Disclaimer: They weren't mine three chapters ago; what makes you think they're mine now? I fear change…

I am so sorry. Curse me and my inability to describe landscape. Really.

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Charlie ran behind the largest tree he could find and fumbled through his bag for his cell phone. In all of the mess he had somehow forgotten it. Two shots were already fired, though he wasn't sure at whom, it was pretty safe to say that it wasn't any less terrifying. His heart was pumping a mile a minute causing the edges of his vision to darken dangerously.

He finally located his cell phone and yanked it out with trembling fingers. At least all of the action had made him a little warmer. His heart fell when he saw that there was no reception. He didn't know what he was expecting; after all they hadn't been able to use their phones since they entered the woods. A shout from fairly far off spurred him back into motion.

He ran as fast as he could, finally thankful for all of the bike riding he did. It made his legs strong, but they still felt wobbly. In all of his life he had never thought that he would be in a situation like this. Even with his brother's job the way it was, he always thought that he would be safe. He ducked behind another tree and tried to catch his breath, but movement from his right caught his attention.

He whipped his head around and saw three more men. They were similarly dressed as the others, which scared him. There were more of them. One was pointing in the direction that Larry had run off in. Another one was gazing around. Charlie slowly moved to the other side of the tree to keep from their view. He pressed his back against the trunk. He knew he would have to run again, but he tried to postpone it for as long as possible.

When the voices behind him got quiet for a minute, he nervously peered from his post. His head poked out and instantly he met the eyes of one of the men. The others were gone, but sure enough the man that remained started shouting and pointing. Not waiting to see how many of the guys were chasing him now, he leapt over a few fallen branches and made a break for a bunch of thick bushes. The shouts behind him became more frantic and suddenly another shot was fired.

He got to the bushes and jumped clear over them only to find a huge rocky cliff right where was going to land. It was thin, like at one point a waterfall flowed down it and it led to another woodland area. There was no possible way to slow himself so he shut his eyes and waited for the pain. His shoulders bumped into the sides and then the ground hit him hard. Unable to keep upright, he fell backwards. He didn't have time to stay; he knew the guys were still up there.

He cast a glance behind him and saw that there was a small indent in the rock. Forcing himself up, he slid clumsily into the hiding place and tucked his legs in as best he could. He looked ahead to see if there was anywhere else to run when his eyes landed on his cell phone. It must have fallen when he landed on the ground. He almost went to get it but the voices stopped him. They were loud and close. Much closer than they ever were before, but still Charlie couldn't make out one word. He pushed himself as flat as possible against the rock and hoped that they would mistake his jet-black cell phone for a stone.

While waiting, his mind turned over anything and everything that could possibly happen if he were captured. They'd probably kill him right away. Charlie shut his eyes when he remembered his last encounter with Don. He never even got to say goodbye. His older brother wasn't here to help him through this. His stomach tightened; he remembered the feeling perfectly from when his mother had passed away. It was when he realized all of the things that he would miss about his mother: the way she would come into his room sometimes at night and watch him protectively, the way she was always so proud; the way she always listened even though she had no idea what he was talking about.

He was so caught up in his thoughts, he hardly registered that the voices were disappearing. He almost laughed, but stopped himself just in time – they were still in hearing distance. Just before they completely faded, a loud ring caused Charlie to jump. It was so familiar. His cell phone! He just about dove for it, but again restrained himself as the voices got louder. They were coming back. With speed and desperation he never knew was in him, he leapt for the phone and crawled back into his hiding space while answering it.

A garbled voice was all he got. It was so disoriented that and it took Charlie a second to even hear his own name. He looked down at the caller I.D. quickly and rejoiced when he saw his brother's name.

"Don?" He whispered, hoping his own voice would carry over to his older brother better than his was. Don answered him, or at least he thought Don answered him. It kept cutting off on the end of every word. He knew he didn't have much time, so he interrupted Don's lengthy answer. "Don, please! Please you have to help me. These men, they're – "

A loud bang shattered any hope of talking as the bullet hit the ground right next to his foot. He cried out despite himself and yanked his foot as far in as possible. Spurred on by fear, he grabbed his bag and ran again. This time more shots were fired; his horrified mind couldn't keep up with how many there were. Pain exploded in his upper arm, but he kept going, not even faltering slightly. The adrenaline masked his pain, and for right now he was glad.

Instead of hiding behind trees and waiting Charlie just kept running. He wasn't sure why, but he wasn't tiring out – or maybe he couldn't tell. Back when he was younger, he and Don would sometimes play catch out front of the house. It was so rare that they did it that he would always mask how tired he would get. Every time Don would ask, "You ready to go in?" He would answer with a curt no or shake his head. By the time Don would say he was tired and go in, Charlie would be too exhausted to even move from the spot he was standing in.

With that thought, he pulled the cell phone back up to his ear. It was extremely hard to hold it there because of how fast he was running so he quickly ducked behind a tree.

"Don?" He hissed into the phone and his breath hitched when there was no response. The line was dead and there was no reception anymore, but at least now he had a little sliver of hope to hold onto – hope that Don had either heard his plea for help, or the gunshots… or both. Which ever one got his brother there faster would be the one he wanted.

Unable to catch his breath, he took a step to the side and bent down with his hands on his knees. A sudden drowsy mist clouding his mind, he let his head drop down but flew backwards in horror when he came face to face with the barrel of a gun. It wasn't one of those tiny silver ones either – this one was full on blow your torso clean off with one shot. What if his attacker's finger slipped? Would he be alive long enough to even decipher what happened?

He backed up and hit right into someone. Too afraid to turn fully around, he looked over his shoulder and saw three men. Where were they coming from? Did they live here? Charlie clenched his teeth together and looked back to the guy with the gun.

"I was just hiking," He reasoned, not bringing up Larry. The gunman looked over Charlie's shoulder and said something in that same language he heard earlier. The men behind him started laughing, he was sure of that; laughing was universal. The man said something else with a grin on his face and jabbed Charlie in the abdomen with his gun. He grabbed it protectively and would have been embarrassed as they all began laughing even harder, but he was too scared to even blink.

Just when he was starting to think they were laughing because they realized that this was all just one big misunderstanding, the gunman went rigid and instantly serious. He barked something at the men behind him; they stepped forward and pulled his arms behind his back. They bound him quickly like they had done it before. The man behind him said something with a laugh and Charlie could just think of what it was.

"I've done this so many times I could do it with my eyes closed!" Or, "Looks like we're going to have a good dinner tonight!"

The man in front of him only grunted and gestured for Charlie to start walking, or at least that's what he thought because the second he started to move the gun hit him hard on the side of his face. With his arms tied behind his back, it was hard to keep balance and he ended up falling down. The men all laughed this time and one took the liberty of kicking him in the side. He gasped and wanted nothing more then to shield himself with his arms, but that was why he was on the ground in the first place.

One of the men bent down, grabbed his forearm and yanked him up. Again, the gunman gestured, but this time Charlie understood. He had walked in the wrong way the first time. He wasn't sure if what was tickling down his face was rain, sweat or blood, but he wanted desperately to wipe it away. He didn't realize how much he used his hands until that moment.

He felt a lot more nervous with the gun behind him. It was weird, now that he couldn't see the threat; he thought it would hurt more. Maybe because surprise was added in, but really he already went over how he'd probably be dead before he even knew what happened. And still, after all the time that it took to get moving, he felt terribly tired. Maybe now that all of the adrenaline was wearing off he was beginning to feel the exhaustion underneath. He doubted that was it.

One man on his side began speaking to him, or at least he thought so. He said something with a grin, reached out and took Charlie's forearm in a tight grip. Just when Charlie was starting to think that he was the only sane one in the bunch, the man pulled his other arm out and pulled a small dart off of his arm. Inside it was still half filled with some green liquid.

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Don had decided to stay with his father for that day. They played a few games but they all ended up with them talking about how good or bad his little brother was at them. He hadn't realized how attached his father had grown to Charlie. It didn't take a genius to know that Alan enjoyed his company more when they were younger, but now… after all of these years-

"Maybe I should try his cell again," Alan said as they both sat at the dining room table. There were ashes on the table, but Don decided not to ask about it.

"Let me try," He suggested, digging through his jacket that was hanging on the back of his chair for his cell. If Charlie picked up, he was going to leave the room. He didn't want his father to hear him yelling at Charlie, but he knew he had too. His dad had enough to worry about without him running off to some forest hike thing so far away.

He pushed the speed dial button and pressed the phone to his ear. His father had tried to call Charlie numerous times before and had gotten no pick up at all, so he was very surprised to hear the phone get answered when he called. Before his brother could say a word he began.

"We've been trying to call you for hours Charlie!" He shouted into the phone. He heard Alan sigh in relief behind him. He guessed that his dad was so happy that Charlie was alive that he took no notice to Don's harsh tone.

"Don?" The voice on the other end asked slightly unsure. It didn't sound like his baby brother at all. Well, that wasn't true. It sounded like those times that Charlie would come into his room when they were younger and say he had a bad dream. Don never took notice that normal kids would've gone to their parent's room, but of course Charlie wasn't normal and Don had made sure that he knew that.

"What's wrong? Did you finally realize what you've been putting Dad through? I'm serious Charlie, he's really-" Don was cut off when the voice started rambling more frantically. The reception was terrible but he could still make out some words.

"Please… help me… men," But before there was more, a loud bang rang through the phone. It was so loud that Don had to bring his ear away from the receiver, but he didn't keep it there for any longer than needed. Something was wrong with Charlie. Leave it to his kid brother to get into trouble wherever he goes.

"Charlie! Charlie what's wrong? What men?" Don asked into the phone, pacing through the dinning room.

"What's wrong? Donnie, what's happening?" Alan asked, getting up from his chair and making his way over. There was a lot of commotion on the other end of the phone, but what scared Don the most was the bangs. They were gun shots; years of experience taught him that, but he still had no idea what was happening.

"Charlie! Hey! Answer me!" He tried again, hoping that this was a mistake. He couldn't imagine any excuse that would make up for this scare. Oh Don, sorry. Larry and I were hunting! Can you believe it? Me… hunting." Then his brother would laugh and apologize and tell him that whatever he was thinking was so wrong. They would laugh about it later too.

He was about to scream into the phone again, but before he could it cut off. Don stood rooted to the spot; unable to move. He still held the phone to his face and tried to block his father's voice out. For some reason, all of his training escaped him. No matter how hard he tried, everything he was taught to do in this type of situation was slipping right out of his hands. He stood mainly because he didn't know what else to do.

"Something's wrong."

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Sorry guys! This got so boring! Uhg. I got a review a little earlier :D Someone begging me to continue, so… I looked through my folder and it turns out that I actually already wrote this chapter. I just never posted it. It's not my best, but I would love to hear what you guys think.

I really don't watch numbers anymore. I used to have hoped that it wasn't another plain old crime drama. You know, it had family! Love… BROTHERS. But… oh well.