Day 203 - Breakout

 Breakout

Matthew Ryan Fischer

 

The gunshot rang out and Sonny moved faster. He ran past Kaylee, paying little attention to her reaction. Probably her first time hearing actual gunfire on the job, he thought. This wasn’t training anymore; this was the real thing. She would learn quickly, or not at all. But that wasn’t his concern in the moment. He wanted to get to the source of the action and stop anything worse from happening.

Later, when he had to recount his story, and there were reports to be filled out, and questions to be answered, Sonny would realize just how distracted he was in the moment. He would tell them about the blood and the bodies, but he couldn’t actually remember his movements as they occurred. There were tiny glimpses, like he jumped in time and space. He could remember punching someone, but wasn’t sure who. There were also enough guns that he couldn’t begin to guess who shot first or last.

 As he ran down the hall, some doors opened, curious or frightened faces emerged. Some doors remained closed. Those were the smart ones, he thought, hiding instead of running into danger. What did that say about him? He didn’t feel smart or stupid or brave or scared. He felt his blood pumping and was excited. He felt right, as if being a body in motion was how he was always meant to be.

The penthouse door opened, and a bleeding man stumbled out. Sonny didn’t recognize him. He pushed forward and entered. There was an older woman with a knife in her side and a man about her age trying to put pressure on the wound. There were screams from further in.

Sonny entered a living room and found what must have been at least three different groups all screaming and accusing each other. He recognized Bagus but saw that he wouldn’t share any secrets with Declan again. There was a group of men around him, but Sonny didn’t know them. A younger man and woman were together with guns out, holding the group back, away from a sharp dressed man on a couch. The other group were several men and one woman, all of them dressed like they were from the street. Probably not Agents or Dragons, Sonny thought.

The man on the couch looked at Sonny, and slowly the others in the room realized he was there. Soon the room was looking at him. He might have had the law on his side, but he certainly was in no position to dictate what occurred here.

Behind him, he heard Kaylee’s voice command the room to step back and drop their weapons. He realized she must have had a weapon on her. She’ll get us both killed, he thought.

But then he heard a voice that surprised him, Declan telling Kaylee to relax.

At first Sonny thought backup police had arrived, but when he turned, Declan was there with the older man Sonny had seen taking care of the stabbed woman. This was definitely not a police operation, but Declan seemed to know the players.

At least a few of the people in the room seemed ready to respond peacefully, but then a new group of armed men burst through the door. Sonny recognized a couple of them by the tattoos on their arms.

Sonny’s first instinct was to attack, but instead he found himself tackling Kaylee out of the way and allowing the men to pass them by. Later he would be told he did the right thing in saving her first, but he wasn’t sure. A fight was about to break out and instead of enforcing the law he thought only of himself. Sonny fumbled for his weapon, when Declan reached down and helped pull them both up. Sonny wanted to go after the tattooed man, but Declan pulled them both towards the door.