This chapter was actually the third chapter I wrote last night. Figured it took me long enough to write it, and you guys deserve to have a new chapter. =) I hope you enjoy it!

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            Counting the cracks in the wall was how Michele was passing her time. She had nothing better to do. The girl was too uncomfortable and angry to sleep. She was tired and drained, but adrenaline was keeping her awake. Michele wanted to hit something, someone, but that was hard to do with her hands cuffed behind her back.

            She wanted to talk, but Juliet wasn’t in the mood. The blonde girl was just not in the mood to deal with people, even her friend. For some reason, Michele thought maybe Juliet thought that it was her fault that they were cuffed to wooden chairs in a strange place. Regardless to the situation, or whose fault it was, Michele was being driven nuts. She couldn’t sit this still for long.

            Michele kicked the chair with her heel, and then decided it wasn’t a good idea. Her heel was not her strong point, and kicking the chair wasn’t going to help her escape from the cuffs or room. The girl’s mind raced, trying to come up with something, anything. She eventually decided to try to pull herself free from the cuffs.

            The girl attempted to make her hands as small and narrow as she could. She thought that by making her hands smaller, she’d be able to slip out of the cuffs, and get herself out of the room. Michele pulled as hard as she could, but her hands stayed inside the metal rings perfectly. Michele sighed angrily as she tried again, only to fail just as epically. Frustrated, she gave up. She knew she was just going to have to wait until someone found them; if anyone did at all.

            Michele closed her eyes, hoping it would help calm her down. Clear your mind, she thought silently to herself. She knew it was in her best interest to relax and try not to think about the situation. They’d be found, and everything would just go back to normal. She laughed at herself for even thinking about that pathetic happily-ever-after ending. This was the real world! Those didn’t happen in the real world.

            Michele’s thoughts were interrupted by a loud crash. She was suddenly alert, as was Juliet. The girls looked at each other for a moment before Juliet asked, “What was that?”

            Michele shrugged as best she could. “I don’t know, but I’m sure it isn’t good.”

            Meanwhile…

            Lex instinctively kicked down the front door of the warehouse. He kicked down doors every night; surely this one was no different. Except for the fact he really wanted to hurt Billy Bob Joe. He had crossed a line you didn’t cross, and Lex was going to show him why. He was not someone to be toyed with.           

            He rushed into the room, Wayne and John not too far behind him. As soon as Lex saw someone move, he drew his gun, aiming it in their direction. Almost immediately after that, shots began ringing out from all directions. Lex and company dove for separate hiding spots; Lex got comfortable behind a nearby wall, and started firing back towards the enemies. Honestly, he had no idea who he was shooting at, and he honestly didn’t care. If he was getting shot at, well, he was going shoot right back. It’s just how Lex was.

            He looked over to see John behind an overturned table, and Wayne behind the couch. They were also shooting at some unknown foe on the other side of the room. Lex pulled himself behind the wall to reload his weapon, but only to see a man staring back at him.

            “Well, hello Lex,” he said smugly. “What a pleasant surprise.” Lex ignored him, and went back to reloading his pistol. The man was taken aback by the way Lex acted. “It’s rude, you know, to kick down someone’s door and not tell them hello.”

            Lex shoved the gun’s barrel into the man’s chest. “I don’t need to say anything to you Billy Bob Joe. You deserve to be dead.”

            Billy Bob Joe laughed condescendingly. “I think you might want to… reevaluate your last remark.”

            Lex felt cold metal press into the back of his head. He didn’t have to see it to know there was a gun to the back of his head. “You know, it’s really cowardly to have one of your musclemen put a gun to my head.”

            Billy Bob Joe sneered. “You have to do what you got to do.” He paused for only a second. “Now, lower your weapon and I won’t have to use force on you.”

            Lex listened to his surroundings. All the shooting had ceased. That worried him a bit. Why would John and Wayne stop firing, unless….

            He felt his weapon lower slowly, like he didn’t have control over it. His conscience was talking again. Now was not the time to have a weak backbone. Lex was going to hate himself for not shooting, but the guy had a gun to his head. He did value his life, after all…

            “Boris,” Billy Bob Joe mused, “take Lex here to the holding room.”

            The man behind him didn’t say a word, only pushed him down the hallway towards a room at the far end of the warehouse. After what seemed like ages, Boris shoved Lex into a concrete room before locking him inside. Lex banged his fists on the door, angry and frustrated for countless reasons. He kicked the door once, before sighing angrily and sliding down its side. This was not how this was supposed to go. Lex shut his eyes, trying to calm himself before he hurt someone, or himself.

            “Lex? Is that you?” a voice asked quietly.

            Lex thought he was hearing things. That voice sounded just like Michele. But it couldn’t be. No villain was honestly stupid enough to put all their hostages in the same room? Lex opened his eyes to see Michele and Juliet cuffed to wooden chairs. Wow that guy really was as dumb as he looked, Lex thought briefly before rushing up to his girlfriend, hugging her tight, though she couldn’t hug him back.

            “Are you okay?” he asked her.

            “I’m fine; just bored and starting to doze off,” Michele assured. “Can you get us out of these cuffs?”

            Lex grimaced. “I can try. I don’t really know what I have to try to open them with.”

            “I have a bobby pin in my hair,” Juliet announced. “You can try using that.”

            Lex shrugged. He supposed it was worth a try. He approached Juliet, and quickly found the metal pin in her hair. Lex pulled it out, and started going to work on uncuffing the girls. Lex remembered everything he learned about picking locks, and he was hoping it was going to help him here. He was ecstatic when he heard a click. The metal cuff fell off the wrist of Michele, and once he saw that, he moved on to Juliet’s. Once the girls were free, the three of them sat against the wall. Lex put his arm around Michele as she leaned against him.

            “Where are John and my dad?” Juliet asked.

            Lex shook his head. “I thought they were right behind me, but we came under fire and next thing I knew, there was a gun to my head and I was brought here.”

            “Think they’re okay?” Juliet asked.

            “I dunno,” was all Lex could mutter. He didn’t know what had happened to his friends, or where they were. This rescue mission had gone terribly wrong. This wasn’t supposed to happen. They were supposed to be on their way home by now, but they weren’t. Lex knew he had to come up with a way out of here before it was too late.