"You've got to be kidding me!" Archer yelled in frustration.
"It's not possible for someone to have this much bad luck. This has got to be against some kind of law somewhere." Archer continued to vent and kicked the wall. "I can't believe this."
"I can." Dylan scoffed.
I turned to look at him with a frown.
"What are you talking about?"
Dylan gave me a hard look before saying, "You two. Wherever you go something bad happens, so this shouldn't be a surprise."
Archer quit his angry mumbling now to turn and look at Dylan who still had a struggling Rose thrown over his shoulder.
"What are you trying to say?"
Dylan sat Rose down on the ground where she then fell backwards on her butt and glared up at Dylan but he barely noticed. He was too busy glaring at Archer and I.
He took a threatening step forward and pointed his finger in my face.
"You two are nothing but trouble. First I get the bad luck to be chained to a pipe waiting for a face full of steam and who does that masked creep drag in? You!" He yells as he stares at me with hateful eyes.
"Then I follow you guys around hoping that maybe you guys could help me make it out of here in one piece and where do you lead me? To another one of those creeps!"
In the dim light from Archer's cellphone I could see Dylan's face turning a dark shade of red.
"Then we get split up and guess who gets caught?! I do! And where were you two, huh? Where the hell were you two? Now we're here looking for a way out and what happens? It's blocked!" Dylan is practically screaming now.
Archer reached out and pushed me a few steps back.
"You can't seriously be trying to blame that on us when there were five mentally challenged nutcases running around trying to kill us. No one told you to split up, that was your idea and no one told you to follow us either! You did all of that on your own. Now you're trying to pin it on us?! If anything you should be thanking us. We saved your ass. Twice, if I remember correctly. In fact, if it wasn't for Gemma you would've still been down here because she's the one who wanted to come back for you. I would've left your sorry ass down here."
Dylan took one more step forward so he was right in Archer's face.
"You know what? You're right. I don't blame her. I blame you." A nasty smirk was now plastered on Dylan's face.
Where the hell was all this even coming from?
He either had a serious case of bipolar disorder or I was really bad at reading the signs.
"I think that this whole time you were just trying to get rid of me."
"Get rid of you? What the hell are you talking about?" Archer demanded. "We just saved you!"
"You see me as a challenge don't you?" Dylan asked.
Yep. He's lost his fucking mind.
Dylan didn't give Archer a chance to answer, he just kept rambling.
"You wanted me out of the way because you didn't want me near her." Dylan pointed at me. "That's why you want me dead isn't it? What, you scared I'll take her from you or something?"
"Dylan this is not the time—" I started but he cut me off.
"Oh, it's the perfect time. I want you to answer this question for me Gemma. Don't you find it even the slightest bit odd that he can kill so easily?"
"What?" I asked quietly.
"Lover boy here. Don't you find it odd that he can kill another human being without batting an eye? How many people has he killed down here? Two? Three? And does he look even the littlest bit affected by it?"
"I did what I had to do so we could survive, otherwise we'd be dead." Archer said through clenched teeth.
"How do we know that?" Dylan asked.
"You just killed three people. Three people whose blood is now on your hands. Now, tell me Gemma, does the thought of him trying to kill one more person sound that odd to you now?"
For some reason the memory of Archer getting ready to kill the guy in the Sheep mask came to mind. How Archer was so willing and ready to kill him. If I hadn't said something he would've killed him too.
Yeah and if he had killed him you guys could've been out of here by now.
The little voice in the back of my head had a point. But, and even though I hated to admit it, so did Dylan. I didn't want to doubt Archer but he was a little too eager to kill. Did that mean he secretly wanted Dylan dead because of a little jealously? No.
Of course not.
Did it?
I mean I didn't even know Dylan. We had just met today.
"I see you're thinking about it. He doesn't seem so innocent now does he?" Dylan sneered.
I glanced at Archer to find him already looking at me and the look he was giving me made me freeze.
It was a look of hurt, maybe even a little sadness.
Why was he looking at me like that?
And then it hit me.
He was looking at me like that because he thought I truly believed Dylan.
Like I really thought he was some kind of monster.
Like I'd ever choose Dylan over him.
I opened my mouth to tell him the exact opposite, but once again Dylan interrupted.
"Come with me Gemma. He's dangerous. Next thing you know he'll be trying to kill you too. Whatever it takes so he can get out of here." Dylan held his hand out.
Did he actually expect me to take it?
Sure Archer had killed some people down here but they weren't normal or innocent in the first place. What he said was right. If he hadn't killed them then we'd be dead instead. He practically saved us all.
Dylan was just starting to lose his damn mind down here.
I looked at Dylan's outstretched hand and then at him.
"No."
Dylan actually had the nerve to look shocked.
"What?"
"I said no."
"No? You're actually going to stay with him? You know what kind of guy he is! You saw it first hand."
"I do, and I'm starting to understand what kind of guy you are too. You've gone off the deep end down here. The answer is and always will be, no."
I reached out and grabbed onto Archer's hand and squeezed it.
Dylan looked about ready to combust.
He shook his head in frustration. "You're not thinking straight Gemma. Come with me."
"No."
I watched as he clenched his fists and scoffed.
"Fine. If you don't want to come willingly I'll have to force you but remember I'm doing this to try and save you. You'll thank me for it eventually.
Dylan reached out before I could react and latched onto my free hand. He yanked me forward so fast that my hand was ripped free of Archer's and I collided into his chest.
"Dylan, let her go." Archer said slowly, his voice low.
"No. I'm taking her with me. You'll only end up hurting her or worse."
"Like hell you are." I said. I swung my free hand forward and punched him square in the face.
It hurt like hell.
Dylan groaned and stumbled back.
He stepped so far back that he actually ended up loosing his footing on the top step and before I could even react he had lost his balance and was falling down the stairs.
I gasped and my hands flew to cover my mouth as I heard each thump as clear as day as his body hit each step until there was silence.
Oh my...
Did I just...
I felt a hand on my shoulder before I was spun around and my face was pressed into Archer's chest.
I fisted his shirt in my hands.
"I didn't mean to—"
"You don't have to say anything." Archer's hold on me tightened.
I pulled back so I could look up at him.
"We have to go see if he's okay."
"Gemma-" Archer began but I cut him off.
"No we have to. He could be dead. I could've just killed him!"
"Gemma listen to me. Once we find our way out of here we'll call the police and let them deal with it."
"But Archer-"
"No buts. It was an accident Gemma. He tripped and he fell. It's not your fault and it's not your job to go and make sure that he's okay either. Especially not when he was just willing to basically kidnap you. We'll let the police handle it okay?"
I glanced over my shoulder at the darkened set of stairs and swallowed hard before turning back to face Archer and nodded slowly.
"How are we going to get out of here?" I asked quietly.
"We could try kicking our way out like we did in the subway train." Archer joked, trying to lighten the horribly dark mood.
I quickly pulled away from Archer and snatched his phone out of his hand and shined the light on the wood that was blocking our way.
"Gemma I was kidding."
"I know but you might've been onto something. Look at the wood."
Archer came up next to me and looked at where I was shining the light.
"Do you see how it looks rotted in some places? I'll bet this wood has been here forever. It can't be too hard to kick out or pull apart."
I glanced up at him with a new sense of hope.
"On three?"
Archer nodded.
"On three."