"Hello," I Lied.

Nate

After the man hit Jack over the head, I wanted to cry. He smiles weakly at me, trying to give me hope in a situation where I can find none. Several times I noticed something familiar about the gunman, but I have to admit that I'm too nervous to look him directly in the face, even with a mask. Chief Hellwig spoke first.

"Identify yourselves. What do you want." None of his words formed questions, they were more like demands. The man strides over to Jack's dad and leans in close.

"We're only here for two people. As long as you cooperate, no one else will get hurt." The man has a harsh voice, but Chief Hellwig stares at him, intent on getting more information.

"Who do you want and what do you plan on doing with them." A laugh bubbles from our captor as he shift his eyes on my brother and I. A sigh escapes my lips as I guess what he wants us for. To torture dad, of course.

"We'll pull out their fingernails and break each bone in their body until they're screaming for their precious father to save them." Dad jerks his head towards Kyle, trying to say something while the man rambles on about how much we'll regret the day our father put their best men in prison.

He decides to mouth to us his intentions. When it becomes clear to us what our father wants us to do, what he's going to attempt, we both shake our heads. Jack leans against my shoulder, biting his lip. I look at him, wondering how- if- we're going to get out of this alive.

Jack presses his hip against mine, eyes wide. "What?" I mouth silently. He nods out the window, where figures loom. One catches my eye and I notice that they're dressed as cops. I smile, relieved for once. They're here.

Dad doesn't notice before he decides to commence with his plan. Standing up slowly, he charges the gunman, shouting in anger. The man slams his gun against dad's head, knocking him to the ground. Chief Hellwig swings his arm, slamming into the other gunman who had been standing behind him with a gun.

The one my dad had attacked points his deadly weapon at Jack's father, pulling the trigger. The room must have stood still for a full minute as we all watched in horror as the chief first stood in the doorway, wavering back and forth as blood blossomed beneath his collarbone before he collapsed. He lay there, unmoving and lifeless.

A scream erupts from beside me, growing in pitch. Jack stares at his father, and I realize that the inhuman sound is coming from within him. He starts to stand up, bent on revenge, when the gunman turns to him, a deadly look on his face.

It all happens in a blur. Kyle shoves past me and pulls Jack to the ground as the gun practically explodes from the killer's hand. Suddenly men start to pour in the window, yelling at the man to drop his weapon. He zeros in on me, eyes blazing with madness. Whatever he said about hating my dad was true. He wants us all dead, and now he's not going to get it.

His gun, however, thinks otherwise. Pulling his arm up, he grabs me into a choke hold, waving the gun around. "Stay away or I'll put a bullet into his fucking brain, do you hear me?" His grip on my neck is suffocating as I start to gag.

"Nate!" I focus on Jack, whose holding my limp brother in his arms. The man jerks me around again, pulling me out of the bedroom. In the hall, we're met with several more men, who're dressed in uniforms with the words 'SWAT' on them. I gulp, terrified they'd shoot me if they went in for the kill on the crazy gunmen.

They hold their fire, however, as he drags me into the bathroom, my feet slipping from beneath me. A vision of a noose around my neck lingers in my head, causing me to freak out a little as he slams the door shut, ignoring the demands of release from the police.