The Chloenicles #1 [COMPLETE]

CHAPTER 21: Women up, Paul!

On the guy-with-the-slimy-voice's command, the men in the black suits started to move.
Instinctively, Lars, Stacy and Miranda formed a circle around Paul Herford and me.
We were still standing behind the counter Stacy to our left, Lars to our right, Miranda in the middle. „Stacy and I will clear the way, Miranda you get Chloe and Paul out of here!", Lars shouted before he and Stacy leaped forward to push the AML agents away from the only way that would lead us from behind the counter into the direction of the exit.
„Follow me and do as I say", Miranda yelled and ran towards the little space Stacy and Lars had created.
I was too scared to think twice about what she had said so I started to follow her.
It felt strange to move towards the fight instead of running away from it but I trusted that Miranda knew what she was doing and that she would get us out of here.

Even though I really wanted to hide until everything was over, I felt bad that I could not do more.

For the first time in my life I wished that I could throw a punch that would leave another person seriously damaged.

I did not really know how to behave.
Should I at least try to fight?
Or should I just try to stay out of the way so that Miranda, Stacy and Lars could do their jobs?
I looked over to Paul Herford to see how he dealt with things.
He must have been in situations like these before, maybe I could copy what he was doing?
I expected him to be next to me, right behind Miranda, but when I looked, I did not see him.
I felt even more panic rush into my body.
Did they already get him?
I turned around and found him still standing in front of the black curtain.
His eyes were wide with panic, he was totally pacified by what was happening around him.

„Paul come on!", I shouted over the noise of the fight around us.
He did not react.
I did not know what to do but all the people I could ask were busy kicking AML agents in their stomachs.
Damn it.
I could not just let him stand there like that.
Sooner or later we would leave the more or less safe zone that the counter provided and then there was nothing to stop the bodyguards from getting him.
I ran back, grabbed his arm and pulled him with me.
With Miranda, Stacy and Lars guarding us from all sides and clearing a path for us, we managed to move forward a couple centimeters at the time.
Even though we were seriously outnumbered, we had the advantage of having the better fighters. The three of them were easily taking on two of the bodyguards at the time, pushing them back into the oncoming crowd, startling them and slowing them down.
Fortunately for us, the room to fight in was very limited, so that they could not come at us all at once without being in the way of each other or falling over other agents.
They had to wait their turns.

Paul Herford not moving on his own was my answer to the question wether or not I should try to fight. It had become my job to make sure that the two of us were not in the way of the kicks and punches our three protectors threw around and to make room for them when they had to doge an attack.
I hated that I had to rely on them to get me out of here but there was nothing I could do about it.

Up on until this point I would say that given the fact that we were outnumbered, we were doing okay.
None of us had been seriously hurt so far and we were slowly but surely making our way to the exit.
I was just glad that they seemed to stick to physical violence and that no gun had been fired yet.
We got out from behind the counter but our backs were still close to it, so we did not have to worry about them attacking us from behind.

But every step we took in the direction of the exit, we became more and more exposed.
I was wondering why nobody came at us from behind and as I dodged to not be hit in the nose by Miranda's elbow, I looked over my shoulder and saw, that the agents who managed to get there were running towards the black curtain instead of taking advantage of our vulnerable side.
Oh no!
The people upstairs in the secret room!
We had forgot to warn them!
They would be totally blindsided by AML agents storming in.
Should I try to run upstairs?
Even if I made it up there, warning them after the agents arrived would not help them at all.
I wished that I had thought of that before it was too late.
I felt a little guilty, but there was nothing I could do about it now other then hope that the people in the secret room knew how to defend themselves.
One of the AML agents flew back first through the curtain and ripped it off.
With a very loud bang, he landed on the floor behind the counter.
That sounded like it hurt.
Good.