Scared

Zack's heart had started beating much faster than it ever had in his entire life. As hard as it was, he tried to breathe as quietly as possible. It was uncomfortable to be so squished into a corner while holding Rachel in his arms, specially with the wound he had gotten on his stomach just a while ago, but it was their best choice if they wanted to hide from the officers who were currently running after them.

"Are you okay, Zack?" Rachel whispered as she looked up at him.

"Shh, they'll hear us." He covered her mouth.

Rachel nodded. They kept waiting for the cops to get away, hoping they would lose track of them.

Zack held onto Rachel tightly. It wasn't like he didn't think he could take on a few cops on his own and run away, but doing that with her around would be much harder. They could end up taking her away while he was distracted, or she could get hurt in the middle of the mess. And losing her in any way was the last thing he wanted. (Although he would even go to hell to take her back if it ever happened.)

The sounds of steps and voices eventually started to fade into the distance. Zack let out a sigh of relief as he let go of her mouth and loosened his grip on her. "I think we're clear for now."

Rachel immediately turned around to face him, lifting his hoodie to look at his blood-stained stomach.

"Hey!"

"You're hurt." She mumbled as she grabbed some first-aid equipment from her bag.

"This is nothing. You know I've taken worse."

"That doesn't mean we shouldn't take care of it when we can."

He sighed. There was no use trying to argue with her. She could be very persistent when it came to taking care of him. "Fine."

She began working on his wound. It wasn't bad enough for her to need to sew it, but she could still at least clean it and bandage it.

As she did that, Zack couldn't help but think back on how he had just felt a few minutes earlier. He had never felt so scared in his entire life. But he wasn't scared for himself. No. He had been scared for her. He was scared of losing her. He didn't know what he would do with himself if he ever lost her, with no way of getting her back again.

"There. I'm done." She finished the bandaging and then gave him a small smile.

He didn't say anything. He just pulled her so he could hug her. He wasn't holding her as hard as before, but it still helped him calm down a little, be less scared that she could slip away at any moment. "We should lay low for a while."

"Sure." She nodded, hugging him back.

Zack didn't remember ever crying in his entire life. However, his eyes got teary and a single tear rolled down his cheek. He cleaned it away immediately. "The fuck is this…?"

"What?"

"My eyes are wet."

Rachel moved so she could look at him, and cupped his cheek as she looked at his eyes. "You're crying."

"Huh!?"

"Are you still in pain?"

"I'm not in pain. I'm just…" He paused and looked away from her. He couldn't just tell her that he was scared of getting separated from her. That would be too embarrassing. He sighed. "Forget it. Let's just go back home." He kissed her forehead before standing up. His wound didn't even hurt anymore.

Rachel didn't say anything as she held onto his hand and they started walking. Their "home" wasn't even a house, just some empty alley they would constantly go back to.

But it was still a place where they could be at peace. And even if they didn't have anywhere to go back to, Zack would still be happy as long as Rachel was still around.