Zara slammed down against the floor, taking all the air out of her lungs. Her eyes rolled back into their sockets as she started to hyperventilate, her lungs aching with every breath. Max immediately lifted himself off of her, worry and confusion clouding his face as he cupped her cheek with a hand.

"Zara? Zara? Oh my God, breathe, I'm sorry—" He couldn't finish his sentence that he was forcefully jerked backwards by the collar of his shirt. This time, he had his guard on, and Max swiftly reached behind him to grab his attacker's ankle, pulling it underneath him. The guy lost his footing and fell backwards, giving Max enough time to jump onto his feet and get a grip on what had just happened. His eyes flicked briefly to Zara's squirming form on the floor, but she already had two people trying to calm her down. Feeling slightly relieved that she was getting the needed attention, he turned back to the guy who had just signed his death warrant. He was clearly surprised that he was the one on the floor and not Max, so he scrambled to his feet.

A space had opened up around the two of them, as people were getting increasingly aware of the situation and preferred to remain out of it. Max's eyes narrowed as his hands balled into fists, ready to punch this guy down into a pulp.

But the person he least expected was standing in front of him.

"That was for taking her away from me!"

Robert.

Max didn't even know this guy and he was trying to beat him up. But moments after, the puzzle pieces fitted themselves together.

Samantha and Robert. Robert and Samantha. But how had he come to know about this?

"What are you doing here? Came to fight for that whore of yours? You're so pathetic," Max chuckled. Although he tried to come across as nonchalant, a storm brewed inside of him. Anyone who tried to make a fool of him in public would pay with blood. He wasn't going to get pushed around, not now that he had finally been able to make proper contact with Zara. She would think of him as being weak, and that was unacceptable.

"I'll kill you!" Robert lunged for Max, with the intent to tackle him to the ground, but Max swung a punch to his face, sending him back to whence he came.

The bouncers must have been called, because Max suddenly found himself restrained, as did Robert.

"You're going to take this outside," One of the security guards said, and then the crackle of a walkie-talkie could be heard. The two boys kicked and cussed as they got dragged off the dance floor, but it was futile. The men had inescapable iron grips, and they didn't let go until both Max and Robert were out the backdoor, into an abandoned courtyard, and on the ground. "Y'all are not allowed back in until you solve this shit. And once you do get back, one more disturbance and you're out."

The man slammed the metal door, leaving Robert and Max catching their breaths. This was not the way he expected his night to go, and it pissed him off. He wasn't expecting to bring Zara home, but he was hoping that he could hang out with her again. It probably wouldn't happen after this.

"Do you realise what just happened? We got our asses thrown out. All because of some bitch—" Max got onto his knees and brushed his shirt off. There were all kinds of stains on it now, and the collar was tattered, leaving part of his chest exposed. Robert's shirts were more decent-looking, but he was bleeding from his lip.

"Don't blame me, it's your fault. What makes you think that you can just...do any girl and not have to face the consequences?" Robert glared at Max with an intensity that verged on eerie. Max found himself scratching his neck, looking everywhere but at him.

"I've done it several times before..." Max couldn't help but smile at the ridiculousness of the situation. What was this guy trying to do, play the white knight? How many times did he have to tell him that his girlfriend was a whore? "So I'd say, personal experience?" Max got up onto his feet, ready to walk back inside and go find Zara.

"We aren't done here," Robert said, also getting up, but Max was already walking towards the door.

"I think we are," It flew open, narrowly missing Max's face, and out came his group, along with other people Max had seen at school but wasn't familiar with.

"We heard what went down back there. Everything alright?" Jeremy asked, his hair and eyes wilder than usual. They all had this bewildered look on their faces, like they had been locked up inside for such a long time that they had forgotten how the outside world looked like.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for asking. I was just telling Bobby here—"

"I wasn't talking to you."

Max was stunned, and if he was taken aback by his statement then, he was even more so when everybody suddenly moved to Robert's side. A few of them patted his back, while others hugged him with one arm. Even Samantha, with her mascara running down her face and slightly torn dress had tottered up to him. The whole time Max stood there, a blank stare on his face and his mouth set in a thin line.

What the fuck is going on?

"Okay, is this some kind of sick joke? Are you all out of your goddamn minds? What are you idiots doing over there with that loser?" Renewed infuriation began to rise within his core, traveling up his spine and down his arms. He felt his heart drumming in his ears, and the vein in his neck pulsating as he strained not to charge at them in a crazed bloodlust and pulverise them all.

He wanted to laugh at the irony of the situation—there he was, trying to tell his father about his inner circle being traitors, while the whole time his own group was conspiring against him. How long had this been going on for? That was what he wanted, no needed to know. It all seemed unreal to him; he was stuck in a horrible nightmare and no amount of pinching would wake himself up.

Jeremy and Sebastian turned to leer at him, their arms crossed in front of them. But Max wasn't fooled by the facade—in their eyes he saw a cowardice that he found absolutely disgusting, loathsome. These weren't the people he wanted by his side, people who could switch loyalties without a second thought. Robert could have them if he wanted.

"I'm going to take over this little drug operation you got going on. Surprised?" Robert smiled, tilting his head to one side like a cat. He just needed the tail swishing behind him to complete the whole sly look.

"Truthfully? Yes, I am," Max had nobody to blame but himself for his actions, for letting his guard down like an amateur. "But it was something to be expected. After all, you're all just a bunch of buffoons," he swiped his hand in an arc, "spineless buffoons." He spat onto the ground.

"We're sick of you, man!" Sebastian cried out, his sneer morphing into a frown, "All you do is treat us like dirt!"

He looked like on the verge of tears, and Max laughed at his face, "Are you guys listening to him? No tell me, are you hearing exactly what I'm hearing? When have I ever 'treated you like dirt' Sebastian? All I've ever done is treat you like a brother—"

"A brother, huh?" Jeremy shook his head, "You're nobody's brother, you're your own brother. It's all about you man, you think 'bout nobody but yourself. If you were my brother, you wouldn't have slept with my girlfriend while I was in Hawaii! You do all this stupid shit, but you never think about the repercussions of your actions."

"Wow, big word you used there Jeremy, I'm shocked," Max passed a hand through his hair, the high from the party long gone. Once again he had underestimated his bad luck. "I'm really not in the mood to deal with hypocrites. If you losers want to group up and make a club, go right ahead. I'm not going to stand here and let myself be insulted by a bunch of ungrateful assholes." He turned his back on them and started to walk away, in search for a different exit as the one he had gotten thrown out of was barricaded by their bodies. He reached the edge of the courtyard, but it was blocked by a fence, the top lined with barbed wire. Max snorted. Of course.

He walked back to the group. "Well, guess the only way out is by going back inside isn't that funny?" He chuckled dryly.

"I don't think you're going anywhere just yet," Robert said, taking a step towards him, "I've let you have your fun, but now it's time to pay up."

The whole group of them started to close in on him, and although Max felt his arms shaking like leaves, he was more than ready to take them on. "Bring it on, bitches."

-:-

Inside, on the floor, laid Zara, recovering from what had happened. It was like a deja-vu—her, in pain and unable to move, except this time she could see the dark forms of people standing above her. Two unknown faces came closer to her own, inspecting her. One belonged to a girl with short purple hair and a nose piercing, while the other belonged to a blonde with heavy black eyeliner. Zara felt her head being lifted into somebodies lap, and nonsensical talking.

There he goes again, messing your life up.

What a moron. He couldn't even control himself from falling on top of you like a sack of potatoes.

Is this the man you're going after? Sad.

The voices started chattering again, triggered by Zara's sudden shock. All they did was criticise her, Max, the party, until her head became cluttered with gibberish.

"I'm fine!" Her mouth seemed to articulate, even though she couldn't hear the words herself. She repeated it again, louder, and used all her willpower to sit up, with the person behind her carefully levering her. Her surroundings began to materialise again, just as she saw Max getting dragged away.

"What's happening? Where are they taking him?" She tried to stand up, but her heels made it almost impossible to do so without any help. She turned over so that she was face down, and tried to lift herself up from there.

"Two dudes got into a fight, so I think they're kicking them out. You okay though? You took a pretty strong blow," The purple-haired girl was still crouching besides her, watching the struggle with a sympathetic look on her face.

Finally, Zara gave up and instead resorted to pulling her shoes off. She let out a sigh when her feet were freed, and she wiggled her toes. "Thanks, I'm alright."

The girl shrugged and resumed dancing, leaving Zara to figure out what to do next.

It was either go look for Aurora, who still hadn't returned, or go after Max.

Instead of standing around, pondering her choices, she began to make her way towards the back of the room, mercilessly shoving people left and right. She reached the back door and pushed it open, the scene revealed before her horrifying, to say the least.

A group of people stood in a semicircle, their backs to Zara. Looming over something, or someone, they were throwing kicks, and even a couple punches at it, laughing profusely.

The bodies of four guys were scattered across the ground, and they all looked battered and unconscious. "What's happening?" Zara asked Samantha, her voice shrill with worry. The girl was leaning against the doorframe and smoking a cigarette.

Samantha looked at her with pity, bringing the cigarette up to her mouth and blowing the smoke in Zara's face. "Your boyfriend is getting owned." She turned towards the massacre, a sadistic smile on her face.

Zara blinked, appalled. As if by instinct, she dropped the heels onto the floor and reached down to tear a split in her dress to free her legs. A moment later, a shoe in each hand, she ran barefoot over to the group, her hair flying behind her. Samantha's warning screams followed her, and although two of the men turned towards them with curiosity, that didn't stop Zara's crazed advancement.

The knock-out must've had a revitalising effect on her, because as soon as she reached them she jumped up and attacked the first guy she had her eye on. She knocked the heel of the shoe against the back of his ear, and the man cried out in pain, doubling over.

Zara took a couple of steps back to dodge any retaliatory attacks. She wasn't even thinking rationally anymore; her animalistic side had taken over, and she was going fight everyone who came her way. It was such a cowardly thing to do to attack a single man as a group, and even though he had managed to end a couple of them, they still had the advantage.

Now she was going to show them what it really means to brawl.

Almost simultaneously, the others turned around, their eyes widening when they saw that the cause of distress was a short girl that looked like Tarzan. Even the injured guy turned around, blood running down his neck, and his hand shook as he continuously brought it up to the wound, still in shock.

Suddenly, her head got jerked backwards as Samantha grabbed a fistful of her hair while hollering like a Vervet monkey. Zara spun towards her and grabbed onto her shoulder, using her as leverage to knee her in the crotch. Samantha let go and keeled over, exposing her back and giving Zara the opportunity to elbow her in between her shoulder blades, sending her to the ground.

Samantha didn't get back up; she was too busy whimpering in pain.

The men just stood there and watched her, stunned.

Zara turned towards the others, her face a stony mask. "Get away from him," She pointed at Max, who was leaning against the fence, his head lolled onto one side. It hurt to look at him.

She scanned their faces, but her breath hitched when she recognised Robert.

Even Max's goons were there, except they weren't lying bruised and broken against the floor like he was.

"I have to say, I'm kind of embarrassed right now." Robert looked down at Max and kicked him in the shin, causing the poor guy to groan in pain. The bastard looked back at Zara, his thin lips set in a line.

She winced at his action, but when he faced her she raised an eyebrow, hiding her reaction.

"I don't think you heard what I said. Get. Away. From. Him," She took a threatening step forwards, and one guy even stepped back. He had seen the damage she had done in the span of two minutes, and probably didn't want to be the next victim.

"First I get punched in the face, and then my girlfriend gets bashed," He shook his head, "I've been humiliated twice in a row now, by a psychotic midget. What makes you think that I'm just going to let you walk away?" Robert rolled up his sleeves, his eyes never leaving Zara's face.

The adrenaline was starting to wear off for her, and her joints ached a from the impromptu fight. "Haven't you done enough damage already? Look at him, he's barely conscious!"

Nobody looked at him, because nobody cared.

"I don't think you heard what I said," Robert repeated her earlier statement, but with a mocking tone, "I'm making a point here. When you take over an empire, you have to kill all those who were loyal to it to avoid any future uprising. If you didn't quite catch that, it means that—"

Police sirens began to wail, truncating his monologue.

Someone must've called them to shut down the party.

"Shit, it's the cops!" One of them yelled, and he ran back inside. The others hesitated, looking at Robert, who suddenly looked fearful.

"If you ever find yourself alone, know that I will be there." He gave Zara one last threatening glance, before he too ran back into the warehouse followed by his newly recruited minions.

Zara rushed over to Max, her hands hovering above his chest as her eyes welled up with tears. His left eye was bruised and swollen shut, while his lips were cracked. Even his shirt was covered in blood, but where was it coming from? "Max! Talk to me! Max—"

She heard car doors being slammed shut, and flashlights illuminated the air. A policeman was yelling threats through a megaphone. Increasingly panicked, Zara grabbed Max's shoulders and he groaned in pain. If either of them got caught caught they would have to face dire consequences. Zara choked out a cry—"Max, please get up, please!"

"Help....me." Max tried to lift his right arm but then he roared in pain; the bastards must've broken his rib. Zara helped him to sit up and then slowly, and very steadily, to stand. She lifted his uninjured arm onto her shoulders, and the two half-walked, half-limped, towards the other end of the warehouse, hoping that there was another exit besides the one through the warehouse.

A few people came rushing out of the door behind them, screaming their lungs out, as they too looked for another way out. "Watch it!" Zara yelled as a guy almost stumbled into them, and she took great care to lift the majority of Max's weight, even though her back was aching and her legs threatened to give away underneath her.

Gunshots could be heard, resulting in louder cries.

It didn't phase Zara, because she was intent on one thing: to get both of their asses out of there in one piece.

She soldiered on, following the direction of everyone else, until finally they exited the premises of the warehouse, and were on the street.

"I need...I need to...rest," Max wheezed, his head hanging low. Zara admired his determination, anyone in his place would've just given up, but he hadn't.

"Just hold on," She wrapped an arm around his waist to hold him up better, "We need to get further away if we don't want to get caught." He got heavier and heavier by the minute—his energy was running out fast and if she didn't find somewhere safe for the two to hide, then he would just collapse on her.

A police-car zoomed past them but the two fugitives were ignored, maybe because they looked like a couple who had gone out for a nightly stroll.

A nightly stroll at four in the morning.

Zara had almost passed by an alley blocked by a collapsed billboard. There was enough space for the two to get through it, so Zara carefully manoeuvred them around the blockage and into the alley.

A piece of cardboard was strewn across the slimy ground, so Zara kicked it with a foot against the wall, and helped Max lower himself onto it. The best position for him to be right now was sitting up, so she helped him lean back against the wall.

"What do I do?" Zara whispered, taking Max's hand into hers. It was cold, so Zara covered it with her other hand to warm it up. Max turned his head fractionally to look at her with his good eye.

"Phone."

She nodded, then awkwardly rummaged through his front pockets, ensuring that her hand didn't brush across the untouchables. Zara pulled out his phone.

"There's a passcode," she stated, bringing screen with the luminous keypad close to his face so he could see it.

"One...nine..." He coughed, "seven...five."

She quickly tapped it in, "Who do I call?"

"Driver." That's when he passed out.

Wouldn't it make more sense to call an ambulance? She thought, but then she realised that if they found alcohol in his body that they wouldn't hesitate to tell the police.

Zara thumbed through his contacts, forcing down the annoyance that arose when she saw how many female names she saw in it.

Now is not the time.

She reached the "D" section, and was stumped when she saw that there were three drivers: Driver 1, Driver 2, and Driver 3.

"Which one is it?" Zara asked Max, unaware of his state of unconsciousness. She asked him again, and when he didn't reply a second time, she got the message. Her eyes flitted back to the screen and she decided to gamble it.

She chose the second option, and brought the phone to her ear, nervously tapping her fingers against her thigh.

A nasal voice responded the call, "Hello? What can I do for you sir?"

Crazy how these guys are available at all hours.

"Hello! Please, don't hang up! My name is Zara, and I'm here with Maximilian. He's wounded...badly. I need you to come right away!"

"Max! This better not be another one of your pranks, or I swear to—"

"I swear! He needs medical attention immediately—" She checked his pulse. It was there, but only faintly.

"Alright," He seemed more convinced now, maybe it was due to her shaky voice, "Where is he currently?

Zara shot up to her feet and ran outside the alley, looking for a sign with the street name on it. She gave him the address, and added "—We are currently in an alley right now, because there are a lot of policemen going around. The entrance is blocked by a huge advertisement on toothpaste, so you can't miss it. And if they stop you for any reason, any reason at all, please don't tell them where we are..."

"Don't worry, señorita. We have dealt with such things before. I will arrive there shortly with the needed medical attention."

"Thank-you so much," She grabbed Max's hand and squeezed it, "I am wearing a green dress. Please call me when you get here, because I'll be waiting in the alley."

"Certainly."

The call went dead.

"Hang on Max. They're coming to help us," she muttered, curling up beside him. 

-:-