When Sam screams, I lose it.

I'd been holding my cool pretty well up until that point, too.

After Sam passed out, Maria had told Jack and Sofia to lock him in the basement below the lodge. I'd only agreed to this idea because they'd promised not to hurt him, and Maria had threatened to shoot me if I didn't go along with it.

I'd spent the past thirty minutes doing my best to convince her and Inez that Sam was not a threat, but I'd made little progress so far.

The only reason I hadn't lost it already is that Cass has taken our side, and Toni proves a level-headed ally in a crisis.

We've been standing in the kitchen, near the basement stairs—Maria, Inez, Cass, Toni, and I—trying to hash things out while Jack, Sofia, and Carlos keep an eye on Elliot.

So far, he's remained unconscious, but no one knows what will happen when he wakes up—whether he'll be himself again, or if he'll go on another rampage.

I've just finished telling everyone—for the eleventeenth time—that Elliot attacked us and that Sam is not dangerous, when I hear his high-pitched, terrified scream rising from below.

Shoving Maria aside—call me a jerk, but old lady or not, she's blocking my way to Sam—I leap down the steps to the basement, taking them four at a time.

Sam is in a small storage room at the back, the door bolted and locked, and even as a bear I don't know if I'd be able to bust through. I pound my fist on the heavy boards that separate us and shout his name.

"Sam! Sam!? Are you okay?"

"Ian!?"

"Yes, I'm here, Sam I—"

"Ian!! There's something in here! Please, please get me out! Get me out!!"

His voice is high and strained with panic, and the sound twists like a knife.

He screams again, cutting me off and making my heart leap with fear.

"IAN! Get me out of here! Please!!"

I spin at the sound of footsteps at my back, and see the others have followed me down, all with looks of worry, concern, and confusion on their faces.

"Please, I'm begging you—he's not a threat. He used all his energy fighting Elliot. Whatever you're doing, please stop!"

Inez frowns. "There's nothing in there. It's just a storage room."

"IAN!" Sam screams again, and I can't take it.

Fortunately for everyone, Cass seems to understand that if there's anything to be afraid of right now, it's me.

"Jesus, Mom, open the door!" they say, holding out a hand for the keys. "Something's clearly wrong in there!"

Maria frowns but hands over the set of keys, and Cass quickly unlocks the door and throws it open.

The sight that greets me makes my heart burn with rage.

My little Sam, in chains.

His wrists are caught in thick metal bands, suspended above his head and secured to a thick wooden beam at his back. The only light is what spills in through the open door, and by its feeble cast I see that his pale face is streaked with tears and his whole body trembles, making the chains rattle faintly where they pull at his arms.

"Sam!" I rush forward and drop in front of him, taking his face between my hands. "What is it? A demon?"

He shakes his head. "I d-d-don't know. Something t-t-touched me," he stammers.

Cass works quickly and a few seconds later the manacles come off and Sam falls into my arms, a shaking mess.

Maria and Inez stand in the doorway, matching frowns on their almost identical faces.

"There's nothing in here," Maria says, shining a small light into the corners of the room.

I have to admit, it looks like she's right. Besides a few old boxes along the back wall, the room is empty.

"Did you see it?" I ask Sam, rubbing my hands over his back in an attempt to soothe his painfully raw fear.

"No," he says, sniffing. "I couldn't see anything. I just...heard it and f-felt it."

Even as he speaks, a small rustling noise reaches us from the far corner.

"That's it! That's what it sounded like!" he says, spinning to press his back against my chest.

Cass stands and takes a tentative step towards the noise, and then everyone startles as something small breaks cover, streaks across the floor and disappears through a crack on the opposite wall.

I sag with relief, Maria and Inez release their breath in a huff, and Cass bursts into laughter.

"A rat!?" they shriek. "You were afraid...of a rat!?"

"Yeah, you'd be scared too, if you woke up chained in the dark with no idea what the fuck might be there in the dark with you," Sam snaps.

He's clearly as relieved as the rest of us, but he hasn't stopped shaking, and I hug him a little tighter as he turns again to hold on to me.

He hides it so well, it's easy to forget that he's been through a lot of shit, and I hate myself for letting the Walkers put him through more.

Cass's amusement fades. "You're right. Chaining you up like this was a shitty thing to do, even if you did scare us...I can't speak for everyone, but...I'm sorry."

I don't like to admit it, but I do understand the Walkers' reaction. They'd never seen Sam's demon-form before, and even I had to admit I'd been alarmed. I'd still found him beautiful, of course.

Beautiful and terrifying, savage and deadly: a fierce, living warrior-god.

Elliot was the largest and strongest of the Walkers, but Sam had brought him down like it was nothing.

Of course, then he'd passed out and resumed his human form—small and delicate by comparison, a compact little body that fits perfectly in my arms—hardly a threat, and certainly not someone to lock in a basement in the dark.

And with that thought, I remember that this isn't the first basement he's been locked in, which probably explains why even now I can still feel his heart rabbiting in his chest where it presses against mine.

"Hey, are you okay?" I ask.

He doesn't answer, but nods with his head against my shoulder.

"We're getting out of here, I promise." I stand, drawing him up with me, and lead him from the awful little room, my opinion of the Walkers continuing its downward slide as I wonder why they have such a set-up to begin with.

I mean, I know Shifters can be a weird bunch, but who keeps heavy manacles just lying around?

As I pass her and start to climb the stairs, my arm around Sam, Maria frowns at me and I glare a challenge back. She's lucky I didn't know what condition they'd tried to keep Sam in, or Elliot wouldn't be the only one with bruises and broken ribs right now.

"Mom, stop," Cass says, seeing Maria's look. "He's crying because of a rat, for God's sake. He's not a threat. Like Ian said, he's a kid."

"I'm not a kid," Sam answers reflexively. "I'm..." He stops, blinks, and then goes on in an oddly soft voice. "I'm twenty-one."

"Almost twenty-one," I correct automatically.

"No," he returns, still very quiet. "Twenty-one."

I realize what he's saying with a little shock.

"Shit, babe. When?"

"This morning, I guess."

"Jesus. What a way to celebrate, huh?" I pull him closer and kiss the side of his head.

He shrugs a little. "It's not the first birthday I've spent in a basement in the dark," he says, a tiny, humorless smile twisting his lips.

"Fuck," I swear, again promising myself to do better by him any way I can. "We'll make it up. We'll make up for all of it, okay? You and me. No more bad birthdays."

"Wait, it's his birthday?" Cass asks, sounding horrified. I doubt the knowledge would have changed anything, but it's fine with me if it makes the Walkers feel bad in retrospect. "Damn. Hey, I think there's some leftover cake in the freezer. You want some?"

Sam laughs—for real this time—and sniffs. "No. Thanks, Cass, but I just want to get out of here."

"Me too, babe. Me too." I assure him.

Screw the Walkers and their whole damn mess. I don't know if it makes me a coward, or just a sensible person, but I know when it's time to walk away from a problem that's too big for me to solve.

I just want to take Sam and go home.

"You can't leave," Inez says, frowning at me. "You still have the mark, remember?"

"I don't care," I say. "Besides, the farther away from your territory I can get, the safer I'll feel."

She looks unhappy, but doesn't argue.

As we step outside, though, I realize that running away might not be so easy after all.

I might want to leave the problem behind, but unfortunately, it seems like the problem has other plans.

My truck and the two Walker vehicles are parked in front of the lodge, and even from the porch I can tell that something is wrong.

Every one of the tires on all three vehicles has been slashed.

At least for the moment, no one's going anywhere.