"It's okay, everything's okay now!" Allison yelled as she and Gardner tried to subdue the thrashing woman on the ground.
"Get off me! Get off me! Please, get off me!" Madeline screamed, too far gone to recognize the fact that her attacker had already left. Her arms were flailing about, pushing away the two people who were trying to help her. The trauma of the assault had apparently caused a mental break.
Even as she was trying to get the hysterical woman to calm down, Allison kept glancing towards the exit that Remy had run out of. She was hoping the brunette detective would just reappear at the doorway with a triumphant expression in the company of a Zachary Skinner in handcuffs, much like a picture of a proud fisherman holding up his catch-of-the-day.
The sound of hurried stomping footsteps indicated the arrival of the EMTs.
She quickly moved out of their way while Gardner continued to press down on Madeline's shoulders to keep her in place as one of the EMTs prepared to give her a shot of tranquilizer.
"Stay with her. I'm going after Remy." Allison said to the brawny man, after seeing that they had the situation under control. She stood up and rushed towards the same door where said person had went through minutes earlier.
"Wait, no! Dr. Cameron!" Gardner shouted after the blonde medical examiner. He removed one of his hands from Madeline and reached out to grab one of hers, but caught hold of air instead. He cursed under his breath, knowing that Remy would most certainly make sure he choked on a donut if anything happened to Allison.
Once she was out of the door, Allison looked from left to right as she attempted to work out the path to take. With the whole level practically empty, she took off in the direction of the door at the end of the hallway, leading to the stairwell. She had no idea where she was heading to, simply relying on her instincts to guide her way to Remy.
She rushed down the stairs until she reached the first basement floor and the sight of a small gap between the door and its frame caught her eyes. She pulled it open and ran the straight path ahead of her, coming to a halt at a T-junction.
Allison turned to her left without second thought. She couldn't explain it in her mind, but she just knew that was the way to go.
Everything around her was dark. Remy thought she had been sucked into a black hole.
With her sense of sight useless for at least that little while, all her other senses were forced into overdrive. She could hear every thump of her heart and every single breath she took. She could smell the unpleasant rubbery and mouldy scent of the sports equipments. She could feel every fibre of her body burning and how the stagnant air seemed to hug every area of her exposed skin.
She abominated not having the ability to see what was coming. It made her feel helpless and exposed. Her heart felt like it was beating at 130 beats per minute. Her fear and insecurity were reaching their highest points.
Remy held the gun in her hands with a death grip and pointed it out in front of her, her index finger ready to press down on the trigger. The gun gave her a sense of protection that she so desperately needed in her current situation.
She urgently aimed her gun to each side, up then down. The number of directions to cover appeared endless in the dark.
When she shifted her feet to turn behind, she accidentally kicked the baseball bat that was lying on her foot, causing an ear-splitting rattle. She spun back to her original position instantly.
With her eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness of the storeroom, she could make out the length of the baseball bat on the floor as it rolled away from her foot.
Remy let out a sigh of relief.
As she was lowering her gun, Zachary pounced on her from behind and wrapped his strong upper limbs tightly around her, trapping her arms. One of his hands found its way to grab hold of her grip on her gun.
She yelped at the sudden attack and felt herself being lifted off the ground. She kicked frantically at air before her feet found the floor again.
"Let go of me!" Remy shouted, writhing violently in his assailant's throttlehold in an attempt to free herself, but he was simply too physically powerful than her.
So rather than trying to wriggle out of his hold, Remy drove her elbow into his abdomen as hard as she could. The action wasn't easy seeing how she had her arms trapped. She was rewarded with a little bit more space to manoeuvre when Zachary's grip on her loosened and she rammed another elbow into him.
He grunted in pain, but still managed to keep his arms encircled around her as he tried to pry the gun off her hands. Under the sheer impact of a third elbow drive, he felt one of his ribs cracked and stumbled two steps back.
Once she was out of his hold, Remy swiftly turned around to point the gun at Zachary.
He recovered quickly however, sidestepping the aim of the gun and wrapped his big hands around hers.
She tried to pull her hands back, but he tugged them towards him as they fought to obtain sole control of the metallic weapon. Its muzzle was pointing dangerously at random directions during the struggle.
With one hard yank, he took control of the gun. But the pull had caused Remy's finger to press down on the trigger and the gun went off with a deafening bang.
Remy thought she heard a body dropped down to the ground with a thud.
The power of the recoil was so great that it dislocated Zachary's shoulder. He grasped the injured part of his anatomy as his features contorted in anguish.
Remy seized the opportunity to give him a roundhouse kick to the side of his head, rendering him unconscious. His grip around the gun slackened and it fell to the floor. He went down on his knees before falling face first onto the cemented ground with a sickening crack.
She stood hunched over his motionless body, trying to catch her breath. That was without a doubt one of the most intense and frightening experiences of her life. As she straightened up her body and made a move towards Zachary to put the handcuffs on him, a soft whimper made her snapped her head to the side.
Her blood ran cold at the sight.
Allison was lying flat on her back on the ground near the entrance. She had her hand placed on top of her lower abdomen.
"Allison!" Remy called out and rushed to her side in an instant. She kneeled down and carefully took Allison's hand away from the bullet wound it was covering.
"Oh god..." She breathed out when she saw the extent of the injury. Her lips quivered as tears began to well up in her eyes.
Blood were oozing out from the wound, soaking the shirt wet and the red splodge on it was spreading wider and wider. She quickly pressed her hands down onto the opened wound to prevent the blonde from losing anymore blood.
Allison cried out in pain when the brunette applied the pressure, her face scrunching up together in pure agony.
"Shhh... It's okay. You're gonna be okay. You're gonna be okay." Remy assured as she sniffled, her voice breaking towards the end. "Just lie still, okay? I'm gonna get help."
She removed one of her hands and jammed it into the front pocket of her jeans, pulling her cell phone out.
"Fuck! Come on, Remy." She cursed at her own uselessness as her hand was trembling so hard that she couldn't even press down on the right number, tears were flowing freely down her face.
Blood were smeared all over the phone's screen.
"Rem..." Allison mumbled, along with a string of incoherent words. Her head was lolling to the side and her eyes beginning to flutter close.
"No, Allison! Stay with me!" Remy yelled at her as she dialled Gardner's number on her phone. She sandwiched the phone between her ear and right shoulder, waiting impatiently for him to pick up.
"Please just stay with me." She pleaded tearfully as she brushed strands of blonde hair away from Allison's face.
When Gardner's voice came through, Remy's heart bloomed with hope. "Gardner! Send the EMTs down to the second basement floor right now! Allison's been shot! Tell them to hurry! She can't hold on much longer!"
She was so absorbed in the distressing situation with Allison, she had failed to notice that Zachary Skinner had been gradually rising up to his feet behind her. His nose was bleeding profusely. He clutched his head in pain with one hand while the other one stretched out to grab the gun positioned just behind him. He wrapped his fingers around the stock and placed his index finger on the trigger.
Staggering a couple of steps forward, he raised the gun up and aimed the muzzle directly at the back of Remy's head.
Bang!
*Evil Laugh* This is so dramatic.
And unfortunately to say, I won't be able to update for the next couple of weeks or so because I have this huge school assignment. Okay, I'm just kidding. xD
Too bad for me it's only about the updating part because I really do have an assignment to complete. :(