Closing her eyes tightly, Hollie pulled her arm down as hard as she could, feeling the roughness of the rope scraping the skin of her hand as she tried to wriggle it free. Taking shallow breaths and trying not to gag on the material tied around her mouth, the teenager stopped for a moment, feeling flooding back into her hand and making it burn with pain. After a couple of seconds' respite, she returned her attention to freeing her right hand until, with an excruciating amount of pain as the rope scraped against her flesh, she felt it slide free.

Pulling the cloth out of her mouth and leaving it around her neck, she reached up to scrub the tears away from her eyes. Then she pushed her freed hand under her armpit, clamping it tightly in place for a moment until the stinging subsided.

"Nat? You OK?" She hissed, knowing that she wouldn't get a coherent response. All she wanted was any sign that her sister was alright. When the muffled reply came, Hollie breathed a sigh of relief. "Give me two minutes and I'll–"

Both girls jumped as a loud bang echoed around them. Several more loud bangs followed it and Hollie was convinced they were gunshots. She reached out desperately and tried to grab Natalie's arm with the hand she had managed to free from the rope tying it to the metal grating above her head. The older girl was just out of her reach, so Hollie turned her attention to trying to undo the rope around her other wrist. That one was much tighter and she tore at it desperately, feeling her nails catching and tearing on the rope. Ignoring the pain, she carried on working on the knot until she felt it loosening enough to wrench her hand free.

Around them they could hear arguing and more bangs. Wincing, Hollie half hobbled, half hopped closer to her sister, reaching up to untie the gag from her mouth.

"You alright?" She demanded, reaching up and starting to work on the ropes securing Natalie to the grating.

"Yeah… D'you have any idea what's going on out there?"

Hollie exhaled in frustration, getting more desperate as the knots refused to yield. "About as much idea as you. Probably less…"

"Are those… guns?" Natalie asked weakly, shaking even more as another couple of bangs echoed around them.

Finally freeing one hand, the younger girl paused and glanced at her. "I can't say I'm an expert but I'd say yes, which is why we need to get out of here as soon as possible."

Natalie nodded and leant heavily against the metal behind her as Hollie struggled with the remaining rope attaching her to the grating. She dragged at the knot desperately, getting more and more agitated as it refused to work loose. The older girl's breathing was getting more difficult and she had closed her eyes. Anxiously, Hollie started murmuring quietly to her sister, trying to make sure she didn't lose consciousness. The cut on Natalie's forehead was still bleeding slightly, but Hollie was sure the shallow stab wound in her side was probably worse.

With a quiet exclamation of triumph, Hollie managed to get the rope loose enough to slide Natalie's hand through. After a quick examination of her injuries, the younger girl removed her jumper and pulled it over her sister's head. Natalie was freezing, but there wasn't much she could do at the moment. Pressing Natalie's right hand to the wound on her side gently in an attempt to stem the flow of blood, Hollie shot her a reassuring smile, before pulling the older girl's left arm over her shoulder and almost carrying her away from the grating. It was difficult with her ankle screaming at her with every step, but the younger sister kept going.

Looking left and right, she tried to work out the best direction to take to find whatever safety was available. Wherever they were being held was almost pitch black and, with Hollie's injured ankle and Natalie's blood loss, they were making slow progress through the darkness. Feeling around with her free hand, the seventeen-year-old dragged her sister towards a small square of light in the distance. She didn't know what it was, or whether it would help them or not, but it had to be better than sitting around in the dark just waiting.

They passed through a doorway and the seventeen-year-old paused. Leaning Natalie gently against the wall for support, she pushed the door closed behind them, looking around for something to barricade it with. Using almost all the energy she had left, Hollie pulled a small metal cabinet halfway across the door, covering the hinges, before she was forced to stop. Leaning heavily against it, she glanced around for something else. Moving away, she returned a couple of moments later with three metal bars, which she propped against the door, holding it closed.

,

Satisfied, the teenager resumed her grip on her sister and started moving towards the light again. A loud rumbling sound made Hollie jump and almost drop Natalie. An instinctive giggle rose up in her throat as she realised the sound had been made by her stomach. That forced her to remember that she hadn't eaten for a long time and that thought made her stomach growl again. Blocking her hunger from her mind, the teenager resumed her attempts to find a way out.

Suddenly she realised that her sister seemed heavier and stopped, lowering Natalie gently to the ground and crouching beside her. "Nat? Nat… come on! Wake up!"

The only response she received was a weak groan, which increased Hollie's panic. She knew enough about injuries to know that if Natalie lost consciousness it was not a good thing. Listening to the continued sounds of fighting coming from somewhere close by, she weighed up her options. On one hand, she could stay with Natalie and wait to see what would happen. On the other hand, she could leave her sister for a couple of moments and see where the light was coming from. Hollie knew she had to investigate, but she was terrified of leaving Natalie unattended, even for a moment.

"Nat… just hang on, OK. I'm gonna get us out of here. Don't go to sleep, right?" She ordered in a low voice, making up her mind.

Climbing unsteadily to her feet once more, Hollie hobbled as quickly as she could towards the light. It was further away than it had seemed and the girl was glad that the sounds still seemed far away. She couldn't help worrying whether she should have tried to pull Natalie with her, but deep down Hollie knew that would just have slowed her down even more.

Reaching the light source, she realised that it was an old-fashioned sash window, just big enough for someone her size to climb out of. For a moment she was delighted at the find, then she realised that even if she managed to get out with her ankle as it was, there was no way Natalie would make it. Disappointed, Hollie rubbed the dirt away from the lower panes of glass with her shirt sleeve and peered through it. As she saw the drop below the window, the girl was relieved that she hadn't seriously considered climbing out. Quickly, she counted the windows in the wall opposite and worked out that they must be on the fifth floor.

Hollie was about to turn and head back to Natalie, when something caught her attention and she leant closer to the dirty glass to get a better look. At least ten cars had drawn up in the space below the window. The last vehicle to arrive had been moving so fast that it screeched loudly as it came to a halt. Fighting the urge to go and check on her sister, Hollie watched as the front doors on the recently parked car opened and the figures headed into the crowd milling around below her; some wearing police uniform and others not.

Struck by sudden inspiration, the teenager struggled with the sash window, fighting against the stiffness and managing to force it open. Hollie froze as the wood squeaked; the noise extra loud in the silence. Her heart pounded noisily in her chest and she was sure it was audible where Natalie was. When no sound of running footsteps or shouts reached her ears, Hollie resumed what she was doing, pushing the window as far up as possible. No one outside seemed to have noticed the movement, their gaze focused far below her, but Hollie didn't dare call out in case someone else heard. Carefully, she reached down and pulled off her left trainer, leaving her injured foot bare, before pulling herself up onto the narrow wooden ledge that ran along the wall beneath the window. Kneeling on it and praying that it wouldn't collapse under her weight, she leant as far out of the window as she dared and threw her shoe into the crowd of people below her.

To her relief, it bounced harmlessly on the ground, not hitting anyone. Her actions had the desire effect and instantly the crowd below looked up, obviously preparing themselves for attack. As they spotted her, many started pointing and a couple of figures retreated to the cars. Realising that help was coming, Hollie dropped back into the room, barely noticing the loud rip as her top caught on the jagged wood of the ledge.

"Help's coming, Nat." She murmured exhaustedly as she reached her sister's side and curled up beside her. "Come on, wake up…"


A/N: I hope you all had a brilliant Christmas! x