors up my sleeve, so they can drop down if I need them. I walk towards where I heard Jax talking before and look through the gym window. Sure enough, his partner was there and so was Mirari. I'm trembling with fear. If this doesn't work, and he notices I'm not Jax, he will probably kill me before I can kill him.
     I take a deep breath and enter. He looks at me, but seems to remain calm. I think I'm pulling this off.
     "So I'm guessing that little bitch is still there?" Oh shit. I did not think about talking.
     I simply nod and look at Mirari. She is just tied up, but she is knocked out cold. She has a black eye, and is also bleeding from the head. Poor girl, what did they do to you?
     "So why are you wearing the mask? Wanted to scare that chick?"
     I get a close look at him. He's tall and muscular, no way I'd win in a fight. He has blonde hair much like Jax's, and the same green eyes. They must be brothers.
     I nod again, hoping he doesn't pick up on who I really am.
     "What's up with you bro? Cat got your toungue?" He chuckles.
     I shake my head, as if to be shaking off a laugh. The boys face changes, and fear starts to set it.
     "No really bro," he says in a serious tone, "why ain't you talking?" He raises an eyebrow at me. "Maybe.. Because you can't. Maybe because if you do, I'll do this!" He pulls a gun out and rips my mask off. I try to get my scissors out to defend myself, but he smacks them out of my wrist. He wraps one hand around me throat, and puts the gun up to my head with the other. I feel the cold metal against my temple. I feel him press it harder against me.
     "Where's Jax?!" He demands. I can only muster out a bunch of stuttered nonsense. "I said WHERE'S JAX?" He pushes the gun harder into my head, and tightens his grip on my throat. I look over at Mirari--still out cold. "Oh you shouldn't worry about her, after I'm done with you she'll be the least of your worries." Tears start falling down my face. I feel death approaching, and I'm ready to take it.
     Suddenly I hear the gym doors open. I hear gunshots, and expect to feel pain, but I don't. Instead I feel nothing. I open my eyes and see that Jax's brother is lying on the floor, dead. Someone shot him. I look towards where the sound came from, and see three people running towards us. Two guys and one girl. One young boy runs over to Mirari. The girl follows him. The last one walks towards me. He's tan, with dark hair and bright blue eyes with gold flecks. He looks like royalty.
     "Are you okay?" He asks me in a deep, cool voice.
     "Y-Yeah. They took us, I did what I h-had to. I didn't want to kill him I just- I just," I started shaking. I couldn't stop freaking out about killing Jax.
     "Hey hey, it's okay, it's okay. Where is this 'Jax'?"
     "He's-he's dead, he's in the hallway, he's dead. He's dead he's dead he's dead..." I can't control it. I start crying.
     "It's okay," he grabs my arms and shakes me a bit, trying to get me under control. "What's your name?"
     "..Sairen. Sairen Conrad."
     "My name is Crimson, I'm here to help you."

Author's Note: Make sure to comment what you guys think or any suggestions you may have! I'll take everything into consideration. I hope you are enjoying it so far because I am enjoying writing it!  baygaa <3