Nobody had a gun. Nobody was ready to defend. We had caught them completely off guard.

When I'd escaped the RFI camp base, they'd expected me to run off into hiding, completely defenseless. There was no way they'd expected me to return with others and set off a bomb.

The chaos that ensued from the fallout of the explosion was complete madness. It was like a blur, watching the agents run around in confusion while a large fire erupted closely. While we had the advantage of time, it was still limited. We had to move quick.

I made a dash to one of the white tents, making sure I wasn't seen. Thankfully, all the attention seemed to be direct to the explosion occurring that nobody could understand. Cassie and Turner had split off in opposite directions, saving time as we all looked inside the tents. There was about a dozen that we needed to search through.

As I carefully peered through the first tent, I was disappointed to see it was empty, only containing a few tables. The urgency was kicking in as I continued to hear the background noise of calling out in Russian and was on constant alert for an RFI agent discovering me.

I was working my way down the row of neatly pitched tents, quickly dashing to them one by one and hiding behind them to avoid detection. My eyes were scanning quickly but also carefully, looking for any sign of him. With a fast heartbeat and a million noises ready to distract me, I still remained focused. As I looked inside the next one, I was cautious and quick, hoping that there wouldn't be a gun ready to greet me from the inside.

As I moved quickly to the next tent, I wasted no time looking around. It was scattered with items and as I spotted something in the corner of my eye, the humming of my heart stopped altogether.

There he was.

Relief flooded through me instantly. He was tied to a chair in the center of the room, looking alert as his eyes darted around the room.

"Eric!" I called out as I ran over to him.

I noticed he was covered in bruises on his face and had small cuts all over his arms. I grew sick at the sight. This is what they'd done to him.

"Becca?" He blinked as he saw me, looking like he couldn't process that I was actually there. "What's going on? Who set off that explosion?"

I knelt to the ground, working quickly to untie the rope around his arms and legs.

"It was us," I answered, cutting away with the pocket knife I'd retrieved from my boot.

"Us?"

"Cassie and Turner are here," I explained quickly as the rope around his wrists broke free.

"Thank God." he sighed in relief. "Becca, I thought something had happened to you. I heard the gunshots but then they told me you got away."

"I did," I said. "But I came back for you. Where's Mackenzie?"

"I don't know." he answered, looking worried.

I gave him a confused look as I cut through the rope around his legs. "She wasn't brought in here with you?"

He shook his head, as I cut the last of the rope. "I haven't seen her since we were all in the tent together."

That wasn't good. If she wasn't with him, then where the hell was she?

The noise outside was distant but loud, and I had no idea what was going on. There was shouting and the sound of a roaring fire, urging me to hurry up.

"Okay, we need to find her," I told him as I stood back up. "Can you get up?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he nodded, hopping off the ground in an instant. I knew he wasn't fine, but he was doing his best to ignore his pain. Even though he'd been probably tied to that chair for more than 24 hours, he was still bouncing back as quick as ever. It amazed me how strong he could be, even in moments like these.

"I'm so glad you're okay," I suddenly said, surprising myself. The words had tumbled out of me as I got a look at him and I couldn't help but feel the relief and gratitude as I saw him standing. Worrying about him over the past two days had been completely agonizing.

For a moment, we just looked at each other, not saying a word. Nothing needed to be said - looking at each other was enough. Knowing that the other was safe was all we needed. But there wasn't any time to stop and think.

"Come on, we need to get a move on," I spoke, heading for the tent opening.

He was already a step ahead of me, sticking his head out to make sure it was safe to leave.

"Okay go," he whispered, ushering me out of the tent.

I moved quickly and with caution as he followed closely behind. He was letting me take the front while he checked to make sure no one was behind us. I sprinted for the next tent in the line, keeping my back hunch over in case someone from the RFI saw me from the other side.

Eric was by my side in an instant, looking just as alert as I was.

"Where's Cassie and Turner?" he spoke in a low voice.

"Cassie's somewhere over there," I pointed to the opposite row of tents. "She's making her way around slowly."

He nodded. "Hopefully, she's already found Mackenzie."

I hoped the same thing.

"Turner's the one who set off the explosion," I continued to explain. "He's on the other side of their base trying to keep them distracted."

Eric nodded, looking ahead for any sign of someone. I stood behind him, looking in the opposite direction. 

Suddenly, a pair of hands grabbed me by the shoulders and I immediately gasped loudly in fright as I jumped out of my own skin.

"Shut up, it's me," Cassie hissed urgently.

I was relieved, but the encounter had been enough to stop my heart for a second.

She was breathing heavy, looking like a complete mess but looked towards Eric with a grin.

"Hey buddy," Cassie greeted, shoving a gun against Eric's chest. "Figured you might want this."

"Thanks," he replied, gripping the large rifle tightly and slinging the strap over his shoulders. "Great to see you again." 

"You talking to me or the gun?" Cassie raised an eyebrow, making Eric smirk. 

"Where'd you get that?" I asked her in horror. We'd brought our own weapons, but nothing that amount of power.

"Looted one of the tents," she answered.

The RFI were packing some military level equipment. Suddenly, I was feeling a lot more insecure as I clutched onto my handgun.

"Where's Mackenzie?" I asked Cassie as the thought dawned on me.

Cassie's face grew a little more serious as she looked at me. "You didn't find her?"

Oh no. I froze at the realization. But there was no time to process it.

The sound of yelling and gunshots made us all turn in the direction of the noise. A figure was approaching from the distance and we all held our guns up, ready to fire.

"Wait!" Cassie stopped. "It's Turner."

I sighed, lowering my weapon as Turner came dashing towards us with a panicked expression.

"We have to go!" Turner yelled as he rushed towards us faster than lightning.

"But Mackenzie!" I argued, growing sick at the realization.

"They're going to kill us all if we don't get out of here now!" Cassie yelled in my ear over the loud sound of gunshots.

Before I had another chance to even process what was happening, Cassie had grabbed my wrist in an automatic reaction to the sound of the shots. She bolted towards the trees, dragging me along with her.

I was too scared by the gunshots to think for a second more. I let her drag me forward as the sounds continued to go off, making me grow a few shades paler.

Eric and Turner were close behind, following us into the forest while firing back at the RFI agents. The gunshot sounds continued going off while I ran forward, not able to know what was actually happening.

It was hard to breathe as we continued running. I could feel the branches and trees scraping against my arms leaving cuts as I focused on my footsteps, making sure I didn't trip. I could feel the impending danger at that moment and all I could focus on was getting out alive.

The gunshot noises became less frequent as we continued to run, hopefully meaning we were losing them.

I knew we weren't too far from our base by that point. If they had followed us the entire way back, that couldn't be good.

Finally, we stopped running as we came to a halt in front of the base that belonged to us. Cassie released my arm and I immediately turned around, looking for Eric.

Eric and Turner exited the trees a few moments later, both clutching their guns and looking out of breath.

"Did we lose them?" Cassie asked.

"Think so," Turner nodded. His eyes drifted to his arm where blood was trickling down.

"Oh my god!" Cassie exclaimed, running towards him. "Turner, your arm."

Turner's chest was rising and falling with his frequent breaths as he looked at his arm. Blood was running down it as his shirt became stained. He'd been shot.

"It's not that bad," he tried to reassure, looking at in for a brief moment.

She didn't care about his reluctance to admit injury.  Moving to his side in an instant, she guided him towards the tent as he limped along.  I watched as they left, hoping that he would be okay. I was completely out of breath and lost for words. 

I turned my attention back to Eric.

"Are you okay?" I asked him, worriedly taking in his disheveled appearance.

"I'm fine," he replied through breaths. He had his gun clutched to him closely with a firm grip on it.

"Did you shoot one of them?"I asked as my eyes widened in horror.

"Probably," Eric admitted grimly.

I looked away, completely overwhelmed. "God." To even think about how violent things had gotten back there was too much to comprehend. There was a sick taste in my mouth that I couldn't get rid of at the memory of everything that had just happened.

"At least we're safe," he told me, trying to be comforting.

I knew he was right. If anyone had died, at least it wasn't one of us. Our lives were not more important than theirs, but at least we were trying to do the right thing. What they were doing was just a path of destruction.

However, I couldn't help but feel guilty. It didn't matter what people did or how good were. The fact that someone was probably dead right now, made me sick to the stomach. My breathing grew irregular and I tried to resist the urge to shake uncontrollably.

Eric moved closer to me, slinging the gun behind him. At first, I didn't understand what he was doing. But then he moved even closer towards me, bringing me in for a hug.

I clung to him closely as I shook like a leaf. I didn't think there was anything in the entire world at that moment that could have felt better than that. I could feel his breathing and I could hear my own and just knowing that we were both with each other, breathing, was the happiest I'd ever felt.

Every feeling of fear, guilt or sadness left me for those few short seconds and I spent them feeling very grateful for what I had. The warmth from him was radiating onto me and nestled in closer.

As I left his embrace, I was brought back into the reality of the situation and once again, reminded of the problems at hand.

Eric and I checked on Turner who had been bandaged up by Cassie and despite his gunshot wound, didn't seem any worse for wear. Cassie also tended to Eric's wounds that he'd received from being kept with the RFI.

"Jesus Christ Eric," Cassie muttered as she worked on sewing up a cut he had on his arm. "What the hell did they do to you?"

Eric tensed up as the needle pierced his skin once more and turned his head to the side. "Nothing I didn't expect from them. Most of it was just scare tactics. They kept threatening to kill me if I didn't tell them what they wanted to know."

I looked at him in worrying, not wanting to think about what he'd endured.

"Did you tell them anything?" Cassie asked.

Eric looked almost amused. "No,"

"But they could have killed you," I reminded him, the horror clear in my voice. "Why didn't you just tell them whatever they needed to hear?"

He shook his head. "They wouldn' have killed me. At least not that soon. They know that I play a vital role in how the RUA runs. I was their leverage."

Cassie nodded in agreement as she poured some kind of liquid over his arm - an alcoholic substance to sterilize.

Eric tensed again, jaw clenching in pain.

"Sorry," she muttered. "Should have warned you about the sting."

"Do you think they're doing the same thing with Mackenzie?" I asked hopefully, thinking about what Eric had just said. "Maybe they're keeping her alive as some sort of bait for us."

No one responded to me, the tent growing awfully quiet.

"Eric."

He sighed reluctantly. "I don't know."

I raised an eyebrow, looking at him for more answers. For some kind of reassurance that she would be okay.

"When you escaped, they were angry," he began to explain, his voice low. "Not at you, mainly at themselves for letting you get away. But they took it out on us. They stepped up their security and were keeping an eye on us constantly. I think they were afraid it would happen again and were making sure not to underestimate us."

He stopped speaking for a moment as if looking for the right words.

"I can't imagine how angry they would be now at the fact that another hostage got away and that we took down a few of their own." he paused again. "They're going to be really angry Becca. They'll be looking for anything to do for revenge."

"What are you saying?" I asked, hoping he wouldn't confirm what I was already thinking.

He looked at me with a worried expression, brows furrowed. "For all I know, she could be dead right now." 

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Guys im so sorry... this chapter was shit but its 1am and im so tired and urgggghhh I just wanted to finally update for all you wonderfully patient readers. 

Last chapter I asked y'all to tell me who ur fav character was and why and I'd dedicate the chapter to whoever wrote my fav answer. That goes to naughtycupcake911 for writing something that I've tried to depict throughout this entire series! Thank you so much. :)

Becca makes decisions that sometimes cause people to call her stupid and an idiot in the comments, but the truth is, if anyone was in that situation, it's hard to know if they would have done any better. I wanted to make her real. A real person who makes mistakes, learns from them, and betters herself because of them (eg. the Kennedy High Case and how she went to the prom alone to meet the dealer - Trust me guys, I know that was a stupid move). I also wanted her to show respect and understanding towards Eric and how much his job meant to him. His feelings are conflicting and it's hard for him to disobey the one place that has been his home and took him in after the tragic loss of his family - and she gets that. So now they struggle with their feelings for each other together, not really knowing what to do about them. #tragic #mmmwhatchasayy

ALSO GUYS PLEASE GO READ MY STORY 'THE GHOST HUNTERS' BC IT IS GETTING VERY FREQUENT UPDATES AND I'VE HAD THIS IDEA FOR MORE THAN THREE YEARS AND AM FINALLY GETTING THE CHANCE TO DEVELOP IT!!! IF YOU READ AND COMMENT I'LL LOVE YOU FOREVER AND REPLY TO ALL UR COMMENTS BC IT MEANS A LOT <3 <3 <3 

also, this is turner rn: