Hannah sprinted out of the building with Ian close behind. He didn't need to ask to know where she was going. Everyone had lost someone on the day of the snap. For Hannah, it was her husband, Sam. While time had made things easier, she always called in sick on their wedding anniversary. Ian supported her every June 25 and she returned the favor on his aunt's birthday. There was no judgment and they moved on without comment when those dreaded days were over. They were just two of many people doing their best to survive after their worlds came crashing down.

Ian climbed into the passenger seat of Hannah's car. He grabbed the keys before she could start the engine.

"Give them back!" she cried. "I have to find him!"

Ian held the keys just out of reach. "I know you do, but you can't put yourself at risk. You and I both know this car is on its last leg." he pointed to the odometer that had just rolled over to 300,000 miles. "We'll take my car. If it's anything like last time the streets will be a mess."

Hannah scowled, but knew Ian was right. The short trip to work often left the engine smoking. Zig-zagging across town would be too much for the aging Honda.

Without wasting another minute, the pair switched over to Ian's Jeep.

"Where was he on the day of the snap?" Ian asked as he pulled out of the parking garage and joined the parade of honking cars.

"I'm not sure, but I think we should start looking at Lakeside View. " Hannah replied.

Sam worked as a gallery assistant at Lakeside View, a prestigious art gallery located a few blocks away from Thor's Hammer. While he hoped that his job would involve rubbing elbows with the greats of the Chicago art scene, gallery assistant was more or less code for errand boy. For a mere $12.50 an hour, Sam was sent all over town picking up coffee, passing out flyers, and playing chauffeur for art director Aaden Dion's children. Sam did it all with a smile, hoping that one day it would be his art on the walls.

An hour later Ian and Hannah entered the crumbling brick building that had once been home to the Lakeside View. While the building no longer housed paintings worth millions, the walls did sport a stunning assortment of graffiti. Block letters and colorful characters filled the once pristine white walls. While the art community longed for days past, Ian preferred it that way. It reminded him of simpler times spent roaming the streets of Brooklyn with his friends.

Hannah cupped her hands around her mouth. "Sam, where are you!" she yelled as loudly as she could as she searched each abandoned hallway. Something rustled in the shadows. The buzzing in the back of Ian's skull intensified. Something bad was coming their way.

He shoved Hannah behind him. "Who's there!" he shouted. "Sam?"

A startled cat slunk out from behind an overturned pedestal.

"Just a cat," Hannah whispered. "He isn't here."

Ian steadied himself against a wall. "Are there any other places he might have gone?"

"He babysat George and Thomas on Fridays," Hannah replied with a troubled look on her face. "He could have taken them to the zoo, playground, t-ball practice, or karate lessons."

Ian sighed. Why couldn't Sam have a normal desk job? "We'll just have to check them all."

Ian and Hannah had no luck with the first three places. No one had seen or heard from Sam. While he didn't say it out loud, Ian wondered if it was all a wild goose chase. There were infinite places where Sam could have ended up. Locating one person in Chicago was like finding a needle in a haystack while blindfolded. It was dangerous and they were nearly certain to fail, but he would do it for Hannah.

Three hours and several nerve-racking near-accidents later, Ian pulled up in front of Kung Fu kids. The dojo catering to wealthy parents who believed their six-year-olds were sure to become the next Karate Kid. They rushed into the building where a man was rocking a sobbing five-year-old with a blackbelt.

"Are you looking for your son or daughter?" he asked, desperately hoping to be relieved of his charge.

"I'm looking for my husband, Sam, he's about five eleven with black hair and blue eyes. He was here five years ago dropping off the Dion twins." Hannah replied hoping that Sam was somewhere inside singing nursery rhymes and handing out juice to terrified toddlers.

"Sorry," The man said with a thousand-yard stare. "There's only me and kids here, far too many kids." While Ian felt bad about leaving the man with a room full of upset children, he was focused on finding Sam before dark. Things were already spiraling out of control. Being on the streets after dark would be deadly.

"Think Hannah, where else could he have gone?" Ian asked as he narrowly avoided a speeding cop car.

Hannah closed her eyes and took a deep breath."I don't know."

"Maybe we could check the airport where you found his car."

"He wouldn't have gone there." She took a shaky breath. "Sam hated flying. No way he would go anywhere near a plane."

Ian placed a hand on her shoulder. "It's going to be okay, we'll find him."

"You saw how badly damaged his car was. They said he hit a power line." She swallowed hard. "What if he didn't make it?"

"A lot of cars were damaged that day. He probably disappeared before the accident."

"But what if he didn't?"

"Then there would have been a body." Ian shuttered at the memory of bodies lining Metlife field. "Just think, where else could Sam have gone?"

"He could have gone to Navy Pier."

Ian stared at Hannah. "You're kidding, right?"

Hannah looked down at the floor. "He liked taking pictures there."

Ian shook his head. Of course Sam would end up in the most dangerous part of town. "We'll go to Navy Pier, but if he isn't there were going home."

Ian ignored the buzzing in his head and headed towards Navy Pier. What had once been an ideal spot for family fun had been transformed into a hub of criminal activity. The overworked police force turned a blind eye to drugs, prostitution, and gang battles. It didn't even make the papers when a suitcase full of money and eight dead bodies were found rotting by the Ferris wheel. That kind of thing wasn't really news anymore in Chi-Raq.

Ian hesitated before exiting the car. His mind was screaming that someone was in danger. "Not my problem anymore," he told himself. His only concerns were protecting Hannah and hopefully finding Sam. Everyone else would have to fend for themselves.

"You don't have to come with me," Hannah said as she rolled up her pants to expose her company-issued handgun.

"No way," Ian replied as he turned the safety off on his gun. "We're in this together."

Hannah didn't argue knowing full well how dangerous it was for a lone female in that area. The pair exiting the car with guns drawn. While they had never had to use them, both knew how and when to pull the trigger.

"Sam!" Hannah yelled over the shouts of dozens of other people looking for missing loved ones. A flash of blue caught her eye across the pier.

"Sam! Stop!" she yelled. She had to catch him before he disappeared into the crowd. It had to be him. Who else would dare to wear a paint-covered Hawkeyes shirt so close to Soldier Field? Without evening acknowledging the pops of gunfire, Hannah fearlessly sprinted into the growing crowd. Ian cursed under his breath and ran after her. The things he did for love.

Hannah slammed into the man with her arms open wide.

"Watch it, lady!" he growled. He had blue eyes and black hair, but he wasn't Sam.

Ian's eyes widened at the glowing weapon pointed at his girlfriend's head. Earth made guns were legal, but that alien ray gun wasn't. In one swift movement, he pushed Hannah back, grabbed the gun, and tossed it into the lake. The not Sam man charged at Ian with the intent of knocking him off the pier. In no mood for a swim, Ian grabbed the man around the waist and flipped him over his shoulder and into the water. Hannah's jaw dropped and Ian's face reddened. He could lie about his sticky hands and quick reflexes, but there was no way to explain how'd he'd managed to beat a man twice his size.