Gia's POV

I leaned back against the filthy wall behind the dumpster. Emil rested beside me. His eyes were closed, his head leaned back against the wall. After a few minutes his eyes fluttered open and he looked over to me. A half smile hinted at his lips before he turned back to staring at the graffiti that littered dumpster in front of us. He tugged hard on his jacket before blowing into his hands and rubbing them together. It was cold, but not as cold as he was making it seem. Then again, Emil seemed to always be freezing.

"Gia, are you sure about this?"

"Yes."

"Why don't we call your brothers and tell them to come over here in case we need back up?"

I shot Emil a look. Did he not understand why I couldn't do that? I'd spent almost two weeks hiding out in an old run down motel, hiding from them and my parents in order to prove I could do this on my own and now he wanted me to throw it all away? I couldn't do it.

"I can't."

"Gia-"

"Anderson, be quiet. The killer could show up at any moment."

Emil went quiet, evidently not wanting to be caught any more than I did. I couldn't lie. There was a tightness in my chest that was growing worse with the passing minutes. The killer would show up soon and then what? We weren't armed. I hadn't brought any weapons and Emil's family didn't keep guns in the house. The best we could do was a couple of kitchen knives, but that required getting close to the killer who may or may not be armed. We could very easily get killed. Minutes ticked by and those turned into hours. I was beginning to give up.

"Gia-"

I slapped my hand over Emil's mouth as footsteps came down the abandoned alley way. I dropped my hand and Emil and I held our breath. It was him, who else would be coming down the alley so late? These hunting grounds fit him M.O. completely. I grabbed Emil by the wrist, suddenly losing my nerve. Emil was right. We needed back up. I couldn't do this on my own. I was stupid to think I could. I was so unprepared. I met Emil's eyes and nodded so he knew.

"Let's get out of here." I mumbled.

Emil nodded and we got up slowly. We started to take our leave when Emil tripped over the wheel of the dumpster, knocking us both to the ground with a crash. Not exactly loud, but loud enough to catch the attention of the man in the alley. I started to scramble to my feet when I felt my ponytail being grabbed. I let out a small shriek. This was stupid. We were so stupid.

"Well, what do we have here?" A low, gravelly voice questioned.

I felt cool metal against my throat and I swallowed hard. My eyes darted to Emil who was still on the ground attempting to find his glasses that had been thrown off when he tripped. The knife trailed its way down my neck to my chest before back up to my throat once more. The man I still hadn't gotten a good look at chuckled darkly and moved his hand from my hair and grabbed me tightly around my torso.

"You'll do nicely."

I felt my blood run cold and tried to recall everything that my brothers had ever said to me about being in these situations, but nothing came to mind. I certainly couldn't fight back, not while he was still holding the blade to me. I struggled slightly. This guy was strong. I wasn't going anywhere without help.

Tear pricked my eyes. I was going to die. I was going to die and I would never get to see my mom or dad or brothers again. I would never get to tell my dad I was sorry for disobeying them. I would never be able to tell my father he was right. I'd never be able to tell my brothers I was sorry for worrying them or tell my Uncle B that I was sorry for running away and getting him in trouble with my dad. I didn't want to die.

"Emil…" I whimpered out.

Emil had found his glasses and was staring at me wide eyed. The left lens was cracked down the middle. Emil started to stand, holding his hands up in surrender. His eyes found the knife and stayed glued there. He opened and closed his mouth a few times as if trying to make words, but nothing came out. Finally he swallowed.

"Listen, buddy. We don't want any trouble. Just put the knife down." He tried to reason.

I felt my eyes widen as another man came down the alley. I felt hope raise in my heart, praying it was one of my brothers, maybe my father. Truthfully, any police officer would have sufficed at the moment. The hope was replace with paralyzing fear when I realized it was none of the above. Instead it was a middle aged man, rather well built. His dark eyes were focused solely on Emil.

"Emil! Run!"

My warning came too late and the man grabbed Emil, slamming a heavy hand over his mouth and knocking Emil's glasses askew once more. Emil and I locked eyes. We were done for. All hope of being saved died in my heart and I knew this was it. I was going to die here in this dark, smelly alley. I felt tears begin to warm my cold cheeks. I took a deep breath and nodded goodbye to Emil, who looked completely terrified, but did the same and tried to look brave. This would be our final stand.

Emil's POV

Gia's Ponytail had fallen loose and hair had escaped as a result, framing her face in a way I hadn't seen it do since I met her. I wished I'd taken her offer to back out when she'd told me to. If I had I wouldn't be here. Gia probably wouldn't be either. Had I not tripped, she might have made a clean get away. I didn't want to die.

Gia's tears stained her cheeks in the dim lighting and I knew she'd given up. I fought back tears of my own. If I was going to die, I wasn't going to let them get that sort of reaction out of me. I debated on biting the man holding me, but judging my how tightly his hand was clasped over my mouth, any efforts to do so would have been fruitless and we'd just die sooner. Maybe that would be best though, why prolong the inevitable. Gia nodded to me and I nodded back. This was it and she'd accepted her fate. I breathed deeply and accepted mine.