baby [h.s.]

twenty five

Behind us was chaos. People were screaming, fleeing. In reality, it wasn't as bad as the panic made it sound. The ground team was handling it. Harry and I bolted for the back exit. My right hand clutched my gun and my other held Harry's.

A glass window shattered just to our right. We both ducked. He squeezed my hand.

There was a lock on the back exit when we reached it. The door was practically hidden by a curtain, so no one else had spotted it. Harry lifted his foot and kicked through it.

Two men with bandanas covering their faces and fists up greeted us. There was no time to think; I took my hand out of Harry's grip and hit one of the men in the cheek with the side of my fist. He stepped back, his eyes wide. Harry was handling the other one, but the one I had hit didn't know what to do.

"Can't hit a girl, yeah?" I said, in Spanish. Before he could respond, I shoved my elbow into his nose. He knocked to the floor, clutching his nose. The other one was on the floor when I looked over to Harry. He breathlessly laughed and reached for my hand again.

My heels tapped against the floor as we darted through the back hallway. No one else was there. We had almost made it to the exit leading outside when Harry suddenly stopped. He let go of my hand and began to pat his suit jacket.

"Harry," I hissed. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Fuck," he said. "Tilly, go; find your way back to the hotel. I let something in there."

"Is it really that fucking important?"

He began to jog away from me.

"Baby, just go; stay safe."

My lips parted as he dashed back through the door, to the chaos. My heart raced. The hallway I stood in was dark and empty. I gulped and walked to a wall. The tile floors peeled up at the corners, and it was obvious to me that this hallway was not of the original architecture. It looked like a maintenance hall. I kept my gun at my side and placed my other hand on the wall.

I felt conflicted. No way in hell would I leave and go back to the hotel. I knew Harry could handle it, but my gut jerked, and I knew I had to go back in.

I glanced down at my dress, and not a thread was out of place. I counted to three hundred to calm myself down. Once my heart had stopped racing, I gripped my gun with both hands.

My shoes created too much noise. I walked to the door and peeked through the small window in it. Most people had escaped, but there was still a lot going on. It had only been ten minutes since it began.

Before I could convince myself otherwise, I gripped the door handle and threw it open. No one looked my way; there wasn't a person within fifty meters of me. I threw the curtain over the door to shield it and walked away, keeping my gun low. My gaze scanned the scene ahead of me.

It took me a few moments to spot Harry. He was kneeling behind a fallen table.

There was a man approaching him from behind, but he didn't notice.

My actions were reckless, but I dashed forward, without thinking. I reached the man just as he grabbed Harry's shoulder. The handle of my gun smashed into the side of his face. He grunted, stepping back. In a moment of his weakness, I grabbed his arms and shoved him onto the ground. I held him there with my foot, tightly gripping his arms, and looked to Harry.