Aaron

29- Life and Death

Thea's P.O.V.

"SOMEONE PICK UP YOUR FUCKING PHONES!" I screamed at Beck's voicemail as I weaved in and out of traffic.

Traffic was terrible right now and I knew I broke at least three traffic violations just trying to get out of the parking garage alone.

I honked my horn, warning someone I was about to cut off as I tried getting onto the off ramp. "SORRY!"

4:36. I needed to make it downtown and fast.

My phone rang. Silas.

"Seriously, if I make it out of this shit alive... I'm kicking all of your asses."

"I'm sorry. We were raiding a house. What's up?"

"I'm on my way to Aaron. I think I might have found him. Miguel wasn't helpful and I don't know what I'm walking into. It's in Hybridge. There's a building that has a giant clock on it."

"Yeah, I know what you're talking about. We're probably forty-five minutes away with traffic. It's an extremely dangerous neighborhood so wait until we get there."

I looked down at the time. "I can't wait. Aaron doesn't have time."

I hung up my phone, silencing it and continued heading to the area I prayed I was right about.

Parking my car, I got out and got my gun ready, in case I needed it. Silas was right, this area wasn't a good part of the City. Plus I wasn't sure where the Rojas brothers were.

Looking up, in the middle of the abandoned buildings was the one with a clock that hadn't worked for as long as I could remember and it was stuck at 5:00.

I knew I had the right place.

I squeezed through the chained gate and entered the building. I lifted my gun and a flashlight as I continued further down the hall. The smell of the wet rotting walls filled my nose. The floor creaked at every step. Chills ran down my spine as I brushed the sticky cobwebs away from my face. I hated spiders and I hated mice even more. A rat scurried across the floor in front of me, making me stop, which brought my attention to the one sitting on a windowsill by my shoulder.

I fought the urge to turn around and kept going because I was running out of time.

Miguel knew I would hate this place. The question was how did he know this about me because not many people did.

I rounded the corner and saw Aaron sitting on a chair in the middle of the room.

"Aaron?" I whispered.

He moved just slightly as I made my way quietly to him.

"Aaron-" As I got up to him, I slowed down when I noticed a bomb, attached to the chair. "Holy shit." I lightly touched the side of his face, seeing he was beaten and bloody. "Oh my God."

"Hey, Beautiful." He mumbled as he looked up at me.

"Is anyone still here with you?"

"No. Just us."

I knelt down in front of him, seeing I didn't have enough time to call anyone for help. "What did they do to you?"

"Nothing I couldn't handle. You need to get out of here."

"I'm not going to leave you, Aaron."

"Babe, it's fine. You need to leave before this thing goes off."

I fought back tears and shook my head, "I'm not leaving."

I wiped my eyes as I examined the bomb. After a few moments I let out a breath, "Okay, I'm going to try an unarmed this thing."