{Chapter 9}
I snapped my head in the direction of the voice, still held in Ashur's arms.
"EVERYONE'S PHONES ON THE FLOOR IN FRONT OF ME, THEN GET IN THE CORNER OVER THERE!" He spat, making wild gesticulations with the gun in every direction. Both me and Ashur slowly got our phones out and set them on the ground, sliding them over to the man. The poor cashier was shoveling the money into the bag as fast as she could. Everyone in the store filed into the front left corner where the man told us to stand, nearest the exit. Me and Ashur were one of the closest to the glass and farthest into the corner. A large crowd of people were now gathered outside of barrier walls, police starting to file in.
I looked up at Ashur, eyes wide with fear, only to see he was just as frightened. I took a deep, shaky breath, then reached out and took his hand. I was shaking so hard I couldn't see straight. Ashur squeezed my hand and I calmed down just a tad.
I looked around to see that about 10 or 15 other people huddled around me and Ashur. Most of them were teenagers except for an occasional mother. Most of the teenagers had a "look" like Ashur's. I was surprised, since I had never seen someone like him, until I remembered the mall was between our town and the next one over.
The man had collected all the phones and shoved the cashier into the corner as well. Everyone stood in a frightened mass, hoping he wouldn't hurt us. He turned from us to unlock the doors and run, but found several more officers surrounding the door.
"Shit," he muttered under his breath and stared at us. I was startled when I felt a tap at the window to my left. I turned around and there was Amy, pressed up on the other side of the glass, tears streaming down her face. She put her hand up on the glass and cried harder, probably imagining losing another person so close to her. I slowly raised my hand up to hers and rested my forehead on the glass where hers was. I felt a tear roll down my cheek, just one, solitary tear. Then I turned and yelled at the man.
"Just let us go damn it!! Coward, to afraid to face the cops and using teens and middle aged women as bullet shields!! You BASTARD!!" I screamed the words, pushing my way to the front of the crowd, spit flying every time I emphasized a word. I stood in front of him red faced and furious. Then he punched me across the face, HARD. I felt a ringing in my ears and the edges of my vision became fuzzy. I fell to the ground by the force of the punch and saw the heavy sandbags on his knuckles, probably for extra precaution. My hands hit the cold wood floor of the store. I pushes myself back up and stood right in his face again and whispered, "Do that again. I dare you." I proceeded to knee him in his balls but it seemed to cause no pain. He sneered at me before coming down hard on my leg.
I felt the searing pain before collapsing a second time. This time I would not get up to fight again. I rolled around screaming in agony. My leg was bent in a grotesque position and I saw the bone under the skin. I settled on my side and retched on the floor. Screams of moms and teens alike erupted in the room and several sobs mixed in with my own. Hot tears stream down my face and I could feel my face becoming pale.
Then from behind I heard a furious, battle-like scream and feet pounding on the floor. I rolled over just in time to see Ashur jump up and Superman punch the thief in the jaw. I heard the crack. The man fell and Asher kicked him in the side several times before stopping. The man was bloody and beaten on the ground and Ashur loomed over him, hands clenched into fists, and breathing heavily, a look of fury on his face. A few moments passed, everyone was silent, Ashur still standing over the man, me stifling sobs on the floor.
Then Ashur whispered, teeth clenched,"Don't EVER hurt my friends. EVER." He then ran over to me and cooed that I would be ok, that it was alright. Police officers burst into the room, the other hostages stared at me and were ushered out, asking if I would be ok. All noise was dimmed to a low droning. I saw the officers check the gun. It was empty. No bullets. The last thing I saw was Ashur's face. Then everything was black.
