Crimson
They are coming... I can hear the gunshots... please let them walk by me... let them believe I am dead...
"Please... sir... help..." She sounds pitiful... please hush... they will hear you and come... shhhh...
She coughs and hacks onto the crimson floor and looks up at me again.
"Please..." I can't help you, woman... no one can... hush now, close your eyes and sleep. They will hear you and find us...
She coughs again and pleads with me... I am thinking of my wife, Natasha... My son Mikhail and my daughter Alexandra... Will they cry? Or will they just go quiet when thay hear... don't cry my loves... don't weep. I love you all so much... so much. What will happen to them? Natasha will get a job... will she succeed as I know she can? What of Mikhail? Will he turn into a delinquent? Start taking drugs and stealing? And Alex... my dear Alex... She'll never know her daddy... I won't see her turn eighteen... won't walk her down the aisle... won't see my grandchildren. Where is the justice?
I crawl over to a security guard and pick up his gun... it is heavy and foreign in my hands, I take aim and fire. the sound is deafening... the kickback disorienting, but I stand and take a second shot, watching the butcher fall... drop like a felled tree. his associates turn and see me... shit... oh god... I hope they know...
I take another shot at the leader... I miss. He takes a shot at my leg... felling me like a tree. The pain is indescribable... the ground is warm and wet... crimson. I raise the gun and pray.
I hope they know how much I love them... I fire once. They all fire, pinning me to ground in pain and with lead... I see the floor... crimson. Crimson with my blood and the blood of the other innocents slaughtered this day. Then... no crimson... only black.