P H I L ' S P O V

I nodded, gulping. He leaned forward, his lips brushing against my ear. "You're gonna follow me to the bathroom now. Try and run and I'll shoot you, including anyone who tries to interfere."

I felt the gun leave my stomach and the boy shoved his gun back into his pocket, hiding it behind his jacket. "You could at least tell me your name," I snapped. He took ahold of my scrubs and roughly pulled me along with him.

"It's Colin."

I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding.

"What exactly do you want from me?" I snapped.

"We'll discuss it in the bathroom," he responded. I rolled my eyes and let him yank me to the elevator. As soon as it shut, Colin had his hands around my throat and my back to the wall. "I know what you and your little pet did to Wirrow."

"What's it to you?" I snarled.

"Everything," Colin angrily replied, and the doors opened. He let go, shooting a smile at the man waiting to walk in. Colin roughly grabbed my arm and pulled me through the lobby, and finally we made it the bathroom. He shoved me back. "He was my friend."

"Friend?" I laughed out. "He wasn't your friend, he didn't give two shits about you."

"He told us he cared," Colin whispered, his back turned to me and his hand still on the door.

"That doesn't mean he meant it," I murmured. "People tell you they care and they don't always mean it."

"Oh yeah, and you would know? You've got everything you want. You've got a boyfriend, a family back home who cares, you've got a friend to help- you have everything."

"My boyfriend's insane. I can't talk to my family. That 'friend' has tried to kill me before."

"So what, pretty boy?" Colin then turned to me. "I don't have a family. I don't have a lover. I don't have a friend to help."

"You could if you just stopped what you were doing," I responded. His gun stay tight in his grasp. "What do you want from me, Colin? You came with a gun, obviously you want information. Lay it on me."

"I want to know what you're planning," he snarled, the barrel of the gun touching my chin.

"You're not gonna be ready for this," I chuckled, then paused for dramatic effect. "But we're planning nothing."

It felt like it was all happening in slow motion, the way I grabbed the gun from his hands and had him pinned to the wall, the gun pressed to his head. Colin scoffed. "Kill me, and the others will come."

"How I can trust that you're not lying?"

"I don't expect you to, but it's your risk if you're willing to take it."

I exhaled. "Just ask me questions, asshole."

"First of all, do your parents know where you are?"

"No."

"When did you get the disguises? They're not so good, by the way."

I rolled my eyes. "Last week."

"How did you find the bomb at the club?"

"I heard the beeping in the bathroom."

"Do you have plans on attacking us?"

"No," I lied.

"You're lying," Colin spoke through gritted teeth.

"I'm not, shithead."

Without warning I felt it, and then I was crashing to the ground. He had punched me in the face. I stared at his fist. I glared, spitting out the blood that had now filled my mouth. I swung my foot and knocked him down, watching him hit the floor. He grunted, the two of us quickly standing up and throwing punches. "Tell me the truth!"

I punched him square in the face, watching his eyes halfway shut at the impact. "You can't make me."

"Watch me." Then suddenly the door swung open.

Dan was standing in the doorway. "Dan?" I blinked.

"Look who's come to save the day," Colin laughed. Dan was furious, his eyes bloodshot and fists clenched. He stomped forward and grabbed Colin's neck, slamming him into the wall. "What are you gonna do?"

Bryony came running. "Sorry, the doctors let him out. I told him I saw you leaving."

"Why would you do that?" I groaned. Colin shoved Dan off him, instead walking towards me and grabbing me by the collar of my shirt.

I was shoved into the janitors and it locked, beginning banging on the door. "Let me out! Dan, run! Stop it! You can't kill him!"

There was a pause, as if Dan stopped to register my words, then I heard Colin's fist connect with his jaw. Dan yelped out and fell to the floor, and the man began furiously punching at my boyfriend and I began pounding on the door, trying to help my helpless lover on the ground.

"Bryony! Somebody help!" I screamed, tears streaming down my face. I punched at the door, my knuckles beginning to bleed. I managed to break the lock and the door swung open, but I froze at the sight in front of me. The boys had swapped places, Dan now crazily throwing punches and kicks. I stared in shock.

He looked so different. So violent. The blows looked so harsh, so full of hatred and insanity- it was like he couldn't stop.

"Dan, no!" I cried. "Stop it!" I yanked him off, but it was too late. Colin wasn't even conscious anymore. I yanked him off, Dan panting in my grasp.

He looked down at his blood-covered knuckles. He reached up to touch his face, gaping at the blood now present on his skin. He turned and we locked eyes.

"We have to get out of here. Dan, he said the other members would come to avenge him."

"What?" He whispered. I shook my head, taking his hand in mine. He pulled it away. I glared.

"Look, I get it if you don't love me or aren't in that romantic mood right now, but suck it up, because right now we have to get the fuck out of here or else you won't ever hold anything again besides some flowers in a goddamn casket. Take my fucking hand."

He frowned at me, intertwining his fingers with mine. We ran out, to the elevator. Doctors chased after us, insisting we go back to our rooms, that we weren't well enough to leave. The doors shut before they could catch us, and we breathed heavily as it went down. We reached the bottom floor and dashed through the doors, hijacking someone's car.

"Where do we go?" Dan asked.

"Anywhere but here."

"What about Bryony?" He pointed out.

I opened my mouth to speak when security burst through the entrance doors, running towards us. I stepped on the gas, speeding away until we spotted a hotel.

We hopped out, and I shielded him from the pouring rain we ran through, his phobia of thunder still very much alive.

Funny, I thought. This time I was the one protecting him.

Little did I know, I wouldn't be able to protect him for much longer. At least not from himself.