Thursday, July 14, 2011

Chapter 7: Surprises

Tristan stared at the gun and gasped. Nora stood there, frozen. Tristan saw her gulp as her eyes traveled up to look at the man holding the gun. He was a large man dressed completely in black, including the ski mask he wore over his face.

The man walked forward, shoving his gun ahead of him. Nora fell backwards. “Everybody on the floor!” the man yelled, looking around the room. The customers slowly began to get down on the ground, exchanging confused glances. The man stepped over Nora, who was laying on her back, and two other men followed after him. The two other men also had guns, and they were much larger than any gun Tristan had seen before.

Tristan stared at the scene in shock. He looked at the customers on the floor and saw little children hiding with their parents. He glanced up at the cash register and noticed that the employee behind the counter was already handing the gunman money. He looked down at Nora and saw fear in her eyes.

“Hey!” Tristan’s head snapped to the side and he saw another one of the gunman pointing his gun at him. “He said everybody on the floor! That includes you, buster!” the man yelled. Tristan stared at him for a minute then looked down at his gun. Slowly, Tristan lowered himself to the floor next to Nora.

“Nora…” Tristan whispered in a voice that he hoped the gunmen wouldn’t hear. “How often does this happen?” he asked. Nora swallowed hard before answering.

“I don’t know. This is the first time it’s happened while I’ve been here.” Nora replied softly.

“You two, on the floor! I don’t wanna hear any chatter!” the third gunman yelled at them. Nora and Tristan flinched, both of them expecting the worst. Tristan was the first to find the courage to look up. He made sure none of the gunmen were looking at him, then he slowly reached towards his pocket. Two of the gunmen were near the door, their backs facing the crowd. The last gunman was still by the cash register. Tristan pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and quickly placed it directly under his face. He tipped his head over it, trying to shield it with his hair as much as he could. He quickly dialed 911.

“We’re being robbed.” Tristan whispered into the phone after the operator answered.

“Can you tell me your location, sir?” the operator asked. Tristan shushed her.
“Yeah, it’s--”

“HEY! He’s got a phone out!” Before Tristan knew what was happening, one of the gunmen had grabbed his shirt collar and hoisted him into the air. Nora grabbed his cell phone and screamed the park’s name into the phone before another one of the gunmen wrestled it away from her. The phone fell to the floor and smashed into a multitude of pieces.

“No, no, no!” Nora yelled, fighting against the gunman. He had her arms pinned tightly behind her back. The other gunman dragged Tristan over to Nora as the third one approached them. He had a sack of money in one hand and his gun in the other. He eyed the two of them maliciously before he let out a cruel laugh.

“You know, we were gonna come in and try to get out without hurting anyone, but it looks like that’s not going to be an option now.” he said, wagging his gun around. Nora glared at him with a hatred that Tristan thought she had reserved for him.

“We’re not gonna…ya know…kill ‘em, are we?” the gunman holding Tristan asked hesitantly.

“Not yet. But since they called the police, we’re gonna need a little…leverage…” the man with the money replied.

“Are we gonna grab a kid?” the man holding Nora asked. There was a collective gasp from all of the parents in the room.

“No, kids are a pain.” the man with the money answered. There was a pause. “We’ll take her.” he finally said, pointing to Nora with his gun. Tristan’s jaw dropped open, but Nora didn’t look surprised. She just looked like she was going to kill someone.

Tristan’s mind spun. Even though he didn’t really like Nora, he couldn’t let these guys take her. He didn’t know if the police would get here in time, though, and even if they did, that might put Nora in even more danger. These guys had weapons that could wipe out small neighborhoods; what could Tristan do to fight against that?

Just then, Tristan heard an “oof” come from his right. He looked over and noticed that the man who had been holding Nora was now on the ground, holding his stomach. Without even thinking, Tristan shot his elbow backwards and made a direct impact with the chest of the man holding him. The man’s grip loosened and Tristan spun around. He grabbed the man’s gun and hit him over the head with it. The man fell to the floor, unconscious.

Tristan turned around to see Nora give the third gunman a punch to the face. The man’s head snapped to the right and he stumbled to the side. He regained his balance and dropped the bag of money, clutching his gun with both hands. He aimed the gun at Nora and Tristan ran at him, raising the other gun over his head. He hit the gunman over the head and the gunman fell to the floor, moaning. The three gunmen lay on the floor in varying stages of consciousness.

Nora and Tristan stood in the middle of the three men, panting hard. Slowly, the tourists began to stand up. Nora looked up at Tristan, a look of fear still lingering in her eyes. Tristan smiled at her, pleased with what they had just done.

“You just saved my life.” Nora said softly. Tristan shrugged, a large grin still on his face.

“Well, you started the whole process.” he replied.

“Yeah…I’m really not sure what came over me…” Nora whispered. Just then, someone started clapping. Nora and Tristan looked up and saw that there was more than one person clapping. Soon, the entire store was applauding their bravery.

Nora laughed a little and Tristan looked down at her, bubbling with joy. The two of them exchanged delighted smiles. They heard police sirens nearby and their smiles widened. The applause died down as police officers rushed into the store. The officers almost tripped over the bodies of the men on the floor.

“I think we’re going to have some explaining to do…” Tristan whispered, leaning over to Nora. Nora laughed.

“Yeah, I think so.” she replied with a smile. Then, she did something that Tristan didn’t think would ever happen.

Nora leaned over and gave him a hug.

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