A/N: OMG you guys…so sorry! I've been so busy with school and have a lot of homework. Please forgive me and I'll keep updating! Also, I want to take this time to congratulate Tomkat (Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes) on their pregnancy! (If it's not a hoax, lol). And for everyone who is a Justin Chatwin fan, I offer some news: He is signed up to star in a movie called 'The Pornographer's Poem, a Canadian film about a young man discovering his…er…body…So that's interesting.

Chapter Seven: Caught

Opening the door, Robbie stepped out side. Ray glanced all around them as if he thought they were a fly in a spider web, waiting to be caught. A terrible feeling crept up his spine as the spider shortened the distance between he and his prey. Ray had been feeling the urge to move as soon as he stopped the car, yet he turned off the ignition, to save the declining amount of gas left in the car.

"Hurry up, Robbie," Ray called as his son slipped out of the car and strode towards the store.

As Robbie disappeared inside, Alex felt she was being watched. She turned her head slowly. "A man!" she managed to exclaim in awe as he staggered like a drunken fool towards the car.

As fast as he could, Ray's head was turned to the left. "Oh God," he muttered under his breath. The spider was gaining ground. The man tripped and stumbled over some loose rubble as he approached the car muttering under his breath.

"Who is that?" asked Rachel, innocently.

"Just lock your door, Rachel," Ray answered. "Lock your doors." There was an echo of snapping sounds as the van doors were locked.

"Why are you afraid, Dad?"

At the mere sight of the man, Alex's heart started beating. He looked intoxicated as he stumbled more and more, getting closer and closer to the van.

"Hurry up, Robbie," Ray glanced from the man to the grocery store several times, waiting anxiously for his son to appear.

"You!" Ray turned his head back to the man as he began running for the van, his arms flailing wildly in a drunken manner. "Stop! STOP!"

"What's this maniac doing? Are all your doors locked?" Ray asked, turning his head to glance quickly at his daughter and Alex.

Rachel nodded her head, furiously bewildered. "Yes, yes," Alex answered for them both. Alex glanced towards the door to the crumbling store and when she looked back, there was a loud thunk against the side of the van, followed by a chorus open of ferocious knocks.

"Please!" the man cried, slamming his fist against the door as Ray looked at his bewildered and at a loss for words. "Please, open the door! I'm alone! Let me in!"

"I'm sorry," Ray replied, not sounding sorry at all.

"Dad, open the door!" Rachel shouted. "Open it, Daddy."

"Rachel," Alex touched the girl's shoulder lightly to calm her. "Don't be afraid, Rachel."

"Why won't you let him in, Dad? Just let him in."

"I can't, Rachel!" Ray bellowed, his frustration growing with every breath. "I don't know this man. What if he took our car?"

"You don't know he'll do that."

"You don't he won't."

"Just listen to your dad, Rachel," Alex suggested.

The man continued pounding and every time Ray shook his head, he would pound harder, until Alex could see his fists glowing bright red.

Robbie's fingers slid along the soft glass counter. In one hand, he held a bag of groceries that he had collected throughout the store. He glared at all the knives in the case with awe. The glass case had been broken, he could take anything.

Though no one else was in the store, he couldn't help but glance around just to make sure no one saw him steal the knives. It's for our survival, he told himself. Just like the food. It's not like anyone's gonna notice if one is gone anyway.

He grabbed a knife with a tiny leather sheath; it was a hunting knife, he guessed, but he wouldn't use it to hunt any deer…

"Robbie!" Ray's voice was faint through the glass, but Robbie couldn't mistake it; his father sounded urgent.

Rushing, he put the knife in his pocket and trudged out the door. Immediately, he noticed the man outside the door. As Robbie stepped onto the road, the man suddenly realized his presence and seized the opportunity to attack.

He ran from the van towards Robbie. Robbie blinked, not sure of what was happening as the man rushed forward like a madman.

"Robbie!" It was a mistake, but Robbie couldn't but shift his gaze to his crying sister as she called his name. Suddenly, he felt the wind knocked from his chest as he fell to the ground. The man towered above him and grabbed his arm tightly. The bag of food had dropped to the ground.

Robbie kicked the man with his knee in the stomach and the slowly balding man forced himself off the boy. As Robbie stood, he reached for his arm again.

By the time Alex's hands were gripping the door, Ray had already leapt out of the car. I'll stay here, she thought, unless they need me. Her blood ran cold and her face was a milky white with fear.

Rachel was screaming Robbie's name and Alex then tried to hush her. Ray crept on the man from behind, aiming a blow at his back. The man fell to the ground, stunned.

"Come on, Robbie," Ray gripped his son's arm and headed for the van.

"Wait," Robbie pulled away to grab the bag of food.

They rushed back into the car as the strange man pushed himself off the ground. He was screaming as Ray turned on the van and began to drive away.

"Oh my god, Robbie are you okay?" Alex asked as soon as he sat down and shut the van door. He was watching the man stumble after them from behind.

"Yeah," Robbie wiped a spot of blood off his cracked lips."

"Here, I got some food." He was breathing heavily, his chest rising up and down. Ray was breathing hard too. Rachel kept quiet, still in shock, and listened.

Ray didn't even notice the deadly blade in his son's pocket.

A/N: Review please! And I'll update sooner. Thanks for reading. The chappie will come hopefully by the end of the month.

-Modesty