Fleeting Moments(7)

“Why have you got a gun?” I yell frantically.

“I’m not going to hurt you. Just trust me,” he growls, pulling me harder and faster, while turning and firing shots behind us. I’m too afraid to turn back and look.

We reach a door and he aims the gun, shooting the lock twice. It pops open and he kicks it open. Gunshots keep flying, and I hear people running quickly behind us. I realize it’s the people who were sitting closest to us. They must have taken the risk and followed us. Commotion can be heard above still, and I could swear I can see figures moving around us in the darkness.

“Come on,” Hunter barks, pulling me down.

It’s dark.

I can’t see anything.

He withdraws a phone from his pocket, turning on the flashlight, and aims it in front of us. We run. The two people following us are closer now, but Hunter doesn’t wait for them. We reach another door and Hunter stops at it, turning and aiming his flashlight at the two people.

The next moment happens so quickly. A bullet rings out and takes the man down, ripping through his chest with such force that blood explodes outwards. The second takes the woman down in the exact same way.

Hunter aims.

He fires.

The two men who just killed those innocent people drop to the ground. My knees give way and I scream. Hunter catches me, one arm around my waist, and hauls me back up. I fight. I claw and scratch, shoving him out of the way.

“Let me go,” I scream. “Let me go. No. No.”

“Lucy.”

“Let me go!”

“Look at me,” he roars and I flinch, taking a trembling step backwards and jerking my arm to my chest. My eyes find his, only barely in the darkness. “You’re okay. You’re going to get out of here. I’m going to get you out. Do you understand me?”

“They just, they k-k-k-k-killed those p-p-p-people and then you . . .”

“Hey,” he says, stepping up close, his eyes flicking to the door before focusing back on me. “I didn’t have much choice. Better I get rid of them than allow them to hurt you. Do you trust me?”

“I don’t know you a-a-a-and . . .”

“Lucy, do you trust me?”

I swallow my sob and nod.

“I’m going to get you out of here.”

“I don’t want to die,” I squeak, my entire body trembling.

“You’re not going to die. I won’t let that happen.”

He puts an arm around my waist again, and he’s so big, so strong, he just seems to hold me against him with absolutely no effort on his part. He feels comforting. He feels safe. “One foot after another, Lucy honey,” he murmurs.

One foot after another.

Just one foot after another.





CHAPTER 3


Hunter holds me up. He just hangs onto me as we move through the dark halls beneath the stadium. The sounds behind us eventually fade out, and we find ourselves at another entrance. It’s a simple door, just the same as the one we entered in. I don’t know what this space back here is, or where we’ve ended up. Lights aren’t exactly an option. I can only pray this door takes us out of this nightmare.

Hunter looks behind him, then he uses his gun to shoot the door open. It flings wide and cool, fresh air comes rushing in, tickling my face. I gasp and we step out into a small fenced area. Equipment sheds line one side of the fence and the back of the stadium can be seen towering over us. The fence is tall, barbed, and locked. Lights can be seen flashing to our left. Police.

We’re out.

“Come on,” Hunter murmurs, his eyes frantically scanning the perimeter. “Let’s get out of here.”

He pulls me towards the gate, which is padlocked closed. He rattles it, then twists and looks up at the back of the stadium. “I don’t want to risk firing this gun out here. It’ll cause chaos, and I promised I’d get you out. I swore I would and I’m going to. I’m going to make a call; come over here.”

He pulls me next to one of the equipment sheds and tucks us both in beside it where we can’t be seen from the stadium. The cool metal presses against my back, and I focus on trying to keep my knees from giving out. My body is so full of pain, aches, and fear that I feel as though I’m constantly fighting against it to stay upright.

“I’m out. Got a girl here; she needs a doctor. To your left, in the equipment yard.”

He hangs up and turns to me, surprising me by reaching down and cupping my jaw, tilting my head back, and studying me. “I promised I’d get you out and I never break a promise. You’re going to be okay, Lucy girl.”

Lucy girl.

Tears run down my cheeks, and he swipes them away with his thumb. This stranger. This man. This person who swooped into my life and risked everything to take care of me. I don’t know a single thing about him except for the fact that he stood by me in my moment of need, holding me up, both hands keeping me afloat. I owe him more than my life. I owe him everything.

“Thank you,” I whisper, my body going weak.

Relief has a funny way of doing that to you. It has its very own way of stripping you down, taking away everything you’ve been holding onto and just tossing it aside, leaving you with a nothingness that spreads deep, so deep your body just slumps, everything disappearing and leaving you empty.