After a few hours, Sam began to get worried. Brittany still hadn't come back to the room and there were no sounds from the house above. He began to pace the room, wondering what on earth had been happening when suddenly, the door was thrown open. Gruff appeared carrying Brittany over his shoulder. He marched into the room and threw the unconscious girl at Sam who just barely managed to catch her and stay standing. Then he left the room, slamming the door behind him. Sam laid Brittany down on the blankets and looked her over. Her face, where it wasn't covered in blood, was already starting to come out in big purple bruises. It looked like she also had a few broken ribs and she was missing a huge chunk of hair at the front of her head. Knowing he couldn't do much, he sat with her and tried to wipe off some of the blood that had begun to dry.
Brittany stirred slightly when she felt Sam's hand on her face but didn't wake up. The light from the vent showed Sam that it was almost morning. The light, although poor, showed the slightly raised lines across her torso where she'd been whipped. Sam could only assume that her back looked similar. Suddenly Brittany let out a strangled cry and sat up. She saw Sam and immediately threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and sobbing. Each sob sounded more painful than the last and Sam winced at the sound of her voice catching in her throat. The moment triggered something in his memory
A light shone across the foggy window. Sam and his brother and sister huddled together in the corner of the darkened room. He heard a cry from another room and suddenly the door burst open and his mother ran in.
"We have to get out of here. They think your father's the traitor and they've come to get him." she said, trying to pry the weeping girl from Sam's arms.
"I don't want to go, mum!" she cried, holding on tighter to her brother. Sam took hold of her face and looked her straight in the eye.
"Stacie, I need you to go with mum. I'll be right there with you, okay? You go too, Steve." he told them both and handed his sister to his mother. She quickly ran back out of the room, carrying the girl and dragging the boy along behind her. Sam took one look out the window and was about to follow his family when an ear-deafening boom sounded and rocked the whole house. He tried to scream but no sound came out. That was the last time he saw his brother or mum alive. Somehow, his sister managed to survive, but the bomb had sent shrapnel flying into his mother's head and killed her instantly. His brother on the other hand was not so lucky. He also got shrapnel flying into him, but it just landed in his arm, cutting a major artery and the poor boy bled to death.
"Shh. It's going to be okay. We'll find a way out of here, I promise." He told her, stroking what was left of her blood soaked hair.
"How. I've tried to escape before and not succeeded." she reminded him.
"There's two of us now, though. Maybe I can distract them long enough for you to get out."
"But then you'd be left here. I can't do that to you." she protested.
"Once you're out, you can go and get help to get me." Brittany thought this over and began to see how good the plan was. For the rest of the morning, they sat together, thinking over their plan.
