Chapter 26
A bullet travels incredibly fast. So fast that there's no time to react, especially when your mind is completely paralyzed with shock and fear and it was no sooner than an instant after I heard the gun discharge that I was face down on the cold ground, pain running though my entire body. The first and only thought that entered my mind was that I had been shot in the back. I gasped for air since both the shock of what happened and the impact of my body hitting the ground had knocked the breath right out of me. Another gasp escaped my lips as I tried to suck in more air, but failing to do so since I was so overcome with panic and fear and my lungs were probably damaged from the bullet. I had no idea what was going to happen next but I tried to suppress all the bad things that could happen and tried to concentrate on trying to figure out how I was going to get help so that I wouldn't die.
Suddenly I felt my body being lifted up and that's when I realized that it was too late, I had already died. It had happened so quickly that I didn't know what to think. I was still in shock from the entire situation. I just wanted to cry but I knew that at this point, crying was completely pointless. Tears escaped my eyes anyway, I didn't know what else I could do so I didn't fight it, I was too emotionally drained to fight it even if I wanted to. I was dead and there wasn’t a god damn thing that I could do about it.
“Are you alright?” I heard a male voice ask. An angel maybe. I blinked my eyes several times, forcing my blurry vision to focus hoping to catch a glimpse of my angel. Once my eyes adjusted to the darkness I realized that it had been Joel, not an angel, that had picked me up and was now carrying me quickly towards the front of the building. I wasn’t dead yet, I realized, overcome with relief. I was alive.
“Joel?” I whispered, my voice weak.
“Are you alright?” He repeated and I told him the only thing that I knew was wrong with me.
“I’ve been shot,” I answered, tears now rapidly running down my cheeks as I muttered the grim words that seemed almost impossible to comprehend, as simple as they were. It was more the implications I was afraid of than the actual words. People who’ve been shot die and that meant that I could die at any moment.
“No. No you haven’t,” Joel replied, his breath coming in gasps as he was moving quickly though the labyrinth of hallways before moving to the side so that he could put me down. My knees buckled but Joel caught me before I could fall to the ground and helped me to stand again, but this time, my knees didn’t buckle. I looked at him, completely dumbfounded. “I pushed you out of the way. That’s why you were on the ground. You’re alright but I think the bullet might have grazed my arm,” he said gripping at his left arm. I reached out and touched his arm and found my fingers covered in blood when I pulled my hand back.
“You’re bleeding,” I stated, now worried about Joel.
“I’ll be alright, let’s get out of here before they find us,” he said as he began walking again, the darkness making it difficult to see which way he was going.
“Wait. What about Benji? I’m not going any further without Benji!” I declared, refusing to move any further unless we went back to get Benji. There was no way that I was going to leave Benji behind. He was really weak the last time I saw him and there was no telling what could have happened to him in the time that we were separated.
“He’s outside. I found him first since he had his cell phone on him,” Joel answered before grabbing my hand. “We’ve gotta go, now.” Just as we started moving, gun shots rang through the halls. “Shit,” Joel cursed as we now began running in order to escape the gun shots. My heart began racing as the fear of getting shot was renewed. I stayed close behind Joel, hoping to god that we were almost out of here, but the sound of gun shots served as a reminder that we weren’t and of how desperately we needed to get the hell out. I gripped his hand tightly as we moved through the darkness. “In here,” Joel whispered as he pulled me into a dark room. I blinked several times, my eyes having to adjust to the more severe darkness of this room. My eyes fell onto Joel when he let go of my hand. I watched as he fumbled to retrieve something and my eyes widened when, even in the darkness, I saw what it was.
“Where the fuck did you get a gun?” I whispered harshly, shocked that Joel was standing before me, a gun in his hand. He didn’t answer me, he simply put his index finger to his lips, gesturing that I should be quiet. I bit my lip, not really knowing what to expect but waiting for it to happen never-the-less. Joel and I waited in the dark room for only a matter of seconds when we heard Kevin and Mike run by the open door, seemingly paying no attention to it. I held my breath as the endless seconds passed and we waited to see when and if Kevin and Mike would come running back this way. Seconds felt like hours as we waited in complete silence in the total darkness. My heart was pounding and it was pounding so fast and hard that I was almost positive that the sound was echoing through the room, though in reality, that was impossible. I held my breathe and looked over at Joel when Mike and Kevin ran down the hallway and passed where we were hiding.
Joel turned to look at me as we heard the sound of the foot steps disappear in the distance. They hadn’t seen us. Slowly, I let go of the breath that I had been holding and waited for what Joel was going to do next. Our eyes locked as we waited. Joel shut his eyes for a moment, probably contemplating his next move. Another impossibly long moment went by as we stood there in complete silence before we heard footsteps coming back towards us. The sound of feet slowly hitting the ground sending a cold shiver down my spine. I held onto Joel’s hand for dear life. I was so scared. It was almost like I was back in that alley, the sounds of footsteps directly linked to my fear because with each step, my fear rose. Joel didn’t seem to care that I was squeezing his hand so tightly that my knuckles were turning white. I was desperate to know that I wasn’t alone and Joel wasn’t going to leave me. Probably sensing my thoughts, he squeezed my hand in his own for a moment before loosening his grip once again. Even though the act was so simple, it really helped me relax. My mind was once again churning out coherent thoughts. I have to remember to thank Joel (and Benji for not giving up and for keeping his promise) after this.
“Shit, I lost them,” Mike gasped out, stopping right in front of the room where Joel and I had taken cover. Oh god, don’t let them see us I silently prayed to myself.
“We need to get out of here now, before they bring the police back here,” Kevin answered, the brothers obviously forgetting that they were angry with one another, at least for the time being. The sound of their voices showed there apparent fear and I hoped that Joel and I would be able to use this to our advantage. I looked towards Joel again and I could see that he was trying to work out a plan.
“Alright,” Mike replied. “Get all of your shit together and get rid of anything that could be used as evidence. We can’t risk the cops finding anything.” We stood there, waiting for what would happen next. After waiting for a few minutes, Joel started to pull me towards the hall as he put his gun back into the belt of his pants. I was slightly reluctant but I went along with him, knowing that I would be alright with Joel there. We slowly made our way down the hall, trying to be as quiet as possible. My palms were becoming sweaty from the tension. We were so close to freedom that I could almost taste it. Joel turned his attention back to me and I forced a small smile to let him know that I was alright.
“Hey stop!” I heard someone yell and me and Joel froze immediately.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Guys, sorry it took so long to get this chapter up! Enjoy and reviews are love!
