He was shot. Zayn was shot. He got shot. What do I do? I can't do anything for him. I want to help him. We were running away from him. No. I have to go back to him. Please, let me go back to him.

I struggled against John, but he only held me tighter. "Let me down! Please! We have to go back!" I screamed. The tears were running down my face as fast as my heart was beating. "D.ammit! Let me go!" I kicked to no avail. "Zayn!" I screamed, reaching out towards him in some sort of attempt to reach him, but we were too far gone down the dark hall. I heard more gun shots and my voice got caught in my throat. He was dead. There was no way he was alive.

I gave John one final kick and his grip loosened around me. I dropped to the floor and started to run back off down the hall. I only made it about ten feet before John caught up to me again and grabbed the collar of the coat wrapped around me. "Do you want to die, kid?" He yelled at me, his spit slightly hitting my cheeks. I nervously shook my head back and forth. "He told me to save you if anything happened. Now don't make my family one member less by f.ucking around here. Let's go."

I nodded and followed John back down the hallway. There was no hope for me if I got caught and John wouldn't be going back with his family. The whole situation was dire. As we were running again, my legs felt shaky and my inside were churning. "John, is he dead?" I asked, my voice shaking.

"I don't know." John said in a rushed voice. "Come on." We made it down the hall and around the corner before the footsteps and shouts behind us got louder. I could hear Liam's voice booming against the wall and echoing into my ears.

"I don't care how you f.ucking do it! Find them and shoot them both down. Now go!" His words terrified me. He had poisoned me before and I had no doubt in my mind that he would have his men shoot us down.

"Hurry up, kid!" John yelled as he was getting a little farther away from me down the hall. I glanced back one last time to see three bulky men running towards us with guns drawn.

"John get down-!" I yelled as I ducked and a shot rang out. It managed to hit the wall instead of our bodies. I ran faster, faster than I thought was possible and caught up with John. "Please tell me you have a gun." I shouted at his as we ran. He looked determined as he reached down to his waist and pulled out a hand gun.

"Only so much ammunition though." He said, whipping around and shooting back at the group following us. One groaned and fell while the other two held back a little. "At the end of his hall there's a door. The combination is 6256. I want you to get out and run for the woods. Okay?" John spoke as if he was leaving me too.

"You're coming with me, right?" I barely managed to speak to him when a billet came whizzing by, almost hitting me in the head of I had been a fraction of an inch to the other side. I ducked down again and kept running. John shot back a few times and then yelled at me to get out as fast as I could. I saw the door down the hall and ran as fast as I could. I turned back to see John shooting at the two men left.

"Go on, Niall. I'll catch up once I get Zayn with me!" He shouted and all I had to hear was Zayn's name to believe him. I shakily entered the code into the electronic padlock on the door and it swung open. I ran outside to the fresh air and stopped. I looked around through the dark and made out the tree line in the distance. I ran for it. There I would be safe and hidden until John came back for me with Zayn, if Zayn was alive.

It was hard to navigate through the dark. My senses were on overdrive. I tripped over roots sticking up through the ground. I sliced my heal on a rock in the woods. Every once in a while I would stop and take a breath. I had been running my whole life for what it seemed. When I found a safe place to hide near some large rocks obstructed by the foliage, I sat down and huddled John's coat around me.

I was completely bare underneath and the thin fabric didn't do much to save me from the cold. I shivered and gently touched my heel and felt the blood. I bet myself that I was beyond dirty and covered in mud up to my knees. I was thirsty and I was hungry, but those things didn't override the fact that I was scared out of my mind. I just wanted everyone to be okay. I wanted Zayn to be alive. I wanted John to be alive. Hell, I even wanted that poor kid back at Louis' to hang in there.

I sat there for what seemed like hours and my body was so weak from the cold that I didn't even think that I was shivering anymore to generate heat. I leaned against the large rocks and waited. I waited until I heard shouting and the closer it got, the more I could make out what the person was yelling out.

"Niall!" He called my name. It was John. I saw the light of a flashlight and stood up immediately. "Niall! Where are you!?"

"O-Over here!" I shouted back, walking towards the flashlight. "John!" I soon found him, head bloodied up. He wasn't with anyone else. "John.... Where is he?" I asked, my heart racing in my chest. "John."

"Don't worry about Zayn. He's safe. Now we have to get out of here. There's a trail up here, it'll lead us to the car." John quickly led me out of the thick of the woods and we ended up at a trail that really did lead us to a parked car. It was covered with a dark cloth, probably to hide it from onlookers. "We weren't going down without a fight." John chuckled nervously. "I'll drive you to the safe house-"

"Safe house? What the hell is going on?" I asked. This was all too weird. Why would there be a safe house? Why was there a need for one? And more importantly... "Where is Zayn?"

"He's safe. That's all I can tell you." John opened the car door for me and I got inside. He finished removing the rest of the tarp from the car and got into the drivers seat. He started the car up and we peeled out of parked spot, down the bumpy trail and eventually out onto a small part of the highway.

"Why can't you tell me anything?"

"There are a lot of things that can't be explained right now. You're going to have to trust me." John sped down the highway and we got farther and farther away from city lights that had been off in the distance. "Niall, can you trust me?"

"Only if you explain why you were all secret agent back there." I gulped, watching the street lights pass and flicker in through the car windows. "You're not just Zayn's lawn caretaker, are you?"

John shook his head. "No."

"Then what are you to him?"

"I'm his hit man, personal guard, right hand man. Whatever job description you want to give me. I'm that." I was speechless after John's words because if he was telling the truth than there was much more to Zayn than I knew. I was pretty much in the dark with his personal life, and didn't really know much about his business other than he was involved in some sort of global communications company. But to have a hit man? Zayn was in something deep. "All of your things were picked up by a friend of yours. We disclosed your location to him so that he can be your caretaker until we figure out a plan. He has ties with Liam Payne, but no loyalty to him and we believe we can trust him. His name is Harry Styles, can we trust him, Niall?"

"Harry?" I asked in shock. "You involved him? Why would you do that? He has a kid on the way!"

John didn't acknowledge anything I said and just asked me again. "Can we trust him? I need an answer now."

"Y-Yes." I nodded, holding the coat closer around me. John reached forward and turned up the heat in the car. We drove for a long time. I fell asleep for a few hours and we had to stop for gas at least once. When we finally pulled off the highway and into a suburban area of a city hundreds a miles away from home, we made our way down calm streets lined with trees and finally pulled into an empty driveway.

"Okay, Stay in the car while I go check it out." John left the car still running in the driveway while he walked up to the front door and knocked. The door opened slightly and I saw Harry's curly hair. John then nodded as they exchanged words. John waved to me and motioned for me to get out of the car. I did as told and shakily got out of the vehicle. I made my way to the doorway and walked inside.

Harry stood there with a worried look on his face and then pulled me into a hug. "No more running, Niall." He told me. "You're safe." He wouldn't let go of me until his wife, Ruth, waddled out from around the corner. She held her large stomach and smiled with tears in her eyes when she saw me.

"Oh, Niall." She cried. "If I had only known what my brother was doing." She raised her arms to me and I left Harry behind to hug Ruth. "My brother, he's-"

"It's okay."

"No, it's not. Liam was always a bad seed. He told me he was in the housing business. He never-" She choked back tears. "I'm so sorry I didn't realize sooner."

Everyone around me hugged me and cried for me. They cared for me and were there to keep me safe. I felt warm in their arms and at peace. When I finally let my guard down I let all of emotions out. All of the pent up feelings I had for years spilled out of me and into other's ears. My old memories of my parents, the times I didn't have enough money for food, the times were I wanted to end it all, and the time I met Zayn and everything changed.

"A-and Zayn. He's hurt. I just want to be with him." I cried. " I just- I love him so much."

A/N: Please vote and comment! Also, keep voting for the Bromance Awards!

Much Love

Jachxx