I hear the front door close. I look at the clock on the radio, 7:30 am. Alex and Emily are still sleeping. It must be Hanna going somewhere. I close my eyes again and I hear a voice, “Hello? Anyone here?”

    I sit up. “Danny.” I shake Alex awake, “Danny's here.” I stand up and I start for the stairs, to meet Danny.

    Alex pulls me back. “Are you dumb? Why would they let Danny come back? They wouldn't just let him go unsupervised. They're trying to find us. We need to stay quiet.” I nod. That does make sense. Considering everything that happened yesterday, he's not going to be alone.

    Alex and I sit down on the couch and we listen to Danny walking around upstairs. I hear him say, “I don't see them. I'll go check downstairs. Stay here, I won't find them if you follow me. They'll hear you.” He's not very quiet. It almost sounds like he wants us to hear him. Maybe he does. Danny comes down the stairs. I gasp. “Guys, are you down here?” His eyes fix on me. He smiles.

    I would smile back, but I don't know whose side he's on anymore. “Are you helping them? Helping them find us?” I stay as quiet as I can.

    He shakes his head. He starts whispering, “Only because they forced me. Listen to me, Lucy. You all need to get out of here as fast as you can. They'll suspect something when I go up and say that you aren't down here. They'll come look themselves.” Danny walks closer until he's right in front of me. “Get out as fast as you can. Go to the park and I'll meet you there when it's safe. Go out the back door.” He points down the hallway.

    “Are you sure you'll be fine?” I grab Danny's hand and look up at him, with the saddest eyes I can imagine. Maybe if he feels bad enough, he'll follow us out.

    “I'll be fine. If I go with you, we won't get far. If I stay, I can buy you some time to escape,” he says, as if he's reading my mind. “Get up. You need to go. And I need to go back upstairs. They'll be suspicious.” Danny pulls me up.

    I give Danny a hug. “I'll see you soon, then.” I release him. He smiles at me and turns away. I turn around and Alex is helping Emily up. “We need to go now.” Alex nods. We run down the hallway and I ease the sliding glass door open. I stand aside and let Emily and Alex out before I go through. As I'm closing the door, I see shadows coming down the stairs. “Run.”

    Alex waits for me to pass him so he's in the back of the group, to protect us, just like Danny did. Emily is running on her own, she must be healed enough. “Which way to the park?” Emily asks over her shoulder. I shrug. I hadn't thought of that. Danny said to go to the park, but none of us bothered to ask where that was.

    “I don't know. Just turn left,” Alex points away from the house. Emily takes a sharp turn and runs down the street. We pass several identical houses as we run. This must be a neighborhood for older people. We run for five minutes before Emily turns left again. Ahead of us, I see the park, a big field of green, with four pavilions, one at each corner. “Go over there.” Alex gestures to the farthest pavilion, which is surrounded by trees, a perfect hiding spot. Emily sprints to the structure.

    I reach one of the tables and I lay down underneath it. The cool cement feels like ice against my back. “We made it. Now we just have to watch out and wait for Danny to meet us.” I slowly fall asleep.

    “Lucy, get up! We have to go,” Danny yells as me. He grabs my arm and pulls me out. “Come on. I was able to escape, but they aren't far behind me.”

    He lets my arm go and I run next to him. “I'm glad you made it. I didn't think you would.” Pain suddenly rushes through my sore legs. A scream escapes me. I look down. Blood is running down my right calf. I got shot. With a real gun. My leg collapses under me and I fall to the ground.

    “Lucy!” Danny turns around and picks me up. One of his arms goes under my knees and the other one goes across my shoulder blades. I wrap my arms around his neck. He keeps running.

    “Are you strong enough to carry me? I'm not the lightest thing,” I say as I see sweat roll down Danny's forehead. I know he's not. He won't last long. “Alex!”

    Alex turns and sees the blood dripping off my leg. “What happened?!” He asks when he gets to us. He puts his arms in place of Danny's and I shift my weight from Danny to Alex. Danny doesn't argue. “Are you okay?”

    “I got shot. I don't know how much longer I'll last if I keep losing this much blood,” I answer him. I try not to cry. I don't want to appear weak, even though Danny's seen me cry more than Alex has, so I don't know why it matters. “Just go on without me. I'll hold you all back.” Alex shakes his head, but doesn't respond. I'm too heavy for him, too. “You can't carry me much longer. Just keep going. Leave me here.” Alex shakes his head again.

    Alex trips and lands on my leg. I scream. Danny turns around. Alex is lying on top of me, tears are flowing out of my eyes, and the police officers are right behind us. I catch Danny's eyes and say, “Go.” He shakes his head. I look up and see Emily, still running. I close my eyes. I should be happy that she'll be safe, but she's leaving me.

    The group catches up and surrounds us. “Get up.” One of the officers pokes my leg. I scream again. Danny rushes over and helps me up. I lean against him. “Now. Someone start...” He stops talking. “Weren't there four of you?”

    “Nope. Just the three of us,” Alex answers.

    “Whatever. Just start explaining.” He shifts his gun from Alex to Danny.

    I feel Danny gulp. “There isn't much to explain. We're running away, that's all.” The gun moves closer to Danny's head. I hold my breath. They won't shoot him, they can't. But they shot me.

    “From what?”

    “From...” Danny looks down at me. I nod at him. “From the new rule that Governor Smith made. It's pointless and stupid.” He answered correctly, but he didn't say the real reason why, to keep me safe.

    “Wrong answer.” The officer quickly points the gun at Danny's foot and he fires. Danny falls over and I fall on top of him. Alex moves closer to help me up but the policeman aims at him. “Don't help them.” Alex holds his hands up and steps back. “Now. Tell me the real reason why you're running away. Do you have something to hide?” He wants us to admit it. He probably already knows why, he wants us to give in.

    “For me. Ever since I was five, I've been pretending that I was deaf and mute. My dad made me. We all knew that I wasn't safe. Alex and Danny made a plan to get me out.” I grit my teeth. The pain is getting worse. “And they did. Leave them out of this, okay? They didn't do anything wrong. They were just helping me.”

    The officer rolls his eyes at me. “And that's what they are going to be in trouble for. Helping you.” He looks over at Alex. “Get them up.” Alex rushes over and pulls me up first and keeps one hand around my waist as he helps Danny stand. “Now, follow me.” The officer turns around and starts walking.

    An officer holds a car door open for the three of us. Alex sits me in there first and I slide over. Then Danny comes in and finally Alex. “How's your leg doing?” Danny asks.

    I look at him. “How do you think my leg is doing? It's killing me. Do you have a belt or something? So I can stop the circulation?”

    “Yeah.” Danny undoes his belt, slides it off and under my leg. I grab it on the other side and hand it to him. He ties it off. “There. That should help.”

    “It doesn't help with the pain though,” I bite my lip. Danny's arm slides around my shoulder. “Can we go to the hospital please?”

    “Not yet, ma'am. Sheriff's orders that you get tested first,” the driver responds. “Sorry.”

    “Sure you are,” I mutter. I look in the rear-view mirror and see the driver staring at me. “It's just that you're a police officer. None of you have feelings for people you shoot. Maybe I should shoot you, huh? Then would you take me to the hospital?”

    “Lucy. Stop. It won't do you any good to argue with him. Just relax,” Danny chides me. I don't like it when people chide me, it makes me feel like a child. I sigh and lean on him. “We can get through this.” Danny looks up at the driver, “So, how will these tests be administered? Will we be all together? Please, let us be together. It'll be faster that way.”

    “It'll be together, the sheriff doesn't want to do it three times. He'll just be asking you questions. And now that you have admitted everything, it'll be short and sweet. He will tell you your punishment and you'll be off to the hospital.”

    “Thank you.” Danny smiles at him. He is such a good kid. There is no way not to like him. He's so polite and proper.

    We arrive at the police station within minutes. The driver opens my door and helps me out. Danny gets out and hops to me. I forgot that his foot was injured. Alex hurries over and helps us get inside. “Right this way.” Someone, the Sheriff I assume, says to us. I try to avoid eye contact while I pass him. We go through a door and into a small room with two chairs. One for the interrogator and one for the accused. “You two sit down,” he says pointing at me and Danny. “You have to stand.” He points to Alex.

    “Let's get this thing started.” He folds up his sunglasses and shoves them in his pocket. “So. Here we have, Lucy White, Alex White, and Danny Miller?” Danny nods. “Good. Well. Normally I would ask if any of you are faking an illness, but none of you are, so I'll keep going.” He doesn't know that I've been faking one most of my life. No one says anything about it. “Have any of you faked illnesses in the past? If you speak now, you will be forgiven.” We all nod. “Okay, Lucy, you go first.”

    “I've faked colds many times. And I've pretended to be deaf and mute for eleven years, but I stopped yesterday.” I didn't stop because I of the new law. I stopped because I didn't have Gary, and I wasn't with anyone who didn't know. “That's all I guess.”

    “Thank you for being honest with me, Lucy,” the Sheriff smiles at me. I look away. “Okay, Danny, what about you?”

    “I've faked sick so I wouldn't have to go to school,” Danny answers truthfully. “I don't think there's anything else.”

    “Same here,” Alex says.

    “Thank you all for your honesty. I'll have someone drive you to the hospital.” the Sheriff tilts his hat at me as I stand up. Alex helps us out again and into the car.

    “That seemed to easy. I feel like there should be more than that,” I tell Danny. “Don't you think so? It was over too fast. They won't just let me walk away considering everything I said. I don't feel safe yet.”

    Danny nods. “I know what you mean. He didn't get mad at us for running away, or defying police officers. It's not over yet. They're still planning something. I can feel it. They never questioned us about Emily, either. It's not right. They didn't even give us a punishment.” I forgot about that. The driver said that they would, but they didn't.

    The same driver gets into the car. “It's not a very long drive. It'll only take a minute.” He pulls out of the parking spot and starts driving. “Was it as bad as you thought it was going to be? The interrogation, I mean.”

    “No. It was a lot easier,” Alex answers. He's so quiet I almost didn’t hear him. “So, what's your name, sir? If you don't mind me asking.”

    “Oliver. What are your names?”

    “I'm Alex. This is my sister, Lucy. And this is our friend, Danny.”

    Before Oliver responds, I start feeling dizzy. I lean down and put my head between my legs. “Are you okay, Lucy?” Danny asks me. I give him a thumbs up. It's probably just motion sickness, and I'm hungry. “You sure?” I shake my head. I don't feel too well. “What's wrong?”

    I'm too discombobulated to respond in a full sentence. “Dizzy. Blood loss.” I don't know if I'm dizzy from blood loss, but that's the only thing I can think of. Danny looks down at my leg and sees that it's still bleeding.

    “We'll be there soon. Just hang in there.” He rubs my back. I black out.

    The first thing I hear is a steady beeping noise coming from the heart monitor next to my head. I try to look around but I feel dizzy again. I groan. “Lucy! You're awake!” Alex rushes to my side. I don't feel like responding. “Before you ask, Danny's right behind this curtain. It's only closed because he wanted to watch television and you were still out, so I closed it.” He tucks my hair back. “You've lost a lot of blood.” Blood. So I was right. “How are you feeling?”

    “Okay.” I don't want to talk in full sentences. I see movement to my left and I turn. The curtain is open. I see a nurse helping Danny over to me. “Danny.”

    “Hey. How are you?” He puts the back of his hand on my forehead, as if he's feeling my temperature.

    “Okay.” I respond again. I close my eyes. My vision is going blurry.

    “Are you sure? You don't look okay. You're pale and cold,” Danny removes his hand. Alex probably glares at him, for telling me I don't look good.

    “Hmmm.” I keep my eyes closed. I feel dizzy again. “No.”

    “Do you need help? I can get the doctor,” Alex asks. I nod. “I'll be right back.” I hear him walk out of the room.

    “You?” I ask Danny. I hope he knows what I mean.

    “I'm doing fine. Better than you, at least.” He chuckles. I try to smile back but it only makes my head hurt more. I groan again. “Is it your leg that's hurting?” I forgot about my leg. I don't feel anything. I point to my head. “Your head is hurting?” I nod, which hurts it even more. I bite my lip. “Maybe you should just keep your head still.”

    I hear people walk in. “What's the problem, Lucy?” It must be the doctor.

    I still don't want to talk. Danny answers for me. “She said its her head, not her leg.”

    “Interesting. Is it effecting your vision?” the doctor asks. I open my eyes again. I can only see basic shapes. My head throbs. I close them as fast as I can. “I'll take that as a yes.” I hear him write something down before he talks again. "The reason for this is that your brain is trying to cope from all the blood loss. The only way to heal it is to not open your eyes. It'll go away after a few days. We'll have more information about your condition then.” My condition? “Here, swallow these, it'll get rid of the pain.” I take a drink of water and swallow the pills. “I'll be back later.” He walks out.

    I ask Danny in as few words as possible, “My condition?”

    He grabs my hand. “You should sleep, Lucy. You'll find out soon enough. I'll see you later.” He squeezes my hand and lets go. I hear him hobble away. He must be going back into his side of the room. I can't help but feel slightly offended. Why didn't he tell me? Soon enough, sleep pulls me away from my thoughts.