Walls

06

Abbie watched with trepidation as Elias swayed dangerously on his feet.

"Elias," she squeaked in a tiny voice which made him snap his head towards her faster than a bullet, "Don't you know who I am?"

The emotions swirling in his baby blue eyes threw her off. He did not know her. But his eyes beamed with hope.

"Do you know me?" Elias smiled, looking relieved, "You know my name. Do you know me?"

"No, I don't."

"But you just knew my name," Elias scrunched his eyebrows.

"Long story," Abbie breathed sharply, her stomach doing a somersault when the gravity of the situation hit her, "But we have to get out of this place first."

Elias seemed to contemplate the thing for a while but nodded his head finally. Abbie offered to help him, but he politely refused her help - managing to limp and then wince and then pant for a minute. The cycle of him limping and wincing continued for some time.

Abbie was getting impatient. What if the gunman showed up?

"You know, we should hurry up," she sighed, earning a weird look from Elias.

"I would if I did not crawl out of a car wreck just now," he scoffed.

Abbie rolled her eyes. Why did she think a complete stranger would understand her situation?

"I crawled out of the same car wreck, and you don't hear me complaining!"

Abbie knew it was not the time to be rude. But she was petrified with the possibility that the man willing to kill her would show up any time now. She did not have the patience to deal with someone slowing her way out of the mess.

Elias gave her a wide-eyed look. "You what?"

Before Abbie could answer, a loud voice rumbled behind them, making both of them jump.

"Abbie and Elias!" the gunman laughed - a murderous glint shone in his eyes, "Why are both of you so difficult?"

Abbie felt her body freeze, rooting to the spot. She watched the man raise his gun in her direction with a satisfied look in his eyes. His lips stretched into a smirk as if he was enjoying every second of this encounter. As if he was savoring the petrified look on her face.

He was taking his time with her, and Abbie knew that. But she couldn't move a limb in her body - they were frozen in place.

Her heart gave what felt like the final jolt when something cracked loudly to her right. In an eerily long second, she glanced towards Elias and noticed the gun in his arms.

The manic gunman gave a loud cry of agony as his face twisted and his eyes scrunched shut. His large palm pressed against his left forearm as he lowered himself to the ground.

Before thinking it through, Abbie grabbed Elias and hauled him through the trees. The climb uphill was not the easiest. They could hear the gunmen cursing behind them.

Surprisingly enough, both of them had enough adrenaline in their systems to make it to the mesh fence.

Elias was already halfway up the mesh fence when Abbie landed on the other side. She helped him down the mesh-fence and pulled him towards the Corolla that she had parked by the side of the road.

A gunshot echoed, and the gunman appeared at the mesh-fence, cursing loudly when his eyes landed on the car.

Abbie and Elias had both managed to get themselves in the car by the time the gunman angled his gun their way and fired. The bullet ricocheted off the bonnet.