When All is Lost

Chapter 23

"Alright." I flicked the safety off on my gun and tucked my ice pick up my left sleeve, feeling the cold metal against my skin. "Keep watch guys." Turning away from the group, I let out a breath and quietly added, "And wish us luck."

Carlos heard me, but he said nothing as we trudged through the snow ahead of the group and towards the front of the building. We hugged the walls, doing our best to not be seen or heard.

At the front, the majority of the building was covered in glass windows, giving us little choice of what to do next. I dropped to my knees and began to crawl. It was freezing and I was already bitterly cold, so I did my best to use my elbows to keep my hands out of the snow.

By the time I made it to the first of four sets of glass doors, my knees were throbbing from the icy snow and pavement. I could hear my heart beating in my ears as I tried to think of what to do next.

Stand up.

I was having trouble convincing myself to do it. I knew the moment I did, I could be spotted or shot. The doors could be locked. My mind spiraled with all the things that could go wrong.

Stand. The. Fuck. Up.

I did. I moved as fast as I could into a standing position with my gun ready and yanked on the door. It was unlocked.

Move. Move faster.

I stepped inside and was met with more glass doors in a short, wide hallway. My shoes squeaked on the tiled floor as I stepped up to the next set. I could feel myself tunnel-visioning as I focused on each task as it came. I had to go through the next set of doors. The bad lighting made it nearly impossible to see what was beyond the glass. I could hear that Carlos was behind me and that pushed me to keep going.

Move!

With my gun aimed, I tugged on the door handle. My heart skipped a beat when nothing happened. It was locked. I moved on to the next one and was met with the same result.

Don't think. Just go faster.

That's what I did. I practically ran the few steps to the next one and pulled at the handle as hard as I could.

It opened.

The door was slow to move, giving it a suctioning feeling as I opened it. I had my gun up and ready and it was a good thing I did as I was met with the shocked face of a young woman as she skidded to a stop less than ten feet from me.

She held some kind of metal bar raised high in one arm. She had been ready to strike had I not had the gun aimed right at her head.

It was a little jarring, but I could have sworn that she looked a bit like me. Her pale complexion and light brown hair matched mine. She even had blue eyes, too. Her nose was the greatest difference between us as hers was wide and bulbous whereas mine was more upturned.

"Slowly put what you're holding down on the floor," I said in a deep, quiet voice that sounded foreign to my own ears. "If you make a sound, I will shoot you."

Her mouth hung slightly open as she did what I said. I could tell she was scared, but I had to hope that meant she wouldn't do anything stupid.

"Walk towards me," I told her. She did and I directed her to join me and Carlos in the hallway. "Pat her down," I directed Carlos. He did what I asked as I kept my gun trained on her, occasionally glancing back at the door. "How many of you are there?"

Initially, it looked as though she had no intention of answering, but when Carlos finished checking her for weapons and came up with nothing, he pointed his gun at her, too, and her expression changed. "Three."

"Go outside." My voice was steady and commanding despite my rapid heartbeat. "And Carlos, make sure our people get her. I'll keep watch on the door."

Carlos stepped further away from the woman, giving her the space she needed to head towards the door. "Hurry up," he said to her. His voice was stern, but it carried no animosity.

Nearly in tears, she followed his directions and went out the door. I counted the seconds in my head until Carlos made it back to my side.

"They were all right out there. They got her," he whispered to me.

Two more.

"Then let's go."

We pushed into the building and entered the yawing, open space of the movie theater. The ticket booths cut the otherwise large space in half, but I could still see the long counter of the concession stand beyond them. I wiped my shoes a little on a strip of black rug, hoping to keep my feet would be quieter as I crept across the shiny, black and white checkered floor.

There was no battle cry, no warning, just the sudden thudding of feet as a man came charging out from the side of one of the booths. Like the woman, he held a similar-looking bar in his hands. I aimed my gun.

"Stop," I told him. However, he wasn't even looking at me he was headed straight for Carlos.

Carlos's reaction was much slower. He staggered to the side trying to get away from the man and fumbled with his gun as he did so. The room lit up for a moment as his gun went off, making me cringe as my ears began to ring from the sound.

I couldn't see what was hit, but both men were fine. The surly-looking man who'd been so eager to get to Carlos only a second before now stood stock still.

"Don't move!" I yelled, barely hearing my own voice over the ringing ears. "Drop any weapons you have or the next shot won't miss."

I was bluffing. From the look on Carlos's face, the shot had been an accident. Somehow he looked far more shocked than the man we now held up.

The metal weapon in the man's hand fell to the floor, clanging against the tile as he put his hands up. His expression was a storm of mixed emotions. I didn't want to read into any of them.

"Where is the other person here?" I asked him right as I heard the door at my back open.

"You okay?"

I didn't turn to look at Ian or the others as they joined us. I stayed focused on the man.

"We're fine." The man was no longer looking at me, but at the group of people – along with his companion – who now stood behind me. From my peripheral, I could see that my group was spreading out a bit.

"Check him and move him to be with his friend. There's still one more."

To my surprise, it was Paula who ushered the woman forward with a knife as Carlos checked the man over. When we had them both under our control, I had them kneel a few feet apart from each other in front of one of the ticket booths.

It was hard to look at them. "We don't want to hurt you. We'll let you keep half of everything you've got. Just tell me where your friend is."

Neither one spoke, but unlike when my group chose not to answer a question, it was utterly clear that their lack of response was an act of defiance.

I let out a sigh of frustration. "Please don't make this any harder than it needs to be." The woman had a kind of sheepskin boots on, I didn't want her to give me a reason to take them.

A gasp sounded from somewhere behind me. I spun around slowly, looking to the side of the room. Prisha stood with her long neck stretched as far as it could go with a knife tightly pressed against it.

"Let them go." An older woman moved herself and Prisha forward and out of the shadows. "Let them go."

I saw a small drop of blood roll down Prisha's neck and I could picture Abby's cut wide open.

My hands moved faster than my mind. Not caring that I barely knew how to shoot or that I only had a single bullet left, I aimed my gun. I moved even faster than the older woman could react. I stepped forward and shot her right in the head.