Matt's eyes widened. "You saw Robert?" he said in disbelief. If Jeff wasn't just being paranoid and panicky, then this was bad. This was really bad.
Jeff nodded. He looked scared out of his mind. "I saw his face Matty. I know it was him. He knows where I am and he's going to take me away again."
"No he's not," Matt said quickly. He pulled Jeff to his feet and started helping him out of the room. "We're going to get out of here and we're going to go somewhere that he'll never find us." He found Lucas in the hallway and he picked up the little dog while keeping a tight hold of Jeff. The three of them got out to the car and Matt was just about to start the vehicle when he heard something.
It was a gun being cocked.
"I'd be very careful if I were you Matthew," the man who was sitting in the backseat said. He was a well dressed man who kind of looked like Christian Bale when he was in American Psycho. "You don't want to force me to shoot you. That'll leave nobody else to protect poor Jeff from me."
Jeff was as white as a ghost. "Robert please--"
Robert backhanded Jeff across the face. "Shut up you fucking piece of shit. Did I fucking tell you that you could speak?"
Matt fought the urge to panic. Panicking wasn't going to get them out of this. He had to find a way to get the gun away from Robert and keep Jeff safe. "Keep your fucking hands off my brother," he growled. "Don't you fucking touch him."
"Hey, I'll do whatever I want to him," Robert said with a smirk. He pressed the barrel of the gun directly against Matt's head. "I'm the guy with the gun so I will be calling the shots around here. Now you will drive to the interstate and get us into Virginia. I'll tell you where to go from there. Jeff, you come back here with me."
Jeff was shaking so badly that Lucas climbed on to his lap and tried to comfort him. "No," he moaned. "No please leave me alone. Just leave me alone."
Robert glared at him. "Jeff, you know what happens if I have to tell you something again."
Matt took Lucas so Jeff could very reluctantly climb into the back. He started driving, keeping one hand on the steering wheel and the other holding Lucas. There had to be a way out of this. He could hear Jeff whimpering and crying in the backseat. He didn't look to see if Robert was doing anything though. He couldn't bear the sight of it if the bastard was. He would lose it completely if he saw the animal hurting his brother.
He had to drive for about an hour before he saw his window of opportunity. Robert had relaxed enough to the point that the gun wasn't constantly pointed at anyone. They came across an old bridge that went over a river. Matt finally looked back at the rearview mirror at Jeff. Jeff gulped but he seemed to understand the message that Matt was conveying with his eyes. Silently, Matt pressed the button that would make his and Jeff's window go down.
"Boys, what are you doing?" Robert asked as Matt started pressing on the gas even harder. "You're not trying anything are you?"
Matt smirked. "I thought it was a little hot so I figured we could cool off." Without hesitating any longer he swerved the car as hard as he could and made it go flying off the bridge down into the water below. Water started coming in fast through the open windows, filling the car and making it sink. Matt got his seatbelt undone and managed to keep a hold of Lucas as he crawled out his window and up to the surface. "Jeff!" he yelled. "Jeff!"
"Matt!" Jeff yelled. He was swimming as fast as he could towards his big brother. "Matt!"
"Come on," Matt ordered. They got to the shore as fast as they could. Robert couldn't be seen yet but it couldn't possibly be long before he managed to get out of the car. They ran into woods, neither of them having any real idea exactly where they were going. Lucas was definitely not happy about their current predicament and Matt felt bad for the poor little dog. But he couldn't stop to comfort the closest thing he had to a son. They had to keep moving.
"What are we going to do?" Jeff asked. He kept looking back fearfully. "Where are we going to go?"
"I don't know," Matt said. He stopped and looked back. "Is he even chasing us?"
Jeff stopped too. "I don't think so." His eyes suddenly widened. "If he knew where you lived, wouldn't he know where Daddy lives?"
Matt just froze. That was a good point. What if Robert had decided to go back instead of trying to chase them down. What if he went after their dad? "Take Lucas," he ordered. "Take him and run. I'll go back and get Daddy."
"Matt wait, you can't--"
Matt wasn't listening. He was already off and running back to the direction of Cameron. He had to get there in time to save his dad. He just had to.