Saturday, June 3rd, 2017. 3:35 AM.
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I wasn't sure why but the first thing I wanted to do was to hug him, but I stayed put on the couch with my mug held tightly to my chest. He was in casual clothing, of course, he wouldn't be in his work clothes anymore that was hours ago. His white t-shirt hugged his shoulders and his blue jeans were an old favorite. Leaning back into my cushions I sipped at my tea and averted my eyes from his face.

He kept his blue eyes on Ben and I watched the two of them size each other up. Ben wasn't phased and neither was Clark, but you could feel the tension in the air. Ben cleared his throat and spoke.

"Thanks for bringing her home." He addressed Clark.

I glanced at Lois who was biting her lip before shooting me a worried look.

"She should be in a hospital," Clark answered back.

"She wanted to be here."

"She fainted. Lost hours of her day and can't keep anything down." Clark defended, his fists clenching a bit.

"Why do you think that might be? Vomiting, nausea, fainting spells. Are you afraid of what it could mean for her and me, Clark?" Ben growled stepping forward.

Instantly, I stood up, the world tilted a bit and I had to fight vertigo. Lois reached out to steady me a hand on my hip and the other holding my wrist. I hadn't even realized I had brought my hand up.

"She is right here. Ben, thank you for staying and making me food, but we broke up. Lois and Clark are more than enough to take care of me right now. Besides you have an apartment to move into." I chided.

Both men kept their blue eyes locked on me, and I sighed sitting back down. My head was thumping and the speed in which I stood up made my stomach twirl. I clenched my jaw but couldn't escape the feeling of the bile rising in my throat. With a grunt, I shoved myself away from the couch, out of Lois' grasp and towards the sink. Ben had reached for me and I shook his hand off my back and flew to the sink just in time. I wretched loudly into the metal sink, a few forks and glasses getting the brunt of my bile. It burned my throat and tears pricked my eyes as I heaved.

Finally, my stomach calmed down and I turn the sink on cupping water into my mouth and swishing it around before spitting it out. Slowly, I turned the sink off, my body heavy as I slid down the counter, planting myself on the floor. I had my hands in my hair as tears spilled.

"What is happening to me?"

No one answered.

"Don't all speak at once," I murmured casting my eyes up to the others in my apartment, "Someone help me up?" I sheepishly asked.

Both Ben and Clark made a move for me but Clark was faster and he reached for my hand. My fingers slid into the palm of his hand as he helped pull me up, a bit unsteady and dizzy I shut my eyes once on my feet. Clark stayed still with his hand in mine and a hand on my hip. I tried to memorize the feeling of his hand against my body, feel the warmth of it as he kept it in place. I swallowed regained my composure and looked up into his eyes. His stare was bright and open, but his brows were furrowed. He wasn't looking at me, but his eyes had trailed down my body.

"Clark?" Lois asked, "What's wrong?"

Clark blinked looking over his shoulder at our colleague before looking back to me. Now, it was my time to panic as I gripped his arms, I beckoned him to look back at me.

"Clark?" But he grabbed me pulling me into his chest and enveloped me in his strong arms seconds before the windows in my apartment blew and shards of glass rained down on us. My scream was muffled against his chest and I could feel how calm he was when he ducked me behind the island. I could see the damage now, my balcony was gone and so were the doors Clark had installed so long ago. I shook glass out my hair, ignored the ringing in my ears and my blurred vision, and called out to Lois.

"I've got her." I heard Clark say ahead of me, my apartment was filling with dust and debris and I realized there was one other person who hadn't responded.

"Ben?" I cried out and a shuffle behind me, quickly I reached out grasping a hand.

"I'm here, Annie." He coughed and crawled over to me, "We've got to get out of here."

I nodded and strained my eyes against the dark. All the lights were out and I could hear the crunching of glass as Clark and Lois made their way back over to us.

"What caused the explosion?" Lois asked.

"Does it matter? We need to get out here it could have affected the whole building." Ben spoke.

I rubbed above my left eye and sighed, "Worry less, more moving, please."

Clark reached for my hand and became the one who was to lead us out, Lois was next to me and Ben stayed behind us, but as we made our way across the apartment sounds of broken glass under feet alerted us and we all froze. Clark immediately maneuvered to stand in front of us with Ben standing beside him. Lois and I exchanged a questioning look until two dark figures came out from the back of my apartment. There wasn't a window back there so how did they get in? The two tall figures were cloaked in a dark fabric that reached their shins and their boots were heavy. I couldn't see their faces but instantly recognized the insignia across their chest, embossed into the black fabric.

"It's the cult in the news." Lois breathed, her hand on my wrist tightening. I glanced at her and see how scared she is. Her jaw was tight and clenched as she stared down the men in front of us.

"Clark, we need to leave!" I called out to him and he kept his gaze on the two imposing bodies before glancing back at me.

I immediately began to back out of the apartment, Lois was walking backward with me and after a few moments of shuffling down the small, short hall that led out, I felt for the doorknob, satisfied when I did and turned the knob. No sooner had I turned the knob did the two men charge at Clark and Ben.

I gripped Lois' hand and ran down the hall. The lights were out and every door in the hall was shut, for some reason no one else had left the building.

"Should we alert the others?" I asked as Lois pulled me down the hall.

"Why didn't they awaken with the explosion? It was loud enough," Lois shot over her shoulder.

I paused and glanced at the doors we were passing, there was smoke that smelt sweet flowing out from under each door and I turned my attention back to Lois.

"But there's a little girl-,"

"Annie, run!" Lois turns on her heal as she rounded the corner and ran into me, pushing me down the hall. I broke into a sprint.

"There's another set of stairs here!" I shoved open the heavy metal door that's on the other end of the hall next to the stairs that lead to the upper floor. We quickly crashed into the corridor and down the stairs our breath and feet slapping the concrete steps echoing as we descended.

"They were down the hall." Lois finally said.

"Do you think Clark and Ben are okay?" I asked as we reached the last floor.

"I'm sure Clark is fine." Lois said facing me, "How's your head? This running must not be good for your nausea."

I sighed, "It isn't. My head feels like it's going to split open and I've been forcing down vomit with every swallow." I lean against the cool concrete wall shutting my eyes to calm the spinning.

Lois chuckled, and I hear her open the door, it's old and loud as it scrapes against the floor, "Good thing we're almost out. We have to call the police-," Suddenly she stops talking and I open my eyes.

It's another man in the black outfit he has a white cloth to her face and was placing her on the ground. She was out cold. I struggled to stand up as my vision waved but I gripped the stair handle and haul myself up the steps. I can hear him behind me as I run up the stairs. I chanced glancing over my shoulder and notice that he's walking, taking two steps at a time, but not running after me like I assumed he was. Seeing this made my heart stutter and adrenaline surge through my veins. I needed to get out of here. Clark could get Ben out and handle himself, Lois will be okay...eventually, but I was the one who was in immediate danger. The danger of what I wasn't sure what these men wanted from me but I knew I needed to get out of this building.

On the fifth floor, I checked the window leading into the hall before opening the door. The man behind me hadn't ventured up to me yet so I quickly slid the door open trying not to make a lot of sounds. Once I'm in the hall I notice the same smoke that was in my hall coming from under the doors. It's also dark on this floor, too. Confused, I reach for a door worried for the people inside, and to my surprise, it's unlocked so I duck inside.

The smoke is listing close to the floor and as I creep past the entranceway and towards what I assumed was the master bedroom that would have a fire escape, a man shot out from the dark hall and grabbed me. I screamed and shoved at him before darting back out the apartment and into the hall. This was a bad idea! The man was completely dark and his cloak had slapped against my legs as he tried to get ahold of me. I ran as quickly as I could, but my head was screaming and my lungs were begging for me to stop, my body was exhausted but I tried not to slow down.

My legs gave out as the pressure and pain in my head pulsed quickly and my body slumped down the wall before I rolled onto my stomach to crawl. My vision was dimming and my mouth was dry, I felt like I couldn't breathe and then I caught sight of black boots and rolled my neck to look up at the man before me. I didn't know if it was the man in the apartment, the one who drugged Lois or just another one who was in the building. What I did know was that my body was shutting down and no matter how hard I wanted to stay awake, I was losing my vision and couldn't hear any of the voices around me. They came out of nowhere, so many deep voices asking the same thing but my mind translated it as just deep mumbled sounds. I turn onto my back gasping for air as my head thumps and a tear slips down my face. I can feel the hot tear roll past my ear and into my hairline. The ceiling above me is mushed together, and wavy almost like it's moving.

I try to keep myself calm knowing that whoever they are - they had found who they wanted, but the more I tried to not think about what they want me for the more anxious I got. A large black blob leaned close to me and placed something across my nose and mouth. I jerked, knowing I wasn't going to get away but I was going to try. The dark blob didn't have to force too much because within seconds my vision began to dim and staring up at a blurry dark shape of a human was the last thing I saw.

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Leave your thoughts below! I hope you liked this chapter! And I hope everyone is staying safe during the quarantine!