“Well, well,” Alanna’s father said as he turned towards her, his arms up over his head, realizing that his daughter had the same cold blooded killer instinct that he had when he was younger.
“Shut up!” she yelled. “Daniel, get out here. Darren, catch.” Throwing her spare gun towards him, he easily caught it.
“Now what?” he asked, pointing it towards her.
“Hey, not at me!” Alanna shouted. “Them, Darren.”
“Sorry,” he replied, his gun now pointing at Vladimir.
Alanna focused her attention at the entrance of the cafeteria. There was no way she could make it past Vladimir and her father then the guards posted outside without getting caught by someone else. Looking up, she found the only other way out of the facility.
“Alanna,” Darren whispered.
“What?” she replied, irritated.
“I hear something,” he said.
From outside the doors, several gunshots rang out. “Shit! Destiny!” Alanna yelled as she turned away for a moment, her gun loosely hanging in her hands.
Vladimir took this one-second window to withdraw his own weapon, a three inch serrated knife. He charged towards her without warning.
“Alanna!” Darren yelled. She turned, narrowly missing a stab in the back. Her attention immediately focused on getting a few rounds off from her gun. She missed Vladimir all together, and he was soon running back towards her as she messed with the bullets in her gun. She dodged him again, but ended up falling over as his massive body hit her shoulder. Vladimir pounced on top of her, pinning Alanna to the ground.
Darren watched from his vantage point with horror. He wanted to step away, join the fight, kill the fat guy, but then the other man would go free, and he couldn’t let that happen. Yet, with his inexperience, he didn’t notice the man draw his own knife and lunge at him.
“Darren, watch out!” Daniel shrieked.
Darren saw the pointed weapon slowly making its way towards him and wasn’t thinking when he pressed the trigger on the gun. It fired, hitting the man in the leg. Darren backed away as he fell to the floor in front of him.
Alanna heard the shot ring throughout the room, but didn’t dare move her attention away from the fat guy trying to squish her to death. She managed to pull up her leg and knee him in the balls. He rolled over in pain, giving her ample time to escape.
“Alanna, you okay?” Darren asked.
“Yeah,” she panted, looking at an incapacitated Vladimir on the floor beside her feet. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, but I don’t think he is,” he replied, pointing the gun towards her father. “He ran at me with a knife and I shot and he fell.”
“Don’t worry about it. Just keep him from moving around anymore,” Alanna said. She was ready to walk away when Vladimir grabbed her by the ankle and dragged her back to the ground. She shrieked, falling right beside him. He immediately scrambled to reach his knife as she inched her way towards her fallen gun.
Vladimir easily wrapped his fingers around the carved wooden handle of his knife and plunged it towards Alanna’s body. She tried to move away, but as she rolled over, his knife stabbed into her side between two of her ribs and into her left lung. She screamed in pain as he pulled it out. Another shot rang out and he rolled away, limp. She twisted her head around to find Daniel standing at the door, his gun still smoking.
Alanna rolled onto her back, her breathing becoming shallow and irregular as blood seeped into her lungs and out of the gaping hole beneath her arm. She was fading fast. Darren ran to her side, tearing his shirt as he dropped to his knees. He pressed the cloth over the gaping hole and felt her grimace in pain.
“Darren,” Alanna coughed, thick red blood spilling from her lips.
“Don’t talk,” he replied. “Save your strength.”
“Tell me something,” she whispered.
“What do you want me to tell you?”
“Why did you sleep with me?”
Darren was taken aback by her question. He hadn’t thought much about it since they spent that together, and he never though he’d have to revisit it, but now that she asked, he was forced to re-evaluate his motives. “I saw something in your eyes that night, something that I never thought I’d see in a woman I barely knew. It gave me the strange feeling that we’d met before, maybe in a past life or something. I couldn’t control what came over me; I just had to have you, to feel you, to understand you. I wanted to find out what really put us together, and I guess I didn’t realize until now that maybe I’m in love with you, and I can’t live another day without you. I never want you to leave my side,” he explained.
“You love me?” Alanna whispered.
“Yes,” Darren answered. “More than I ever knew I could love someone.”
“I love you too,” she replied, then coughed again, bringing up more blood this time. She closed her eyes and tried to swallow, but her lungs burned.
“No, don’t go to sleep,” Darren frantically pleaded as he wrapped his arms around her.
“Hold me,” her nearly inaudible voice murmured.
“Don’t die, please don’t die,” he cried as her eyes began to droop. The cloth beneath her arm was now completely saturated in blood. Darren ripped another piece of his shirt and placed it over the first one. “Alanna, no,” he begged as tears flowed freely from his eyes. He rocked her back and forth as she passed out in his arms.
“I’m here!” Destiny burst into the room at that moment. “What happened?” she asked, still panting. Daniel simply pointed to Darren and Alanna on the floor. He was crying, gently holding her limp body in his strong arms. “No!” Destiny screamed.
Darren looked up and saw her mortified expression. He simply nodded to her as more tears drained from his eyes.
“Everybody, freeze!” another voice rang through the room. Destiny, Darren, and Daniel turned around to find Rogers standing at the door dressed SWAT style with a helmet and his gun drawn. He lowered the weapon and stood dumbfounded by what he saw. He pulled out his radio and said, “We need an ambulance. We’ve got three people wounded and one dead…”