The feeling of Matthew kneeling next to him was oddly reassuring to Eli.

This was especially true because the man was currently pressing down on the gunshot wound Eli had sustained just moments earlier. Eli supposed he should be glad there was someone around to help keep him from bleeding to death—which was most definitely not how he thought he would go. Heart attack thanks to his shitty diet was really the one he’d been betting on. Despite the pressure Matthew was putting on his wound, it still hurt like hell.

Not to mention his ears were ringing and his head felt like someone was trying to crush his skull. Overall, not a nice experience.

"Told you I'd shoot you in the knee!" Al called, almost cackling with absolute glee—and of course it was Al. Eli really wasn't that shocked that he'd been the one to shoot him. He still felt a bit like laughing because he missed.

Apparently, he did laugh a bit because Matthew looked at him like he was crazy. Eli didn't bother disagreeing with him. Mostly because he was in too much pain. Plus Matthew was probably right, Eli was crazy. He had to be to have gotten dragged into the whole mess he was currently in.

He really should have known better than to befriend—however reluctantly at first—someone like Matthew. The sad thing was, he didn't really regret it.

Light passed over them as Al peered into the office from the entrance, a flashlight in one hand and a gun in the other. Eli watched as Matthew hastily wrapped a bandage around his leg. His hands were shaking a bit, he noted. It was probably the first time Eli had ever seen Matthew look so upset.

Thanks to the flashes of light, he could see Matthew more clearly. His face was pale and his eyes held something like panic. Eli sincerely hoped that wasn't the case because the last thing they needed was for Matthew to start panicking.

There were footsteps, tentative and getting closer to where they hid behind the metal desk Matthew had overturned to get some cover. Clearly, Al was done waiting. Matthew tensed and Eli didn't pay much attention to him as he tried not to pass out. He never was good at dealing with pain. Or maybe he had a concussion after all.

The next thing he knew, there was smoke everywhere and Al was cursing and shooting. Matthew was gone, Eli realized, and he panicked for a moment before Al's startled—and probably pained, from what Eli could hear—cry told the redhead where Matthew had gone.  Soon enough, the masked man was back soon enough to drag Eli out of his hiding place and towards the door. His arm circled the redhead's waist, helping him stand as Eli squinted through the smoke, his own arm slung over Matthew's shoulders.

Eli didn't bother looking back to see if he could spot Al, partly because it was still too dark to make out much of anything. Mostly, he didn't want to risk getting shot because of his curiosity. Not to mention, it took most of his concentration to fight back the wave of nausea moving brought on.

Once outside the office, they made their way down a series of metal steps. It was difficult for Eli, but he managed thanks to Matthew guiding him and basically holding him up. Being chased by armed men also served as excellent motivation.

He could hear their footsteps around them, and he supposed the commotion they'd caused had made their position fairly obvious. After being in the dark for a while, Eli could just about make out the piles of crates of whatever the hell it was they were filled with. Eli was sure it was something illegal that he didn't really want to think of. There was a shout up ahead followed by a flash of light and hurried footsteps.

Matthew led Eli down the narrow path formed by the walls of crates on either side, and practically shoved him into an empty space between some large crates. If the situation had been different, Eli definitely would have punched Matthew for that because honestly—rude. As it was, he just did his best not to hurt his leg any further and watched as the faint form that was Matthew moved away from him and melded into the darkness of the warehouse.

Eli leaned back against the crates and listened attentively to the sounds of people moving about. He did his best to slow the rapid beating of his heart. Something told him the frantic rate at which it was going couldn’t be good.

Not that the situation helped, especially with Matthew being gone. Eli tensed as he heard the first gunshot. There were angry yells and a couple of loud, crashing sounds that made the redhead think of splintering wood. A grunt close to where he was hiding caught his attention and he carefully peered around the crates, squinting to try to see through the darkness.

For a moment, Eli couldn't really tell what he was looking at. There were flashes of light around a stack of crates and then there was a loud bang, like something had just exploded. It was so startling that Eli nearly fell forward and out of his hiding spot. After calming himself enough—and no longer in danger of falling face first—he cautiously leaned further out to try to get a glimpse of Matthew, grimacing as he shifted his injured leg. The sudden light that settled upon him nearly made him lose his balance once more.

With a feeling of dread, Eli found himself face to face with the man who'd been guarding him earlier—and he did not look happy. There was what looked like dried blood on his face, streaks of it stark against his pale face, making him look like something out of a horror movie. At least, that was what Eli managed to make out from just a quick look after being almost blinded by a too bright flashlight. Not to mention, he wasn't really thinking about taking in the details as he dropped to the floor when he saw the glint of metal being raised and pointed at him.

With a deafening sound, the gun went off, and Eli worried that he'd been shot again. Then he realized that he'd fallen at a bad angle and the pain from his leg wound was bad enough to make him think he really had been shot a second time. He still did his best to ignore the pain as he tried to get away. Not that he succeeded.

Before he knew it, he was being pulled up by the back of his shirt, and shoved back against the crates he'd been hiding behind. Eli didn’t really notice much of that though, not with the pain from his leg serving as a great distraction. When he finally looked up, there was a gun pointing at him. Again. Eli idly thought of how many guns he'd been seeing as of late. Definitely more than he would have preferred.

He was just thinking of what his mom would think about him dying in such a shady way when the man standing before him was knocked to the side by a dark shape that barreled into him, sending him crashing into some crates, wood splintering at the impact. In that moment before the guy was sent flying, the gun went off again, and Eli's heart felt like it was about to explode because he swore he could feel the bullet whizzing by his head. The flashlight clattered to the ground along with the gun as Eli's legs gave out—at least, his one good leg.

Matthew was there a moment later. Eli wondered how the man managed to show up at precisely the right time. Not that he wasn't glad. 

"Are you alright?" Matthew was asking a second later in a hurried voice, panic lacing his tone. His still gloved hands grabbed at Eli's face and arms and any other place they could reach, desperately searching for injuries.

"I'm fine," Eli said weakly. "I'm fine, really," he repeated in a stronger voice, pushing away Matthew's hands. In the weak light, he could just make out the relief on what little of Matthew's face he could see.

Wait, what light? Eli thought, because everything should still be dark. He turned to the place where Matthew had been—presumably—fighting and saw flames licking at the piles of crates. Matthew’s gaze followed his, and his face took on a sheepish grin.

"Yeah, that wasn't supposed to happen," Matthew muttered and turned back to Eli. "Let's get out of here," Matthew said, once he knew that Eli was fine, or at least, as fine as he could be, given the situation. The moment of relief was short lived, however, as they were startled by the sound of someone moving up ahead.

Eli watched as Matthew began to stand, body tense and ready to move. He saw the man standing down the aisle of crates hurry to point his gun at Matthew, and heard himself shout out a warning. At least, he thought it was a warning. Eli couldn't be sure of all that happened in those few, horrible moments.

The gunshot was louder than any other he'd heard that night. It echoed through the building and was joined by the sound of the blood pounding in Eli's ears as his heart beat wildly in his chest. Matthew tried to move out of the way, but the bullet hit and tore a cry of pain mixed with shock from him.

If asked later, Eli wouldn't be able to recall all that happened next. One moment he was watching Matthew get shot and the next he was diving for the gun his previous attacker had dropped earlier. The cold, metal weapon felt heavy in his hands and his leg was suddenly just a dull throb in the back of his mind. He aimed at the beam of light from the flashlight and didn't think about it as he shot.

The man crumpled to the ground with a grunt of pain, weapon dropping from his grip. Instead, his hands moved to grasp at his side as the gun fell from Eli's now shaking hands.

He flinched as he felt a hand settle on his shoulder and turned to see Matthew. His left arm hung limply at his side, but he was there and that was enough for Eli.

"Come on," Matthew said as he helped Eli along with his uninjured arm.

They moved slowly towards the exit—or at least, Eli assumed that was where Matthew was leading him—with Eli mostly just hanging onto Matthew to keep from falling. The man was still wary, which was fortunate because Eli's head was still pounding and the world seemed to tilt to the sides at times in a way that was not helping his nausea at all.

Behind them, the flames were spreading, burning through the wood of the crates with a fierce speed. Smoke began to cloud their vision and Eli's leg was now burning as he and Matthew moved on. The pain in his head seemed to grow with each breath of toxic fumes released by the fire and all the injuries he'd suffered that night began to pile up as his adrenaline wore out. Eli wasn't sure how long he'd stay conscious, but he knew he couldn't leave Matthew to drag him out with his injured arm.

Somehow, he made it. Matthew had led them right to the other side of the building, and began to feel along the wall for an exit. Fortunately, it didn't take long and, as soon as the door opened, fresh air washed over them, the smoke from the fire fighting to escape along with them.

Matthew practically dragged Eli the last few feet to a clear spot in the parking lot around them and set him down. Once again, he was patting just about every part of Eli's body he could reach, checking for any injuries. Eli was just doing his best to stop coughing from all the smoke he'd breathed in. Then, Matthew’s gloved hands were on the sides of his head, tilting it up to look at Eli. 

It was the first time Eli had looked into Matthew’s eyes that night. At least, with decent lighting. The sheer relief he saw in them almost made him laugh. 

"Are you alright?" Matthew asked for what seemed like the hundredth time that night. Granted, that was around how many times Eli had almost died. The redhead nodded, even though he felt far from alright.

He was just glad that they had made it out. More than anything else, he was glad that Matthew was there for him.

As he crouched before Eli, Matthew let out a sigh, his hands resting on the redhead's shoulder. "Good," he said, and then glanced behind him at the building they'd just left.

Eli turned to look at the warehouse as well. Dark smoke curled out from the place, stretching up into the night sky as flames crackled and grew. He could see them flickering inside through the windows that lined the building. Eli had a moment to wonder what would happen to the men that were inside—because he hadn't seen anyone else escape—before a cold feeling of realization washed over him. With an awful feeling of what was about to happen, he turned to Matthew, who was already standing.

Without thinking about it, Eli grabbed a hold of Matthew's arm. He was tired—exhausted really—but his grip was as strong as ever as he held onto the man. Matthew looked at him, his face dirty from the smoke and looking absolutely exhausted. Eli could see the cloth of his left sleeve was wet with what could only be blood and knew that Matthew must be in at least as much pain as him.

But of course, Matthew didn't care about any of that. He never had been very concerned with his own safety. Eli had never been so mad at him for that as he was at that moment.

The look Matthew gave him was something like a mix between pity and honest regret. Eli would have most definitely punched him for that alone if he hadn't been so worried about the man running off into a burning building. Not to mention, it still took a considerable amount of effort to just stay conscious—he supposed the blood loss and all those blows to the head were catching up to him.

"I have to go," Matthew said and Eli wanted to say that he most certainly did not have to go. That Matthew was being an idiot. But for the first time in his life he was genuinely speechless. He settled for furiously shaking his head, even if it did nothing to help his headache. "I'll be fine Eli," Matthew insisted, trying to pull away from the redhead currently clinging to him.

"No," Eli said, his voice finally deciding to make an appearance. "You can't go! I—" Eli stopped, not knowing what to say next. Maybe the issue was that there was simply too much that he wanted to say, that he needed to say. "I—" the words were still stuck in his throat and all he could do was stare at Matthew.

Then, Matthew smiled. Of all things, he went and smiled. And if Eli didn't know what it was that he had been trying to say—what he'd been denying for so long—then he certainly knew now. To his great disappointment, Matthew leaned over and kissed him before he could say anything. It was quick, with a tinge of the iron like taste of blood. It made his split lip ache and tasted of ash. Not very pleasant, really, but Eli wouldn't complain for once.

It lasted only a few seconds and then Matthew was pulling back with a teasing smirk that looked a bit shaky. Before Eli knew it, Matthew was standing, having finally succeeded in pulling out of Eli's grip.

"I'll come back soon," he said, already moving away. "I promise."

And then he was gone.

Eli didn't recall much else after that. He sat there for a while, doing his best to ignore all the pain he was in as he watched the warehouse burn to the ground.