Anna haphazzardly moved her cuffed hands around her body, trying to determine the source of the bleeding. Her vision was starting to blur, her mind already fogging up as she desperately struggled to maintain consciousness. Fearing the worst, she forced several deep breaths, relieved at least to find that the gunshot wound apparently wasn't in her chest. Suddenly a sharp wave of pain overtook her shoulder, squirting out red liquid like ketchup out of a bottle.
Already exhausted, Anna attempted to check if the bullet was still lodged in her body, but her restraints and her increasing weakness made that almost impossible. She gave up on the task, collapsing in a heap against one of the prison's stone walls to catch her breath.
"Merida, please! I've been hit! I need a doctor!"
"THE ONLY THING YE'LL BE NEEDING IS A WOODEN BOX IF YE DON'T SHUT YER YAP!" Merida was crazed, firing away at the snipers like a child blinding using an arcade gun. "THESE BRAINLESS GITS MUST NOT HAVE GOTTEN THE MEMO DAT I HAVE THE WARDEN'S SISTER!"
Anna tried to follow the action, unable to really do anything else as she hoped another guard would hear all of the mayhem and do something to stop it. It appeared that Merida's "friends" that she liked to boast about weren't nearly as loyal as she thought they were. Perhaps the deal changed when she had killed one of their friends earlier that evening. Maybe there had been an abrupt change of shift and this was another watch tower patrol with no knowledge of the escape plot.
She wondered if she might permanently lose her hearing thanks to the overpowering sound of bullets flying, but soon that got overtaken by an ear-piecing siren which dominated the entire prison yard. Merida cursed and crouched down next to Anna, keeping her weapon close to her.
"Someone must have caught wind of our little party," she cackled, but the cracks were showing and Merida's terror was becoming more and more evident. Nothing had gone as she had intended tonight, and there was no sign anywhere in the sky of the supposed planned helicopter. "But no matter! I still have me prize!"
With that, she grabbed Anna and forced her to her feet. Despite her wails of protest, Merida shoved her in front of her as a human shield, shooting with her free arm and actually managing to take down some of the officers this time, who fell from their towers with blood-curdling screams. The sight of so much carnage must have caused a rush of adrenaline to surge through Anna's system, as she felt an abrupt sensation of strength return to her body. She ran alongside her captor, barely noticing the pain anymore as they made their way to the other end of the courtyard.
"WHAT ARE WE DOING?" Anna had to bellow at the top of her lungs due to all the chaos. "WE'LL BOTH DIE IF WE KEEP THIS UP!"
Merida retaliated by striking Anna in the jaw with the bottom of her gun. She grunted, unable to hear her own cries over the combined sounds of gunfire and the siren's seemingly never-ending blare.
"I TOLD YA NOT TO ASK ME ANY MORE STUPID QUESTIONS, LASS!" Merida was shifting her head around, seeming to try to locate any way out of this. But the cold reality was they were in a maximum security detention center. There wasn't supposed to be a way out of here. Worsening matters, the searchlights were now being pointed downward to locate the source of all of the evening's violence, blinding the two of them as it took them now time at all to find their intended targets.
This is it, Anna thought, closing her eyes and clenching her teeth shut as she braced herself for the inevitable. She had heard stories of the prison's towers having machine guns at the ready, and could guess they were about to be put to good use.
Except that nothing happened.
The siren stopped. The gunfire halted. Seconds later, the spotlight that had been blazing on them with so much brightness that it felt like it was providing actual heat went out with a long click. Everything became quiet.
Anna opened her eyes. The prison yard had become dark. There was no sign of the snipers (well, apart from the dead ones). Or anyone, for that matter.
"Ha!" Merida was bouncing with glee over the turn of events. "Looks like me old man finally got things in order! Me chopper should be here any minute!"
But the silence continued. Well, almost. Anna squinted her eyes. There was someone approaching them, the stomping of footsteps echoing as the figure got closer and closer. There was a flashlight in one of their right hand, and only when her eyes focused on that was Anna able to tell they were wearing gloves.
"Put a stop to this madness NOW!"
The voice was unmistakable.
It was Elsa.
