They sped down the road going at a very high speed. They had gotten onto the highway now. Taylor wished he could buckle his seatbelt, but he was afraid to even move with Holden sitting there next to him with the gun. He had no idea what Ron was planning on doing. There was no way he could possibly escape the police cars behind them. Taylor was amazed that Holden never once questioned Ron about where they were going. He decided he would have to. He couldn't take the silence in the car anymore.

"What are you doing, Ron? Where are we going?" He asked nervously. Ron didn't answer. Maybe he didn't even know. "All you're doing is giving yourself a longer prison sentence." Taylor let out, almost surprised that he even said it.

"Shut up. This is not the time to question me, Taylor." Ron said angrilly. Taylor glanced back behind him at the police cars with their red flashing lights. He turned back around and leaned his head over a little to see the digital clock in the front. 11:46. Almost midnight. He sighed and leaned back in his seat.

"You're not going to live through this." Taylor turned his head a little in Holden's direction. "We've come this far with you. We're carrying out our original plans. I don't care if we have to do it in front all these police."

"They'll put you in prison for life. Is that what you want?" Taylor said.

"I think I could live in prison contently as long as I knew you were dead." Holden spat out. He enjoyed the look of fear in Taylor's eyes when he said it. They sat in silence again for about 30 more minutes.

"Shit." Ron yelled. Taylor and Holden looked up at Ron in his outburst of profanity.

"What is it?" Holden asked.

"The car is almost out of gas." Ron answered.

"Wow. What a concept. Cars running out of gas after you drive them for a long time." Taylor said sarcastically, immediately regretting it. Holden pushed him hard against the side of the door.

"Shut up!" He yelled. Holden leaned over the front seat. "What are we going to do?" Ron looked back at Taylor who sat there rubbing his arm.

"Shoot him and run." Ron said.

"That's it?"

"We threaten to shoot him if they don't put their guns down. They'll do what we say. Once we see that all their guns are down, we shoot him, and we run into the woods over there." He motioned towards the woods on the side of the road. "The second we shoot him, run. Just run. By the time they're able to get their guns back in their hands we'll be in the woods and they won't know where they're shooting at."

Taylor listened to their ridiculous plan. Did they honestly think that was going to work? Would it work? Either way, it looked like they were still going to shoot him no matter what. His heart sank hearing them talk about him like this. Like he was nothing. The car started to slow down. They were out of gas. Ron pulled the car over to the side of the road and stopped. Taylor looked behind him again, watching the police cars pull over too. This was it. It was all out of his hands. Ron turned around in his seat.

"Holden you take him out of the car with the gun to his head. I'll get out and take over from there." Holden nodded.

"This is never going to work."

"Shut up!" They yelled at him in unison. Taylor closed his mouth breathed in. Holden reached over him and opened up the door.

"Get out." Holden told him. Taylor did as he said and stepped out of the car. Holden got out after him. Taylor looked behind him. The woods were there. That's where they were planning to flee to. He watched the police officers with their guns in hand, watching him. Ron stepped out of the car and walked over to Taylor, putting his arm around his chest, holding him close with the gun to his head. Taylor closed his eyes and tried to pretend that he was somewhere else. This whole thing felt so surreal.

"It's over Ron. Let him go." A police officer said in his megaphone. Taylor opened his eyes and scanned the scene. In the corner of his eye he saw a police officer sneaking behind them very carefully. He was almost impossible to see, but he still caught his eye. Taylor wondered what he was doing.

"Put your guns down or I'll shoot him!" Ron yelled.

"Ron..." The police officer started.

"Do it!" Ron screamed. Taylor cringed at the loud sound of his voice. He looked in the corner of his eye, he no longer saw the police officer who was sneaking around. He wondered if he went unnoticed to Ron and Holden. He watched as the police officer with the megaphone gave the command to the other officers to put down their weapons.

"Our weapons are down. Release him."

Ron leaned down and spoke into Taylor's ear.

"I'm sorry things had to end this way, Taylor. They could have been different. I really did like you." Taylor looked up at him with sad eyes, unable to speak, knowing what was coming. "Goodbye." Ron said, then he cocked the gun. Taylor squeezed his eyes shut tightly.

Two shots rang out. Taylor jumped, scared to death of the loud noise. He suddenly realized Ron wasn't holding him anymore. The gun wasn't to his head. He looked at Holden, who stood there with fear covering his face. He looked down on the ground to see Ron laying there in pain.

"My leg! My leg!" He cried out. Taylor looked down at Ron's left leg, covered in blood. Next to it lay his gun. He saw Holden reach for it and his only instinct was to kick it out of the way. With all his force, Taylor kicked the gun and it flew across the ground. Holden looked at Taylor, dumbfounded, then he looked around to see all the police officers now had their guns pointed right at him. The plan didn't work.

"Taylor! Run!" A police officer called out. Taylor turned to run to him when he felt an arm grab his.

"Taylor, tell them I didn't have anything to do with this. Tell them I was put up to this." He said helplessly. Taylor looked at him amazed. Never in his wildest dreams did he imagine Holden would be asking him for something. Taylor shook his arm away.

"Enjoy prison." He said and with that he ran toward the police officer.

"You're going to regret this!" Holden called out.

When he reached him the police officer put his arm around him and led him to a squad car. Taylor looked behind him. He watched police swarm around Holden and Ron, putting handcuffs on them. He turned around. Now news reporters were making their way toward him. A million questions were being thrown at him. Everyone was speaking, but he couldn't hear anything. It was almost dreamlike. The police officer he had ran to put him in the front seat of the squad car to get him away from them. He got in the driver's side and shut the door. He looked at the young boy who sat next to him. He looked beaten, tired, and unbelievably sad. He could only imagine what he had been through. He put his hand on his shoulder. Taylor looked up at him.

"Taylor Hanson, I'm Officer Conrad and you're safe now."

His words rang out in his head. He almost couldn't believe he was hearing them. He sat silent for a few seconds before he burst into tears. Officer Conrad moved over and wrapped him up in a hug.

"It's alright. Let it out."

And so he did. He cried into this man's shoulder. This man he had never met before. It was over. It really was over this time.