(May be unsettling to some readers)
STEPS
"Take one more step and I WILL shoot him!!!" the masked man held Glory's gun to Noah's head.
Glory froze, hardly daring to breath, because she knew that indeed, he would pull the trigger without hesitation. Her gaze was fixed on Noah. He looked at her and weakly shook his head.
"Stop moving!!" the criminal yelled, pushing the barrel of the gun harder into Noah's head.
Noah looked Glory straight in the eye and she knew he was warning her to run away. But she frowned at him and shook her head slightly, as if to say, "Not without you I won't..."
Noah hung his head. The gun followed his movements.
"Ooookaaay... I have no clue what's going on here but it needs to stop right now.." he paused for effect, "And luckily, I know exactly how to do that." Glory imagined that he was probably smirking under that black mask.
Then he turned to Noah and said, "You know Noah, I'm sorry, and this REALLY is nothing personal," but then he said, "But it IS personal for someone else..."
He pulled off his mask, smirked at Glory, and pulled the trigger. He ran off into the darkness.
"NOOOOOOOO!!!!!" Glory screamed.
She ran to Noah's side, sobbing, "Noah? No.. No, no, NO! You promised you would never leave me again.."
She was trying hard not to look at him, but she couldn't resist any longer.
She looked at him, fell on her knees, and gasped, "You're still breathing.. Oh, thank God!! Wait, your shot in the chest.. How?.. How did you dodge Henry's bullet?"
"You.. You KNOW that guy?" Noah said, gasping for breath.
"Yeah... Long story short, he's my ex.. We were getting on okay, but then I found out that he was a criminal and me being an FBI agent... Yiu get the idea. But you still haven't answered my question."
"Wow, I never knew you had an ex.." he gasped, smiling a little.
"Hey! I-" Glory protested.
"Wait.. That IS what I meant but that's also NOT what I meant, and you know it."
"I know.. Ok, so, you're bleeding out.. That must hurt.." she said, wincing. She ripped off part of her sleeve and began pressing it to the wound.
Noah grabbed her hand and said, "It's no use.."
"But if I-" she argued, trying to pull away from his steel-like grip.
"No... No, you know what I meant. Gary, or whatever his name is, will never stop trying to get back at you.. and yeah, you won't be able to stop the bleeding.." Noah said in between gasps for breath, he took her head in his hands.
"But-" Glory started, beginning to cry again.
"Hey... Hey.." he whispered, wiping away her tears with his thumbs. "Listen, I don't have much more time..." his breath was now becoming short, sharp gasps. But his focus tunneled on Glory.
Glory began to sob, she grabbed his hands and leaned down and whispered, "I love you.."
She then pressed her lips against his. 'They're cold..' she thought sadly.
He smiled up at her, then stopped breathing all together, and soon, went limp.
"NOOOOO!!!! No... No... NO!!" that was all she could say. She cried until she had no more tears to cry.
