Ellie knelt on the floor, her hands bound behind her back and her eyes fixed on the ground. Just moments earlier, the power in the branch had suddenly gone out, and her coworkers and herself had all been wondering what was going on, just when five men dressed in black started yelling for everyone to get to the ground and for the manager to make themselves known. Now, in a full take over of the bank, the front doors locked and everyone out of sight as if there was nothing wrong, everyone had been bound except for the manager, who was outside the back room in front of the safe. The room they had the employees crouching in was a meeting room, which had a full view of the large safe they had just locked for the night. Three of the masked men stood guarding them in that room, while the other two were forcing the manager to open the safe. All of them had guns, and Ellie knew none of them stood a chance if they resisted. Ellie lifted her head just a little, enough to see the scene outside from the corner of her eyes, but not enough to alarm the guards.

"I- I- I- swear this is the right combination!" David, the manager, stuttered. He was sweating and scared.Poor David.Ellie thought. She looked to her other side towards her fellow employees, ties up the same was as her. Expressions of fear all the way around, and Sarah, a young blonde girl, wept as quietly as she could, her terrified body shaking almost violently. Her eyes fell back to David and the two robbers. They were arguing now, David being under far too much stress to do anything properly, and the robbers were convinced that he was doing it on purpose. It wasn't until they raised a handgun to his head that Ellie properly began to fall into extreme fear.

"Hey knock it off!" She yelled, attempting to stand up abruptly. "Can't you see that he's not doing that on purpose!" One of the guards in the room, hit her in the head with the butt of his gun and she fell back to her knees

"Shut up girl-" He started.

"Stop!" The biggest one, obviously the leader, walked over from his place beside David and grabbed Ellie by her hair. Lifting her face back, she could smell his vulgar breath,

"Spunky, aren't you little girl?" He said.

"Don't you know its impolite to hit a lady?" Ellie mustered through gritted teeth. The leader laughed.

"You're quite right my dear, I'll get my boy here right on an apology letter and we'll deliver it to your house, personally." He jeered. The others laughed. "So, would you kindly be able to open this safe door for me? Surely that useless twat isn't the only one who knows the combination." Ellie glared defiantly.

"Unfortunately, that useless twat is having a panic attack, and the only other manager is off today." Ellie growled. The leader humphed and grabbed Ellie by the arm, yanking her up onto her feet and pushing her towards the manager.

"So calm him." He said. "Because this yank is getting me and my boys into that safe. Tonight." His demeanor changed, deadly serious. Ellie swallowed hard and turned to David, who was now in a completely otherworldly stage of freak out.

"David…. Daavidd…. Shhh…" Ellie started to attempt to calm him down as best as she could, with a growing welt on the side of her face and her arms bound. "David look at me, David. Right here. Right in my eyes." Ellie moved her face in order to be right in front of his. He was obviously having a severe panic attack, gasping for air as if the world ran out of it. But slowly, she saw the spark of recognition in his eyes as he stared into hers. "Thaaats it, that's it David." The robbers watched as she spoke to him calmly, her voice so low that they couldn't hear her clearly. Then she looked over at them.

"Do you mind untying me? This is a little difficult." She jabbed. The leader came over and whipped a knife out of his pocket, and cut the ties that bound her- nicking her arm in the process. She did her best not to flinch but the unexpected pain broke her façade. She glared just in time to watch him lick the blood off his knife.

"By the way, I have AIDS." She spit, but he just grinned.

"Good, that'll save me from a life sentence in prison." He replied sarcastically. "Assuming I get caught." Glaring still, she turned back to tend to David, ignoring the stream of blood dripping down her forearm and off her elbow.

Just then, there was a loud smash from the back of the building, making everyone jump and Ellie gasp.

"What was that?"

"Go check it out!" The leader ordered, and two men nodded and immediately went to the back. The leader grunted, cursing under his breath. Ellie pretended not to notice anything and kept tending to David.