by Alexa Anna
“The vents?” I say.
“It won’t work,” says Jim.
“Will it work?” says Jake to Lexi, ignoring Jim.
She nods.
“Show us,” I say.
“I’m not going through no damn vents,” says Jim.
“You’re going to die if you stay here,” I say.
A huge thud breaks the silence. The bar door shakes on its hinged. It’s a thick metal door, but it’s not going to withstand this.
“They’re using a battering ram,” I say. “The type the police use, probably.”
“The door’s strong,” says Jim.
“Not strong enough.”
Lexi and Jake are heading into the back of the bar, and Lexi’s pointing at some vents.
“Come with us,” I say. “This is your last chance.”
He shakes his head and instead aims his shotgun at the door.
I can’t wait any longer.
I’ve got to get out of here and protect Lexi with Jake.
The ram hits the door for the fifth time.
Lexi and Jake have the grill off of the vent, and Lexi’s halfway up into the vent. Jake’s holding her up, his hand on her sweet ass. But this isn’t any time to admire her body, her breasts hanging down perfectly, my eyes drawn to the curve under them. My cock twitches, but this isn’t the time.
She’s all the way in the vent now.
“Go, go, go,” Jake is whispering to her.
She’s in.
Jake jumps up and grabs on, pulling himself up and in a single swift motion, just like we were trained to do.
I look back at Jim, but he shakes his head at me.
I jump up and pull myself into the vent.
The door bursts open, and a stream of masked men rush into the bar.
Jim’s shotgun goes off, the reverb flashing through the bar. The kickback almost knocks Jim off his feet. He misses by a mile.
Jim’s down. A bullet hits him in the head. There’s shouting and confusion as at least twenty masked men fill the deserted bar.
Jim’s body is on the ground.
I fire off one shot before they see me up here in the vents and open fire.
A bullet lodges an inch away from my leg. Another bullet grazes me, ripping through my pants.
The pain hits, but it’s not bad. I’ve been through worse.
I crawl after Jake and Lexi. They’re far ahead of me, so despite my leg I rush towards them.
They know we’re in the vents, I think. Shit, they’re going to just meet us out back.
But up ahead, I can see Lexi in the gleam of Jake’s spotlight.
Lexi’s ass is facing back towards us, perfect, and even in this crazy situation I admire it like nothing else.
She’s pointing up.
She’s trying to open something, a hatch maybe.
Jake motions for her to move aside, and he flicks out a knife and starts working at the hatch.
I’m finally up by them.
“They know we’re going out the back,” I whisper.
“We’re headed to the roof,” says Lexi. “This leads up there.”
“Just one second,” whispers Jake, moving the knife in the rusted out lock of the door hatch.
It finally pops open.
“Go first, Jake,” I say. “Make sure it’s OK up there.”
Jake goes up, and then reaches a hand down a moment later to help Lexi up.
I hop up myself, pulling myself through the hatch into the rooftop city night.
The roof is made of gravel, and it’s almost pitch black. I pull out my own flashlight.
The sound of bullets is echoing through the vent up to us.
“They’re in the hatch!” cries out Lexi, accidentally speaking too loudly.
Jake and I slam down the hatch door.
“Too bad we can’t lock it back up,” says Jake, standing on the hatch. “I can feel them pushing against me. As soon as I move my weight off, they’ll be up here.”
“What are we going to do?” says Lexi.
There’s shouting down below, and I look down to see the gangsters piling into the semi-abandoned back driveway area of the bar. Their flashlights light them up and make dancing spotlights on the crumbling brick walls. Two old dumpsters rust away nearby them.
“Flashlights off,” I whisper.
“They haven’t seen us yet.”
“But this guy in the vents knows we’re up here.”
“Don’t know if they have radios.”
“But they have cell phones.”
Fuck, it’s 2017, of course they have cell phones.
What the fuck are we going to do?
Lexi
My heart’s nearly thumping out of my chest. The fear is coursing through me and the adrenaline too. I don’t know what the hell we’re going to do, and it doesn’t seem like the guys do either.
Jake has to stand on this hatch or else a killer’s going to rush up. And who knows how many are down there. There might be a few of them, more than the guys can out gun.
“I’ve been shot,” says Luke.
“Oh my God!”
“It just grazed me. I’m fine. Jim’s dead.”
My heart sinks.
He was an asshole, but he doesn’t deserve to be shot. He doesn’t deserve to be dead.
What the fuck is going on? My mind feels like it’s in complete confusion, complete chaos. We’re in complete darkness up here on the roof. The flashlights below are flashing. There are sounds, yelling, cries in the night. But the rest of the city is silent.
It’s silent all across The Downs except for right here.
This is one time you don’t want to be right in the middle of the action.
“We’ll go across the roof,” I say, suddenly. “Luke, you get your gun out, and get in position once we jump across. Then flash your light, and Jake will step off the hatch so he can come and jump. If someone comes up out of the hatch, you shoot him.”
“Can you jump across to the other roof?” says Luke.
“Yeah,” I say, but it’s only false courage that I’m trying to summon from somewhere. My body feels weak and empty. It doesn’t feel like it can possibly jump across. I’ve seen the gap between the buildings. It’s a huge alley, a huge gap.
“Sounds good,” says Jake. “Just hope you don’t miss, Luke. I’m going to be running like hell and won’t be able to shoot back. There could be a bunch of them down there.”
“I got you,” says Luke.
“That’s going to have to be enough,” says Jake.
There’s a sound of metal on metal, a horrible scraping sound coming from under the hatch.
The guys down in the back of the building are silent. That’s not a good sign. I can still see their powerful flashlights shining around though in the darkness. I don’t have any idea how many of them there are.
If it wasn’t for Jake and Luke, I don’t know what would have happened to me. I’d be dead probably, after enduring whatever horrors these gangsters were planning on inflicting on me. Who the fuck are these gangsters?
“OK,” says Luke. “Let’s go.”
He and I move slowly to the edge of the roof. Luke uses his flashlight on the lowest setting, keeping his hand covering the lens, keeping almost all of the light out. Just a little trickle of light lets us see our way across the roof.
There’s some more ambient light on the other roof. I can see how far it is. It doesn’t seem like I can possibly jump it.
I bet Luke and Jake can, though.
I’ve got to just do it, I think.
“Can you really jump that?” whispers Luke.
“Sure,” I say. “Of course I can. I was a jumper in track,” I lie. I don’t want him to worry. I know that the alternative to me jumping is that the three of us stay here and fight until we die. There are simply too many of them.
“You mean pole vaulting?” says Luke.
“Yeah,” I say. “Pole vaulting. I can jump. Don’t worry about that.”<
br />
This might be the stupidest lie I’ve ever told in my life. But I don’t know what else to do. I don’t worry about myself so much as I worry about Luke and Jake. I want them to be OK. They’ve already risked their lives for me too many times. I can’t have them do it again. Well, they already are. But I can’t have them dying for me. Not if I can help it.
“You go first,” I say.
“OK,” says Luke. “I can check to make sure no one’s up there once I get across.”
With his gun in hand, he takes more than a few steps back from the edge. Then he runs, bursting into a powerful sprint.
He pushes off hard. I can barely see his body in the dim light here.
I can see a flash of light on the metal of his gun as he flies across the alley, landing with a thud on the opposite roof, the gravel crunching beneath his feet. He’s back on his feet. I can see him. There’s more light there.
He gives me a grin that I can barely see. He motions for me to do it.
I’ve never been more scared in my entire life.
There’s no way I can make it across.
But I’m going to just fucking do it.
Just fucking do it.
I’m practically shouting at myself in my head as I back up, giving myself plenty of room to jump.
I start running before I can second-guess myself again. After all, what other options do I have? What else can we do?
My arms are pumping and my legs are slamming onto the roof.
There’s no way I’m moving fast enough. I’m not going to make it. I’m going to fall to my death.
At least Luke and Jake will be safe.
Fuck it, I’ve got to do it.
I’m almost at the edge.
I push off. The adrenaline bursts through me like a bomb.
I’m flying through the air, not knowing if I’m going to make it. Luke on the other roof looks so far away.
I can’t make it. I’m not going to make it. I’m already falling, falling towards the pavement.
The edge of the opposite roof is above me. I’m so, so close, but not quite there.
With a sudden jerk, I stop falling. Luke’s strong hand grasps my wrist. He’s looking down at me from above where he stands on the roof.
My heart is beating like it’s never done before.
With a single motion, Luke pulls me to safety on the roof.
“Pole vaulter, eh?” he says.
“I never said I was any good,” I say.
“Time for Jake,” he says, flashing his light. He’s crouched down, so that he can steady his gun arm on his knee.
Jake springs towards us.
Immediately as he leaves the hatch, the hatch door flies open and out pops a gangster, his black mask and his semi-automotive machine gun shooting up into view.
He aims his gun at Jake, but before he can let burst a spring of bullets, Luke fires once, his gun recoiling and sending a blast through the night. The masked man falls, but immediately he’s replaced by another.
How many of them are there down there?
Jake makes the jump easily, landing near us on the edge of this new roof.
“Anyone up for pizza?” he says, landing.
Any other time, I’d burst out laughing, but my stomach is in knots. I feel sick to my stomach. All these people dying, and for what? For some new drug market in the city or something? For money? What’s the point of all this?
“Come on,” says Luke, firing another shot.
I don’t look back to see what’s happening. I just run. I run with Jake and Luke, across the roof. The next roof is connected to this one, and we don’t need to jump.
There’s a fire escape that we rush down, ending up in an alley.
We run in the darkness, the three of us sprinting. I’m in the middle, with Luke in front of me and Jake behind me.
Jake and Luke spin around to check to see if we’re being followed. But, me, all I can do is look ahead, forward, forward. I can’t look back, not now, not ever.
Our footsteps sound like thunder in the alleyways.
We run and run until I’m panting and feel like I’m going to puke from exhaustion. I’m drenched in a cold sweat
We run until the sun comes up and we’re far, far away from The Downs.
“Hell of a workout,” says Jake.
Luke glares at him.
I puke into the gutter.
They’re patting me on the back.
“You OK?” they say to me, their voices full of concern.
That’s the last thing I remember before I pass out.
I wake up hours later. I can tell by the angle of the sun in the sky out the window.
“Where are we?” I say.
I look around. It doesn’t look like anywhere I’ve been before. It’s not the bar, it’s not my apartment, and it’s not their apartment.
I’m on a bed, a very comfortable bed. The walls are nice. Everything’s nice. There’s a big TV, and all those little refinements around the room that show good taste and high class.
“Where am I? Jake? Luke?”
“She’s awake,” comes Luke’s low voice.
“Feeling good?” says Jake, smiling at me, coming into the room.
Luke follows him, looking grim and serious.
“I’m fine,” I say.
“You passed out,” says Luke.
“I seem to have a way of doing that,” I say. “When things get tough, I faint.”
“A useful skill,” says Jake. “Sometimes I wish I did the same thing.”
I laugh faintly.
I’m still feeling weak. The memories of last night come rushing back. Jim dead. The gangsters following us. Then we were running for what felt like an eternity, through the deserted alleys, hoping they weren’t chasing us.
“Where the hell are we?” I say. “This doesn’t look like your apartment.”
“Way too nice, right?” says Jake.
I laugh. “Yeah.”
“We had to find a new place,” says Luke. “It’s not safe at our place.”
“Your car?”
“Still at the bar?”
“Jim?”
“Still dead,” says Jake. “As far as we know.”
“He’s dead,” says Luke.
“And you got shot?”
“Yeah, but it’s fine. Don’t worry.”
I start crying.
This is just too much for me. When I applied for the job at that bar, I never thought I’d see my boss shot before my eyes. Well, maybe I didn’t see him, but you get the idea. He may have been an asshole, but he shouldn’t be dead.
I’ve simply been through too much.
They’ve got they’re strong arms around me, hugging me, comforting me.
“I’m OK,” I say, drying the tears. “I’m OK, really.”
“Hell of a ride,” says Jake.
“So it turns out he wasn’t with the gang at all?”
“Probably not,” says Luke.
“It could be they decided to shoot him anyway,” says Jake. “But I doubt it. He probably didn’t have anything to do with them.
“So they’re working on their own?” I say.
They nod.
They help me out of bed and give me a glass of orange juice that I drink down in one gulp.
Jake’s pouring himself a small glass of whiskey from one of the mini bar bottles. “Got to take the edge off,” he says, shrugging as he downs the glass in one gulp.
He offers some to me and Luke, and we both decline.
“I’m not even 21,” I say.
They nod.
“So we’re going to just stay here?” I say. “We’re going to hide out here in the hotel, so we can stay safe from them?”
“You’re going to hide out here,” says Luke.
“What about you guys? What about contacting the police? This thing has gotten completely out of hand. We just saw someone murdered. We’ve got to go to the police.”
“They won’t do anything,” s
ays Jake.
“We’ve seen this before,” says Luke. “They’ll investigate the murder but they won’t do much else. It’s not like they’re ready to clean up The Downs by themselves.”
“What about you two then?” I say, getting worried. I feel a lump rising in my throat. “You said I’m staying here to hide out. What are you two going to do?”
Jake looks into his empty glass of whiskey.
“We’re going back,” says Luke.
“What?” I say, my voice rising. “Are you two completely crazy? You say the police aren’t equipped to do it, but you two are going to take them on all alone, just the two of you?”
“We have to do it,” says Luke.
Jake nods.
“Why?” I say. “This is just a job. You can walk away from it at any time.”
Jake shakes his head. “We can’t,” he says. “We can’t just do that.”
“People are depending on us,” says Luke. “No one else is going to help them while their neighborhood gets overrun by this gang.”
“But it’s just a shithole neighborhood,” I say.
Luke nods gravely. “Yeah,” he says. “But there are still people living there. There are people with businesses there, and they don’t deserve this.”
“But you two are going to get killed,” I say.
“Hopefully not,” says Jake. “But it’s a possibility we’ve considered.” The humor is there in his voice, but it’s dark this time, far too dark for me.
“But…” I say, tears welling up in my eyes. “I need you more than they do. I need you, don’t you see that? What am I going to do if you two get shot in the head?”
“We’ll be fine,” says Luke.
“I…” I try to speak, but the words fail me. I’m overwhelmed with tears that rush down my face. My throat feels stuck, like the words won’t come out. I’m crying like I’ve never cried before, and I don’t quite know why, except that I know I can’t lose Luke and Jake. But they don’t want to seem to do what’s necessary for me… they’re going to put themselves in serious risk for other people, just like they’ve done for me, but they’re not willing to keep themselves safe for me.
I rush into the bathroom and close the door behind me, locking it.
I look at my face in the mirror and I’m a complete wreck. The little makeup I was wearing is completely smeared. Tears are all over my face and it’s blotchy and my hair is all over the place, a complete wreck.
