Shattered

Chapter 49: Confessions

Violet's POV:

"You will never know that feeling, you will never see through these eyes."- Sam Smith

While the gunshots were still going, I dropped to the ground and crawled across the floor, under the stalls until I reached the laundry chute. I waited to make the lunge for it until the bullets stopped and then I made my move. My best chance was to jump in headfirst which would not be pleasant for landing, but I didn't have a lot of options.

I seriously doubted asking Lance and his assholes to hold on the shooting so I could climb through the chute feet first would work, no matter how polite I asked.

I jumped through the chute, turning my body as soon as the chute widened to the open room so I wouldn't land on my head. I landed partially on my left shoulder and groaned, thankful I kept shirts on because that would definitely leave a bruise and I did not need Kaden asking me how it happened.

I got to my feet and ran to the closest cement pillar. Getting behind it, I listened to the hurried steps coming from behind me, trying to identify as many as I could. Just because I saw six people up there, didn't mean there were only six. I closed my eyes and listened carefully as I slid my backpack off and crouched down to get into it.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven... Eight? Eight. Eight people came down the stairs. Opening my eyes, I pulled out two more sets of ammo and another gun. I put the backpack on and slipped the ammo into my pockets. Holding a gun in each hand, I turned off the safety and cocked both as I stood and leaned back against the pillar.

Don't panic, don't panic, you've made it through worse.

Lights slowly started coming on in sections until the entire room was dimly lit with white fluorescents. That wouldn't last.

"Violet, come on," Lance called out. "Last chance."

Ignoring him, I took a deep breath and moved from behind the pillar enough to shoot out the lights and get a brief glimpse of where everyone was. Muttered curses fell over the room as we were consumed in darkness and I moved back to the safety of the pillar as they started shooting, firing way too many bullets all at once. Amateurs. They should've done it in waves so some could reload while others continued shooting. They'd need to reload and they'd be sitting ducks while they did.

The bullets stopped and I heard a small amount of shuffling before Lance spoke. "Cute tricks, Vi, but you can't get out of this. You're outnumbered, you might as well give in. Better to live another day, right?"

I laughed humorlessly. "Motherfucker, I survived the den," I reminded him. "You're a walk in the park compared to that."

Closing my eyes a minute, I pictured them all where they'd been, where they were most likely to move to while shooting and reloading. I had a clear enough picture so I pushed off that pillar and abandoned my cover, spinning towards them and firing in the dark. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven...

Fuck. I got behind another pillar but I only heard seven bodies fall. I missed one. I listened carefully but I heard nothing, no shuffling, no anything. I reloaded then sprinted for the stairs on the opposite side from where they came in.

I ran up the stairs, wondering how many other people Lance might have with him. I needed to get out of the building. I heard more gunshots coming from the room I just left and pushed myself up those stairs faster.

The gunshots coming from behind distracted me, I should've been paying better attention. I should've noticed someone was coming around the corner where the stairs flattened out to make the turn, but between running as fast as I could and those gunshots, I wasn't ready when Lance rounded the corner and he smacked the butt of the gun against my face.