Tainted Attraction (Ziall)

Chapter 28

He was shot. Zayn was shot. He got shot. What do I do? I can't do anything for him. I want to help him. We were running away from him. No. I have to go back to him. Please, let me go back to him.

I struggled against John, but he only held me tighter. "Let me down! Please! We have to go back!" I screamed. The tears were running down my face as fast as my heart was beating. "D.ammit! Let me go!" I kicked to no avail. "Zayn!" I screamed, reaching out towards him in some sort of attempt to reach him, but we were too far gone down the dark hall. I heard more gun shots and my voice got caught in my throat. He was dead. There was no way he was alive.

I gave John one final kick and his grip loosened around me. I dropped to the floor and started to run back off down the hall. I only made it about ten feet before John caught up to me again and grabbed the collar of the coat wrapped around me. "Do you want to die, kid?" He yelled at me, his spit slightly hitting my cheeks. I nervously shook my head back and forth. "He told me to save you if anything happened. Now don't make my family one member less by f.ucking around here. Let's go."

I nodded and followed John back down the hallway. There was no hope for me if I got caught and John wouldn't be going back with his family. The whole situation was dire. As we were running again, my legs felt shaky and my inside were churning. "John, is he dead?" I asked, my voice shaking.

"I don't know." John said in a rushed voice. "Come on." We made it down the hall and around the corner before the footsteps and shouts behind us got louder. I could hear Liam's voice booming against the wall and echoing into my ears.

"I don't care how you f.ucking do it! Find them and shoot them both down. Now go!" His words terrified me. He had poisoned me before and I had no doubt in my mind that he would have his men shoot us down.

"Hurry up, kid!" John yelled as he was getting a little farther away from me down the hall. I glanced back one last time to see three bulky men running towards us with guns drawn.

"John get down-!" I yelled as I ducked and a shot rang out. It managed to hit the wall instead of our bodies. I ran faster, faster than I thought was possible and caught up with John. "Please tell me you have a gun." I shouted at his as we ran. He looked determined as he reached down to his waist and pulled out a hand gun.

"Only so much ammunition though." He said, whipping around and shooting back at the group following us. One groaned and fell while the other two held back a little. "At the end of his hall there's a door. The combination is 6256. I want you to get out and run for the woods. Okay?" John spoke as if he was leaving me too.

"You're coming with me, right?" I barely managed to speak to him when a billet came whizzing by, almost hitting me in the head of I had been a fraction of an inch to the other side. I ducked down again and kept running. John shot back a few times and then yelled at me to get out as fast as I could. I saw the door down the hall and ran as fast as I could. I turned back to see John shooting at the two men left.

"Go on, Niall. I'll catch up once I get Zayn with me!" He shouted and all I had to hear was Zayn's name to believe him. I shakily entered the code into the electronic padlock on the door and it swung open. I ran outside to the fresh air and stopped. I looked around through the dark and made out the tree line in the distance. I ran for it. There I would be safe and hidden until John came back for me with Zayn, if Zayn was alive.

It was hard to navigate through the dark. My senses were on overdrive. I tripped over roots sticking up through the ground. I sliced my heal on a rock in the woods. Every once in a while I would stop and take a breath. I had been running my whole life for what it seemed. When I found a safe place to hide near some large rocks obstructed by the foliage, I sat down and huddled John's coat around me.