Hush Little Baby

Chapter 1: The Heist

The alarm bell rang violently as the darkness of the halls were illuminated by the alarm bell lights. They had just pulled off the impossible. Three mid-twenty individuals all dressed up in black clothing and masks ran through the empty hallways until reaching the front desk. Each of them throwing a duffle bag over the wall before vaulting over it themselves, this was it, they were home free now, all they needed to do now was get to the van.

Picking up the duffle bags, they pushed through the bank's double doors as the van sat there in the silence of the night waiting for them. They slid the side door open and tossed in all the duffle bags as the two men took the front seats and the girl hopped in the back.

"Watch are six, Anna."

"Already on it Scott."

Anna, who'd crawled to the back of the van peered out at the darkness, as the engine struggled to start. Around the corner, the reflection of red and blue lights filled the street.

"What are you waiting for Scott?"

"Hold on Anna."

"Not now Reggie. I didn't choose today to die."

The sirens outside were only getting louder, as the engine finally ignited and the van rolled to life. Flooring it, Scott didn't hesitate as the tires squealed on the asphalt launching the vehicle forward. Anna was still focused on the back window, watching as they successfully got away.

"Holy shit we did it."

Sitting back against the metal wall, Anna started to laugh out of relief.

"Of course, we did it."

"Y'know what that means right."

"You tell us, Scott."

"That means all three of us are millionaires."

The group laughed in unison as they took off their demonic faced masks that they had brought to cover up their identity. Anna took hers off and then removed the hood of her hoodie from her head and ran her hands through her straight blonde hair, before tying it up into a ponytail. Both boys were crushing hard on her as they stared at her in the rearview mirror. She knew they were watching her as she pretended not to look at them.

"So how far is the safe house?"

"Hour or so, but we're making good time."

"Cool, I'm going to take a nap then boys, wake me when we get there."

Anna adjusted the bags of money around her, using one for a pillow, one to elevate her legs and the last one to hold her against the wall, so that she didn't roll around while asleep. Oddly enough, it didn't take long for her to drift off as Reggie turned to Scott.

"Dude I think she's asleep."

"Good now we can have some bro time."

"Woo, Bro time!"

"Yea. Hey man, listen. You saved my life in there, I was convinced the guard had me captured."

"No worries man, I hate taking a life, but if it's for you, then it's all good."

"Yea but you unloaded the entire clip into the guy."

Pulling out the gun, Reggie placed it on the dash releasing the magazine. Empty.

"Shit I really did, didn't I?"

"Yea you did. It was pretty epic."

"Do you think Anna, was impressed?"

"I don't know man something's been off with her lately."

"How so?"

"She's just really cautious and stuff, something about changing her life around."

"So robbing a bank is changing her life around?"

"That's my point dude."

The boys both sat there quietly not really sure how to continue as the streetlights passed overhead until they finally reached the highway out of the city. Reggie looked out at the passing fields since that's all there was, not a hill single in site. The headlights of the car were the only thing cutting through the thick darkness.

Scott muscles finally started to relax as he felt confident that it was over, they had done it. He turned on the radio and looked over at Reggie who was still distracted by the outside world.

"Hey, Reggie."

No reply

"Regg."

Again no reply, Scott reached over and shook his shoulder as Reggie took in a deep gasp of air. His eyes went wide with fear as he looked around the car, before finally settling on Scott.

"Dude, what the hell?"

"Were you sleeping?"

"Not anymore, or ever again."

"Sorry man, look I just I need to ask you something and tell me the truth. Okay?"

"Always man. What's on your mind?"

"Have you an Anna ever done anything behind my back?"

"Like romantically?"

"Yea."

"Never man, she's fine as hell, but she's like our little sister. I respect her too much, and Besides, a girl like her is something to be cautious of."

The two of them looked back at the sleeping girl curled up between all the bags of money before going back to their whispered conversation.

"Yea I know what you mean, sometimes it feels like she's the oldest one out of the three of us."

"Yea she's definitely the mom figure, but seriously man between you and me let's make a pact to never lay a hand on her."

"Bro's before hoes man."

The boys shook on it as Reggie leaned his head back against the car window watching the road reveal itself as the van cut through the shadowed night. With tension still high and twenty million dollars sitting in the van, it seemed like the drive would never end as the crew finally made it into the mountainous valley.

On either side of them monstrous mountains covered the sky as rocks jutted out from the sides narrowly missing the van as they turned the corners. It wasn't far now just a couple more turns was all it would take until they were finally at their new home away from home.

***

Anna and Reggie were now out cold as Scott to struggled to keep his eyes open, alternating between them in an attempt to always have an eye on the road. They were only seconds away now as the ghost town appeared between the mountain range.

"Finally."

Scott tapped Reggie on the shoulder again as he woke up, calmer this time but still with a face of terror. However, it didn't take him long before he saw the complex in front of them as he turned back to look at Anna.

"Anna, wake up."

Anna's body shook before she finally opened her eyes, blinking a few times to get accustomed to the light.

"Good morning."

"Are we there?"

"Yea just pulling up."

She rolled over the bag of money that was keeping her against the wall and got to her feet. The boys both kept their eyes forward as Anna put her arms around the headrests, and looked out at the ghost town that seemed to be waiting for them.

The turn into the town was only a couple yards ahead as the car cut through the last little bit of darkness, until the headlights revealed the unimaginable.