Father and daughter were whispering something that neither of the two criminals could hear. They figured they needed privacy with whatever they were talking about.

“Do you think she’s talking about how I’m cute?” Samuel jokes, to which Jane nudges him.

“She is clearly into my mommy milkers.”

“Who wouldn’t?”

“You.” She pokes his cheek a couple times. “Let’s do it after tonight.”

“Even if.” He swats her hand away. “You would say no just to spite me.”

“Of course I would. What else do you think I’m here for?” She smirks smugly at her friend’s misery. She then remembers his gunshot wound and starts feeling bad about it again. “Sorry.”

He smiles at her, nudging her chin. “Don’t sweat it. Just buy me some ice cream after all this.”

The mention of ice cream does it to cheer her up.

“Ahem.” Law catches their attention with a forced cough. “Mrs. J, could you come here, please?”

Finding it weird that she was being called, the dark skinned woman approaches the father-daughter duo. “Yeah?”

And for an answer to her question, Cloud bites her own finger off hard enough to draw blood. Her pained yelp and the absurdity of the scene is enough to spring Jane towards her with worry.

“What are you doing?!”

“Just give her a second.” Her father says as she finishes the job, a consistent stream of blood coming out of a deep wound.

She then extends her finger towards her new friend. “Suck it.”

The request was so abrupt and unexpected that Samuel can’t help but burst out laughing from his spot. “Why does this feel like the set up of a bad fanfic? I can’t-” He rolls on the floor laughing.

Jane rolls her eyes before looking at her new friend’s bleeding finger. “What do you mean ‘suck it’?”

“Just do as she’s asking, please.” The oldest in the room asks. “She has her reasons.”

Still weirded out by the fact she’s being asked to drink blood, she reluctantly approaches Cloud’s wound and puts her finger in her mouth. The teenager giggles a little. “It tickles.”

After a few seconds of sucking, she swallows a dubious amount of the red liquid. “Now, what?”

“Now, we wait.” He says. “Thank you for trusting us.”

“Ok but why did I drink blood?” She asks worriedly. “I’m not a vampire. What if I get sick? I-”

“I-It’s gonna be ok!” Cloud reassures her, which doesn’t do much to ease her thoughts.

“Remember what I said about the dilution process?” Law asks, already expecting them to have the answer.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“Wait, does that mean I’ll die?” The dark skinned woman now starts panicking but is quickly reassured by the businessman-like figure.

“Don’t worry. The solution may still be concentrated but it’s no longer lethal.” He then looks at his daughter sadly. “Besides, she wanted to do this herself.”

Jane looks at the teenager. “Why?”

She, in turn, looks back at her. “Because I think you’re really cool!” She then looks away in embarrassment. “A-And I appreciate what you did for me.” She looks back. “Thank you!”

“So I’m guessing we wait until she digests it.” Samuel interjects with his thoughts, to which Law nods.

“Shouldn’t take long until she sees the-”

The oldest in the room is rudely interrupted by gunshots coming from outside. This worries all four of them, with Jane already springing up to her feet.

More gunshots and heavy footsteps are heard until they aren’t, which is what actually frightens the locked up group.

Then, scanning sounds are played and the door slides open, revealing a redhead and a mohawk grinning and panting. “You two sure like making trouble, don’t you?”

A smirk spreads across Samuel’s face. “About time you showed up.”

“Couldn’t leave my date hanging, could I?” Crimson plays along. “Now, let’s bounce.”

“Lemme see if I can-” Trying to stand up wasn’t a good idea. The not-so-young adult yelps in pain and falls back. “Yep, the adrenaline is gone, I can’t move. Ow, ow.”

“Did you get shot or something?” Hawk asks with a somewhat sarcastic tone. The lack of answer and blank stare from his companion is more than enough of an answer. ”Oof. C’mere.”

He picks Samuel up and puts him on his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. “Be careful with me.”

“Sure.” He then looks at the other two. “What about you two? Coming?”

Father and daughter look at each other reluctantly. “I guess staying here won’t do us any good. You wanna go, sweetheart?”

“Better than here.” Is her positive answer as both stand up and get ready to follow them.

“Let’s move quick before that geezer comes back.” Jane comments while looking both ways to make sure they were in the clear.

Running through the facility was much easier with Law’s inputs on where to go. Hawk had no difficulty with carrying Samuel, who was thankful for not having to run with a gunshot wound on his leg.

Much like last time, guards were patrolling the complex. In fact, even more so than before, if the number of bodies on the floor were any indication.

Yet, no one in the group was phased by it. Cloud had seen her fair share of death to numb herself to it. It hurt less that way.

And before long, with some hiccups, they found themselves facing one of the exit doors. Stealing an access card from one of the guards was all it took to open it.

Their way out was through a specialized elevator that would take them to a safe house at the bay. Jane comments on it. “How come you guys invested this much on all this complicated stuff?”

“The more convoluted, the safer.”

The house they were in was facing the beach, which wasn’t too far away. The lights were all off and the only real source of lighting was coming from outside.

Once inside, they begin figuring out what they’d do.

“We shouldn’t go after Deck.” Crimson suggests. “He wasn’t fancying the idea of us coming back for you.”

Samuel sighs. Jane scoffs. “I knew he was that kind of man. Disgusting.”

“I’m blocking him.” Samuel finally gives the weird man up. “Get ready to move once we’re home, J. I want him out of my tracks for good.”

The dark skinned woman nods.

“What about you two?” He asks his saviors.

Hawk shrugs. “Take my cut and disappear. You’ll never hear from me again.”

Crimson looks at Samuel intently. “I’ll think about it later. Right now, I want a shower.”

“Make that an us.” Jane jokingly adds.

Samuel then looks at father and daughter, who, in turn, look at each other. “They have our data and then some. Vanishing won’t be easy but I have a plan.”

“Good, let’s get out of here before someone comes looking for us.”

Right as he finishes saying those words, the sound of a gun being fired is heard. It wasn’t loud, just enough.

Followed by Hawk dropping on the floor motionless.