A pair of small black and pink skateboarding shoes slammed the ground in the middle of a forest somewhere in the California country. The owner of these shoes was running, heavily out of breath, her heart hammering so hard against the inside of her chest, it was likely to break through. The girl groaned, terrified, and stopped where she was at. She looked around.
"You can't hide, Jade!" another male voice shouted from far off in the distance. Jade gasped and turned to run again. She'd made it about 8 feet when her foot tangled around a tree root, and her body tumbled to the ground.
"Ah!" she cried, landing hard. "Fuck!" she said in a high pitched, cracked tone, scrambling to her feet. She turned in every direction, breathing heavily. A fair amount of blood was running from her nose now. A twig snapped to her left. Shee looked quickly in that direction. Suddenly an arm flew around her neck, pinning her in a headlock. Jade gasped and cried out in horror.
"Jade, Jade, Jade," the tall man tutted, waving a gun around in the air. Jade tugged at his arm, throwing hher head back, blood still pouring from her nose. "Why are you running from me, Jade? It's not going to hurt." He ran his gun down the side of Jade's face.
"Please," Jade choked, tears forming in her eyes, "Brad, please." Brad shook his head.
"Big Bad Brad doesn't know what 'please' means, Jadie," he chuckled, putting the gun to Jade's head.
"No, no, no, no!" Jade cried, "Please! Please!" She screamed so loudly it echoed. Shee pulled hard on Brad's arm, now whimpering as if she were a little child. Brad let his finger put a little pressure on the trigger...
A loud growl issued from Brad's left, and when he turned to see where it was coming from, he was knocked to the ground, the gun falling from his hand.
"Run, Jade!" the man yelled. Jae, who had landed hard, looked up. "Run!" the guy yelled again. Jade wiped her nose hard on her sleeve.
"Mike," he muttered. Brad started to move.
"Jade, just get the Hell out of here!" Mike yelled. Brad groaned. Jade looked down at the man.
"Arggh..Mike," Brad moaned, looking up at his opposer. Mike looked down at him. He glanced back up at Jade, out of breath.
"Jade, go," he growled. Jade still didn't move. "GO!" Brad jumped to his feet. Jade gasped and fell backward on a tree, then turned and ran, looking over her shoulder at Mike.
~*~
The tour bus stopped, and shouting issued from inside.
"Damnit, Chester, stop fucking pushing," Rob yelled, "I'm getting out as fast as I can." Chester shoved him hard.
"Well, my grandma was slow, too, but she was old. Get out of the way," Chester complained, "I'm hungry." He pushed Rob out of the way, and came down the stairs of the bus, stepping into the sunshine. Rob, shaking his head, stepped out of the bus and shielded his eyes. Mike, Brad, Joe, and Phoenix followed, conversing about Joe's stupid stunt at the meet and greet some 2 hours before.
"If that fat ass security guard hadn't been there, we would have had to have peeled you off the ground, Hahn," Phoenix laughed. Joe looked at him.
"I didn't see you helping," he spat. Phoenix laughed, whacking him on the back. Mike chuckled and shook his head. He looked up at the studio that they'd been away from for 4 months.
"I'm so fucking happy this tour is over," Joe muttered. Brad looked at him.
"Yeah, me too," he smiled. Mike sighed.
"Yeah, well, at least you guys have something to go home to now," he shouldered his bag and walked inside the studio, leaving the others behind. Brad sighed and watched Mike go. He and Anna had broken up at the beginning of Linkin Park's summer tour. She'd gotten fed up with Mike's constant leaving. It had been pretty hard on Mike.
