Page 24 of She Found Me

“That’s not the guards, Marisa. Come on, run.” Holding their hands, I run with all my might. The girls struggle to keep up with me, but I keep going.

I can hear heavy, fast-paced footsteps behind us.

Then I hear a sharp, sudden blast.

They’ve got a silencer on the gun, but I know a gunshot when I hear one. Marsia drops to the ground. Screams of pain echo through the alleyway. She holds her leg in agony.

“Get her up!” I scream at Lucia. We put Marisa’s arms over our shoulders and struggle to keep moving.

“Stop…. I can’t!” Marisa cries.

“Please, Marisa, we need to keep going,” I implore. “Focus on running. Come on, we need to keep going.”

They’re gaining on us. Ahead, I see lights—the opening of the next street. If we can just make it to the open road, we can find safety. But it feels like the alleyway never ends. Our legs are moving, but we don’t cover much distance.

Another sharp blast sounds, followed by a piercing scream from Lucia.

Lucia falls, and Marisa follows her, pulling me down as they go. The white material around Lucia’s back is turning red. My heart races. I can hear my pulse in my ears. My girls cry in pain. I wrap my arms around them.

“I’m so sorry,” I whisper.

Anger and adrenaline now fill my body. I get up and stand in between them and the shooter.

“ENOUGH!” Trying to shield them with my body, I plead, “Take me. That’s what you’ve come for, isn’t it? Leave them alone.”

Two large men approach us in the shadows. Their faces are covered. One of them wraps this hand painfully around my upper arm, while the other slams the handle of this gun into my temple, my head knocked to one side with the force, almost breaking my neck. My legs give way as light-headedness washes over me. My knees hit the ground before I’m dragged along by my arm. The skin on my legs scrapes against the rough, wet pavement.

The sound of screams arouses me from my daze.

“No, please no!” I hear Lucia beg.

I turn to see the other man holding his gun towards my friends. Before I can react, he pulls the trigger. Lucia’s body slumps lifelessly to the ground. The haunting scream of Marisa fills my ears. I push to my feet to get to them, fighting with all my might to get free from my captor. With an elbow to his face and groin, I get free, but it’s too late. He fires a bullet into the back of Marisa’s head.

I run towards them. When I reach my friends, I cradle them in my arms. Screams of heartache burst from my lungs. They’re gone. My body shakes uncontrollably as I hold them. Guilt fills my chest. We should never have left the launch. This is all my fault; I brought these girls into my dangerous world.

Holding them tightly, I cry with sorrow, apologising repeatedly. Abruptly I’m ripped from the embrace. Too heartbroken to fight back, I let them pull me away. My body convulses, and my stomach empties in front of me. I’m rewarded with a crack to the back of my head. But it doesn’t hurt. I’m too numb. With a last look back at my friends as I reach the end of the alleyway, I silently promise my girls I will avenge their deaths. The car that was following us is parked on the road at the end of the alleyway. One of the men pushes me into the back seat, his gun pressed into the back of my head. The other gets into the seat in front of me and starts the engine.

“Who are you? What do you want from me?” Neither man has said a word to me, and both remain quiet. I do, however, notice the glances they keep giving each other.

As we set off, I assess my situation. The man beside me is still pointing his gun at me. The man in front has put his gun away in order to drive. Their first mistake was not restraining me. Amateurs. When the moment is right, I have no doubt I will kill them both. Their orders were obviously not to kill me, so I have that on my side. Plus, I have no care for my own life after the murder of my friends. My only motivation now is to end theirs.

A phone vibrates in the man’s pocket at my side. As he reaches to get it, the hand holding the gun naturally relaxes. Here’s my chance. With my right hand, I grab the gun while forcing my left elbow into his neck and crushing his windpipe. Stunned, he gasps for breath but unfortunately doesn’t loosen his grip on his gun. Struggling with all my might, I try to release his hand, but he overpowers me, headbutting me in the temple.

My adrenaline allows me to fight on, and the trigger is pulled. A shot is fired.

It’s not me who is hit.

We are suddenly thrown back into our seats as the car accelerates forward. The driver is slumped over the steering wheel.

Continuing to wrestle with the man beside me, I manage to turn the gun towards him. My finger finds the trigger. I press over and over. His eyes bulge as he fights for his life. Eventually he stops fighting, and his body stills. His eyes glaze over as life leaves him. Releasing the gun from his hand, I fire one final shot between his eyes. That one’s for my girls.

The car then throws me to the side, my head banging into the side window as we mount the pavement. I dive into the front of the car, and I try to take control of the steering wheel under the driver’s dead weight. When I pull the wheel as much as I can, the car moves a little towards the road, but it’s not enough.

In front of us, I see the girls dressed in our clothes run out of the bar, the guards following after them. There’s nothing I can do to stop the car driving into them at speed. I shout and scream for them to move, but they don’t hear me. I frantically search for the horn on the car to alert them. But it is too late. Their bodies hit the bonnet, then the windscreen at full force. Arianna’s head penetrates and showers me with glass. The car continues and moves back onto the road. Out of nowhere, another car appears. I have no way to stop myself from driving straight into it at full speed.

The collision throws me from the car. I am powerless to stop myself moving. I’m tossed around like a rag doll. I feel bones crack and my skin split. Pain rushes through me. Everything seems to be happening in slow motion. I feel stabs of agony with each impact I endure. Eventually my body feels heavy, and I realise I am still. Adrenaline fills me. Fighting for my life, I try to get up, but I can’t. I have no control. I’m paralysed. It’s eerily silent.

I make peace with the fact that this is my end. But before I can drift off into that never-ending sleep, an almighty bang ripples through my every nerve. I feel light again. But that is when I feel the heat. The scorching and melting sensation on my skin. I smell burning flesh. I smell death.

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