The Chase

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Dane was angry. A lot angrier than he had been in a long time. As he had to sit next to Ezra in the helicopter like he usually did, he felt a lot more uncomfortable near him than he had ever before. He didn't want to see him, let alone be anywhere near him, and so he knew that this was going to be the most awkward trip he had ever been in. As the helicopter took off from the ground, he saw from the corner of his eye that Ezra was glaring at him with a guilty look on his face. He looked as if he was about to say something. „Whatever you are going to say,“ Dane whispered before Ezra could open his mouth. He was looking straight ahead and was trying his best to avoid the gaze of his friend. „I don't want to hear it!“ „Dane...“ Ezra whispered, „Let me at least explain!“ „Are you deaf?“ Dane angrily whispered back, his angry gaze now fixed on him. „I don't want to hear it!“ Dane then leaned more towards the window, getting as far away from Ezra as it was physically possible, and hoped, that he was smart enough to take the hint that he did not want to talk to him. And so after a few more moments of gazing at Dane, Ezra turned to Sarah who sat on his left, and quietly started a conversation with her. But Dane himself took out his white iPod, put the headphones to his ears and started to listen to a song that suited his mood perfecty: „A Beautiful Lie“ by 30 Seconds to Mars. And so he spent the rest of the flight listening to his favorite music. But although it made him feel a little better, he felt disgusted each and every time he looked to his left. He could sense that from time to time, both Sarah and Ezra were also staring at him.

Ezra felt bad. Dane had gone through enough lately, and he really hadn't wanted to make him feel even worse. But what was he supposed to do: he had been in love with Sarah for quite a long time now, and as her kiss proved that she felt the same way, he didn't have the heart to reject her. Not even for Dane, who he knew had been in love with her too. He hated this whole situation, and the fact that he and his best friend had both feelings for the same person. That made it all much harder, since he knew where this all was heading: they were going to be yet another Damon and Stefan, or Edward and Jacob – both fighting for the love of the same woman. But what was the use of it all when it was so clear who Sarah preferred? And why would they jeopardize their friendship like that? This all made his head hurt a bit, as he knew that it was not going to be easy. Still, talking to Sarah made him feel at least a little better. Her words of encouragement really helped, and soon Ezra was in a much better mood than he had been at the start of the flight. He was sure that she was right when she said that they would soon find a way to get along again. They had been best friends for all their lives after all, and this certainly wasn't the worst situation they had been in.

As he was thinking those thoughts, the helicopter suddenly shaked. Something had hit it. Ursula, who was sitting next to the pilot, looked out of the window to see what was happening. „There is a car following us!“ she yelled, her voice showing how much in panic she was. „It's a man with dark hair and a brown skin. He has got a big rifle!“ „Muhammad.“ Ezra said. „It must be him! He figured out that we escaped!“ „How could he have found us so quickly?“ Sarah asked, „He is a good agent, but he can't be that good!“ „He can read my thoughts.“ Ezra replied. „He must have sensed that I was near.“ „What?!“ Sarah asked in a shocked tone. „When were you going to tell me this?“ „Soon.“ Ezra replied. „I just found out myself.“ „Can we fly any faster?“ Ursula asked the pilot, „We need to get away as fast as we can!“ „I am afraid not.“ the pilot answered. „We are already flying much faster than we should. The only thing I can do at this time is to fly higher.“ „Please do that!“ Ursula answered. „We can't risk our lives like that! We can't risk Ezra's life as well! He is too important!“

„Of course it is about Ezra. It always is.“ Dane thought to himself, as he had stopped listening to the music when the helicopter was hit. He was so sick of the fact that since last year, everything was about Ezra. Everyone noticed only him and risked their lives to save him. All that mattered to these people was Ezra and his gift, and they didn't really seem to care about much else. For quite a long time, Dane had felt that he didn't fit into the formula: he was like Loki, who was living in the world of Asgard where he didn't really belong. Ezra was always going to be for him what Thor was to Loki: the one who will always outshine him and would always be greater than him. What made him even angrier was the fact that he had left college behind for him: his art studies that he had really loved and dreamed of since he was a little boy! And the worst thing was that it all had been for absolutely nothing, as they had not only failed in their mission, but he had also been betrayed by Ezra, who clearly knew how he felt about Sarah but had still kissed her! But Dane had had enough. If they were going to survive, he was not going to stick his neck up for him any more. He was going to quit the agency and live his own life, no matter what everyone else thought about it.

At the same time, the plane rose higher and higher. Looking out of the window, Dane saw that they were getting further away from Muhammad. Right before he turned away, he noticed that Muhammad fired yet another bullet from his rifle. „He fired from his gun again!“ he yelled, „The bullet is coming straight at us!“ „Fly faster!“ Ursula yelled to the pilot. „I don't care if you're breaking every law that has been made about flying! Fly faster!!“ With an unsure look on his face, the pilot still did as he was told, and the helicopter started to fly much faster than it had been before. This time they were lucky: the aircraft was not hit by the bullet Muhammad had just fired.

Seeing that he wasn't able to hit the helicopter a second time, Muhammad was mad. But knowing that with the first bullet he had still been able to somehow wound the helicopter meant that his enemies would soon have to land. As the helicopter was getting too high for him to shoot at, Muhammad got back into his car and followed the aircraft. As long as he had any gas left in his car and a gun full of bullets, he was not going to let any of them escape. Not even Ezra. It was time to finally end it all. He made it to the landing site a bit before the helicopter, and hid himself in a small forest nearby. As the helicopter was about to land, he threw a grenade near it, which exploded the moment it touched the ground, and did great damage to both the aircraft and the land. A few minutes after the explosion, Muhammad got out of his car and went towards the helicopter, carrying his black rifle with him. As he was getting closer to the aircraft, he noticed that many had been greatly injured and were unconscious or perhaps even dead. The one who had been least injured was Dane. With a smirk on his face, Muhammad opened the helicopter door. He dragged the unconscious Dane to his car, closed the door and got into the car as well. After a few moments, he drove away from the site.

A few days later Ezra woke up in a large hospital bed. Still seriously injured from the accident, he felt pain each and every time he moved a part of his body. As he had hit his head quite badly, it was covered with a large bandage that hid away most of his black hair. His left arm and both of his feet were in bandages too. When he opened his eyes, he noticed that his mother was sleeping in an armchair next to his bed. She must've spent the night, as she had never before left his bedside when he was seriously ill. Upon hearing Ezra moan because of the pain, she woke up as well. She looked very tired and overall quite horrible, as she had bags under her eyes and her hair was really messy. Her right hand was in a bandage as well. But the minute she noticed that her son had woken up, her eyes that had been so dull and glassy before now started to shine. She went to his bed and took his hand. „Ezra, honey! I'm so glad you are all right!“ she said with tears streaming down her face, „I honestly thought you were not going to make it!“ „What happened, mom?“ Ezra asked with a confused look on his face, „Why am I in a hospital?“ „Oh honey, you were in an accident.“ Ursula answered, „I was too, but I didn't get so injured as you did! I'm so glad that you are still alive!“ „Where is Dane?“ Ezra asked, „Was he in the accident too?“ „Yes,“ Ursula answered, as he facial expression got a lot more serious, „But he was gone when I woke up. So was Sarah.“ „Who is Sarah?“ Ezra asked, getting more confused by the minute, „I have never met someone named like that in my whole life!“ „What is the last thing that you remember?“ Ursula asked with a very worried look on her face. „The first schoolday of my senior year.“ Ezra replied, „I have not missed many classes, have I? Otherwise miss Tanen will most definitely kill me...“ Upon hearing those words, Ursula stared at her son in disbelief. As she realised he had lost his memory, she knew that the future ahead of them would be a grim one.