"It's you isn't it?" Nole asked, desperate for a reply. The fact that the person wasn't responding was confirmation enough that it was indeed his disobedient little brother. He reached out for him, and when his hand finally fumbled onto one of Caden's small shoulders, he almost cried out in joy. "Caden, you're okay! We've been so worried. Suri misses you like crazy!"

The words were coming out a mile a minute, and he was no longer whispering. For that moment, he forgot about his back and all of the stress he was feeling. He didn't care about being wanted by the Enforcers, and pushed aside any thoughts regarding Taro, Betty, or anyone else from the apartment complex.

"Why are you here?" The emotionless tone in Caden's words wasn't out of character. Nonetheless, Nole was bewildered by his brother's attitude. Taking into account that Caden submitted intelligence of his presence at Murphy's shack, Nole still didn't feel a shred of anger toward his brother; not even for running away in the first place. All that mattered to him at that point was that he'd found him, and that he was okay.

"W-what do you mean? I came to get you," Nole defended. "I'm not mad about it, let's just go. We can talk about everything after we get somewhere safe." He clenched Caden's shoulders with both hands now. Even though they were in the same room, Nole was afraid of letting him go. He had chastised himself constantly ever since Caden had run away, so he wasn't going to be careless anymore.

Stumbling to his feet, he pulled Caden off of the bottom bunk and pulled him toward the doorway. He spied through the glass for any company and saw none. "I doubt we'll be able to make it out without them noticing, but we should be able to get away with the rain frenzy outside."

He placed one of his hands on the handle and slowly opened the door. It was as silent as before, yet he felt more nerve wracking. He had to get Caden out. He had to reunite what was left of his family. "No one's around," he observed, pausing at the opening.

"You're the murderer, aren't you?" Caden asked all of a sudden.

"What?"

"Why did you kill Murphy?"

"Are you serious?" Nole snapped, still whispering. He turned back to his brother, the light from the door now lighting Caden's soft features. His lips were pursed into a thin line and his eyes were locked on his older brother.

Nole sighed and contained his emotions before responding. "You really think that low of me? Listen, I know it looks bad, but I didn't-"

"They have proof."

"What proof? That's impossible because I didn't do it!" Nole seethed between clenched teeth.

"I heard the briefing. They found the murder weapon with your fingerprints on the handle." The news took Nole by surprise.

"No way!" Nole's whispers were becoming less and less like whispers. "It's obviously a setup. How can you be so naïve to think that I'd actually do something like that?"

"Where's Suri?"

"Don't change the subject Caden!"

"Is she okay?"

"She's better off than how you left her. How could you just abandon her like that anyway? After I told you guys to stay together, you up and left her. What if-"

"Did you do anything to her?"

It took Nole a few seconds to process the words, but when they finally sunk in, his entire attitude took a turn for the worst. Did I do anything to her? He thinks, he actually thinks I hurt her. No matter what I say, he thinks I killed Murphy, and he thinks I'm a monster.

Nole pushed the door gently until only a sliver of light remained. "I know what you do when you go out each day," Caden went on, pulling his arm free from Nole's grasp. "It's not like you don't have it in you. It wouldn't be a stretch to think you'd do that sort of thing to either of us." Nole was fuming, but he didn't lash out. As if sensing the tension in the room, Caden grew silent.

"Are you done?" Nole muttered. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself. His brother's words had hurt him deeper than any wound he'd ever gotten. It shook him so much that he had to pause and collect himself. He actually thinks I'd hurt them. After all I've done to protect them, I'm the thing that scares them the most.

Although he was devastated by Caden's remark, he urged himself to continue on with the escape. "She's fine." Nole finally answered. He took Caden's silence as acquiescence and reopened the door to fine the hallway empty. Thankfully that no one had heard his and Caden's short argument. "Stay close." Although he didn't pull his little brother along, Nole still kept a vigilant eye on him.

His steps were short and silent. Fully aware of the situation, he urged himself to be overly cautious. It was that same caution that kept him alive for the past year; that kept them alive. It had allowed him to find his brother, and now it would allow him to escape. His breath became shallow, as if he were running a marathon, and beads of sweat formed on his brow. The palpitations of his heart grew so rapid that he actually thought that the Enforcers would hear the beats.

When he reached the adjacent door, he peeked in to see that the shadowed figure was no longer there. As suspicious as it was, Nole couldn't be bothered with any outside concerns. But even though he thought he'd dismissed the unease, it was still there. The anxiety he felt became evident when a rip of thunder caused him to jump back.

The lights lining the corridor flickered briefly and then went out altogether. "Caden," he whispered into the darkness. Nole felt around the walls, but didn't encounter his brother. "Caden," he repeated. There wasn't a response. The thunder was unrelenting. Its booming sound became so frequent that it soon became white noise in the background.

After calling out to Caden several more times without a reply, Nole began to panic. Did he run down the hall? Which way? He clenched his jaw in frustration before finally deciding to return the way he came. Although he'd just come from that direction, he found himself reaching out in front of him to avoid any obstructions in the darkness.

Figuring that the lightening blew a fuse in the station, he wasn't counting on the light coming on any time soon. Despite the cover the dark gave him, Nole knew that it was only a matter of time before Maddox and Hadley came to investigate the power outage.

By the time he reached the end of the hall he still hadn't found Caden. He couldn't risk whispering with Maddox and Hadley on the move, so he maintained his silence. Venturing to search the room from which they'd come, Nole was shocked to find that it was locked. He paused and felt the corner of the hall to make sure he was at the right door. When he confirmed it was, he turned the handle rigorously but it wouldn't budge. Nole called out to his brother in a hushed tone. At that point he didn't care if anyone heard him, he was desperate.

Another round of thunderclaps stirred the quiet and bolts of lightening brought instantaneous flashes of light from the window within the room. The light was brief, but enough to illuminate Caden's face from behind the pane of glass.

As abrupt as the image was, Nole could see everything in his little brother's face. The stern eyes, unforgiving and untrusting. Caden didn't look angry, just distant, staring at his older brother as if he were a stranger. "Caden," Nole whispered, "open the door." The thunder prevented any audible response to be heard from Caden, but a sinking feeling told Nole that his little brother was no longer within reach. "Caden! Unlock it!" he ordered, his voice shaking.

The deafening weather berated the building from the outside, but the noise was being drowned out. Even though a mere pane of glass separated them, even though Nole could see his brother in front of him, it felt like they were miles apart. "Caden, please, unlock it," he begged falling to his knees. "Please."

Another flash of light came, but it wasn't momentary like the others. It didn't come from inside the room, but from the hallway. By the time Nole discovered that it was a flashlight, he knew it was over.

"Hold it right there!" a steely voice commanded. When he turned around, the flashlight pointing directly at his face made it difficult to identify the figure. A creeping suspicion told him it was Maddox.

Nole turned his face back toward the door and hoped to catch a glimpse of his brother with the newfound light, but all he saw was his own reflection. Although he knew his brother was still there, he couldn't see him.

He kneeled there, watching the crisscross pattern of the glass cut the reflection of his face like pieces like a puzzle. His desperate, wide eyes would be two pieces each; his nose six or seven pieces; his lip-biting frown eight pieces. The image repulsed him. "Hands on your head!" roared the voice. Nole had no choice but to obey.

"You're the kid from outside," Hadley verified as she turned on her own flashlight. He might have had a chance of escape if it there was just one of them, but he knew he wouldn't be able to get away with both of them blocking his path. At that point, he wasn't even sure he wanted to get away; at least not without Caden.

"I said hands on your head," Maddox demanded angrily.

Nole's mind went blank. The situation had gotten dire quickly, and he didn't have a backup plan to salvage it. Maddox bellowed his order once more, this time with audible hostility. He knows it's me, Nole thought morosely. I wouldn't be surprised if he shot me on sight. As defeated as Nole felt in that moment, the last thing he wanted was to be shot in front of his brother. Their relationship was strained, but it not beyond repair; and he was determined to repair it.

With trembling hands, Nole removed his hands and lifted them to his hooded head. "On your knees." Maddox ordered. Nole bowed his head and clamped his eyes shut upon hearing the request. Obediently, he shuffled his knees against the tiled floor until his body faced the two glaring beams of light.

"That hoodie matches the description from the sighting on the City Library's roof," Hadley stated.

"So it is him," Maddox muttered. A moment of nearly unbearable silence passed before he spoke again. "You're Nole Vale, aren't you?"

Nole's heart drummed so intensely, he thought it could be heard echoing around him. Even though it was mostly dark around him, he didn't want to look up. He wasn't afraid of confirming his own identity to the Enforcers, or even of the chance of Maddox shooting him in an act of vengeance. It was the fact that he'd be leaving his siblings to fend for themselves that scared him. It was being without them that scared him the most. Caden had told them that his alleged fingerprints were found on the murder weapon, but he knew for a fact that it couldn't be true. The only thing left to assume was that he was indeed being set up for the crime, which meant he didn't stand much of a chance with a not guilty plea.

The dizzying thoughts distracted him from the shifting light. For a second he thought the power was back on, but then he realized that one of the flashlights was moving. He couldn't hear it at first due to the combination of beating from his frantic heart and the unceasing weather, but steady footsteps were moving toward him. Before he knew it, a pair of black loafers came into his downward field of vision.

"Captain," Hadley concerned voice echoed in the distance.

"Is your name," a click from Maddox's gun was uncomfortably close to Nole's head, "Nole Vale?"

"Jett!" she warned anxiously.

Nole imagined the barrel of the gun pointed directly at his head. The gut wrenching feeling of a bullet piercing him at any second made his body quake fearfully.

"Y-yes."

"That's all we needed to hear," a new voice chimed in. The shock of hearing its familiarity almost made Nole fall forward, but he quickly composed himself.

The loafers in front of him did a rapid three hundred and sixty degree turn. "Who are you?" Maddox shouted at the newcomer.

"Hey, no sudden moves, Captain."

Nole raised his head slightly and peered around Maddox's solid stance. His arms were straight in front of him in a crossed position. One hand held the flashlight and the hand beneath it held the gun. Nole couldn't see the Captain's face, but he looked like he was aiming to kill.

A few yards down the hall stood a petrified Hadley. Her arms were in the same formation as Maddox's, but aimed to the floor. Her face was stoic, yet showed signs of fear. Her gaze was straight, staring directly at Maddox, and her eyebrows quivered. Her expression was a mix of irritation and dread.

It was difficult to tell at first, but with her flashlight aimed downward, Nole was able to depict another set of feet behind her. "Drop your gun, compadre," the voice directed. It was unmistakable at that point. Nole lifted his head completely to verify, but sure enough, he saw Marco standing behind Hadley with a gun pointed at the back of her head.

See the astounding multimedia? Well that gem was created by the amazing @imsymptomatic. I think the cover suits this chapter perfectly! Thanks for reading :)