Elena.

We'd spent so much time in the tunnel, I lost track of time. Ryan had shut the bookcase shut again and he more gently pulled me by the arm into the tunnel, but soon we were both running.

"What we need to focus on right now is getting out of here." Ryan finally said abruptly. I looked over to him which slowed me down, so he had to tug on my arm a lot harder than the first time so we could keep the fast pace on the hard pavement.

"And where, exactly is here? I said. I didn't bother whispering because the sound of our footsteps echoing off the stone walls had given us away in the first place. He slowed down his pace a little, finally letting go of my arm. I looked down at it to find distinctive marks on it where he had been grasping me.

"We're in a tunnel directly under a city. In a minute we're coming up to a ladder that will take us up to an empty street." Sure enough, we came up to a long and narrow ladder that went up to a metal ring that must have been the lid you might see for a sewer. I knew that this was the exit. Ryan told me he was going up first in order to help me get out of the hole, so I climbed the ladder behind him as carefully but quickly as I could. He helped me up with one swift pull and I found myself in some unknown city. There were a few lights in the large and dull broken-down buildings. We'd come up in an alley, the street only a few feet away. He closed the lid behind me as I climbed out.

He walked over to a payphone and took some change out of his wallet and pushed the coins in. Ryan had left his cell phone downstairs when we were getting his guitar. He punched some phones in and waited for an answer.

"Yes. Yeah...Bye." Ryan said in a monotone voice. A minute later he'd hung up the phone and sat down on the bench I was sitting on nearby. He cleared his throat before he spoke.
"Remember about that person you might be meeting?"

"The one you were talking t one the phone before?"

"Yes. Here he is now."

A pick up truck appeared out in the distance. It stopped right in front of us and Ryan opened the backseat door for me as he got in the passenger seat. Immediately, the car made a silent roar as it gained speed again.

Inside the pickup truck, there was absolutely no light, but that wasn't why I couldn't see Ryan or the driver. The seats in the car were very big, but from what I could tell, the driver was a little younger than me. I figured because his profile's features were a lot softer than Ryan's, who was my age. He had blue hair that covered his eyes, his hands were visible because they were on the wheel, so I noticed that he was just as abnormally pale as he was thin. Ryan abruptly and thoroughly introduced us, which was only reasonable given our situation. I said hello, and he curtly muttered hello back. His name was Kadin, and he was one of us too. He hardly spoke, only when he absolutely needed to, only asking for directions every once in a while. Ryan and I didn't speak at all either, as we were too caught up in our thoughts. Well, at least I was.

Ryan assured me we were going to be fine in a calmer voice now, and told me to rest. I didn't want to, but I didn't know what came over me but I soon felt my cheek prop against the cold car window...

I was woken up with the screeching of tires. My head shot up and tried to look out the windows covered in fog. Before I could ask where we were, Ryan was already out of the car and walking up to some neon 'VACANCY' lights that dimly illuminated the car. I would have asked anyone else where we were, but I only had one option.

"Kadin...?" I asked timidly. He made a grunting noise to indicate he'd heard me. He didn't bother turning around to face me, but I didn't mind.

"Why did we stop?"

"The sun's about to come out." He said. I knew what he meant by it, and I knew that it would mean that Kadin would have to find a refuge as well.

"Where are you st-" I was interrupted with the sound of my car door opening. Ryan had gotten us a room and had come to fetch me. I thanked Kadin for bringing us here as I got out, Ryan still holding the door for me. I saw Kadin's profile a lot more clearly now, and for the first time, Kadin turned to look at me. He gave me a small smile, but stopped half way when he saw that I noticed the scar that started down and across his cheek up to the bridge of his nose. Ryan saw all of this so he quietly shut the door and the car drove off. I turned to Ryan for an explanation, but instead his waved it away indicating that it wasn't important. I let it go and we headed upstairs to our room.

"Ugh...I'm.starving." Ryan said between bites of his sixth piece of pizza.

"You know that that pizza isn't going to help." I said a little irritated. He didn't answer so I looked away from the TV just in time to see him roll his eyes at me. "What?" I demanded, turning the television off and completely facing him. I was sitting on the bed, while he ate on the small table provided. The bed only had the cover over it now, while the sheets hung over the windows so Ryan would be protected by the sun. I'd been a little startled to find out there was only one bed, but Ryan let me know that he never slept and even if he did, we were only staying here for a few hours until the sun went down...I'll have time to think about the strange sleeplessness later.

"What?" I repeated, as he just turned his focus on his pizza. He took a peek at me, which he knew was a mistake. I'd lost my patience and was now glaring at him.

"It's just funny how-not funny but...I can tell that you're irritated when you're hungry. That's it," he said holding up his hands defensively. I apologized for the way I overreacted, and he shrugged it off, saying he was a lot worse. I would have laughed along with him, but I could tell he wasn't kidding.

All we did in the room was wait, wait until the sun would come down again, so we could continue on to wherever it was. My short daydreaming was interrupted when Ryan started shaking me.

"The suns down, time to go."

We walked out of the room just as easily as we'd walked in because we hadn't brought anything with us. I recognized Kadin's car, and I felt a sudden jolt of embarrassment from remembering the time when I saw him last. Ryan mouthed 'don't worry' as we got in the truck once more. Everything was silent for a moment, but surprisingly Kadin was the first one to speak and we drove away from the hotel.

"Hey." He said. I couldn't see his or Ryan's face, but the atmosphere was no where near as tense.

"Hi." I replied. I knew that Kadin and I weren't ever going to be friends, but that from now until he dropped us off, we would enjoy each others company.