Ross jumped as if he'd been slapped. "What do you mean?" he demanded. "They just went to get food!"
Monica pressed the phone closer to her ear, straining to hear what was going on. She could make out voice, but heavy breathing close to the speaker obscured them.
"Who has their cell phone? Someone quickly dial 911!" said Monica urgently. Phoebe quickly pulled out her cell phone and dialed. The operator picked up, and Phoebe frantically tried to tell her what happened. She struggled to get some sort of story out and stuttered the words 'Chandler', 'food mart', and 'shot', before Ross got impatient and seized the phone from her. He quickly gave them the location, before hanging up and pacing across the room. Just as he was about to say something Monica began to tremble, and the phone fell from her grasp. Rachel, Ross, and Phoebe would never forget the look of pure horror that enveloped her face.
"What is it?" asked Rachel
"The line went dead."
---
Chandler squeezed his eyes shut, praying that he would not have to open them to the sight of his friend's body. He knew if Joey died in front of him it would mean his own demise as well. Joey was more than a brother to him, and Chandler knew that losing him like this was not something he could live with. It wasn't until a feminine scream ripped through his eardrums that he opened his eyes, and saw Joey still standing in front of him, his eyes closed and his body shaking ever so slightly.
Chandler scanned the room frantically, looking for the recipient of the bullet originally attended for Joey. He spotted the young girl he noticed when he first walked in, lying motionless on the floor on the other side of the store. He looked away as he tightly closed his eyes shut, I can't believe two people just died right in front of me, two innocent people, he thought. The two crooks began again to bicker to each other about how to go about what they were going to do next
Once Joey realized he was still alive, he took advantage of the distracted gunman by batting the barrel of the gun away from his head and bolting toward Chandler. The second crook, enraged by what Joey had just done, was about to shoot him down, but at the same time the few other people within the store began to scramble as well. Chaos ensued .
"Everybody stop where you are!" the ringleader shouted hoarsely.
Joey froze where he stood, glaring disgustedly at his assailant. "Look man," Joey spat coldly, he had no idea why he was being so insolent to two men with loaded guns, but something inside him was beginning to snap. "The police are gonna show up here in a matter of minutes. You have two bodies already, do you really think you are going to be able to walk away from here?" The second man began to curse. "If you run you won't get far. Let us all go, and that least they can't add hostages to your list of offenses."
"Oh, no," the leader said in a voice that made Joey's skin crawl. "You got us into this mess. Now you have to live with the consequences. Maybe you should think first before you use your cell phone again, if you get the chance." He gave an evil grin to Joey as he pointed to him, Chandler, the cashier, and the middle-aged woman. "All of you. Help me barricade these windows."
"Shit," Joey muttered.
This is bad. Really bad, Chandler thought as he got up and went to work with the others dragging the shelves over to the windows. He listened as he barricaded himself within the place he now thought he was going to die in, desperately listening for the sirens he hoped would come.