The ground beneath me shook, the aftermath of gun fire evident in the air around me. I felt as if I was being suffocated as a fear like no other infringed its self into my mind, tears began rolling from my cheeks but I knew I needed to remain level headed if I was going to make it out of here alive, There was silence for a while, with just the unsteady beat of my breathing being audible. I took a glance inside, finding a dark silhouette by my door, a small handgun gripped in their palm. Their eyes flitted back from one side of the room to the other, their feet making small, yet ear pounding steps along the carpet.
"Adelaide?" My heart seemed to leap from its place at the sound of a voice, my stomach churning over, trying to ease the anxiousness gnawing away at my insides, but failing.
"Adelaide?" The voice was clearer this time, as its owner edge closer to the window, allowing me to pick up the hysteria ridden within their tone. Confusion flushed my insides, trying to comprehend the terror exposed in their urgent words, though it soon struck me as to why they were in a terror state. I exhaled a much needed breath of air, moving my head to look inside my room, confirming my suspicions as to who it was. Luke. Relief invaded at my senses knowing that he was alive, relieving the anxiety that had previously suffocated my interior.
Knowing that this was far from over, I silently shuffled off the ledge and back onto the balcony, moving into Luke's sight.
His eyes found my imminently, his feet taking him to the terrace door and into my arms in a quick sprint. "You're alive,'' I breathed, hustling into his neck as his arms tightened around me. "I heard gun shots, and I- I thought that they'd-"
"Shh, I'm okay,'' he murmured, running his hand over my hair. "We're going to be okay."
We stood in silence for a few moments, Luke comforting me, before he pulled back to caress my face with his hands.
"Look, we need to get out of here as soon as possible. There were around seven men downstairs, but they've been taken care of. I know for a fact that they raid in groups of at least fifteen men, meaning that there are a good eight or nine left."
The fact that we were utterly outnumbered terrified me, but knowing that Luke had already single-handedly taken out seven, I knew that we hadn't lost just yet.
"I'm going to give you a gun, okay? Just for safety reasons, you need to have something to defend yourself with.''
He pulled a pistol from his back pocket as he took my hand, placing the gun in the centre of my palm. "We need to eliminate the other men, if we can, then leave. There are bags pre-packed in the office for situations like these, we need to grab them too."
"Okay."
"Stay close behind me so that I can cover for you. If you need to shoot, release the safety and pull the trigger, but watch out for the backlash of the fire,'' he informed, leading me back inside my room. "Stay calm, we'll make it out okay?"
By this point, my adrenaline was at an all time high, knowing that I was soon to be walking into a dead bath. I felt as safe as I could in a situation like this, with Luke by my side, his fingers entwined with mine. He knew what he was doing and I had full confidence in him.
Luke went ahead to the door, pausing to listen for any nose. With his hands locked around his firearm, he motioned me over with the flick of his head.
''To the right, at the bottom of the stairs are two men, opposite them are three more. I should be able to take them out before they see us, but wait until my signal until you move,'' he requested, crouching down to his knees, positioning his gun between two bars on the banister on the stairs. He focused his gaze on the people below us, closing one eye for aim, while I ducked down beside him. He took a deep breath, closing one eye to help his aim.
