Amy pushed open the door to the bank and joined the line behind an elderly couple. She was relieved the line was short.
The elderly woman turned to look at Amy, catching her eye and smiling. Amy returned the smile and then started to rummage in her purse to get her withdrawal slip ready.
An alarm rang. Surely not, she thought. Probably just the fire alarm but instantaneously a gunshot was fired. Amy's heart jumped into her mouth and she flinched, automatically ducking down and bringing her hands to her ears. Everyone else in the bank had done similar.
"Everyone down on the floor. Now!" A masked man shouted. His tone cold and calm. Completely dressed in black. "Any of you move, and I'll execute every last one of you."
Panic and fear was in everyone's eyes as they did as they were told. Once down on the floor Amy concentrated on counting the men. She watched them give their orders to the staff behind the counters for the money. There were five of them.
"Some shut that fucking alarm off!" Another man shouted in the background. Amy turned her head slowly, he was guarding the front door. Could she hear police sirens outside already? It was hard to tell with the bank's alarm still ringing.
One of the masked men started to grab at purses and bags held by the customers.
"Hey, that's my wife's!" The elderly man grumbled close to Amy. "You're animals. You should be ashamed of yourselves, treating people like this."
"What you complaining about, old man?" One of the masked men kicked the elderly man's ribs. "I told you not to move." The elderly man let out a cry in pain, curling himself up.
"Hey!" Amy spoke before even thinking it through. A natural reaction to stand up for the little guy, only this time she didn't have the guys to back her up. "He's an old man. Leave him alone."
"Now look what we've got here." The masked man turned to Amy. His hand firmly grabbed her chin so that he could look at her face. Her heart was thumping loudly inside of her and her body trembled.
"He's right, you are animals. They are an elderly couple, you're probably stealing all they have." She still couldn't shut herself up even with the amount of fear that was travelling through her veins.
"Shut that mouthy bitch up!" Another masked man shouted who stood close by.
"Nah, I got a better idea. We need to make sure we get out of this building alive." The man leant down and grabbed her arm forcefully, pulling her to her feet. Amy let out a gasp in pain. His fingers firmly dug into her arm, a strong grip bruising her. "The whole fucking police force is now outside."
"Let go of me, I swear, you are going to regret this." Amy tried to plead, fear quivered in her voice. But it fell on deaf ears, the man just laughed at her. He pulled her around so that her back was against him. With one arm he held her firm and the other held a gun to her temple. Amy's heart was beating even faster and harder. She tried to calm herself by taking deeper slower breaths, but fear was winning. He walked her to the front door.
"Looks like we got ourselves a ticket out of here."
[end tbc...one day
