Song: Hold On by Chord Overstreet
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I get that feeling in my chest where your heart beats so fast that it feels like it explodes. My sister clutches her chest with one hand as she stares at me, her eyes pleading. Her knees buckle beneath her and I dart forward, catching her before she hits the hard floor.
"I told you not to try anything," Lucas shouts, but I tune him out.
I crumple to my knees, holding my sister's torso in my lap. She still clutches her chest, and I place my right hand over hers.
"It's okay, it's okay, you're gonna be fine," I whimper as tears fill my eyes. I brush the hair off her forehead with my sticky hand. "Eleanor, you'll be okay," I say, knowing full well that I'm lying.
Her eyes are still wide as her breaths become short. "I'm scared, it hurts," she chokes, her voice cracking. A tear slips down her cheek and I wipe it away with my thumb.
Lucas continues to babble, but I don't listen.
"I know, I know," I say, sniffling. "It's okay, I promise." I pull her head closer to my chest, planting a small kiss on the top of her dark hair. My vision blurs through my own tears, and I try my best to blink them away. To stay strong. For her. "I love you so much, Eleanor."
"Tell Mom and Dad - tell them I love all of you, please," she says, her voice barely a whisper now. "Please don't forget me." Her skin grown paler by the second, her eyes narrowing with each breath.
"I'll tell them, and we'll never ever forget you. I promise," I hiccup, my voice cracking. My cheeks are wet and my own tears drip into my sister's hair.
"Do good for the world, Mitchell. Put a stop to this," she murmurs, giving my hand one last squeeze. Her fingers fall limp around my hand as her head droops in my arm. Her eyes glaze over, her lips parted ever so slightly.
Resisting the urge to scream, cry, and kill every last person in this room, I whisper, "I will."
I gently close my sister's eyes, laying her head down on the cold floor. Anger burns inside me, like a volcano about to erupt. I curl my fingers into tight fists, digging my fingernails into my palms as I stand. My brow furrows, and my breathing is heavy with fury.
The whole room falls silent. Staring, watching. I stand totally still for a moment, just one, solid moment.
In the blink of an eye, I rip the rifle out of the man's hands next to me, aim it, and pull the trigger.
Right at Lucas Baldwin's head.
More shouting ensues, more gunfire. I drown it all out, keeping my rifle trained on the SWAT team before me and firing blindly at them until every last man is on the floor or running away. The man holding Ally shoves her behind him, speaking into his earpiece.
This isn't just Lucas's fault. It's the fault of every person who works for him too.
"We gotta move, now!" the man who was holding me shouts as the sound of more SWAT boots hitting the floor grows louder. More are coming.
The group pushes Ally and I to the back of the room, taking the gun back from me as more SWAT members flood into the room. Two men usher Ally and I underneath the table once more, only this time on the opposite side, away from the door. A third man places my dead sister on the floor next to me, and I tear my eyes away.
My sister is gone.
"Stay here until someone comes to get you," a man says before jumping up, dashing into the battle. We cover our ears once more, Ally offering me a sympathetic look.
Several bullets hit the table, jolting our bodies and making us jump. Ally squirms closer to me so we're sitting side by side, huddled up against one another. We both squint our eyes shut in a vain attempt to block everything out. But even with our ears and eyes plugged and shut, the scene is still deafening and blinding.
Ally's torso leans against mine, her head on my shoulder. Another round of bullets attacks the table, and we both scream, huddling closer to each other.
A hand wraps around my wrist, and I open my eyes. "Time to go! I'll have someone get your sister!" one of the men shouts over the gunfire. He pulls Ally and I to a standing position, motioning for us to follow him. Ally grabs my hand, gripping it so tightly I'm sure she's cutting off my circulation.
Gunshots continue to ring through my ears, but Ally and I continue to closely follow the man nonetheless. He effortlessly fires his rifle as he runs, sending several people scurrying away.
As we run beside the ginormous window, we hear a deafening crash. Ally and I look up as the man who was in front of us tackles us to the ground, splaying his body on top of ours.
The enormous window comes crashing down, shattering into millions of shards of all different sizes along the way. Glass rains down all around us, most of our bodies protected by the man who threw himself atop of us. Small bits of glass slice through my arms and legs, stinging as they do so.
The man rolls over off of us, his back covered in deep gashes and oozing blood.
Ally starts, jumping back. "Oh God!" she shrieks.
We make to drag him into safety, and he croaks out. "Leave me, I'll be fine. They need you. Get on the jet." Hesitantly, we drag him behind the table and set him down.
"What jet?" I shout, hoping he can hear me over the gunfire.
He nods his head to the side. "Out the window! You'll have to jump! Go, while my men keep everyone distracted! And take my gun!" he shouts back, shoving his rifle into my hands.
Ally shoots me a look. "You're kidding, right?" she groans. I grab her wrist, now covered in blood, dragging her back towards the huge space where the window was.
We step carefully over shards of glass as we hurry over, and I keep my gun carefully trained.
"I see it!" Ally shouts, pointing out the window. A huge, black stealth jet hovers impossibly just outside the gap of the window. A top hatch is propped open where a uniformed woman waits, motioning for us.
Another barrage of bullets is fired near us, and we duck down as the bullets ricochet off of the tiles wall. "Oh God, we have to jump to that?" Ally whines with a shudder.
"We'll be fine," I shout. I don't actually know that for sure, but we have to take the chance. We have to try. "Come on, let's go, before anyone sees us any more," I shout, hoisting myself up onto the window's ledge. "As if we're not obvious enough," I mutter to myself.
A deafening scream comes from behind me. I turn over my shoulder to see a young woman has been shot, clutching her leg in a ball on the floor. I turn around just as Ally's hand wraps around my shoulder.
"No, Mitchell! There's no time, we have to go! Now!" she shouts urgently over the noise. "There's nothing we can do!"
I bite my bottom lip as she grabs my wrist, pulling me with her.
Ally hoists herself up on the window ledge next to me. I grab her hand, tucking the rifle under my opposite armpit. My heart thunders in my chest, and I feel like fainting.
"On three," I shout. "One, two, three!"
Ally and I jump, gripping each other's hands tightly. The wind ripples through our clothes as we fall down, down, down towards the huge black jet. I get the feeling that my organs are just free-floating in my body, and the urge to vomit comes on strong. We both scream at the top of our lungs as we plummet further downward, the jet growing bigger every second.
"We're gonna die!" I shriek, trying to keep from closing my eyes.
We land with a thud on the wing of the jet, and Ally topples onto me. Something in my ankle cracks sickeningly as I catch her, nearly falling over. Ally moves to help me up, pulling me from under my armpits, and I hold the rifle tightly. Too high on adrenaline, I ignore the pain in my ankle as we run towards the woman in the open hatch.
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