Roman picked up a towel off the ground and placed it on the stack of paintings and carried them. "Let's go then."
They walked out of the door and back in the direction of the fire exit stairs. Zadia sighed, looking down at the stairs. "I don't remember there being this many steps."
Roman was too busy pulling his gun out of his waistband to hear what she had said. "Get down!" He shouted but didn't wait for her to comprehend his words as he pointed his gun up and began shooting. Shots were fired back at them, the sound of bullets and metal colliding. Zadia leaned back and got down as fast as she could. The ringing in her ear made it hard to focus on what Roman was saying. "Move to my right, and keep going till you make it outside!" He shouted, but she couldn't hear any of that.
"My... my ears." She stuttered, covering them.
Roman sighed angrily and forcefully grabbed her by the arm, pulling her wet body onto his side. "Try to keep up!" He shouted over the gunfire, as they zoomed down the stairs hurriedly. Zadia's heart felt like it was going to erupt any second now, the ringing in her ears getting painful. "Shit!" Roman cursed, he should've tried and aimed someplace else, so her hearing wouldn't be affected, but he had to think fast or else there'd be a bullet in her head.
Zadia held on tightly to Roman's body, her eyes trying their best to watch her feet so she wouldn't trip. "Who's shooting at us?!" She practically yelled.
"How the fuck am I supposed to know!" He shouted. "You want me to ask?" He said sarcastically, but then stopped shooting, and peeked up the stairs. "Hey, who's shooting at us?!"
"We're with Cortez you idiot, drop the gun and give us the girl. We don't want any trouble."
Roman scoffed. "You don't want any trouble, but you had the audacity to shoot at me?!" He yelled. "Fuck that, I'll give you all the fucking trouble you want!" Roman fired his gun again and pulled Zadia so they could continue running.
Zadia's eyes widened, as she saw someone moving from down the stairs. "They're below us too."
"We're fucking surrounded." Roman let out. He paused to shoot again, this time hitting one of the idiots in the head. "One down, two more to go."
"Let's take this exit," Zadia said as they stopped near another floor exit. It'll take us to the second floor and from there we can and get the hell out of here.
"Alright." Roman breathed. "Let's do that." Opening the door, he made sure he looked both ways before stepping into the void floor. "Turn off the flashlight and stay close." He instructed, letting her go. They both began running side by side, trying to make it to the normal stairs that were at the end of the foyer. This would lead them to the first floor and they would be closer to getting back to the cars.
"Over here" Zadia panted and they turned towards the stairs, their feet barely having time to adjust as they skipped different steps, trying to make it down. When they made it to the first floor, they got quiet, carefully trying to not bring attention to their location.
"You see anyone?" Roman asked.
"No." She let out. "But they could be hiding, waiting for us to come out."
Roman nodded, picking up his gun. He aimed at the glass window the furthest away and fired, causing the glass to shatter. Seconds later, he heard another bullet fire but it didn't come from him. "Yup, they're definitely in here."
ChApTeR 8 Pt. 2
Start from the beginning
