The Name's Alex

Chapter Eight

"Hey, you two." Redhead interrupts, walking over with a fake smile on his face. "I was wondering-"

"Sorry! Gotta go!" Alex shouts, taking his chair and tossing it over to them. The two aren't prepared for this and end up fumbling before crashing onto the floor. "Now!" He grabs onto Jack's hand and pulls him out of his chair. As they run down the steps of the library, the shouts of the two men behind us follow.

Ignoring the affronted looks of the other patrons, Alex tightens his grasp on Jack's as he pulls him near the exit. He spots a janitor's closet and rips it open before pushing Jack inside.

"Stay here for ten minutes and keep Charlie informed. Make sure this door doesn't open until ten minutes have passed and then you have Charlie pick you up. Don't go with anyone until then, got it?" Alex rushes out.

"O-okay." Jack takes in a shaky breath before putting his back against the closet wall. "What about you?"

"Gonna give them a good chase." He gives Jack his most confidant smile, well aware of how stressful this must be for him.

He slams the door shut and makes sure to go by the exit doors just as the thugs rush down the stairs. Making sure they see him, he quickly burst through the doors and sprint across the parking lot, aware of the heavy footsteps behind him.

Heart pounding, Alex refuses to look behind him. Past experiences proving that it would be futile to do so. Dodging cars and jumping over a fence, he quickly sprints towards the downtown area. There many people around, but it's enough for him to quickly lose them. After running down a couple of blocks, taking a sharp right into an ally, he ducks behind a dumpster. Breathing labored, he struggles to regulate his breathing while listening for the rushed steps of his potential captors.

"Hurry up, you big oaf!" One of them calls out as hastened footsteps pass Alex's ally.

Alex refuses to move for a couple of seconds, the probability of them turning around and finding him very likely. Peeking out from the trash bin and making his way quietly towards the end of the ally, he edges around the corner. Relieved to see no one there, he slowly lets out the breath he had been holding before sagging against the wall with eyes closed.

'Got away...'

"Found him!"

Gasping, Alex opens his eyes only to see a fist coming at him. Pain bursting in his right eye, he's soon knocked down after another burst of pain to his chest. The last thing he sees is the bald man standing over him with a grin on his face before the darkness covers him.

_____

There's a constant throbbing in Alex's head and the cold feel of metal against his wrist when he comes to. Unable to move, he struggles to listen, wanting to make sure there's no one around him. Only when he's met with no silence does he slowly open his eyes.

The view in front of him gives very little information about where he is. Currently in a dark room, there's a metal door on the other side. A few boxes with worn out labels on them to the left of the door and a shelf with more boxes. Although Alex is not in a chair, allowing him to move his limbs, his right hand is cuffed to a metal pipe sticking out of the dingy wall.

'Great, I'm free to move all of two feet.'

Alex then carefully tenses every muscle in his body to make sure nothing is broken or sprained. Double checking to make sure he can't hear anybody around him or on the other side of the door, he looks through his pockets for his iPod. Turning it on, he scans through the playlists till he finds Requiem. Activating the radio, he sets the volume on low and listens in for anyone around.