Okay, thanks for the small amount of reviews that i did recieve...here goes...the next chapter. There probably won't be that many more chapters in this story. Oh yeah, and Rhett isn't in his early teens as I said in my last chapter, I meant to put early twenties...just a typo. I also chose the name Rhett because I'm a huge Gone With the Wind fan.

Cindy watched Jimmy fall onto the hard floor of the basement as if she were watching it in slow motion. Something strong stirred inside of her as she attempted to run towards Jimmy's limp body on the floor. She felt herself being pulled backwards, and turned around, finding that Rhett had grabbed ahold of her. He was apparently trying to stop her from reaching her destination because he was now in charge, and he could do what he wanted. Patrick was also on the floor, motionless.

"Let me go!" she screamed, as she struggled in his grasp, desperate to see if Jimmy was okay. She could already tell that he wasn't. A circle of fresh blood was forming around him, and he still made no movement.

"Let me go!" she repeated. "I have to go to him" she begged.

"No. It's not that simple. You see, if he lives, then there are witnesses. That goes for you also." he said.

Cindy was glad that Rhett didn't have a gun, because if he did, she knew that he would waste no time disposing of her. She could also tell that Rhett was afraid to approach the two lifeless people on the floor.

"Just let me see if he is okay." she begged. "please. I won't try anything, I just want to know if he's...if he's alive."she finished. Tears welled in her eyes. Rhett knew that this girl would be true to her word. He had no idea how he knew, but for some reason, he knew that she wouldn't leave the boy by himself, and there was no way for her to escape with Jimmy with her.

"Alright." complied Rhett, as he released Cindy from his grip.

Immediately, she ran to Jimmy flinging herself onto the floor to inspect the damage.

With a great heave, she turned Jimmy on his back so she could see where he had been shot.

"Jimmy!" she whispered urgently, trying to get him awake. Still silent.

"Jimmy! Wake up." she said more loudly, and she lay her head against his chest, trying to detect a heart beat. There was still one. He was also still breathing.

With a sigh of relief, Cindy sat on the ground next to him. She thought about her next move. There was a large, bullet-sized hole in his stomach, at least it had missed his heart. She didn't know much about wounds and had never seen a gun victim before. She fought the urge to cry as she sligtly lifted the shirt to see the extense of the damage. It was horrible.

Cindy thought she had heard somewhere that it was best to apply pressure to a wound, so she pressed hard against it, and eventually it stopped bleeding.

"Okay, okay..." she whispered to herself, wondering what she was going to do next.

She knew that Rhett wouldn't let her call an ambulance, but it was the only way that Jimmy was going to make it. It was worth a try.

"He needs an ambulance!" she said aloud this time.

"I don't think so." he replied. He wasn't an idiot.

Cindy was mad now. Here, someone might be dying and this man was standing there like it were another ordinary day.

"Listen, he's going to die...I need to call an ambulance." she said chokingly this time.

"I can't let you do that." he repeated, looking at the ground.

Cindy lept to her feet and charged towards Rhett. She didn't have a chance.

As Cindy reached him, Rhett swung his arm back and hit her with all his might. His hand hit her directly across the mouth, and she was flung towars the floor, blood dripping from her busted lip.

Now, the tears did flow. Not because of the pain shooting through her body from being slapped, but because she felt their was no hope. There was no chance that Jimmy would live. Eventually, he would begin bleeding again, and there was nothing she could do. Well, there is one more thing I can do...she though.

With great effort, Cindy slowly crawled towards Jimmy. She knew that she must have a broken ankle from the great force of being thrown to the ground. Pain shot through her leg as she inched her way towards him. Finally, she reached her destination.

"Jimmy..." she cried desperatly. This time, he had to hear what she had to say.

For a split second, she thought that she saw the flicker of his eyelashes, but she couldn't be sure. She would tell him anyway...

"Well, it looks like this is it." she started. "We've been through a lot of stuff together, but this seems like the worst. Jimmy, I'm going to be honest with you. I'm not sure if we're going to make it out of here. The odds are against us, but maybe there's still some hope. Jimmy," she said, now taking his limp hand in hers.

"Jimmy, we've been through so much together. Everything I could possibly think of. When we were kids, everything was so different. Now that we're going into high school, it's going to get more complicated. So many times we've come close to something, but then something gets in our way. Something always manages to stop us from getting close, and I'm getting tired of it. Since we were stranded on that island together, I have asked myself over and over what I felt for you. Then, it was just a crush. It's changed though. It's something bigger."she said.

Cindy could tell that she wouldn't be concious for much longer. The pain was growing more intense by the second. She could only take so much, but she had to tell him.

"The truth is... while we've fought all of these years, and competed, and whatever else we've done to prevent anything from happening...the truth is...I love you." she said.

The pain was now too much to bear. Her head was pounding from being slapped, mixed with the pain from her broken ankle.

With one last sigh, Cindy slumped onto the floor next to Jimmy, his hand still clasped in hers.