Escape

Chapter Twenty-two

Bryna's P.O.V

Alex leads us into a small gas station, and then into the backroom.

"Alex?" Brian calls faintly. "That you?"

"Yeah," he calls. "I have some guests, too."

"Do they have medicine?" a voice that can only be Lea's asks.

"I'm almost certain," Alex replies, leading us to where they're sitting.

Lea and Justin are all sitting on either side of Brian, who's laying down on a make-shift cot of sleeping bags and blankets lain down on top of a metal table. Lea's clutching Brian's hand like it's her lifeline, and Justin's sleeping with his head in his arms, propped onto the table.

When Lea sees Aaron, she lets out a gasp and leaps up, running to him and enveloping him into a hug. I watch the two of them with a smile, noting Aaron's ear-to-ear grin in satisfaction.

Brian's staring at me with wide eyes, like he can't believe I'm here.

I walk over to him, sitting on the table at his side. "Hey."

"Bryna? You're actually here?"

I look down at myself. "I mean... unless this is one of my crazier dreams and we're both hallucinating, then yeah, I think so."

He grins, and I lean down, hugging him. He wraps his arms around me. "Thank God, Brie. I thought you were dead."

I laugh. "Careful of my ribs. But I wouldn't leave you without so much as a goodbye, Brian. We both know I'm too stubborn to let a silly thing like death get in my way."

Brian laughs. "I know. God, Brie. You don't know how upset I was when we had to move on without you. It killed me."

"I know. And I'm sorry. But I was too busy being held captive to do anything about it." I pull away. "So, you and Lea, huh?"

His cheeks redden, and I grin. "She... I... Ugh. Can we not do this right now?"

I laugh. "So Lea's your type then?" I shrug. "Not exactly complaining. She's a great girl." I poke him. "Be good to her or Aaron'll castrate you. Pre-warning."

"Heh. I figured as much. So what's up with your ribs?"

"Small incident." I shrug. "Nothing to worry about. They're just a bit bruised."

He nods. "You're lying."

"Underplaying it, more like. But don't worry about it. Worry about healing up, yeah?"

He sighs. "Sure, Brie."

I smile, before standing up and walking over to Lea and Aaron, who are sitting on the ground, Aaron's arm wrapped around Lea as they talk. I sit in front of them, shrugging off my bag and propping it in front of me, resting my arms on it and then my head on top of my arms. "Hello."

Lea looks at me, grinning broadly. She moves away from Aaron and wraps me in an hug, made awkward by the bag between us both. I laugh, hugging her back.

"Thank you for keeping my brother alive," she whispers.

I smile. "No problem, Lea. Thank you for being there for Brian."

She giggles. "It wasn't that hard," she says. 

"Neither was keeping Aaron alive," I chuckle. "But I did all the same."

She smiles, pulling away. "I missed you."

"I missed you too," I reply, shifting back into my previous position. "But I'm glad you were here instead of there. It... wasn't fun."