Drink Me

63. RUN!

RUN!

Warning: this chapter contains scenes of violence that might be triggering or disturbing for some people.

The door opened with a loud bang and four men broke into the apartment, their guns drawn, ready to fire. As they spotted Riley by the sofa, they slowed down with evident surprise on their faces that caused their initial hesitation, but then halted entirely as Alice turned and recognition kicked in.

"That's Cooper's girlfriend," one man had the chance to mutter before time suddenly stopped and everything happened in slow motion.

Alice discarded her phone and without hesitation started towards the pointed guns with confident strides, taking all men by surprise, Riley included.

As she approached the closest intruder, her face a mask of disgust, she grabbed his wrist and twisted it in an unnatural direction that caused a deaf snapping sound, and forced the man to let go of his gun as he fell to the floor with a loud cry.

That's when the first shot went off, bringing time back to its natural speed.

The bullet whistled past Alice and lodged into the wall behind her, causing the woman to charge against the shooter with angry determination.

Riley instinctively jumped on the discarded gun and, dodging a second bullet, aimed at one of the men now coming for him and fired with precision. The man halted on the spot as the bullet hit the middle of his forehead and he fell forward against the sofa, which immediately became saturated with crimson blood.

"You fucker!" Alice's voice came from the other end of the living room where she was hanging from one of the man's back, her thumbs pressed into his eyes.

"Alice!" Riley called out. But he had just the time to start to her aid before the grip of a gun hit him in the ribs. A deaf cry escaped his lips as the pain hitched his breath in his throat; Riley instinctively held his side and rage exploded inside him. He swung back to find his attacker pointing his gun at him but the man seemed reluctant to press the trigger; and that's when Riley realised that the men's orders were to get them alive.

Not on my watch.

Riley pointed his gun at the man's forehead and shot, his eyes momentarily drawn to the spot where the bullet had created a perfect circular entry point. Then the body went down with a hushed sound and that's when Riley heard the silence.

With a dreadful heart, he turned around, afraid of what he might see and ready to jump to Alice's aid.

But he didn't have to.

Alice was kneeling next to her attacker, who had his hands around a knife firmly planted at the base of his neck, his mouth open, gasping for air; his eyes were on Alice in a silent plea for help in his last moments of life.

And Alice was staring back. A look of genuine fascination was on her face as her dark orbs gleamed in trepidation, her quivering lips curved in a Mona Lisa smile; her only focus was on the man's face, slowly drained of its lively colour.

The man reached out and placed a shaky, bloody hand on her shoulder and Alice leaned forward as if she was about to hold him in her arms for his last breath. But Alice grabbed the knife instead, and in one sharp movement she tugged it free from the man's flesh, causing blood to flood out of the wound and crimson streaks to stain her white suit.

The man's eyes widened in pain and surprise as his mouth filled with blood that immediately formed a scarlet pool around him.

Alice smiled kindly at the dying man in front of her and with a sweet voice she said, "Goodnight."