subside. // haylor au

nineteen

"Get them!" A guard shouts as we bump into one of them, turning every direction.

I can feel my hands losing blood and going white pale from the grip she has on me, but I don't care. She can hold my hand as hard as she wants and I wouldn't say a thing. I like it. I feel more closer to her and I feel like she's more under my control and I'd be able to protect her easier.

We slipped, fell, but we got up and kept running. We went through twists and turns, my mind was full of concern and tiredness, but hers exposed of clear anxiousness. I've recognized the way she'd look if she was stressed - how her eyebrows would form a crease everytime she's caught in a deep thought, today is the day that the expression I've known long enough is shown clear as day. I could feel her hands shake, her body trembling and the fear and how afraid she is by all this.

"Mate, is she alright? Better make sure she's alright, we did not come all this bloody way to see her faint and I'm not carrying her-" Liam complains and it's starting to irritate me. She's been concerned about her expression all this time and what I wanted to do was to fucking run.

"If you could just shut your bloody mouth-" I cut him off, but Taylor steps in.

"I'm sorry, I just don't know what the fuck is going on, so it probably makes perfect sense, doesn't it?" She raises her voice and that concealed our voices as well. No one spoke a thing, confirming that her argument is somewhat right. I would be scared out of my minds if I were to be put into a foreign and unknown situation like this one - especially the ones where your life is one step away from floating off the Earth.

"You're almost there, the exit should be to your right," Zayn announces through our handy earpiece. I can feel a sense of relief from the boys, unknown held breaths were exhaled and the stiffness of their bodies eased down.

Emergency lockdown; lock all gates and exits, doors are not to be opened and all openings should be shut closed. The announcers voice pours through the speaker. Sirens starts hounding and the horrid sounds of it started to pour and echo around the empty halls, which did no more than add to the thickness of intensity in the air.

"Shit, we need to run our asses off, dude," Niall breathes and I suck in a breath before increasing my speed, which takes Taylor by surprise. I feel like she's being dragged, she has no more energy, she doesn't want to do anything, but she has to run.

As soon as we spot the exit, it was nearly half closed. I can see our car peeking just right through and Zayn shouting for us to increase our speed through the window.

"Shit!" Louis cusses, loud enough to be heard through the noisy sound of sirens.

The door didn't stop either, it kept going down and our possibilities of making it out of here decreased by the second.

"Harry, ropes! Get the ropes!" Louis shouts again and I know exactly what to do now.

We won't be able to make it if we run at this speed and even though we will, we wouldn't be able to fit in the small gap that we'd have left.

I consider the little squeeze on Taylor's hand as a warning before pushing her so she's beside me and letting go of her hand.

"Right, listen carefully," I pant between the words I spoke, "What I need you to do is jump, in the count of three and don't land on your feet, it might hurt, but it's better than being stuck in here," I try to say as calmly as possible.

She nods reluctantly.

"Zayn," I speak through the microphone, "Shoot the ropes down and attach them them somewhere on the lower torso," I say, pausing to catch my breath in between.