I'm not dead folks! Had major writer's block as well as some family stuff going on. This chapter isn't as good as I would like it to be, but I hope the next few chapters will be a bit better.

Ethan and Hannah had sat in the bathroom for what felt like forever. Hannah was growing restless, being worried for her sister as well as being terrified and exhausted, all she wanted was to get out of the bathroom, find Lex and get the hell out of this cursed mall. Ethan was trying his best to convince Hannah that it was better to stay in the bathroom and not go out in search of Lex, but inside he was also longing to find her, fearing that this time he might have lost her for good. After a while they stopped talking to each other all together, instead sitting as the worry and stress took over them, both unsure on what to do next. Finally Hannah decided she had had enough of the silence, standing up and making her way toward the door. 'Where do you think you're going?' Ethan asked, knowing that his first priority was to protect Hannah, he could not let her go out there and get hurt.

'Out. Nothing is going to happen if we sit here, waiting for her to come. We need to go out there and find her.' Hannah said, a look of determination in her eyes.

'Fine, but only if you let me go out and check if it's safe first.' Ethan bartered, trying to compromise and find a scenario where Hannah was safe.

'No. We know what happens when we do that, I don't want you getting captured alone. We go out together. That's final.' Hannah said, knowing she had to get out, she also knew Ethan wanted to find Lex too, so this fight wouldn't be too hard to win.

'Hannah, this is a bad idea, I don't want you getting hurt. Let me go out, find Lex and bring her back here, then we can all leave this mall and this day behind us.' Ethan knew he was probably going to lose as his heart wasn't in the argument he was trying to win, but he was desperate to keep Hannah safe, she was family to him, he couldn't let her get hurt.

'We need to go, I know we do.' Hannah whispered and looking into her eyes Ethan knew he couldn't fight her on this, not when he wanted the same thing. He looked to the ground, sighed, and then stood up, walking toward Hannah and the door. He gave her a tiny soft smile, barely visible, but Hannah noticed and appreciated it.

'Let's go.' Ethan said, grabbing Hannah's hand, stopping for a second to listen at the door. After waiting and hearing nothing he gently and softly pried open the door. Seeing nothing on the other side they snuck out, trying to not alert anyone of their presence. They slowly made their way to the end of the corridor, they peered around the corner and looked around and still saw no one. In a way it almost felt scarier seeing the empty halls rather than them being full of a hypnotised mob. It was eerily quiet, but Hannah and Ethan both knew it might not stay that way for long and that they shouldn't waste the advantage the silence brought.

'Let's head to ToyZone, it's the most likely place to find Lex.' Ethan suggested, Hannah nodded. They braced themselves and started their journey across the main open space of the mall, to the other side where a smaller corridor lead down to ToyZone. They made it across the main corridor without a hitch, their footsteps echoing quietly through the empty hall. As they reached the hall that led to ToyZone they heard footsteps heading their way. They both froze, fear creeping up them and making them feel stuck to the ground. Ethan looked around and spotted a pile of boxes. He grabbed Hannah and dragged her over to hide behind them. They both were barely breathing as they heard the footsteps grow closer and closer. Soon they could hear quiet voices.

'Just around the corner and then through the main corridor, I know it could be risky but we need to find them.'

'Whatever can get us out of here and safe as soon as possible.' As the voices and footsteps rounded the corner and came into view both Ethan and Hannah let out a soft gasp. Although the gasps were quiet the two people turned their heads toward the noise, sensing they were being watched. One of them saw the boxes and started to move toward them. Hannah couldn't take it anymore, she jumped up from behind the boxes, startling the person who then let out a small yelp.

'Lex!' Hannah whisper yelled, running into her big sister's arms. They hugged each other for a few seconds, being joined by Ethan. After a few second Tom quietly walked over and tapped Lex's shoulder.

'Hate to break up the family reunion, but I think I can hear footsteps coming our way.' Tom whispered, making the others stop their celebration.

'For fuck's sake not again! What do we do?' Lex whispered back, fear creeping up her spine for what felt like the millionth time that day.

'Hide behind those boxes, it won't hide all of us but hopefully they won't be looking too closely.' Ethan replied. They all followed him behind the boxes, Ethan sitting just visible to anyone who walked nearby, he could only hope that whoever it was wasn't very observant. The footsteps got closer and closer, until they all saw someone emerge from around the corner. Ethan recognised him, although he wasn't sure where from. He was looking around, in search of something, or someone.

'Shit.' Ethan whispered under his breath, as he had just recognised him as the police officer from earlier, as well as realising that he was going to be seen. So he made a decision, he needed to protect the others, so he would have to sacrifice himself. He ran out from behind the boxes, but just as he started running Hannah grabbed his hand as a source of comfort, she was accidentally pulled out from behind the boxes by Ethan. She attempted to crawl back but it was too late, the officer had spotted them and grabbed Ethan. Hannah tried to escape but the officer grabbed her too.

'Finally, the prophet will be glad to have more sacrifices. Joyous dayyyyyy!' Lex wanted to run out and help them, but Tom held her back, letting the Wiggly worshiper take them away.

'Why would you do that?!' Lex whispered yelled, fury laced through her voice.

'We are better off not being captured, we will save them, we just need to stay alive first.' Tom replied calmly, putting a comforting hand on her back.

'I-I just don't want to lose them...' Lex said, the fury being replaced with sadness.

'I know, but we will get them back, I promise you.'

I felt the pacing was a bit off for this chapter, sorry.
Love y'all