The Viral Chase

Chapter 15: Escape

Chapter 15

Escape.

Harry pushes me towards the staircase whispering the words. "Go and grab whatever you want. But do not let them see you. Keep moving. Go!" I bend down and get to the room upstairs with my wobbly legs, shuddering from the extreme impact of the firing. I reach for the laptop backpack and haul my packed bag. I crawl back out of the room and descend the steps, keeping my head lowered down. Surprisingly, the shower of bullets has ceased leaving back a painful silence. I find Harry crouching near the couch, motioning me to join him. I oblige as quickly as possible. The fine glass shards prick my knees even through my trousers as I kneel in front of Harry, wincing on each touch on the ground. "You need to stay with me. Have you put on your bulletproof vest?" I nod having lost my voice. He slides behind the couch and pulls out his pistols. I swallow down the lump in my dry throat on seeing them. He makes me put on the backpack and I pull the strap of my bag on the shoulder. "See that back door?" He whispers and I nod my head vigorously. "We will escape from there into the woods. They will fire bullets but you stay behind my back. Okay?" My mouth hangs open and my heart drops to my stomach. I can't run with him in the open with bullets showering on us. No. Never. But as always, before I can protest he has pulled in his own backpack (that I have no clue about how it reached him) and is stooping down on his way out as I trail behind him. My hand instinctively grabs the material of his t-shirt and I keep my head lowered behind him. My heart begins to pound and my stomach churns again. I might just throw up. He kicks the door open and runs towards the woods with me stumbling in his back as he shoots back. Once. Twice. Thrice. And now I have lost the count. The vibrations of each fired bullet from his pistol hits me through his muscled arm. Suddenly, I feel myself being ripped apart from Harry and I struggle hard to stay with him. The arms around my waist are pulling me with an iron grip, making sure that I am free of Harry. The adrenaline rush fills my veins and I elbow the person attacking me in the stomach. I turn around sharply and shove my clothes filled bag on his chest that makes him stumble backwards falling on the other shooter. Harry seizes my wrist and rushes away from the scene of action, pulling me with him. I am practically being dragged away by him near the waterfall that was once a serene place for me. I am pulled down with him as he ducks behind a large boulder. The pink tinge of dusk fallen sky with no light source nearby gives us more cover in here. I can still hear the noise of bullets escaping the pistols and God knows what type of guns. Harry counter-attacks the guy who shoots at us, making him lose his balance as the bullets tears through his chest and blood spills out. A wave of nausea and dizziness washes over me. "Please stop killing people." My voice cracks and betrays me even before my plea ends. He gives me one of his quick glances before raising his voice. "Do you want to live?" But I am still in a shock to react in any way. "Do you? Answer me!" His rage filled voice strikes me. I manage to nod and he flees with me. He grabs me by my jacket and pushes me in front of him, running away from the men in black suits. We make a round trip back near the cottage but give it a near miss as he pulls me back to the Range Rover and luckily it is still waiting for us. He pushes me inside the car in the passenger seat and buckles my seatbelt as currently my movements are not in co-ordination with my brain. He gets inside on the driver's seat and hits the gas, escaping the shed from a different path this time. The roaring engine grabs attention of the few men but he is quick to change course. The narrow grassy path obstructs him to drive fast but as soon as we hit the highway, the speed on the meter hits limits. The only car that tried to chase us is left far away as he weaves his way through the traffic swiftly.

My shuddering doesn't halt even after being miles away from them. I feel tears pricking my eyes and soon they stain my cheeks, streaming down my face, as the impact of what happened just settles in, draining all the adrenaline that fueled my legs to run and put up  the fight before. My hands are still shaky as I try to wipe my eyes with the back of my hand. Nevertheless, every few minutes a fresh set of tears replaces them.  "Hey, hey... Calm down. You are safe." His soothing voice makes no calming effect on me. I pull my feet up on the seat and hug my knees to comfort myself as a nauseous feeling grips my throat. "You killed people..." A faint whisper escapes my lips. "Alina, that had to be done. I had to save you." "But you killed them." My voice chokes as I whisper these words. "You need to understand that either it was them or you. They are bad people, Alina. Are you listening?" He tries to ask me but my mind is still reeling the scenes of the incident. "I know you are in a shock. It's fine. See. We both are fine." His soothing voice makes a reappearance along with concern filled glances at me. He pulls over near a restaurant. "Lets go and eat something." But I don't make an inch of a movement. My limbs are glued to the place. "Look at me, Alina." And I turn my face towards him but my gaze is still lowered. I can see his hand hesitating before reaching out for mine. His slightest touch makes me jump a bit and my eyes meet his own. "We are fine. Okay? You ain't injured, are you?" And he waits for me to respond. I shake my head instead of saying no. "Dinner?" How can I eat after all these? I watched people dying in front of me and the one who killed them was besides me all the time, still is. But he saved me again. After contemplating a lot, I agree with myself that he did it to save me like I would have done for my dear one, wouldn't I? And it is his job to keep me out of harms way. He is just doing it in his own way. "Okay." I finally find my voice to reply in a whisper. Maybe, a dinner will take my mind of this. Hopefully.