On the day martial law is announced and put into effect, the whole city of Nova Aria is on fire.
Lou is stuck on her way home from work. She calls Robert, her distant ex-boyfriend for help, right before a bus crashes into her car. Little does Lou k...
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"You know why I chose this place? It's nice, of course, but the best thing is its unbeatable privacy..."
I licked my chapped lips. After a while, the stories became just noises. I was losing my mind, but they wouldn't stop coming. My empty stomach made me nauseous. Meg didn't give us anything but water while she stuffed herself earlier.
"Hey, save it! No one wants to hear your boring stories!" Vince slurred, but at least, he was awake.
Meg sipped a long, big sip of her pink mug's content then stood up and walked over slowly.
"There are only five houses on this side." She continued as if she didn't hear my brother's snark. "This one," Meg hit Vince with the butt of her gun, hard, then stepped back to avoid the blood splashed from his mouth. "The two vacant ones, Mr. Barlowe's, then the Bartons'. Rambunctious bunch."
She turned around and walked back to her lounge chair, leaving me behind, screaming my brother's name. "Vince! Vince! You bitch, you're killing him!" The wind carried moisture from the sea made my body shake and my teeth chattered, but my blood boiled with rage.
Meg sat there with the gun lying idly on her lap. She faced the ocean. The fire's reflection danced in her eyes, creating a menacing look.
"You know, people like you two who were born into privilege could never understand how the world works, how others struggle. You think you can sit in your ivory tower and look down on us. Nothing bad would ever touch you but look at you now. Pathetic!"
The woman was triggered. She stood up and pointed the gun at me. I closed my eyes and waited for the inevitable. Meg suddenly turned around and screamed at the top of her lungs. The shrill disturbed the birds. They flew all over the place panically, then disappeared into the sunset. My head wanted to split open.
"I can't kill you!" Meg smiled at me again. "Oh, I have to wait for their order, but I can do many other things. Hahaha..."
The laughter turned into strangled wheezing. Meg's eyes opened wildly. Her face was suspended in a mixture of pain and surprise. It looked twisted, almost comical. I would have laughed if my mouth wasn't stuck in a quiet scream.
Meg fell to the ground, twitching violently the whole way like a rabid animal. I looked at the convulsing woman, then up at the shadow. In the dark corner, a familiar man stood.
***
Who would have thought?
Yes, who would have thought that by the end of a crazy, terrifying, awful day, the sight of your ex would brighten it all up?
It was pure luck that we had an upper hand against an individual, I assumed, professionally trained like Meg. The people behind this must have thought Vince and I were not worth much of an effort to send in reinforcement. Robert was just the element of surprise that we needed, coming out of nowhere with nothing but a taser in his hands. Meg chose to go on an unhinged, psychotic rant right before this also didn't help her case.
Robert stood there, looking as disbelieve as anyone of us did, but he didn't stop until Meg lay limp.
"Are you guys ok?" He said while running over, stopping briefly to kick the gun away from Meg.
"'een 'etter," Vince muttered then spit out some more blood.
My poor brother. I hoped there was no concussion or something worse. The way he had fallen before I had lost consciousness and then got hit again by Meg was worrisome. Robert freed Vince first, but his eyes were on me the whole time. He then went to cut the cable tie on my wrists. His hands grazed my forearms, startling me. They were feverish, contrasting with the cold air. I turned back and met his brown eyes. There were a lot of emotions in them, but after the events of today, my brain was just numb.
Another wheezing noise coming from Meg made all of us stop in our tracks, but only for a few seconds.
" We have to get out of here," Robert said, helping me up on my feet then turned to my brother. "Can you walk, Vince?"
My brother swayed a little but steadied himself.
"'m fine. Did you bring the bag?" He moved his jaw around, wincing, then chuckled at the taser in Robert's hand. "Oh, yes, you did."
"Yup, in the front, near the gate."
I had absolutely no idea what they were talking about, but I soon found out.
"Ok," my brother picked up Meg's gun from the ground. "I'll get the duct tapes. We'll tie her up."
Vince took out all the bullets and put them in his pocket. The gun went to the back of his waistband.
What kind of people would casually carry duct tapes around? Apparently, my brother and Robert.
Vince left through the patio door that led into the kitchen. There was no trace of haziness or confusion. If it was not for his messy appearance, no one would have imagined what he had been through all day.
I wiggled my hands and feet a little, sucking air through my teeth because of the pain. I looked at Robert, who was watching Meg.
"Thank you," I whispered sincerely.
He didn't look at me or reply. That was about right. Even without our showdown at the hospital, there was a mountain of bad history between us. Vince was the only reason why he had shown up, but I was grateful nonetheless.
"Lou, I..."
"Yo, let's tie her up!"
Vince's cheerful voice cut through the strange atmosphere between me and Robert. I wondered what the guy could have said, but my brother, who seemed to be back to his old self, got all of my attention.
Vince bounced on his feet with four rolls of duct tape and a smile on his bloody mouth. He looked a little nuts, humming while vigorously tying Meg's wrists and ankles. Robert finally broke out of his trance and got down to help my brother. They finished the job with a long piece of tape over Meg's mouth.
"What's next?" I threw the question out at no one in particular.
"Let's... 'et... out of 'ere 'irst... 'en we'll 'o from 'ere," Vince said while rinsing his mouth and face with a garden hose.
