Daniel POV

As I was slowly fighting my way back to consciousness, my surroundings were gradually coming back into focus. Before long, I could feel the hard floor below me and the cold tile pressing against my back. I could smell the strong odor of the bathroom, the combination of decaying flesh and raw sewage.

I could hear voices.

Amanda and Xavier were talking and I focused on what they were saying. I heard footsteps and followed them with my ears, knowing they were Xavier's since I could still feel Amanda next to me. I heard his screams as well as her shocked gasps. I chose not to look, but instead to open my eyes slightly to see if there was something I could use to get us out of here if he came after us again once he was done with whatever the hell he was doing to himself.

My eyes immediately landed on a hacksaw, which, luckily, was right next to me. I subtly gripped it, trying to not let on that I was in fact alive.

As soon as I heard Xavier step towards us, I kicked him and then leapt to my feet, swinging the hacksaw. I gazed, my eyes open wide, as blood poured from Xavier's neck. My grip on the hacksaw slackened in my shock and I heard it clatter to the floor.

I think all three of us were just as shocked as each other. Amanda and Xavier thought I was dead, and I know Xavier never would have figured me to be the one to do something like that, especially to someone as big and as menacing as him.

I watched as he fell to his knees, grabbing onto my shirt on his way down, but Amanda held me upright, preventing me from falling. Tears came to my eyes and I started crying, nearly hyperventilating. Those tears were hard to explain. They were a result of all of the emotions running through me; the shock, the guilt, the relief. I couldn't believe I had killed someone, but at the same time, I felt strong for the first time in my life.

Not strong because I learned I was capable of bringing down another human being. I'm definitely not Eric fucking Matthews. I felt strong because I took a stand did what needed to be done in order to protect the two of us.

After we had both gotten ourselves under control, Amanda and I turned to each other and she threw her arms around my neck, hugging me tightly to her. I instantly returned the hug, wrapping my arms around her waist.

After a while, she pulled back and smiled at me. "I'm so happy to see you," she said with a slight chuckle. At that point, I was so exhausted, mentally, physically, emotionally, that all I could do was laugh, overjoyed that I had been strong enough to make it back from the brink of death, strong enough to be able to see her face again.

She grabbed my hand and led me back up to the room we had started in. She immediately kneeled by the safe and opened it quickly, retrieving the antidote. She called me over and injected me. She gave a relieved sigh, but I just stared at her in confusion. She knew the combination to the safe already? How was that possible? I tried to ask her, but all I could get out was "How...?"

She sighed and, after a minute, looked directly into my eyes. I don't know how I knew, but I just did. I knew she had been in on this game the whole time.

I shrank back from her, the betrayal I felt literally feeling like razorblades cutting across the inside of my chest.

"Daniel..."

She tried to come over to me, but I shot to my feet, trying to keep as much distance between us as I could, which felt weird and wrong. Like my body knew that being away from her was not something it was naturally designed to do.

I tried to step further away, but I immediately started to get lightheaded. I had a feeling it had to do with the gas. Even though I had just been given the antidote, the gas wasn't fully out of my system yet. As I sat back down, I felt another pinch in my arm, but before I could see what it was, the world went black.

TBC