Keep going. Keep going… Keep. Going.

The teen pushed on, short cut brown hair plastered to his face, frozen in place by patches of dried blood. His clothes, a torn and tattered suit, slouched over his slender frame, just being kept on by a few loose threads. His eyes were hard set, unwavering from what was ahead of him, muttering soft nothings to himself as he trudged through the clear hallway.

Keep going. Keep. Going. Do not stop.

His feet were heavy and they dragged across the cemented flooring; an eerie and hollow screech echoed of the empty walls, bouncing around in the barren hallway. A worn and battered axe swung by his side, held listlessly by weak hands. The blue metal shimmered in the dim lighting, casting reflections of its previous encounters. Shadows danced across the smooth and cold walls, recreating phantom men along the walls. The teen swore under his breath, his movements were sluggish and laborious.

You will find him. He will be there. You will reach him in time.

Solemn brown eyes held no bounty, no feeling, only empty and doing one job, seeing. What he saw was nothing but the end, the demise, and the downfall. His stared unblinking, reaching the end of his journey, the end of the hallway. There stood a door, ancient and metallic. Long scrapes and fissures ran across it like old battle scars, the hinges tainted with rust. The teen's hand reached out, slowly and cautiously, unsure of how to enter the only room he found.

Open it, he's in there and you know it. You got here quickly, he will be alive.

A thin and calloused hand wrapped around a thick and cold handle, taking his time to feel the roughed material in his hand. The teen clenched it, softly at first and then with anger. Anger that welled up from within him, from the deepest and most sinister part of his soul, anger for the one who took him and anger for him for letting it happen. The teen began to shake; his rage was heartless, racing through his veins and entering each of his cells. His whole body was charged by this anger. It radiated around him, his breathe was quick and heavy, fury lacing everything he did.

Open it. Now.

His body continued to tremble, using what little of his mind that hadn't succumbed to infuriation to open the door and burst inside. The world around him moved in slow-motion, the scene unfolding slowly and with menace. The teens breathe hitched, caught at the back of his through behind some strangled groan. His eyelids lost all weight; rising up to reveal frightened and worried brown irises, pupils enlarged and full of genuine dread. The slender teen surged forward, his muscles racing with adrenaline, his anger decimated. The teen struggled to speak, tongue weighed down with uncertain woe.

Please…

The teen's voice was a whisper, lost in the silence of the room.

"Mitch?" His voice trembled, shattering into unrecognizable fragments. On the battle field it was filled with courage and strength, with leadership and ownership, now all it held was doubt and concern. His hands grew fragile and exhausted, holding a now useless weapon. His axe clattered to the floor, the vacant noise rippling through the air, it's shinning blue metal held the luminosity of the coal from which the diamond came from.

"Mitch!" The teens voice grew stronger, not with confidence, but with dismay. His coarse hands reached out, cupping a smooth and cold face. Brown hair that was normally swept up and out of his face, hung lifelessly over the second teen's head, shielding amber eyes from the terror around him. From his neck hung two dog tags, usually filled with reflected joy and happiness that emitted from its owner, which now retained the mortality of his life.

Please!

"Please…" A mere whisper escaped, losing all volume in the utterly silent room. The thin hands that curled lovingly and carefully around the other boys face moved up and brushed matted hair away to reveal slits of amber peeking at his brown.

"J-Jerome…"

A hoarse incoherent noise escaped the second boy, his feeble mutter almost lost in the shadows around the two, almost captured by the evil in the room.

Don't leave me…