Sophie groaned and dragged herself along the ground, her leg a dead weight behind her. She made steady progress toward the exit, but it was a long journey. The bullet had gotten lodged into her leg, so it wasn't bleeding that bad, but the pain of moving it was excruciating. She screamed as she pulled her leg forward and dragged herself another half a foot further. She didn't know what she would do when she finally got to the exit; the most likely seemed to hijack a car to get back to her brother. That was her biggest concern; Ali said she wouldn't kill her until her hearing returned, but she never said she wouldn't go after Thomas while she waited.

"Shit," Sophie said to herself as another wave of pain stung her body.

After several long seconds of pulling herself forward, inch by inch, she had reached the door. She looked up at the handle, it seemed so far away, and sucked in her breath preparing for another wave. She reached up and grasped the cold metal in her hand, twisting down. The door swung out and Sophie pushed herself through the opening before the door could close back on her leg. Sophie shivered as the cold air blew her hair away from her face. Luckily, the cold was acting as a numbing agent and as the rest of her body grew colder and colder, Sophie could no longer feel the pain in her leg. She dragged herself to the nearest car and got the door open.

"Alright, you can do this," Sophie encouraged herself, "Just lift yourself up and get in the car."

Her body shivered as she reached for the edge of the seat and gripped the steering wheel. She was able to get her good leg up into the car, but as she tried to drag her injured leg, the wound brushed up against the side of the car. Sophie screamed and used the small spurt of adrenaline to pull her leg inside and shut the door. She let out a sigh and placed her head on the steering wheel. Now came the hard part; hotwiring the car. Luckily, Thomas had felt it a valuable asset to know how to hotwire a car, and had taught her when she was fifteen. She looked on the floor of the seat next to her, but there was nothing on it. She sighed and opened the glove compartment, hoping.

"Thank god," she whispered as she pulled out the screwdriver.

She slipped the screwdriver into the ignition, hoping she could use the easy method. When the car didn't start after she had twisted the screwdriver, she sighed, knowing better to think it would be that easy. She grabbed the ignition cover and pulled it off, bending over to stare at the wirings underneath. Locating the three wires in the back, she grabbed the red power wires and pulled them closer and disconnecting them. She used her bare hands and the screwdriver to strip the plastic covering so that she could twist the ends together. Just then, the dashboard and lights flashed on. Sophie smiled. Now came the hard part; Thomas had told her under no circumstances was she to touch the starter wires with her bare hands but, seeing as she had no gloves, she was just going to have to be careful. She took a deep breath and grabbed the brown starter wires. Holding them gently, she worked slowly, using only the screwdriver to strip the covering. As soon as the wires were exposed, she dropped the screwdriver and held the starter wires in one hand, and the connected power wires in her other hand. The second they touched, there was a spark, and the engine fired up. That part was over, but now she had to decide what to do with the exposed live wires. She looked around for something to cover them with and spied two plastic caps.

"Well, that was convenient," Sophie said.

She used the plastic caps to cover the live wires and tucked them back under the steering wheel. She pressed on the brake, shifted out of park, and drove out of the parking lot.

Sophie parked the car outside the building. The door was opening just as she turned off the engine and she recognized the figure coming out as one of her brother's assistants, Jake. She opened the car door and tried to step out of the car, however, she didn't make it that far and collapsed. Jake saw her and hurried over.

"Sophie? Are you alright?" He asked immediately when he got closer. He gasped when he saw the bloody bullet wound in Sophie's leg and quickly crouched down to support her. "My God, what happened?"

"Ali attacked me," Sophie replied.

"Ali?"

Sophie couldn't answer as she clutched her leg and cried out in pain.

"Wait here, let me get Thomas."

"No, please, call a hospital," Sophie said.

Jake nodded and pulled out a cell phone. He waited a second. "Yes, I have an emergency; someone has been shot in the leg." He paused again. "She seems to have lost a lot of blood, but she's still conscious." Another pause. "Alright, thank you." He hung up.

"Why didn't you tell them where we were?" Sophie asked.

"They already knew," he replied, "We have to call in a lot for science accidents, they recognize the number."

Sophie nodded and tilted her head back, trying to stay conscious.

"Can I call your brother now?"

"Sure," Sophie said.

She heard Jake calling dialing the phone, could hear the panic in his voice, but could no longer register it. She felt the terror building up in her chest as she neared unconsciousness. Suddenly, arms wrapped around her and she heard a voice screaming over her frantically. She struggled to make sense of the words and figure above her.

"Thomas?"

"Sophie? Can you hear me?"

Sophie looked up at her brother. His face was frantic, terror in his eyes, and tears falling down his cheeks. His hand brushed through her hair and Sophie felt the stickiness. She reached up her own hand and grabbed her brother's wrist, pulling his hand down in front of her face. She forced herself to focus on the bright red liquid shining on his hand.

"Is that my blood?" she whispered.

Thomas nodded. "There's blood all over. Does your leg hurt?"

"Not anymore," Sophie said. The pain was indeed fading away, as were all her other senses.

"Sophie! Stay with me, Sophie!"

Sophie's hand fell from her brother's wrist, but she didn't feel it hit the ground. Her eyes glazed over as darkness crept around the edges of her vision. Bright lights flashed nearby and a wail filled her ears. Her brother's face was pulled away from her and replaced with two stranger's faces. She felt them poking and prodding at her leg and heard their muffled voices, as if they were speaking through water. Darkness dragged her down and the last thing to cross her mind was Ali.