As soon as Dox was out of sight I slumped against the pipe before sliding to the ground.

This was it. This was how I was going to die. Chained to a stupid pipe with a face full of blazing steam.

"This is such bullshit!" I lifted my head long enough to watch skater boy yank uselessly against the handcuffs before I dropped my head again.

"Are we... are we going to die?" A soft, trembling voice asked from beside me.

I lifted my head and turned to the little girl next to me. There was no way I was going to tell her straight to her face that she was going to die, even if it probably was true.

I forced a smile and shook my head.

"Of course not. We're going to get out of here real soon." I lied through my teeth.

The little girl's bottom lip trembled and I could see new tears forming in her big blue eyes.

"That's what grandpa said, but that man hurt him anyway."

She started to cry and I had no idea what to do. There wasn't much I could do since I was handcuffed, but I hated watching other people cry.

"H-hey don't cry. Everything is going to be fine. Okay? How about you tell me your name? Mine is Gemma."

The girl sniffled loudly before she looked up at me again.

"Rose."

"Rose, that's a very pretty name. Just like the flower."

Rose smiled a little at that.

"Roses are my favorite. My mommy gives me one every year for my birthday."

"Really? Well I wish I had a pretty name like yours so I could get something nice like that for my birthday."

The girls smile widened.

"But your name is really pretty too. Gemma... it's like a... a... a gem! You can have your mommy give you a gem every year for your birthday!"

I smiled and then suddenly had to fight back the new threat of tears that wanted to fall.

My mom.

I wondered what she was doing. Does she know what's happened? Are the police looking for us? Does dad know?

"Dylan."

I lifted my head and turned to the right to see skater boy staring at me.

"What?" I asked.

"My name, it's Dylan."

"Oh." Was all I said. It's not like I had asked him his name.

Dylan turned to his right so he was now looking at the man who had tried to get me killed earlier. What good it did because now we were both about to die.

"What about you? " Dylan asked him.

"What do you mean what about me?" He snapped.

"Your name? What is it?" Dylan urged.

"None of your damn business. We're all about to die and your worried about names?!" The man yelled.

Rose instantly looked up at me with wide watery eyes again.

"I thought you said we weren't going to die? You said we were going to get out of here." Rose's bottom lip was trembling again.

"We are going-" I started to say but was cut off.

"She lied. You're going to die just like the rest of us kid." The man cut in, and just like that, Rose was crying again but this time she kept mumbling "I don't wanna die" over and over as she sobbed.

"Rose, you're not going to die. I'll figure a way to get you out of here okay?"

Rose ignored me completely and continued to cry.

I turned to glare at the man who looked completely satisfied with himself which only added to my anger.

"What the hell is your problem?!" I demanded. "She's just a little girl! Why would you tell her something like that?"

"This is the real world. The sooner she realizes that Superman and Prince Charming aren't going to come waltzing in to save her the better."

I opened my mouth to reply but never got the chance to.

The pipe in front of the man rumbled and all at once the steam came out.

Archer's P.O.V

This was such bullshit.

There was no way I was going to be able to find Gemma if I had to find my way through all these tunnels. I had made so many lefts and rights and I was completely lost now.

I ran my hands through my hair and had to resist the urge to punch the tunnel wall.

I was never going to find her and that small pool of blood I found was doing nothing to reassure me that she was okay.

Just as I was about to turn around and try finding a different way I heard a faint hissing sound quickly followed by a loud scream. Or maybe it was screams because it sounded like more than one person.

I blindly ran in the direction that I thought the screams were coming from and after making two quick lefts I came to a large room filled with pipes and there sitting slumped forward, handcuffed and with her head down, was Gemma.

"Gemma!"

Her head whipped up at the sound of my voice and when she looked at me I could see she had been crying.

I ran forward and bent down in front of her. I didn't hesitate in wrapping my arms around her.

She buried her head in my chest and I felt her body shake as she continued to cry.

"Archer you have to get us out of here." Her voice was slightly muffled by my shirt.

When she pulled back she had a wild and desperate look in her eyes.

"Don't let me die like this." She pleaded.

I had no idea what she was talking about until I looked over her shoulder. My eyes landed on the little girl Gemma had been trying to find first, then the guy with the piercing in his nose from earlier and then...

My eyes widened and I had to fight the urge to throw up. A figure which had once been a person was now just red, burned, bloody, and... raw. The skin looked like it had been seared completely off and I could see the white of their bones poking out.

"What... what the hell happened?" I whispered as I looked back down at Gemma.

"The pipes. They shoot out hot steam and he just got a face full of it. Archer I don't know how much time we have before the next one goes off but you have to get us out of here."

I glanced down at the handcuffs and felt dread run through me.

How was I suppose to get her out of the handcuffs with no key?

I suddenly remembered the gun in the back of my jeans.

I quickly pulled it out and aimed it at the handcuffs.

Gemma pulled her hands as far apart as she could and shut her eyes tight before turning her head away.

I aimed the gun at the chains, took a deep breath, and pulled the trigger.

There was a loud bang as the gun was fired but when I looked down at the handcuffs nothing had happened.

Gemma was still handcuffed to the pipes.

What kind of fucking handcuffs were these?

I quickly glanced around the room for anything else I could use and then my eyes landed on the little girl. Or more specifically her hair. She had two pink bobby pins in her hair.

I shot up and hurried over to her. When I knelt down next to her I tried to give her a reassuring smile. She looked terrified.

"Hey. I'm going to get you out of here okay? I just need to borrow one your hair pins. Is that okay?"

The girl just looked up at me and nodded.

I gently took one of the pins out of her hair and was about to go back over to Gemma but she shook her head.

"Get them out first." she said gesturing toward the boy with the piercing and the little girl.

I glanced between them before looking back at Gemma.

"How do you know your pipe won't go off next?" I asked.

Gemma shook her head. "I don't, but if it's going down the line then that means Dylan is next." She said as she looked down at the boy.

I gave her one last glance before I went over to the boy who I now knew was named Dylan.

As soon as I was in front of him he held his hand out as far as he could.

"Hurry man. I do not want to end up like that."

I didn't have to ask him to know that he was referring to the charred remains that used to be a person.

I quickly inserted the pin in the key hole on the cuffs and started to move it around. While I was concentrating on doing this I heard a groan and then a rattling sound come from behind me.

I turned my head to the pipe directly behind me and knew instantly what was coming.

"Hurry!" Dylan yelled.

"I'm trying!" I said through clenched teeth.

The groaning and rattling grew louder and Dylan started to yank his hands against the cuffs.

"Stay still!" I yelled.

"Hurry the fuck up! Hurry!" Dylan kept yelling.

My hands were starting to sweat and I was having a hard time holding the pin steady. After having it slip a few times I finally heard the audible click and the cuffs sprung open.

As soon as they were open Dylan dived out of the way knocking me over in the process as blazing hot steam poured from the pipe.

Even from a distance I could feel the heat. When the steam subsided I let out a sigh of relief. I glanced over at Dylan who was still laying on his stomach on the ground breathing heavily.

After wiping my hands on my jeans I stood and made my over to the little girl.

Silently she held her hands out and I began the process of opening the handcuffs all over again. I had almost gotten them open when I heard the familiar groaning and rattling that let me know the steam was about to come.

I hurried and doubled my efforts to try and free the little girl. It was only when the noise grew louder that I noticed it. The sound wasn't coming from the pipe in front of the little girl.

It was coming from Gemma's.

I looked over at her and our eyes met for a brief second before I was up and now fumbling with her handcuffs.

She stayed silent the whole time I was trying to unlock her handcuffs but I could tell she was scared from the way her hands kept shaking.

The next few seconds were a blur. At the same time that I heard the click that meant her handcuffs were now open was also when I heard the steam start to rush out of the pipe. I grabbed Gemma's wrist and yanked her forward with so much force that we both fell to the ground. She landed on top of me and I could feel her whole body trembling. She kept her head buried in my shirt and I let her stay that way.

I heard footsteps and when I looked up I saw Dylan standing over me. Without saying anything he bent down and took the pin out of my hand and went to go free the little girl.

While he worked on her handcuffs I felt Gemma lift her head off my chest. When I looked up at her she was staring back at me.

Without really thinking about it I pushed a strand of her dark hair out of her face and I could see an angry red mark across her left cheek where some of the steam must have hit her. It wasn't too bad but it still made me feel bad. I should have moved faster.

I opened my mouth to tell her exactly that but she shook her head and wrapped her arms around my neck and hugged me. It was kind of an awkward hug with her still laying on top of me but I wasn't one to complain so I wrapped my arms around her back.

I heard someone clear their throat above us and when I glanced up I saw Dylan standing there with raised eyebrows. The little girl was standing next to him and she obviously wasn't trying to hide her smile as she was smiling from ear to ear.

When Gemma lifted her head again and saw that we had a bit of an audience her cheeks turned a slight shade of pink and she quickly scrambled to her feet. I stood up and dusted my jeans off.

"Umm...we should get moving." She mumbled.

"Do you know the way out?" Dylan asked.

I shrugged. "Not really."

"I guess we'll just have to walk until we find it then." Dylan started forward followed by Gemma. I was about to follow when I felt a small hand grab mine. When I looked down I saw the little girl looking up at me smiling still. Her front tooth was missing.

"I knew it was true." She said.

I frowned. "What's true?"

The little girl glanced at Gemma and then back at me.

"Prince Charming does exist."