Bang! Bang!
“No!” I scream as Gideon is suddenly on top of me, pushing me to the ground. He and Richie have their own weapons drawn, but there’s so much chaos, screams, running people.
“I can’t see the shooter,” Richie yells to Gideon.
“It came from the front entrance.”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
More shots are fired, and suddenly, the guys are carrying me through the room toward the back door.
But then another shooter enters that way and starts shooting people too.
We’re trapped.
“We’re going to let them start working the room,” Gideon says, sounding so damn calm. How is he calm? This is all my fault. I justhadto see this new exhibit, and now we’re in the middle of a mass shooting.
I’m sobbing, clinging to Gideon as he and Richie make a plan. There’s so much screaming, so much blood.
I can smell the coppery scent in the air, and I can hear the whimpers, the cries for mercy, as the two men continue to shoot the black rifles in their hands.
Oh, God, we’re going to die.
“We’re not going to die,” Richie says. I must have said that out loud. “He’s moved from the door.”
“Move,” Gideon says as he points his gun and shoots. “One down.”
“You killed one?” I ask.
He doesn’t answer me. He and Richie rush me out the back door and into the darkness. Into the rain.
There’s a roar behind us and then hard, fast steps, as if someone is running after us.
“Take her,” Gideon shouts, turning to the door we just ran out of. “Get her out of here!”
“No!” I’m clinging to Gideon. “I won’t leave you here.”
“Go with Richie.” He looks my way just for a second. “Get the fuck out of here, Lena.”
Bang! Bang!
Gideon’s body jerks, and then he falls with me on top of him. Richie fires, taking out the second gunman, and then he pulls me off Gideon, but I can’t stop screaming.
He’s bleeding. The rain washes the blood into a pool around him, and I wiggle out of Richie’s hold and fall back over Gideon.
“No! No no no. You’re okay. It’s okay. Oh, God, I’m so sorry.”
“Hey, it’s going to be fine.” His voice is raspier, and he’s breathing hard, but he doesn’t seem like he’s close to passing out. “I need you to get out of here, Lena. Let Richie get you somewhere safe.”
I can hear sirens in the background.
“I’m not leaving you. We’ll get you in an ambulance.” I rip off my jacket, and then my sweater, and wrap the sweater around his leg to help stop the bleeding.
Richie isn’t trying to get me to leave.
“The threat is gone,” Richie says grimly. He’s talking into his phone. “Two down. James was hit. Blackbird is secure.”
“Shit, I’m going to pass out,” Gideon says. “I don’t want you to see this, Lena. Go with Richie.”
