Surrounded But Alone

Chapter 26- Near Escape

Gail's Point Of View;

The car had to make a sudden stop because of crashing into the newsstand. The police sirens sounded even louder and soon they were in sight. Cars had to move out of the way as they came from both sides blocking any escape route by vehicle. So if they continue to drive and push the carts away would be useless. A tall, dark complexion policewoman with a bullhorn came out of the police car. First I saw her tell the other police around her something. Then she used to bullhorn to say in an almost raspy voice, "ALRIGHT, ALL OF YOU STEP OUT SLOWLY WITH THE GIRL AND KEEP YOUR HANDS WHERE I CAN SEE THEM !"

Three of them stepped out of the van with one of them holding the girl back with his arm around her throat. He threatened her life with a weapon near her head and demanded that the police make room for them to pass in exchange for her life. Some of the other policemen and women were handling the traffic told us, onlookers, to clear the area. That would mean Amelia and I would have to go back inside. As much as I would like to see how things played out there was nothing I could really do anymore.

Just before we entered the store it was clear that this girl was a fighter even in a fearful situation. She elbowed the man in his ribs and wrung his hand with the weapon making it sound off in an upward direction.

That was enough for even the people in the vehicles to duck under their dashboards and people like me on the street to fall to their knees and block their ears. I remained low as I turned to watch the scene unfold. The elbow may have startled him but the sudden shot of the gun was enough for him to loosen his grip on her. She used that opportunity to break free and run.

One of the men, who I recognized as the perfume salesman still tried to grab her as she ran passed him. But he wasn't expecting the girl to make a sudden left as she was pulled out of the way from his grip. I didn't see who took her by her form arm as it was all done so quickly. The perfume salesman stumbled to the ground as he missed her in the process of trying to hold her back.

The police now could react to the men without holding back since the girl was out of their midst. I heard her tell him specifically to stay down on the floor and the others were to stay where they were. Any sudden movements from them would not end well. As I took note that the girl was standing over by Presley and Harry the police now rushed us to go inside. One of them must have been the one that saved her.

We were instructed to stay put until told otherwise as they also wanted us to stay around to take our statements as witnesses. Honestly, I would rather not relate back to this scary experience again. I looked at my hands and I saw that it was actually shaking. If I had taken Presley seriously in the first place, maybe things wouldn't have escalated the way it did.

"We did all we could, now let the professionals handle it," I heard Amelia say as she stood next to me with Octo. To a point it was true but all I could do was let my head hang down and wait with everyone else.