by S. M. Shade
I can’t see the gunman’s face but I swear I can feel him smiling when he sees us reverse and look around frantically for a way out. Our only two choices now are the elevator or the women’s bathroom. I’ve been in the bathrooms here enough to know there are no windows. We’d be sitting ducks.
At that moment the elevator dings and the doors open to show a terrified middle aged woman cowering inside. Before she can step out into the line of fire, I shake my head and she steps back. A second later the explosive sound rings out again, echoing through the high ceilinged space and making it feel like my ears could bleed. I’ve never heard anything so loud. We all dive toward the elevator and I hit the close door button as soon as we’re inside. We’re trapped, in one of the worst positions I can imagine until I look down and see the blood.
The mall has three levels and as far as we know there could be shooters on all three. The woman quickly hits the third floor button before the shooter on the ground can get to us, if he ever intended to. He still had plenty of targets around him.
When we get just past the second floor, I hit the emergency stop button and we stop between the second and third floor. I breathe a tiny sigh of relief. I doubt the gunman will know how to override the emergency stop.
It’s then I look down to see where the blood is coming from and my breath catches. Zoe is on her knees, blood soaking into her shorts as she tries to stop the flow pouring from Frannie’s calf.
“Help me!” Zoe cries, and I drop down beside her.
“Here!” the woman says, reaching into her shopping bag and handing me a cord meant to hold back a curtain. It’s gold and braided and it’ll have to do.
Frannie screams when I tighten the cord around her leg, and I feel myself get a bit dizzy, but the last thing they need is for me to pass out. Taking a deep breath, I try to calm myself down while holding tight to the makeshift tourniquet.
It slows some of the bleeding, but doesn’t stop it completely. It’s the best we can do though and after I tie it so it won’t come undone, I sit back and look around me.
Zoe is crying and talking to Frannie while the woman is standing against the doors, watching with wide eyes through the glass wall of the elevator.
I always thought that was cool, that the elevators had one side made of thick glass until this moment. We’re three floors up with a perfect view of the carnage below us, but that also means the gunman can still see us if they look up.
“Do you think it’s terrorists?” she asks.
“I don’t know. I wouldn’t stand where they can see you though. We don’t know how thick that glass is.”
As if one of them heard me a line of bullets rake across the glass, making us all cover our ears and cry out, but they just ricochet off, leaving chip marks behind. Thank fuck.
“If they don’t figure out how to make the elevator move, we might be okay,” I say. My voice is so shaky and high pitched I don’t even recognize it. My brain can’t grasp what’s going on. Two minutes ago I was laughing with my friends on a normal day and now we’re in the middle of a war zone.
“She’s still bleeding.” Zoe looks up at me with pleading eyes.
“Bastards,” Frannie mumbles as she starts to lose consciousness. “Fucking cowards with their fucking guns.”
I whip my phone from my back pocket, kicking myself for taking so long to think of it, when it’s actually only been three or four minutes since we heard the first shot. It just seems like hours.
An emergency dispatcher answers immediately when I call. “I’m in the Shipley Mall and there are guys shooting! My friend has been shot in the leg. She’s bleeding everwhere! We need help! Please!”
“Where are you in the building?” the dispatcher asks, remaining calm.
“We’re in an elevator. We stopped it between floors. I don’t know if they can get in!”
“Okay, stay right where you are. We are aware of the situation and help is on the way. I’m going to transfer you to one of the detectives on the scene. Anything you can tell him may be helpful.”
I’m quickly transferred and another woman answers and introduces herself, though it all goes over my head in my near panic. “Do you know how many shooters there are?” she asks.
“We only saw one, but I heard shots coming from the upper levels of the mall and the northside.”
More shots go off and I peek through the glass just in time to see the man walking through the food court right below us, pulling people out from under tables and shooting them.
“Oh god!” I sob. “You have to hurry. He’s shooting everyone! One wall of the elevator is glass. We can see him.”
My phone starts beeping to show I have another call.
Tucker flashes on the screen but I can’t hang up with the detective. As bad as I want to talk to him, her calm voice is like a lifeline right now. I can’t give it up. “Ma’am, are you there?”
“Yes, sorry.”
“Good, stay with me.” She goes on to ask me a ton of questions about who is with me, exactly where we’re hiding, and what we can see.
It gets eerily quiet for minutes at a time as the gunfire ceases only to start again in random bursts. They’re hunting down the people hiding.
“What’s taking so long? Why aren’t the cops here?” I demand.
“Ma’am, we have a perimeter around the building and we’ll be going in very soon. I want you to listen to me. They are getting ready to cut the power. You’ll be fine in the elevator. No one will be able to move it until power is restored. Please don’t be alarmed. Authorities are aware of your position and situation.”
Sliding down the door, I sob. “Our situation? Our friend is dying! And Ayda and Sadie are down there somewhere!” I cry, struck by the memory that we didn’t come alone.
Zoe sobs harder as she sits with Frannie’s head in her lap. Sweat pours off of all of us, our body heat overcoming the A/C in the tiny space. The woman who is trapped with us sits down next to Zoe and tries to comfort her.
“I understand. You just need to follow my directions, understand?”
“Yes.” I sniff.
“If you have another cell, use it as a flashlight. Get ready. The lights will go out, then it’s going to happen fast.”
* * * *
The raid may happen fast, but it’s an eternity for us.
“Zo? Give me your phone, hun.” She looks up at me like she has no idea what I’m talking about, but the other woman thrusts her cell at me. I turn on the flashlight and hand it back to her. They’re getting ready to cut the power,” I explain.
My mention of a phone finally reaches Zoe’s brain and she fumbles hers out of her back pocket. “It’s off. Why did I turn it off?” she mumbles, pressing the power button. Her phone instantly starts buzzing in her hand and she jerks, dropping it. All of our nerves are shot.
When she picks it back up, she hits accept and sobs, “Landon!”
I can’t hear Landon’s side of the conversation but he must be firing questions at her. “I’m okay. Frannie’s shot. She’s bleeding. Leah’s with me, but I don’t know where Ayda or Sadie are. We got separated. We’re hiding in an elevator, stopped between floors. Leah’s on her phone with nine one one.”
She looks up at me. “They’re outside in the parking lot. All the guys,” she says.
“Tell Derek I’m okay before he does something stupid.” I know that won’t stop him especially because I’m not the only one he loves at risk. Ayda is down there somewhere too. Tears stream down my face at the realization of how slim the chances are that we’re all going to survive this.
Tamping it down, I try to be optimistic, something that’s never been so hard for me before.
The detective on my phone speaks up. “Leah?”
“Yes, I’m here.”
“I need all of you to lie on the floor and cover your heads, do you understand?” The entire mall goes dark, but not as dark as I expected thanks to the glass skylights.
I relay the message and we all lie
beside Frannie and cover ourselves. Within thirty seconds, loud bangs sound below, followed by an unbelievable amount of gunfire. I’m near the window, but the rays of sun filtering through the skylights only show me clouds of what I suspect is tear gas.
I couldn’t hear the detective even if I tried. We just lie there holding tight to one another, waiting to see if we’ll survive. When the noise fades a little the woman looks at me and I ask, “What’s your name?” I know she said it when the dispatcher asked, but I can’t remember now.
“Jenny.”
“Leah,” I reply, and she nods.
“We’re going to have a hell of a story to tell, Leah.”
I can’t argue with that.
The detective continues to talk to me for the next forty-five minutes while the response team clears the mall one level at a time. I couldn’t tell you much of what she said or asked, but her voice in my ear, a link to the outside world that hasn’t turned into a nightmare, was a welcome comfort.
Finally, we hear a grating metal sound and Zoe cries out.
“SWAT is prying open the elevator doors now,” the detective informs me. “Please stand back and follow their directions when they enter.”
A few seconds later, the doors are wrenched open and I look up into the gas mask covered face of our rescuer. My first thought is that he looks like a giant bug and a honking laugh escapes my chest. Relief filters through my panic and I laugh.
I just can’t stop laughing.
Chapter Fifteen
Tucker
I’ve never felt so helpless in my entire life. She’s in there, but there’s nothing I can do. Law enforcement has dragged me back behind the sawhorses twice now. The only reason I haven’t tried again is because they threatened to lock me up. It’s bad enough to be out here. If I were trapped in a cell with no idea what’s going on, I’d lose my fucking mind.
Even Mason’s pull at the FBI doesn’t get us many favors here. It’s too big, too publicized, with too many expected fatalities. Leah. My Leah is in there, defenseless against men armed with assault rifles if the shouts I’ve overheard from the patrol officers are true.
Dare, Justus, Jeremy and Landon are all gathered around me, terrified of the immediate future. We could lose them all. “Oh my god!” a woman cries from behind us. “It must be some kind of biological attack! Look!”
Her finger is pointing to Landon, who is clad in his daytime sun protection suit, although you could hardly fault her for jumping to that conclusion. It does look like a hazmat suit.
Her pronouncement scares off most of the crowd gathered around us as they fear some kind of airborne attack. Every few minutes we can hear it again, gunfire. It seems to go on forever. I was a soldier. I know what an assault rifle can do, and it fills me with a fear I’ve never experienced before.
It was different when I was at war. I had friends I cared about, people I wanted to protect, but no one I loved like Leah. When this is over, when I see her sweet little face and body safe and in one piece, she’s mine. To hell with the age difference or what Dare thinks. Life is too damned short.
I just need her to be okay. The words beat in my head like a mantra, like a prayer to all the gods I’ve never believed in. Just let her be okay.
“They’re going in,” Dare says, and we watch as they break through the glass doors and a stream of SWAT guys rush in. The next few minutes are a nightmare. The sound of gunfire being exchanged fills the air, and we can see tear gas emanating from the broken doors. Finally, they start to bring people out and it doesn’t look good.
Most are on stretchers, though a few are led out on foot. My eyes meet Dare’s and we both shove our way past the barriers again until we get to the ambulances. “Sir! You have to stay behind—”
The agent doesn’t get a chance to finish. Dare turns on him with a look that clearly says he’ll have to kill him to stop him. “My sister and my wife are in there. I’m going to be here when they bring them out.” He points to Landon, Justus, and Jeremy. “They’re family too.”
“Fine,” the agent relents. “Don’t get in our way.”
My heart races when I see them leading a group of people out, seemingly unhurt, then plummets when Leah isn’t among them. The last two people in the group step carefully through the broken glass and Dare yells, “Ayda!” at the same time Justus calls Sadie’s name.
We rush to meet them as they’re being examined by the paramedics, but they’re not injured, just shaken and scared.
“I don’t know where Leah is!” Ayda sobs. “Or Zoe and Frannie. We split up!”
Dare holds her close. “It’s okay. They’ll find them.”
Sadie dives into Justus’s arms while Landon and I stare into the dark hole where the doors used to be, willing Zoe and Leah to come out.
Finally, a stretcher is being rolled out and while I can’t tell who is on it, relief like I’ve never felt before floods through me at the sight of Leah and Zoe walking behind it.
Walking.
Alive.
She’s alive.
Her eyes find me and she breaks down sobbing. “Tucker.”
My name leaves her lips as I scoop her into my arms. “Are you hurt?” I ask, frantically checking her over. “You’re bleeding.” I rub my hands over every inch of her looking for a wound.
“I’m okay. It’s not my blood. Frannie,” she chokes, pointing to the stretcher.
I turn just in time to see Jeremy jump into the ambulance with Frannie. “Jeremy! What hospital?” I yell.
“Midtown!” he calls back. They shut the door and the ambulance speeds off.
“Sir,” the paramedic steps in front of me. “We need to examine her and get her to the hospital to get checked out.”
“I’m taking her,” I insist. I pick her up and she rests her head on my shoulder. “You can tell them we’re coming.”
Dare and Ayda rush up and they both hug Leah. “You scared the shit out of me,” Dare tells her, and she nods, unable to get any words out. Everyone is crying. I’ve never seen so many people crying. “Let’s get to the hospital,” Dare says.
I look to see that Landon and Justus have opted to do the same with Zoe and Sadie. The responders have enough seriously injured people to deal with to worry about who takes the others. One of the detectives stops me for a second and warns us not to leave the hospital. They’ll be questioning everyone there to try to piece together the events.
I put Leah in the car and she curls up in the seat, quiet as we head for the hospital. “Sweetheart, are you okay?” I ask, laying my hand on her leg.
“I-yeah. They just…we didn’t have time to get out. It happened so fast. And Frannie. Frannie…”
“I know. Everything is going to be okay. You’re safe now.”
“So many dead, Tucker. There has to be. They kept…pulling them out, shooting them right in the head.”
“Shh. Stop. Try to think about anything else for a moment.” She’s babbling and I’m worried she’s going to break down completely. It’s going to happen eventually, once the adrenaline wears off and she truly understands what she’s been through. I just want to be able to hold her when she does.
The hospital is a madhouse when we get there, but as soon as we tell them we’re from the mall shooting, we’re rushed to a room upstairs. There are four gurneys separated by curtains. Sadie, Ayda, and Zoe are seated on three of them as nurses take their vitals.
“Zoe!” Leah calls as she’s led to the fourth gurney. “Do you know how Frannie is?”
Zoe’s glassy eyes tell me they’ve given her something to calm her down. “They said they’re taking her to surgery upstairs. Jeremy is with her.”
“God, I’m so glad to see you two,” Ayda cries.
“We were so worried about you,” Sadie adds.
“We were in an elevator,” Leah replies.
Sadie nods. “We were lucky. The department store manager heard the first shots and pulled us into a little office. It had a small door that locked and the
y just never looked there.”
At this point the nurses are getting frustrated because it’s hard to do their job when they’re all trying to talk to each other. One by one, they move them all to private rooms to see a doctor.
Dare looks torn. His sister and his wife are here and he can’t be two places at once. “Dare, I’ve got her,” I assure him. “I’ll stay with her.”
“I’m okay. Go with Ayda,” she agrees and he reluctantly stays behind as Leah is moved to a private room.
Over the next few hours, she’s examined and released, along with Zoe, Sadie, and Ayda. Agents question them for a few minutes, then promise to be in touch. There’s not much information they’ll need from them. All three shooters were killed and everything has been caught on the mall’s video cameras.
Leah is exhausted. She lays her head on my shoulder as we sit in a waiting room. Nobody wants to leave before we hear that Frannie will be okay.
A familiar red headed guy appears in the doorway and Leah gets to her feet. “Quinn!”
He rushes to her and they hug while I consider pulling his arms off like the wings from a fly. “Leah, I just heard.” He runs his gaze over her. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
“I’m okay. I wasn’t hurt. We’re waiting to hear about our friend.” She suddenly realizes she’s being watched by a room full of people and her gaze flicks to mine before she turns back to him and says, “Let’s talk out in the hall.”
The boyfriend. I’d forgotten about him.
A few minutes later, she reappears and sits beside me again. It’s not the time to question her about him, so all I ask is, “Did he leave?”
She nods. “I told him I’d call him later. He doesn’t really know anyone here and it should be just us. Just family.” Her head falls back to my shoulder, and I wrap my arm around her.
There’s a boom in the distance, followed by another and all of us are on our feet in a second before Dare points to the window.
Fireworks.
It’s the Fourth of July and the big fireworks are going off at the river.
No matter the tragedy, life just keeps going on around us with cruel indifference.