029 POV final apartment 730

The man aims his gun at me, his face a cocktail of anger and pain. I freeze in my tracks and raise my hands, waiting to feel the hot sting of lead as it punctures my body. I've always wondered what being shot feels like and I guess now I'm about to find out. I brace for the pain... but for the moment doesn't come.

'Lose the knife.' The man orders. I'm stunned that he's talking to me. The murderous look in his eyes says that he wants to do just that - murder me. I do as told immediately. It clangs on the linoleum flooring. 

'I should drop you where you stand.' He threatens. I don't reply. I don't even look him in the eyes. I know that right now he's one very small reason away from pulling that trigger. I don't want a misstep on my behalf to be the catalyst for my demise. 

'Unless there's a cruiser in the neighborhood, average response time for a call out for shots fired in this suburb is under five minutes. That's assuming your landlord has already called it in, which I'd give nine to one odds on is the case.' 

I don't respond to his statement, unsure where he's going with this. 

'Move!' He yells, motioning for me to head toward the door. I inch my way slowly toward the exit, careful to keep facing him, eyes locked on the ground. I figure that if he can see my face he's less likely to shoot me.

'Turn around, go ahead of me.' The man barks. As much as I don't want to walk with my back to him, I don't want to disobey him more, not right now while he's got his blood up. I turn slowly around and walk out of my apartment, down the hallway.

'Hurry it up. We need to be as far gone from here as possible before the boys in blue show up.' I increase my pace, keeping my hands in the air. I'm very aware of every step I make. I don't want to startle him with any sudden movements. I hear him grunting and heaving in pain as he follows down after me. He's able to walk by himself, but it's plainly evident that his wounded leg hurts like hell.

We make it all the way down the stairwell without anyone from any of the other apartments coming out to check to see what all the noise is about. This doesn't surprise me. It's very much a keep to yourself apartment block. I don't know any of the other tenants by name, and could only identify three, maybe four of them by sight. Admittedly, there's something refreshing about the anonymity this dwelling provides, but right now, a nosey neighbour could literally save my life. 

We press outside into the cold night air. The man looks up and down the road for signs of anyone stupid enough to interfere. At the very far end of the street a couple of homeless men warm themselves around a fire in a forty-four gallon drum, but they're far away enough to not be of concern. 

We cross the road, I key open the car and get into the driver's seat. 'Keep your hands on the steering wheel, where I can see them. You move them off for any reason, I will shoot you.' The man snaps.

I sit rigid, hands on the wheel, watching him as he moves around the car as fast as his addled leg will allow. He gets in and slams the car door closed. Groaning in pain as he does.

'Get us the hell out of here.' He says through gritted teeth, annoyed that I haven't already started the car. I gun the engine, half expecting it not to catch, but it ticks over just fine. Given that this beast was already on its last legs years ago, and has this very night been through a high speed crash not to mention that it was used for shooting practice, I'm amazed it's still going at all.

'Where to?' I ask, needlessly, as he replies immediately with, 'Just drive, get us away from here. But don't take any main roads, and don't break the speed limit.'

I release the handbrake, put the car in gear and pull out smoothly. On the horizon I see the lights of a plane coming in to land and can't help but think of my daughter, thirty-five-thousand feet up in the air, flying toward me right this very second.