Time seemed to freeze. My body stopped moving and the gears in my head stopped turning. As if in slow motion, Cossette collapsed forward. Blood trickled from her head, watering the grass around her with the red liquid. My eyes followed her body as she fell onto the ground. I was frozen in my spot. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't think.

I gazed back over to the spot where she was previously standing in and saw a smoking barrel of a gun. Dillon. Rage filled my body and murderous thoughts took over my mind. I growled and began sprinting towards him with a murderous intent.

I pounced and threw a punch to his face, hearing a satisfying crunch from his nose as my fist made contact. I heard Dillon scream out before swatting me away with his forearm. I landed on my feet and spun around to deliver a kick, but he blocked it by grabbing onto my foot and tossing me to the side. A growl crawled up from my throat as I prepared to attack him again.

"Amelia!" Vanessa called out as she tackled me onto the ground to stop me from attacking him. "Amelia, you have to stop! Cossette wouldn't want you to get in trouble for this!"

"Let me go!" I screamed, my anger having complete control over me. "I'm going to kill him!"

"Kill me?" Dillon screamed back, one hand was clutching his nose as he tilted his gun with the other. "I'd like to see you try."

I growled at him and tried to escape from Vanessa's hold.

"Amelia, please!" Vanessa continued to beg, her voice quivering as tears poured from her eyes down her cheeks and onto my shoulder. This managed to clear my mind slightly and Vanessa moved off me once she knew I was in control.

Hugh, Max and Kyle stood right behind us, pure rage radiating from each of them whilst their eyes also held tears that were threatening to fall. We watched in angry silence as the management team and the police surrounded Dillon and restrained him. We stayed in the same spot even as Dillon was dragged to the police's car and was driven away.

A haze covered my mind, blocking my thoughts. We made our way towards Cossette's unmoving body, kneeling in the grass in a circle around her. I broke my promise.

I tilted my head back as tears continued to stream from my eyes. I don't know how long we stayed there for. We stayed in the same spot even as Cossette was taken away by paramedics, leaving only the bloodied grass as evidence for a murder happening.

Finally, after who knows how long, Kyle stood up. Hugh and Max followed him soon after. Vanessa hooked her arm around mine and pulled me up along with her. My legs felt like jelly and I could barely walk properly. My mind still wasn't functioning, and my body didn't seem to cooperate either so I let Vanessa drag me back to the bikes. As we rode the bikes back into the center of the city, I let the wind soothe me. What was it? The thing that Cossette had once said? 'I know they wouldn't have wanted me to be depressed and spend my days crying over them'? I inhaled deeply, reeling in my thoughts and regaining control over my body.

A prickle on my arms caught my attention, I felt my ears suddenly strain to hear something, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. The next second there was a loud ringing in my ear and the five of us were thrown off our bikes and surrounded by rubble. An explosion.

Cradling my head with a hand, I surveyed my surroundings and realized that we were passing by a section of abandoned buildings. I coughed as dust found its way into my lungs. I swatted the air in front of me hoping to clear away the dust. I realized that I was laying on my stomach and moved into a kneeling position, groaning in pain when my entire body ached as I moved. I stood up on shaky legs and dusted myself off.

"Is everyone okay?" I yelled out into a random direction. The ringing was still present in my ears and my voice sounded muffled. I began another coughing fit as I tried moving through the rubble.

"I'm okay." Vanessa groaned as she pulled herself up into a standing position as well. She had a nasty, bloody gash across her arm and cheek but she seemed fine other than that.

"Amelia! Vanessa! You guys hurt?" Kyle shouted out as he made his way towards us with extra care.

"Battered up but still good!" Vanessa yelled back.

"Hey guys? Some help here please!" Hugh yelled out. We all turned to look for his voice that was slightly more muted out than usual, due to the explosion. Through the dust, we saw his pushing at a piece of concrete. "Max is stuck!"

The three of us moved over to them and helped Hugh lift the heavy piece of concrete off Max. Hugh and Kyle hooked an arm each other their shoulder and helped Max stand up. "Thanks guys." He said in a breathy voice. He winced as he tried to place some weight onto his left foot. "I think it's broken, or at least sprained."

Vanessa nodded, "It's swelling up." Max nodded and hopped alongside Hugh and Kyle.

"What happened here? Why did that building explode?" Hugh asked, surveying the destruction around us.

"The bombing mission. It's not over yet." I muttered under my breath. "The bomber is still around here."

"In another one of these abandoned buildings, most likely." Kyle added on as he looked at the two other abandoned buildings around us.

As if on cue, another one of the buildings exploded. The five of us ducked down with our hands covering our necks and heads. Once we were sure that it was clear, we stood back up. "That leaves that last building there." Max said, tilting his chin in the direction of the last building.

"Let's go check it out." I said as I began to make my way towards the last building. The sound of scuffling and grunts followed behind me, telling me that the other four were coming along. Once I stepped foot into the building, I heard footsteps resounding from a few floors up. Narrowing my eyes, I immediately began to run towards the stairs and headed up, making sure my own footsteps were as quiet as possible.

The footsteps became louder and louder. Third floor. Once I got there, I stood still for a moment, trying to pinpoint the location. I swirled around and ran into a corridor and followed it all the way down. And there, at the end of the last hallway that lead to a dead end, was a man.

He was dressed in fully protective clothing, and had a piece of cloth covering his face to conceal his identity. He brought his foot down, stomping the floor. My blood chilled as I realized that he had lead us here on purpose. That this might be a trap.

"About time you got here." He said, his voice gruff and muffled by the cloth. He stomped on the floor again. "Now I can finally kill you all."

Goosebumps covered my arms as my heart beat began to beat in an insanely fast rate. Kill us? The man continued to talk, "I can finally show her that I am good enough for her." He sighed in content.

I felt disgusted. This man was doing all this just to gain the attention of a female? Who, according to this information, may be involved in the shadiest business. And not to mention have her own plans that have just used his presence to her advantage.

"But first," his voice cut through my thoughts. He held up small balls. "I must finish this job!"

I jumped backwards as he threw the handful of small bombs in my direction. The building shook as the bombs went off. They weren't strong enough to destroy a building but was enough to decapitate a person. I grimaced as I balanced myself. I reached for my holster hoping to grab onto the metal handle of my gun, only to grasp at air.

I cursed, it must have dropped out at one point when I wasn't paying attention. Instead, I reached back and under my shirt where I keep a dagger sheathed and wrapped around my body. I pulled it out and steadied myself, before running up and attacked him in slashes and stabs.

He dodged each of my strikes. Gritting my teeth in annoyance, I kicked my leg out to trip him over and slashed at him while he stumbled. I managed to wound him but it wasn't a deep one.

The ceiling above him collapsed and Vanessa dropped from the hole and delivered a punch to his face. She continued with her assault before spinning him towards him. I spun around a delivered a round-house kick to his head, making him fall onto the floor. Hugh dropped down from the hole as well, and Hugh and Max rounded the corner at the beginning of the corridor.

The three of us made our way to the two of them, only to freeze when we heard the bomber stand back up. We spun back around to face him but Max pulled out a gun. He took aim and fired, only for the bomber to block the bullet with a large bomb. The bullet imbedded itself in the bomb. But that meant that the bomb was going to blow at any moment.

The bomber threw the bomb in our direction. Kyle caught the bomb mid-air and tossed it out one of the windows. A bright light blinded us as the bomb exploded not even a few seconds after it was thrown out. The entire building shook and rumbled. Dust and small rocks fell from the ceiling as the floors and walls cracked. The windows cracked as well but then exploded into tiny fragments of sharp edges that rained down on us. Bloody scratches appeared on my body as the glass slid past me.

The sound of the explosion was deafening. I could barely hear anything else that was happening around me. The building was still shaking, and the rumbling had yet to disappear when the bomber stumbled towards us. He was shaking and wounded but he stood proud.

He opened up his jacket, revealing a countless number of dynamite that was strapped against his body. He laughed in a maniacal tone and screamed, "you guys have brought upon your own doom!" He continued to laugh as he took out a control that held the button to activate the explosion of the dynamites.

A loud thud thundered in the air as the building shook even more and began tilting slightly. One of the foundations of the building has collapsed. I fell sideways onto my knees. It was shaking too much for me to find a proper balance to stand back up.

I heard a battle cry and watched as Max threw himself at the bomber, trying to steal the controller from his grip. "Get out of here!" He screamed as he continued to struggle for it. "Now!"

"We're not leaving you!" Vanessa screamed back as she tried to stand back up as well.

Max made for another grab at the control, managing to grab onto it but the bomber hasn't let go of it either. "Kyle, Hugh, get the girls out of here!" Max screamed again as he leaned his weight onto the bomber to push him onto the ground. They were both still holding onto the control.

"No!" I heard Vanessa scream out as Hugh grabbed her waist and jumped out of the window. I vaguely felt Kyle throw me over his shoulder before jumping out as well.

Time moved in slow motion again for the second time today. My eyes widened as I saw the bomber's finger reach over and press the dreaded button.

"MAX!"

I almost didn't recognize my own voice. It echoed in the air until it was overtaken by the deafening explosion that pushed Kyle and I onto the ground faster. Kyle landed on his side and I tumbled off as well.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no..." I muttered under my breath as I finally stopped rolling and looked at the building that was still crumbling into pieces. Fresh tear tracks replaced the ones that had dried. This can't be happening.

"MAX!"

It wasn't just my voice this time. The rumbling had stopped. The explosion had finished its course. The building was just a mess of crumbled concrete. I couldn't move. I continued to stare at the scene in shock. Kyle and Hugh had run towards what used to be the building and was rummaging through the rubble, in hopes of finding Max.

Vanessa let out a scream of anguish towards the sky. Another one of my friends... another member of my family...

Gone...