who lives; who dies; who tells your story

q u i n c e

he watched helplessly as the man lifted the object above his head.

however, instead of bringing it down like bailey assumed, a look of surprise crossed his features. the man didn't have time to turn around before he was knocked unconscious. the football lover hastily shoved the heavy body off of his own.

ryan was breathing heavily after hitting the man with the bat he forced out of unsuspecting hands; the boy dropped it and clutched his side tightly. bailey lifted his head in both awe and worry; after a few seconds, the skinny boy held out his free hand and the other took it gratefully. as bailey stood, both he and ryan made eye contact.

without warning, bailey leant down and firmly pressed his lips to ryan's. the boy gave a small noise of shock but kissed back nonetheless. they pulled away after a few seconds when they heard someone clear their throat. it was jody; they'd forgotten the other two were in the room with them.

blushing, both boys stepped back however they still had small smiles on their faces. mo grinned as jody rolled her eyes jokingly, though the movement was slow and just didn't look right.

besides that, it was a nice moment. for an instant, they could forget about what had just transpired and the horrors before it.

but it was only a moment.

a low groan startled the group.

"quick, see if he's got our phones and take one or two off him," ryan said hastily. mo instantly ran to the unconscious man and searched the pockets of his jacket. not a second later, he pulled out a mobile and quickly checked it was still working. satisfied, he made his way back to the group of teenagers who were attempting to kick down the door.

well, one of them was. ryan was watching impatiently from the side whereas jody was practically laying on the wall. she had gone extremely pale.

"it won't work if you get the middle. go for the lock," ryan said from the side. he was leaning heavily on the table - all this movement was clearly taking a toll on him as well.

bailey didn't question ryan, instead he forcefully kicked near the lock and was relieved to see it had bent in marginally. with more confidence, the boy hit it again and again until it caved.

jody smiled lightly with dazed relief and ushered mo in front of her whilst bailey put an arm around ryan and helped him along.

"which way?" ryan breathed out, adrenaline fuelling his aching body.

"through here,"

ryan and bailey went ahead whilst the other pair strayed behind.

"mmmo," jody slurred. the boy turned to her and his eyes widened in shock.

she tried to lean her hand against the wall but her arm seemed to have gone completely slack. he watched in morbid curiosity and worry as her shoulder slammed against the wall instead, bashing her head against the hard surface once more.

mo immediately ran to her and pulled her arm around his shoulder. he couldn't shout bailey for help, the older boy already had enough on his hands trying to help ryan. besides, they weren't far now.

"c'mon jody. we're nearly out," he huffed out. she only groaned in response.

after a moment of hauling each other along, the pair heard some muffled shouts ahead of them.

"they're here!"

it took a few second for the words to process but his body had already taken over and was rushing towards the noise.