CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT:
Bang, Bang! (2)
--
Althea was relieved after knowing that there was someone who was listening to them and guiding them
towards safety, also, she was glad that she have someone to tell about the fake bomb threats of these
people.
She doesn't have her phone and she was running, as well as Tyler, she did not considered asking him
about his phone earlier since they have no time to dial someone's number while running. But to think
he was already on call, it makes things convenient for them.
"That suffice-" she said between her breathes. "Tell her that they are only-"
She caught the man on the corner of her eyes running towards them with the gun on his left hand. The
gun's muzzle was lowered on the floor and it swung with his hand as he runs towards them.
He opened his mouth and Althea thought he will just shout for them to stop running again like what he
did earlier, but he did not.
Althea's eyes widen when he pulled into a full stop and pointed the gun towards her direction. Her eyes
we're like binoculars zooming in towards the man's fingers as he put them on the trigger then, pulled
them to fire.
[Bang!]
Everything happened for a split second but it feels like eternity for Althea as her body tried to dodge the
in coming bullet but she physically can't and can never will, like how the majority of humanity can't.
The lone bullet sliced through the air before colliding with her body, then digging through her flesh. It
was funny how she can almost hear her flesh tearing apart.
She halted her steps in a stagger and immediately clasp that part of her body; on the side of her
stomach. She used her left hand to cover it and laid the other hand on top of it to press it more down.
Her palm was touching a hot, sticky liquid.
She immediately knew what it was.
Althea groaned as she feels her blood rapidly draining from her face. It was as if all of her blood were
draining out from her body via the hole that was dug into her body. Large beads of sweats started to
form on her forehead and slid down on her face. Her body was breaking into cold sweats.
She looked down and watched the horrifying sight of her palm and dress being soaked with red liquid.
Her aquamarine eyes lost its focus on the sigjt of blood and her eyelashes trembled.
For another split second, she can see herself inside an abandon factory, sitting on the floor while
trembling unceasingly.
She was sitting on a once dirty floor, but now, instead of just dirt, it was a mixture of dried blood, and a
pool of fresh and new red blood.
Althea's breath hitched and she muffled a cry. But no matter how she tried concealing it, it still came
out, although it sounds like a strangled cry.
Her eyesight were blurry as her tears keeps on coming and falling down. She was soaked with both
sweat and tears.
She tried leaning her hand on the floor, only for it to lightly slip because of the wet floor. Althea did not
shout, nor did she cried in surprise. She just quickly pulled back her balance and sat up straight again.
She wanted to look at her blood soaked hands, but her eyes keeps on going back to the body that was
lying next to her.
The body was also soaking soaking with blood. Althea can see the wound on the body's waist and
chest as it was facing her. The pool of blood was coming out from it.
The body's hands were laying flat on the floor, unmoving. The up and down movement that indicates of
breathing was not there anymore. But strangely, it's eyes were wide open.
And they were staring at her.
Her tears wells up even more, and with a trembling voice, she cried out. "... Mother!"
--
Althea bit her lip as her mind begun to spin in both pain and incoming forgotten memories.
Tears begun to well up from her eyes and she wanted to cry about how shitty is this night. She came
across with the people she never wants to meet again, got into something that reminded her of the past
she never want to visit again, got rescued by the guy she, again, doesn't want to see, and then got shot
and now, another memory was trying to surface.
Shit, shit. She regreted accepting this request of Charlotte again and again. If only she could turn back
the clock, she would never answer that call at all.
She raised her head and it was as if fated, their gaze met.
The bullet wound near her stomach was throbbing in pain, it robbed her energy. Her vision blurred and
darken, and her feet gave out.
--
Everything happened so fast, after April shouted that Althea was shot, it was as if everything inside
Tyler crumbled into nothingness.
His heart throbbed as he forcedly stop running and turned back, then he met her gaze. Her eyes were
full of pain. Tyler thought that maybe it was because of the bullet wound but he cannot really tell. It was
like there was something more inside those emotion.
Tyler's face paled when his eyes went down to see what she was clutching tightly.
There was blood. Lots of it.
His other thoughts were immediately expelled and he begun running towards her, shouting her name in
panic.
"Althea!" Maybe because of pain, the light in her eyes disappeared and her feet gave out.
Tyler was fast on his feet and he immediately caught her falling figure. Her body went limp and her
body was arched painfully. She totally lost her consciousness.
Tyler shook her body after supporting her back, "Althea, hey, wake up!"
But there was no response, he tried calling her again, but it was still the same.
Something snapped loudly inside him that he cannot name, and did not bothered naming.
His eyes immediately caught on the running man, seeing the gun, he immediately embraced Althea's
body thrown it on his shoulder like a sack of rice and ran away.
"Stop! I told you to stop!" He heard him shout but Tyler continued running.
Althea's blood was coming out in alarming rate. He doesn't even know if the bullet hit a vital spot. His
grip on her body tighten and he called out to April again with pained voice.
"April," he said. "I need a room, now!"
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