Carl picked up the phone and dialed in a number. "Don't kill her," he begged.

"Who is this?" the other person said.

"Carl. You called me earlier and told me you wanted my girl, Sophia," he mumbled.

"Yeah?"

"Don't kill her."

"Who in the hell thinks they gon stop me?"

"Me," Carl yelled.

"Then bring yo ass ova here punk, and show me whatcha workin' wit," the guy laughed.

"I'm not messin' wit you nigga, just don't hurt her."

"Oh look, almost six o'clock, time for me to go," the other end hung up.

Carl threw the phone at the wall leaving a dent in it. He grabbed his keys off the counter and ran to his car. He pulled up in front of Sophia's and honked several times.

Sophia peeked out the blinds and quickly moved away from the window.

Carl pounded on her door and then he realized it wasn't locked. He slipped inside. "Sophia, it's not safe, come on," he grabbed her hand.

"What are you talkin' about?"

"Some guy, he called me. He's after you," Carl took her hand. "That's why I didn't want you to leave."

"Why didn't you just say so?"

"Because, I wasn't supposed to tell, now get your ass in the car," he opened the door.

Sophia ran out barefooted to Carl's car and climbed in.

Carl drove off. "We can't go back to my place, they're gonna be lookin' for this car so we're goin' to my replacement car," his eyes were all over the place, watching for strange cars. He parked at a small garage on the outskirts of down.

"Where are we?" Sophia got out of the car.

"The hood," he opened the garage. "We're drivin' this," he opened the door and climbed in. He backed it out and then put his other car in the garage. "Okay, we're good to go," he shut the door and pulled out of the driveway. "It's my Pa's house," he said.

"You are stealin' yo daddy's car?"

"Na, it's my first car," he said. "Man I miss this thing."

"So why are they after me?"

"I don't know. I think it's 'cause they think you had somethin' to do with Richard bein' killed," he shrugged.

"Good job, you're gonna get my ass killed," she rolled her eyes.

"No, I'm gonna protect yo ass," he kept an eye out. There were many gangs out at this hour of the night, standing around, smoking, big guns in their hands.

"Hey," one of the guys yelled at the car.

Carl floored it and they shot aimlessly at his car. "Great," he yelled turning a corner. Then he saw a car come around the corner just as fast as he did, and it was now bumping bumpers. Carl pushed the gas a little more, the guy just tailgated behind. "What's this fucka want?"

"Is that them?" Sophia looked out the back window, watching the car.

"It might be," Carl made a quick turn and the other car went straight. He made a sharp left down an alley and ran over a few boxes, swerving garbage bins and other cars in the tight alley. He turned right onto a main road and took off, swaying in between cars. The car picked up again, this time the guys in the car were shooting. One of the tires blew out on Carl's left side, and then another, and then one more and he couldn't control the car anymore. He turned off into a brick building. Carl and Sophia's heads both jerked around at the impact of the car hitting the building. The guys from the other car dragged Sophia and Carl off into their car and they took off.

"Tryin' to run huh?" a guy in a suit took a drag on something and he chuckled at Carl's stupidity. "Well you can't hide," he laughed again.

"Who are you?" Sophia asked.

"Shut up nigga, did I say you could talk?" he hit her hard in the face.

At that point Carl was all over that guy hitting him in the face with loud and hard punches. "Don't talk to her like that and don't you lay a finger on her, man," Carl took the guy's gun.

The driver swerved off the road and parked the car. "What's goin' on back there!"

"Turn around, "Carl aimed the gun at him.

The driver turned back around.

Carl fired many shots at the guy in the suit and then he pushed Sophia out one end of the car and grabbed her as they dodged traffic on foot. Carl opened a garbage can lid close by in one of the alleys and helped Sophia into it. He climbed in behind her. "See, this is why I wanted you," he swore.

"I'm sorry," Sophia cried.

The garbage lid swung open. "Hello," some guy said. He showed them a gun and cocked it.

Carl jumped up, hit the gun from the guy's hand and he reached for his but it must have fallen out somewhere in the garbage, he didn't have time to look. He swung his legs over the side into the guy's stomach and kicked him into a wall. "What you want?" Carl asked, stepped on the guy's hand as he tried reaching for the gun.

"You to get the fuck offa my hand, nigga," the guy said.

"Why you chasin' us?"

"'Cause man, you just shot my dealer, bro," the guy was loosing circulation in his hand.

"That's 'cause that nigga was gonna kill ma girl," Carl told him.

Sophia popped up, "Carl!"

Carl turned around, she tossed him his gun and got back down. He cocked the gun and aimed it at the guy. "And now it's time for you to go," he pulled the trigger three times, tucked the shoe down his pants and helped Sophia get out of the garbage bin. "We gotta run," he told her and took her hand. "Come on," he ran fast through the all, turning down every miniature alley. There was a ladder along a large building. They climbed the ladder to the roof and hid behind a huge Video Express billboard.

"We're gonna die now, all thanks to you," Sophia cried.

"No we ain't. We gon make it through dis shit alive, I promise," he took her hand. "Hang in there."