She ran as fast as her feet could carry her, her heart palpitating in her chest, eyes red and sight blurred in sheer pain and fear; pain for the young life that ended right in front of her and fear of being the next to be shot dead. She took unfamiliar turns in sincere hopes of losing the burly murderer somewhere behind.

Not a single soul was visible on the street, the alleyways dim and her vision obscured, hindered highly due to the shadows cast over them by the daunting, somewhat spooked buildings. The barren surroundings were resonating only with the noise of Cynthia's feet slapping the pavement as she panted; her decision of visiting the art studio now seemed very much idiotic, a bad omen even.

"Foolish me." She thought to herself as tears continued rolling down her face. Turning around a corner, she took a peek behind herself, a shaky, relieved sigh escaping her lips, forming white swirls in the air, for no one was in sight. Her legs ached due to all the running she had done so she sat down on the ground, legs sprawled in front of her as she finally took a deep breath, calming herself down as teardrops rolled down her reddened face on remembering the utter misfortune of that poor boy.

Then there was Zayn. His sharp hazel eyes searched for the young witness he had seen just some minutes ago.

"Damn good runner, dude." He muttered to himself as he scanned his surroundings, fingers playing with the gun, the darkness of the alleys not being a positive factor at all. The only thing that was in his favour was that he knew the layout of all the alleys like the back of his hand.

He sprinted further as he found no one. His senses now more circumspect than ever, whetted intensely, even a light gust of gentle breeze caught his attention. Narrowing his razor-sharp eyes at everything surrounding him, he finally was more than frustrated as he could not get success, and grumpily mumbled to himself, "I am gonna tear that little girl's legs once I catch her."

A sudden buzz by his side alarmed him. Fishing out the mobile from his jacket's pocket, he picked up the call, eyes still watching all over the area as he proceeded deeper into the intricate channel of the alleys.

"Where are you?"

"Ah, curly! It's been a while!" Zayn exclaimed, his frustration going down the drains as soon as he heard his partner in crime's voice over the phone.

"We live together, bitch." Harry deadpanned in a hoarse voice, already getting tired of his friend's teasing as he stood near the dead body of the boy, along with Louis who was scratching his nonexistent beard, trying to find a perfect way to get rid of the dead body.

Much to Harry's annoyance, he only got an amused chuckle in response.

"Tell me where are you?" He again gritted out, feeling rather angry at Zayn's casual ways.

"Aw, my precious little Harry is missing me? So cute!" He again teased, hoping to lessen the tension prevalent in Harry's voice for he knew he was already in for an earful.

"Shut your fucking trap up." Harry sneered at him, his eyes fleeting towards the dead body for a second as Louis dragged it towards the car. "Just tell me where the hell you are."

Knowing that now he is beyond help, Zayn raked his slender fingers through his raven locks and cleared his throat, before continuing in a relatively serious voice, "Meet me near Adam's old house."

Harry was the one who ended the call, vexed by Zayn's antiques, before turning towards Louis who had placed the body inside the car and was now standing near the driving side of the car.

"What have you planned to do with it?" He asked him with furrowed eyebrows.

Louis huffed before mumbling, "What else than cutting him into pieces and burning them one by one?"

"You gonna do that? Don't you think that's a little gruesome? What about burying it?" Harry asked, wincing at the gory plans Louis had for the dead body.

Harry's eyes fell on the dead body and he immediately scrunched his nose in disgust.

The boy was shot in the head, the bullet pierced his skin along with the skull bone; the pink, tattered brain was full on display. The strands of flesh still attached covered his face, his white eyes writhing.

"Nope. I am not digging a grave at this hour of the night."

"But you are ready to chop it?" Harry again asked with a raised eyebrow, tearing away his gaze from the dead body.

"As long as I can be inside a room." Louis shrugged.

"Why not burn it in one piece?"

"Dead body burnt in once piece obviously will smell more, so it will be easy to detect."

Harry took a deep breath then, bidding goodbye to him and dashed towards Adam's old house.

A minute later or two, where he was in all his glory, seething viciously as he spat at his friend.
"How could you be so careless? You should have been more vigilant!"

Zayn, however, looked at him bored as ever as he coolly replied, "Chill dude. It won't be much of a problem."

"Much of a problem?" Harry growled, "You weren't even supposed to kill that Eddy boy in the first place!"

"First thing first, it's Eric." Zayn corrected him with a raised finger, "Secondly, I was vigilant, she just magically appeared out of thin air, what should I have done?"

"Appeared out of thin air." Harry mimicked him with an eye roll, "Let's search for the bird. You go left, I am going to the right." And with that, they separated ways.

Cynthia, on the other hand, was completely unaware of the incoming danger. Pacing to and fro, she contemplated how to get back since she knew not the way back to her home. She wanted to call West, her friend in the office but feared that she will be definitely a bother, for, unlike her, he had a family of three to attend to back at his home; his wife and the two twin daughters. Amanda, her another friend was too out on a vacation with her boyfriend. Sighing, she held her head in her hands, realizing what a gruesome mistake she has committed.

"Police station..." It struck her.

Hastily, she fished out the mobile from her pocket and dialled 999, the hope of finally getting out of this mess blooming in her heart.

Though, her heart sunk as not a single sound of the ring came.

Furrowing her eyebrows, she hung up and redialled, again to be disappointed.

Tears of frustration burned her eyes and she slapped the mobile phone repeatedly on her palm, knowing deep down that this is plain stupid for her to do; then again dialled the helpline number.

No ringing; yet again.

She looked at the screen of her mobile finally agitated and feared to no extent and her heart finally stopped beating for a second when she saw that there was no network here.

"Oh God, what am I supposed to do now?" She looked up at the sky, only to find it covered with thick grey clouds, the moon only slightly visible.

Then suddenly, she saw a shadow.

Long, scary shadow at the adjacent alley, near the turn she had rounded while she was running. Her breathing momentarily stopped, the hair on her nape rising in the alert, auditory skills sharpening as now she could hear steps being taken, nearing the conjoining point of the two alleys.

Flight mode kicked in; she took a look backwards. A trashcan was there near the end of the alley, placed such that there was a vacant space between it and the wall of the ruined building.

She took calculated steps, slowly, backwards, making sure not to produce a disturbance in the environment. Slowly approaching the trashcan, her figure now somewhat hidden by the shadow of the nearby building, she dived into the space between the building and the trashcan.

The person walked closer, the sound of the footsteps echoing in the quiet surroundings, as Cynthia sat hunched behind the trashcan, shaking slightly as fear seeped into her body, chilling her to the bone.

The person finally came into view. The dim light of a nearby house fell upon his figure, and she could see he was a tall, burly man with curly hairs, rings clad fingers. She furrowed her eyebrows at this.

"This person isn't the murderer." She mused to herself but her gut feeling told her to stay hidden, for he was a stranger, who needed not to be trusted.

He walked into the alley she was hiding in, making her gasp.

And it was all he needed as he whipped his head towards the trashcan, narrowing his eyes at it.

Her heart stopped that instant, blood freezing in her veins as she felt his smouldering gaze prickling her skin as if he was staring straight at her, trying to pierce her soul.

He locked his eyes there, never looking away, and she was more than convinced that her death was waiting for her as her eyes caught the sight of a shiny, silver metal tucked in the hem of his jeans; a gun.

He slowly shoved his hand into his pocket and fished out his mobile. Dialling a number, his eyes fixed where she was sitting, he talked on his phone in a husky, low voice, "I searched the whole area, there is no one here." He drawled, making Cynthia thank God in her heart that he has not seen her.

"I am indeed unlucky. He clearly has no problems with the signals." Cynthia groaned internally, a tear rolling down her cheek.

He slowly turned around, and then all at once, walked out of the alley.

Cynthia stood up from her place after that, dusting herself, still a bit disoriented as her heart still thumped dangerously inside her chest. She took deep breaths, rubbing her arms in attempts to calm herself and started walking out of the alley.

She again looked down at her mobile screen and nearly felt like screaming loudly when she again saw no network flashing, mocking her pitiable situation.

She decided that she will try remembering the turns she took and if she is still lost, she will call West.

So she proceeded walking, still her senses on high alert, she kept her eye open to any suspicious figure in sight. She walked with a bit of pace on her foot, wanting nothing more than to leave this place as soon as possible. But suddenly she halted in her way as she heard someone holler behind her.

"Hey, you! Stop at once!"

A/N: We finally have Harry and Louis out there! So what do you think about their character? And who must be the man asking Cynthia to stop?

Thank you for reading xD