RJRMovieFan: Thank you. I'm glad my choice of chapter lengths is working out how I hoped.
Pixie1913: If only it were that easy to just shoot at random.
SunDanceQT: That's also how people describe me.
Arrhythmia
Golden eyes, watchin' our every move,
Losin' time, without the sun or moon.
Shadows, they can't even touch the ground,
The staircase is spiraling deeper down.
Here we are in the heart of the darkness.
- Tommee Profitt
"The front door is stuck," Luke says.
Aubrey has to take a moment to be able to lift her head even after processing his words. She feels like if she moves, she's going to puke all over the table – which would definitely wake up Chloe, who is asleep on her shoulder. She manages to pick herself up just enough to rest her chin on her good arm, and watch Luke try the handle again then slam his body into the door. Why is he trying to get out?
"It wasn't stuck when we got here," Jesse says.
It wasn't stuck when they got there. Something isn't right. Aubrey makes herself sit up. "Chloe." She sniffles, shakes Chloe's leg, and tries to focus. Her head is pounding just behind her eyes from crying. "Chloe."
Chloe wakes up with a start that nearly causes Beca to fall out of the booth as she snaps awake too.
"Something's wrong." Aubrey nudges them out of the booth, using the table to help slide herself out behind them. Chloe grabs her the moment she stands, gripping tightly onto fistfuls of her sweatshirt. She looks around, dazed, trying to figure out what to do, where to go. They may be all out of options, she may be emotionally and physically done, but Aubrey isn't going down without a fight. If she has to die, they're going to have to earn stealing that last breath from her. If Chloe has to die, Aubrey will make sure they die right with her.
"Out the back window?" Jesse suggests.
No. If the front door is blocked, that's exactly where they want them to go. It's an easy way to trap them. There are windows next to all the booths. Aubrey pries Chloe away, then crawls back into the booth and tries to lift one. They weren't made to open. She crawls back out and rubs her ribs.
"The men's bathroom has a window," Benji chimes in, "It has a latch."
Beca grabs their things.
Danny Norbury's Petrichor begins to drift from the hallway they came in from. It takes everything that Aubrey feels and gives it a sound that causes her to stop – just for a few seconds. Fear. Grief. They permeate each note, every moment of static. It feels so real. "Go." She pushes Chloe toward the bathroom. "I love you." That's all she needs to make sure Chloe knows. That's all that's important. That's it.
They push and shove their way into the bathroom like a mob of eight, and Aubrey locks the door. There is nothing to barricade it with, and Aubrey feels less safe crowded in the bathroom than she did in the middle of the bar. It would be too easy now, too easy to kill them all at once. They would have a better chance if they could scatter. The music increases in volume, and someone begins smashing glass in the bar knocking things over, intimidating them with a lot of noise.
Luke climbs on top of the toilet and unlatches the window at the top to slide it open. He's out first, before the person in the bar slams their bodyweight against the flimsy wood door.
So much for women and children first. Aubrey pushes Chloe forward as Jesse goes next, then helps out Beca and Benji.
The door makes a loud cracking noise as whoever on the other side runs into it again.
Aubrey steadies Chloe as Chloe climbs up onto the toilet seat and Beca helps her out the window.
"Go," Bumper urges Aubrey the very second Chloe is out. He's directly behind her, but Fat Amy doesn't budge.
"Fat Amy!" Aubrey calls her, climbing up.
Fat Amy stares at the window.
Aubrey looks at it as well.
It's just a slot on the wall that the guys could barely squeeze themselves out of. It's too small.
"Go!" Bumper yells at her again.
Everything is happening so fast.
"Aubrey, come on!" Chloe reaches for her.
All at once.
The top hinge of the door breaks loose.
She doesn't have time to think or adjust.
"Don't worry, Aubrey," Fat Amy tells her, "My skeleton may be thin, but my ghost will still be fat."
They have to leave her.
"Aubrey, let's go!" Beca commands.
There isn't any other choice.
Unless she stays too, and shoots.
"Aubrey!" Chloe is desperate now.
It's too risky.
She can't do that to Chloe.
Aubrey grabs Chloe's hand and tries to pull herself up. Pain shoots from her wrist all the way up to her shoulder as she grips the edge of the window. She can't do it. Her arm has no strength to pull herself up, even as Chloe is trying to help. She tries again. And again – ignoring the pain, pulling her other arm away from Chloe to attempt to use it to her advantage.
"You're not as bad as we make you out to be," Bumper says out of nowhere, "Sorry I maimed your arm." He grabs her by the feet and hoists her up enough that she can get out the window. "I'm coming, Fat Amy." He slams the window shut behind her and locks it.
Aubrey turns, unsure of what just happened, and watches as the door breaks down. It all happens in a blink. They barely have time to put up a fight. A knife goes into Fat Amy then it's pulled out and stabbed into Bumper, too. She watches them fall. Barely registers that Chloe is behind her, trying to pull her to her feet.
Whoever it is, they're still wearing a mask. They look up and lock eyes with Aubrey through the window. She doesn't even have time to pull out her gun. They sign something against their chest like Aubrey is supposed to know what to means, then turn and run.
Aubrey scrambles upright, nearly knocking Chloe down in the process. She grabs her hand, and they take off with everyone else down the road. She can barely see the ground. They left the light on the table. No, they didn't. Beca has it. Her feet slip on the wet gravel. She pushes herself and Chloe forward to get to Beca a few feet ahead and takes it from her. They have to break away and run – just the three of them.
But Jesse and Luke are on either side of them, and when Aubrey grabs the back of Beca's shirt to slow her down and fall behind, they look at her and slow down too.
"Why are you slowing down?" Jesse's voice is urgent.
"Do you want them to catch up?!" Luke asks.
Aubrey screams inside her head – frustrated, angry, desperate. She releases Beca's shirt and keeps pressing on.