North on I-35 [Index of Writers and their contributions]
Sixth section by Suzanne
| "Morning, Officer."
Twenty feet down the hallway the elevator dinged, and the doors slid open. Jason rolled out in a wheelchair pushed by a stocky blonde nurse. Bandages wrapped his left shoulder, and his arm rested in a cloth sling. A gauze pad covered his right temple. "Daddy!" Amber started towards him with her arms outstretched. April said, "Don't squeeze on him, honey," just as Jason's drowsy smile changed into a look of alarm, then horror. The tips of April's fingers tingled as she followed his gaze. It was Burnette, standing thirty feet away, boots planted, pulling a gun from his waistband. April saw it all--saw and heard every minute detail. She saw the sweat stain under his arm when he raised the gun to eye level. The cop, struggling to his feet, reaching for his gun in slow motion. She saw the flash from Burnette's gun, and felt a whump in her ears from the booming shot. She saw the red dot on the cop's forehead, heard the splatter as blood and brains bloomed on the wall behind him. She heard the harsh 'oooph' of breath escaping his lungs. When April saw Burnette's gun jerk two inches to the right, she knew it was aimed at Jason's head. She knew he would die, and that she and Amber would, too. She stepped in front of Amber just as the gun flashed again, but instead of the boom that should have followed, she heard Amber say,"No." And nothing moved. Burnette stood motionless, still aiming the gun at Jason's head. The nurse behind the wheelchair, half-turned to run, was still as a tree trunk. Blood that had dripped from the hole in the cop's head hung in mid-air. The people at each end of the hall, doctors, nurses, orderlies, and visitors, were frozen in positions of reaction to the gunshot, mouths open, eyes wide, a few already poised to run. April turned to Jason and saw her own shock mirrored in his eyes. They both looked at Amber. She had her fingers in her mouth and tears in her eyes. They watched her take a few steps forward, reach into the air, and then move to Jason's side. "That's a bad man, Daddy." She opened her hand to reveal a bullet cupped in her tiny palm. |
This is part 6 of a story
written by a 'committee' - writers from the Writing Workshop.
It will be gradually added to as each new section appears.
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