Family Tradition

After I had stopped swaying, I tried looking around for any possible threat. My mind was going a million miles an hour trying to figure out how we could get ourselves out of this. Like Alina said, we definitely hadn't planned for something like this to go down. There was no way Alina could free herself from the ropes they had tied her with.

"Who do you think that was outside?" Alina asked quietly. I looked over to see her staring off towards an area of the room that was full of big cardboard boxes.

"I don't know, cops maybe?" I suggested, wincing when I heard another shot fired, followed by at least five or six more, rapid fire. Every time I heard one it made me wince. I was like a sitting duck, extremely vunerable, and I hated it.

"I don't think it's the cops," Alina said and I bit my lip. I didn't really think so either, but who could it be? Nobody we knew, because we didn't have any allies in this game. It was just us, so if anyone were to help us, it would be a miracle.

"Me either. But hey, prepair for the worst, hope for the best, right?" As I said this, Alina just shrugged, keeping her eyes on the stack of boxes that she'd been watching the whole time we were talking. "What are you doing?"

"I think there's someone over there," She said so quietly I barley heard her.

"Okay? They obviously haven't done anything, so who gives a shit?"

"I don't trust it...don't you have that feeling that something is going to happen?"

"Something bad or something good? Because if it's something good, I'm all for welcoming the feeling," I said and knew that she had probably rolled her eyes at me.

"I have no idea. But I want to know who the fuck it is back there."

"You wanna know who it is? Hey! We know you're back there!" I called out and Alina whipped her head around to look at me.

"You're a dumbass," She said, but I noticed a hint of a smile on her face.

"Well damn. I thought I knew what I was doing," I heard a voice say.

"That voice sounds familiar, doesn't it?" I asked, looking down to Alina to see her nod.

"I'm here to help you ladies, don't flip out on me, alright?" I watched the boxes as a dark figure walked into the dim lighting. I felt my eyes widen when I recognized him.

"Did you fucking set us up?!" I yelled, thrashing around, at the same time Alina yelled something.

"Did you not just hear me? I said I'm here to help you!" I glared down at the man we had met in the diner a few days before as he walked towards us.

"Why would you want to help us?"

"Because me and my boys got a clue sayin' some innocent's were gunna get hurt here, at least that's how we read into it. I swear, that's it. I'm gunna get you down from that, alright?" He asked, moving towards the crain and I groaned.

"At least get Alina first," I suggested and he looked up at me with a quizzical look.

"You're hanging from a fucking crain..."

"Yes, I'm aware of that. But she'll be easier to help, now go get her," I said and he shrugged, turning to walk over and help untie her. As I heard the ropes drop and saw Alina stand up, the man turned to look at me.

"Am I allowed to help you now?" He asked, cocking his head to the side as he stood there looking up at me

"You're seriously waiting for permission?" I asked. He took that as a yes and walked behind me towards the controls. He brought the machine alive with a loud roar that caused me to wince. Suddenly, I was being raised higher up.

"Wrong way genius!" Alina yelled at him and I stopped rising. I heard some gears grinding before I was slowly being lowered to the ground. Once the hook was lowered enough, I removed the rope from around it as Alina rushd over and untied me.

"Come on, we don't have much time before those douchebags get back here," Romeo said impatiently. I looked over to Alina and could tell by the look on her face that she had the same idea I did. We nodded and followed Romeo out of the huge room, into a smaller room that looked like a lounge. A ratty couch was pushed against one wall, a old worn coffee table sat in the middle of the room and next to the barred window was an old 60's style refrigerator. The only other noticeable thing left in the room was a door, which Romeo led us through, taking us outside.

"You thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?" Alina asked quietly so Romeo wouldn't hear.

"I'm pretty sure, yeah. You have any guns on you?" I asked and she shook her head.

"Fuck," I muttered. We were gunna have to figure out where the fuck we were, and then how to get back to the car.

"Listen, I'm pretty sure I know how to get back. I'm just not sure how the fuck we're gunna get out of here..." Alina said, leaning forward to watch Romeo look around for anyone.

"I have an idea, okay?" I said and she nodded as Romeo turned to look at us.

"The coast is clear, come on," He said in a loud whisper as he ran around the corner of the building. Alina went to follow him, but I grabbed her hand, dragging her in the opposite direction. As we rounded the opposite corner, I stopped dead in my tracks.

"Well, that's just oddly convenient," Alina said, and I looked over at her to see her eyebrows raised.

"Extremely," I said as we ran to the car. Alina opened the door and looked up at me with a grin.

"There's keys," She said, jumping in the drivers seat. I smiled as I got in the car, shutting the door quietly. I prayed silently that the car was in good condition, and when the engine roared, I couldn't help but grin.

"Now let's get the fuck outta here!" I yelled.

"With pleasure!" Alina said as she hit the gas, sending pieces of gravel flying behind us. I turned back to see if anyone was following us as we sped away down the street, but it looked like everyone was occupied with Romeos friends.

"Who do you think that was with him?" I asked as I turned back around.

"I have no clue, what makes you ask?" Alina asked as she pulled an extremely sharp turn into heavy traffic, getting numerous horns honked at us.

"If someone contacted them to save us, or whatever it was, they had to have been someone. Or at least they must have thought we knew them..."

"Who knows? Those guys weren't the brighests crayons in the box, obviously."

"Yeah, you have a point there."

"I kinda feel bad though.."

"About what?!" I exclaimed, look at her as if she had grown two extra heads.

"I mean, they did help us. If not for them, I'm sure one of us, if not both would be dead by now. And we just kind of ditched them."

"We didn't kind of ditch them. We full blown ditched them. But what were we supposed to do? Just sit there with no weapons? This was the best we could do. I'd rather be a jerk for running away before saying thank you as opposed to being a sitting duck. You know?"

"Oh yeah."

"Plus, if they could find us there, they'd probably be able to find us if they really need to."