I found myself stuck behind a group of sloppily intoxicated older people. Jason stood off to the side of the main walkway waiting for me. He motioned to people in my way, and they let me pass. I was a few steps behind him when the first popping sounds rang out from the far edge of the complex.
THE REDS
Several loud pops echoed off the cement walls and tables. The noise bouncing off the lively, painted concrete vendor stations turned my head in several directions. I became disoriented. Diff jumped on top of a nearby cement retaining wall. He was yelling and franticly waving in my direction, trying to get my attention.
People ran past me. Someone knocked into my arm, spinning me around. I dropped the churro bag on the ground, and a man running in front of me slipped and fell on his back. The smacking sound of his head hitting the smooth pavement startled me, and I shrieked.
I pushed the next person in my path out of my way with both hands and started running towards Difference. Several more pops came from behind me. Jason appeared out of nowhere and grabbed me by the arm. The car key was in his other hand, he frantically pushed the button on the fob, as we approached the lights inside the cabin came on.
Jason runs faster than me and he pulled me after him so hard that my wrist popped and began to ache. He opened the car door, pushed me in the back seat, and slammed the door shut. I bit the end of my tongue and bumped my head on the armrest. All I could hear was the high-pitched noise of an emergency siren and pop, pop, pop.
The trunk jolted open. Soon after, Jason crouched down beside the driver's side door with a gun in his hand, and Diff leaned on the passenger door with a long shotgun in his.
A blast rattled the windows and cracked the glass with a flash of orange.
Jason dropped out of view—glass from the backdoor flew into my lap. The car door flung open. Heavy breathing, gunpowder, and dirt filled the backseat. Cold night air rolled over my skin as I was thrown to the ground. I tried to catch myself, but my wrist gave out and I fell face-first into the side of the car.
The sounds of struggle behind me turned my attention to a dark area behind the car, I thought it was Jason in the shadows, but he was lying in the dirt by the car's front tire with his arm covered in blood.
Someone had a tight grip on my arm. I started screaming and tried to pull myself toward Jason, but I kept getting dragged further away.
Aqua yelled my name off to the right. I felt her thin hand grab at my arm, but I was being pulled in two directions. Her voice brought me back to the moment, but the panic around me smeared into flashes of muted colors and shapes disappearing in front of my face.
The panicked noise was replaced by the deep throbbing of blood rushing in my head. Chicago slid into my view, wrapped his arm around Aqua like she was a basket of laundry, and swooped her out of my sight.
Blue was next to me. Her white-blond hair was unmistakable from anyone else. She was silent and bouncing up and down like a rag doll caught in the grasp of a running child. As I was lowered to the ground, I saw two unconscious young girls lying next to me. My legs were wobbly, but I scrambled to stand and run. That is when I heard the unmistakable sound of a shotgun cock behind me.
I sucked in a deep, dust-covered breath. I stood tall as all my senses became acutely alert.
“NO! Stop, stop. Please stop!” Jason was on his knees, ten feet in front of me. The skin on his arm looked shredded. Blood was trickling from his shirt to the ground. He was severely wounded and needed medical attention.
The fingers on the hand that wrapped around my arm were large enough to wrap around my bicep. My brain began to quickly calculate blood loss rates and body mass, the sounds of the unseen force behind me, the shotgun, and the size of the hand that had me.
I turned my face toward the captor at my back. “Don't kill him. Take me. Leave him alone,” I begged. A wide, tall, bearded young man with deep blue eyes and a violent stare smirked at me.
“I'm taking you already.” He growled his words, twisting my bicep under the weight of his wide grip.
Diff was shoved to the ground at the side of the group of captors. A large knife rested on his throat as two young men took the rifle from his hands.
“Let them live. I'll go willingly.” I forced myself to stare into his eyes as I pleaded for the lives of my friends.
“Do you swear this to me, topsider?” He asked in a deep and solemn voice. The proclamation anchored my mind setting it cold and vacant. A chill ran down my back. Aware of all my skin I let the terror pour over me until I found my voice again.
“Yes, I swear it on my life. Please.”
Several motionless bodies lay scattered on the pavement. Whatever this was before, it was over now, and we had lost. Sirens from transports began to whale in the distance. There was so much noise. Tears streamed down my face as my blue-eyed captor pulled me to his chest. My abductors began scrambling to leave. An even taller man tossed me over his shoulder.
Jason stood under a light post, pointed his gun in my direction, and pulled the trigger. The slap of the empty clip made me jolt.
