Look out for the <>!

I woke up with a start as water hit my face. I shot up and looked at Fabien, who was holding a cup in his hand. I looked around the room franticly. I was in a daze. For a moment, I didn't know where I was or what was happening.

"You wouldn't wake up. I hope you don't mind I used your water," he said as he handed me an empty plastic cup.

I took it from him in silence as my heart broke with disappointment as I realized that I was still detained by MIA. I wasn't home, I wasn't safe, and I wasn't getting out. I ran my hand through my hair and frowned even more, and my hair was wet.

"Afternoon," he said and smiled kindly as he sat in one of the chairs in the middle of the room.

I looked to see if I could get any hint about anything related to the outside. There was nothing to help. But at least I knew it was already the next day since I was brought in mid afternoon.

"So I was thinking about asking some more questions today but then I realized that you hadn't eaten anything in almost a day, so here." He pushed a tray of food to me.

I was right, it was the next day.

"I'll be back in a hour." He got up from the chair then left the room.

I stretched gingerly and felt my body ache. I rubbed my thigh lightly and felt a lump under my jeans, I knew it was a swollen bruise. I got up slowly from the bed and I felt the world spin. I slowly walked cross the room to the tray of food, feeling pain from my body that happened yesterday.

I sat down softly in the metal chair and took a small bite of the meat. It was juicy and tender. Fabien had more questions to ask me so he wouldn't poison it just yet. The food had to be safe to eat. After I swallowed, I realized that I was famished and I ate the rest in minutes.

Afterwards, I walked to the bathroom and frowned at the cramped space. There was just a hole in the ground and a dripping faucet. I was not getting any special treatment. I pulled down my pants and looked at my thigh that was changing to multiple shades of colors. I poked it as I felt sharp pain come with it. I needed to get out of here.

My mind ran with plans that I could use to get out but quickly I realized that I had ideas to get out alive. With a frown I shuffled to the bed and sat down. I closed my eyes for a minute, feeling exhaustion take over. It felt like I barely slept.

"Don't fall asleep on me again."

I opened my eyes to see Fabien sitting back in a chair, looking at me. Amusement clear in his eyes. He was the cat and he was ready to play.

"I wasn't."

"Come sit down," he said and gestured me to sit with him.

I knew were this was going. I didn't even get a chance to recover from yesterday. Here we go again. I got up and felt pain to my side but I was careful not to show it. I sat down on the metal chair and shivered. I was freezing.

He then got up from his chair and cuffed me to mine in one fluid motion.

I looked at my hand cuffed to the chair in horror. I had no chance in fighting back now. I was stuck to the chair with no hopes in getting out.

"Good, let's go back to the last question I asked. How did you find out about MIA?"  he asked and sat back in his chair calmly as if this was going to be a good story.

I shook my head. I couldn't force the words out of my mouth. One more day. I had to last another day, I had to give my team one more day to get me out. "Someone told me," I said trying to be as cryptic as I could.

He learned forward. "Would that someone be... B26?" he asked with a smile as wide as the Cheshire cat. I let my guard down for a second as I looked at him wide eyed. He knew B26 contacted me. His smile faded. "Yes, we also know that he's your dad. So where is he?"

I wish I knew this question myself. "I don't know," I mumbled at the ground, telling the truth for once since I got here.

"Now that's an awful lie," he said and got out his silver knife and gouged my leg. I let out a choked back scream as I watched him pull out the knife from my leg. I felt the slow trickle of warm blood run down it.

Don't hyperventilate.

"Go on, you can scream. It hurts right?" he asked with a large smile.

A wave of hatred washed over me. He was sadistic. He wanted to make me suffer before he killed me.

"So where is he?"

I looked at him in the eye and shook my head. "I DON'T KNOW," I said louder to make sure he heard me. I wasn't going to tell him if I did know anyhow.

His smile faded. He knew I was telling the truth. "You really don't know where your father is?"

Goodness, I thought we already established this. "NO. He ran off. I only saw him for a few minutes," I snapped at him as I threw my free arm in the air.

"Well, where was he?" Fabien asked as he played with the knife in his hand.

"At my house. That's all I know, please just stop," I pleaded half heartedly to him.

He looked furious. I didn't have what he wanted. He never wanted me to begin with. He always wanted B26. It was B26 that had the information to bring them under. I was just a pawn in this game from both sides. "I'll stop when I'm done!" He slapped me across my face. "Where is Zach Gray?"

I couldn't control my mouth and before I knew what I was saying, it was already out. "If he wanted to talk to you, he would have done it by now."

He leaned back in his chair and sighed. I was not being agreeable. He was losing his patience. "You never learn do you?" he said then stabbed my arm with his knife.

This time I didn't scream, but instead took deep breaths until the pain started to die away. I looked at him with hatred and disgust. This was it, I was going to die today. He was going to stab me until I bled out.

By now, dying wasn't my concern, I just had to keep my mouth shut to save my team. I looked at my arm as blood ran down it. "Killing me is not going to stop what's already happening," I stated as I saw the fear in his eyes. He was running out of time, his empire was starting to crash to the ground and he was trying to grab straws.

He stood up from his chair and threw the knife at the wall, causing it to fall to the ground with a clink. He knew I was right.

"That's it, I've had enough of you," he said and got out a needle from his dress pants. "I thought I could get more out of you, but this is pointless."

I looked at the needle with fear as I tried to wiggle away from him.

"Annalise, you're heart rate will only set the poison off more. Keep that in mind," he said as he jabbed the needle into my thigh.

I screamed out in pain as the power went out.

Fabien swore loudly then said, "Stay here."

I heard the door open then close leaving me alone in the room. Poison. He was finished with me. I was going to die here. I didn't even last another day. I felt my eyes well up with tears. I just hoped that they weren't mad at me, I really did try my best.

Minutes ticked by until my eyes got accustom to the darkness. I shook the cuff half heartedly as I felt blood drip off me. I felt my senses start to dim as the poison took it's hold. No one was coming for me. I was going to bleed out alone in this dark cell.

Tears welled up in my eyes as I realized that this was my end. "This can't HAPPEN!" I screamed to the darkness.

Seconds later I saw a light coming around the corner. Fear took it's hold again. Fabien was back to finish the job. I watched in horror as the light came closer.

<>

"Annalise?" I heard some muffled voice asked. The door click open and the person with the light came in. It was so bright I had to squint. "Oh Annalise, what did they do to you," Mara said and dropped to the side of the chair and uncuffed me.

I smiled lightly at her. I guess today wasn't my day. They did come for me. "You came."

"Of course we did. Your grandmother pulled a team together to get you out of here. Your dad, Auggie, and Zach are among them."

My smile became brighter. Dad? He didn't run. He was getting help. I felt strength flowed through my cold and weak body. My friends and family were here to rescue me. Unable to fight my emotions, I hugged her.

Mara held my tightly for a second before pulling   me out of the hug. "Let's get out of here." She walked out the door and I followed. She turned left and started to run.

I tried to keep up but she was too fast. She turned to a dark stair case and I followed but when I got to the bottom, she was gone. I looked around in a panic as she appeared again going down another hall. I followed but when I turned the corner, I ran into a dead end.

I was losing my mind, she didn't come here. I had to get back to the main hall. I turned on my heals to see Fabien and Toby standing at the mouth of the hall, blocking my exit.

Fabien frowned. "You're not dead yet?"

I frowned back at him. I leaned against the wall in hopes that it would hold my weight. "I'm still kicking," I smirked.

"You are really as indestructible as your father. Speaking of him, I thought we could make a video of you dying to bait him in, but since he is here, we can just finish you off quickly," he said as he got out his gun.

"Wait, sir. can I finish her off?" Toby spoke up.

He turned to him and smiled. "Yes sure. Be my guest," he said and handed him a gun.

Toby gave him a sharp nod obediently.

I felt my breath catch in my throat. I was too weak to fight back so I just braced myself. "Please," I managed to choke out, not looking at Toby. I didn't want to see the hate in his eyes. If he had one shred of love for me, he wouldn't be here.

Toby grabbed my arm and I squirmed under his touch. "Brace yourself," he whispered in my ear.

I stopped squirming and nodded. For this second, I trusted him and that was all I needed.

"You know what Fabien? I quit!" Toby said forcefully as he turned to face Fabien and shot him in one fluid motion then turned back to me. He gave a weary smile as he looked at me from head to toe. "If we move quickly we can get you that antidote."

I nodded as I held onto the wall. I was feeling worse by the moment. I tried to wrap my mind around what he just did but I think the poison was effecting my thoughts, causing them to mush together. "Nice shot," I said with no emotion.

He smirked lightly a gunshot ring out through the hall. I quickly looked around Toby to see Fabien holding a gun, he then dropped to the ground, unable to stand any longer.

I looked at myself, I was fine. I sighed in relief. "He missed." I looked at Toby whose smirk was slow fading. "Woe, Toby," I said as I caught him before he fell. He was heavy in my arms and I stumbled back, crashing to the floor with him on top of me. My Body cried out in pain as I pushed Toby off of myself.

Toby has a blank look to his face as he tried to gasp for air. "Annalise, I made a lot of decisions in my life, some good some bad. I regret some of them but on the other hand I don't....." he coughed as pain grew on his face. "Because I met you. Annalise. I love you, I always have and I always will."

He was giving me his last words. He was dying in front of my eyes and I couldn't do anything about it. "Shhh, Toby, we're going to make it through this," I said softly, as I felt tears run down my face. I thought that I would hate him forever but if he died here, I would be devastated. Deep down, I still cared about him and he did about me.

"No, Annalise, I'm sorry that I let you down. I just hope that someday you will forgive me," he said as he breathing became more shallow.

"Toby....I do ..." my voice caught in my throat. I wiped the tears from my face and squeezed his hand. "You have to stay with me. Ok?" I begged as my vision blurred.

"I deserve to die."

I shook my head even though it made my head spin. I needed help and no one was here for me. "Toby don't say that." He couldn't die, this couldn't be goodbye. We were defeating MIA as we speak. He couldn't give up this easily. Slowly the pain in my body turned into a fire, raging through burning all of my insides. I couldn't breathe as I cried out in pain.

I looked back down at Toby who now looked lifeless. "Toby?" I begged as I shook him slightly. He didn't move. "Help!" I screamed into the empty hallway. My voice sounded like nothing against the blaring alarms around us. "PLEASE!" No one was coming. Unable to hold my eyes open any longer, I closed them and gave into the darkness.

"There's ......over here," I heard someone mumble from a distance. 

"Who?" another person asked.

"You shouldn't.....Looks like....a... body bag...."

I stopped falling as I heard someone come up to me. "Annalise?! Annalise? No! You have to wake up! Please." His voice sounded frantic. I wanted to open my eyes but it was so hard to pry them open. "Please wake, I...." but they didn't finish, as sobbing took over.

I couldn't stand to hear this person suffer. I took a deep breath, feeling my lungs expand as I squinted my eyes open to see Auggie holding me in his arms, crying. He stopped and looked at me instantly, "Annalise... everything is going to be ok...I..." He was lost for words but tears were still running down his face. "You have to stay with me."

I nodded as everything was started to go blurry again. My whole body was screaming in pain. I was on fire. I yelled out in pain. "Auggie, it hurts," I whimpered.

He cupped my cheek as he lifted me into his arms. "It's going to be ok," I heard him say just be for I closed my eyes and drift off again.