Micheal Peterson:
"Arghhh!"
I scream while bursting out of the store and running toward the man. He sees me running toward him and aims his handgun at me, but I jump and slide over the truck of my car. Reaching him before he can shoot, I grab his wrist and push it upward. The gunman screams as he fires into the sky.
"Let me go," the gunman yells.
"Arghhh," I scream again as we fight for the handgun. He tries to lower his hand, but I do my best to keep it up.
"Micheal," someone says.
"Alex," I think. I turn around and see Alex opening the door. Before I could do anything, she already had one foot on the street.
"No! Alex, get back in the car now!"
I pull back one of my hands to point at my car, telling Alex to stay inside. However, with one hand away, the gunman, with both of his hands, slams the gun down. Kicking me back and stepping away, he raises his handgun at me.
Johnathan Peterson:
"Micheal," I yell, shooting up from my desk. Hearing a gunshot on the other side, and then the sound of a window shattering, I look at my phone before putting it against my ear again.
"Micheal? Micheal! Can you hear me! Answer me!"
"John," someone shouts. "John!"
Someone grabs me, but I push the person away before looking up.
"Ben," I shout. "What is it!"
"John," Ben shouts again. "What's going on? Why are you yelling?"
Breathing in and out, taking a breath, I look at Ben.
"I think someone is shooting at my son and daughter."
Micheal:
"Arrgghhh!"
I scream as I run toward the gunman. Throwing my fist, I punch him across the face, knocking him back. Still on his feet, I raise both hands and throw them down. Hitting him, I knock the gunman down this time.
While still on the ground, I grab the gunman by his neck collar and pull him up. Punching him over and over again, until his face turns purple, I stop when I hear someone scream my name.
Turning around, I see one of my car's windows shattered.
"Alex!"
Dropping the gunman, I run back to my car. Grabbing and swinging the door open, I see Alex crouching, curled into a ball, hiding in the foot space.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Alex says. Alex is trying to hide it, but it's pointless. I can tell as clear as day. Alex is shaking and gasping, and her eyes are filled with water.
"Okay. Take my hand."
Taking my head, I pull Alex up, but as Alex uncurls from a ball, I see blood drops on the seats.
"Alex," I say. "You're shot. You're shot!"
"What," Alex asks. She looks down and sees the blood. "Wait. Micheal, that-"
"Stay down," I say, pushing my sister back down and slamming the door shut. Jumping into the driver's seat, I turn on the car and stomp on the gas.
"Micheal," Alex says. "You-"
Before Alex can say what she wanted to say, the sound of gunshots cuts her off. Screaming and covering her head, I turn around and see the gunman stumbling while shooting.
"Stay down," I repeat. As we drive away, the gunman stumbles back to his car and jumps into the driver's seat. He too stomps on his gas and chases us.
Ignoring all the screaming, yelling, and cars honking as I swerve left and right, I look in the rear-view mirror and see the gunman still chasing us.
"Come on," I say, grinding my teeth. "Come on. Come on!"
Taking a very sharp turn, the sound of my tires skidding against the street echoing in my ears, I check the mirror again and see the gunman still on our tail.
"Who is this guy," I think. "And why is he chasing after us? Or is he after me? Does he know? But how? How would he know?"
"Ahhh!"
Screaming when the gunman fires and my back window breaks, I start looking around for something useful. Snapping my head left and right, I see a fire hydrant coming up. The lightbulb in my head turns on, and I swerve onto the sidewalk.
Hitting the fire hydrant dead-on, the hydrant and water shoot into the air. A large stream of water blinds the gunman, and I watch as he crashes into a nearby building. Smiling when I see he crashes, I hear Alex screaming.
"Micheal! Look out!"
"What?"
I turn back to the road and see myself driving toward a large parked truck. Stomping on the brakes, I then turn the wheel. My whole car turns, but it doesn't stop. It skids against the street until hitting the truck. Alex and I scream as we crash.
Everything goes blurry, and all I feel is a sharp pain throughout my whole body.
Ace:
"Did you hear that?"
Hearing what sounds like a crash, I turn toward the noise.
"I'll be right back."
Turning and running toward the ledge of the building, I look down at the streets below.
"What in the world!"
I don't know how long we were running up those stairs, but somehow, because of it, we missed everything that happened, including why the streets below are in chaos.
I see people screaming and yelling, cars on the sidewalks, lights blinking, and even a fire hydrant lying against the side of a building. Looking around some more, I see two cars. One of the cars is smoking and lying in front of a damaged wall. The second one is covered in dents and is pressed against a large truck.
Looking at the second car, I see two people still in the car. Looking closer, I see someone familiar.
"Is that Micheal? Micheal! No!"
Turning around, I run toward the staircase.
"Stay here," I say, grabbing and swinging open the door. Jumping down the steps, three at a time, I reach the bottom floor and burst out the back door.
Ignoring the people looking left and right, I run as fast as I can to help Micheal. Reaching his car, I look inside.
"Mi-," I start before stopping. "Mister? Mister! Hey, are you okay?"
"Ahhh," Micheal moans. Leaning forward, Micheal's eyes snap open.
"Argghhh," Micheal screams, swinging his hand and hitting the car's frame. "Ouch."
Pulling back his hand, Micheal rubs his wrist. While he rubs his wrist, Micheal sees me.
"Ace? I mean, you?"
"Are you okay," I ask again.
"No," Micheal shouts. "Alex! Where is Alex? Is he okay!"
"Alex?"
That's when I remember the second person. Eyeing the backseat, I see a little boy sitting there, only a few years younger than Micheal.
"Alex!"
Grabbing the door, I try to open it, but it still closes.
"Here," Micheal says. Unbuckling his seat belt, Micheal pulls himself up before climbing over the front passenger seat and out of the car. Falling to the ground, I help him up.
"Thank you," Micheal says, dusting himself off. As glass shards fall off, I see something else fall.
"You're bleeding."
"What?"
"You're bleeding!"
I point at his shoulder. Micheal looks and sees his bleeding shoulder. I step forward to look at it, but Micheal pushes me back.
"I'm fine," Micheal yells. "Just help me with the door."
"Mister. You really should-"
"I'm fine," Micheal yells again. He ignores his shoulder and grabs the stuck door with both his hands. Placing his foot on the side, Micheal pulls.
Sighing as I watch him, I step forward. About to help him, the door swings open, forcing me back. Micheal reaches in and pulls out the boy named Alex.
"Alex," Micheal whispers. "Alex? Come on, Alex. Please be okay. Please be okay."
Still holding Alex in his arms, we hear shouting and turn our heads. Wobbling toward us with a handgun in his hand is a tall man in a camouflage jacket.
"Ca--can't lose me that easily," the man says, raising his handgun. "It's time to come with me. Both of you"
"Get behind me," I say, reaching for my cardholder.