VICIOUS

46.

3 seconds left. 

What the fuck do I do?

My mind doesn't work anymore, I can barely think. Eventually I pick up the bomb and throw it to the other side of the room. I quickly turn around, ready to get out. 

My ears start ringing as soon as I begin to run towards the staircase. It's like a high pitched screaming. It's starting to give me a headache. I try to ignore it and look at the doors that lead to the staircase. Why do those three seconds take so long? 

I'm not gonna make it. 

I'm a few feet away from the doors, when the last bomb explodes. The blow is so heavy, that I get thrown against the doors. I fall to the ground and groan. I try to look up, to find a way to get out. But all I see is the ceiling falling down. 

It seems to happen in slow motion. I look up, widen my eyes at the sight of the falling ceiling and then duck to the ground to hopefully protect myself. With my eyes shut, I pant. 

Please, let it be over. 

Then something hits my head and everything turns black. 

................................................................................................................................................................

Am I dead? 

Please let me be dead. 

The pain in my body starts coming back and I groan. 

Nope, I'm not dead. 

My head hurts and my brain feels like it's taking a masterclass ballet inside my head. 

I squeeze my eyes before opening them. I'm facing the ground that's covered in dust. My right arm lays underneath my chest, my left arm lays next to my body. 

I start moving my arms to turn around. I roll my body over, my back laying on the ground now. I look at the place where the ceiling first was, but it's now one big hole. 

I move my hair out of my face. I look at my hand and see that it's covered in blood. Oh great, that means I have a wound on my head. I sigh and try to sit in a normal position. 

Everything hurts. 

My leg is the worst. Because of my jeans, I haven't seen any injuries there yet, but I'm sure the wound I already had started bleeding again. 

I have no idea what time it is. It could be an hour later, maybe a whole week later. All I know is that I have to get out of here, find the others and come up with a plan. 

I take a few deep breaths, before I try to get back on my feet. My eyes widen when I feel that I can barely lean on my left leg. Yup, that's definitely the stab wound I already had. 

Terrific. 

Dust falls from my clothes as I look around to find an exit. First I have to climb over the remains of the ceiling that fell down. 

I carefully place my hands on the concrete and push myself up. I sit down and turn myself around, ready to slide down as if I'm at some sort of playground. 

When my feet are on the normal floor again, I look up. The underground place we first had, is now one big hole. At least, that's how it looks like from here. I'm certain quite some apartments have survived the explosion. 

The sun shines on my face and I can feel the warmth of it. 

From the corner of my eyes, I spot the place where we store all of our stuff. Including bullets and I need those things right now. I have no idea what's happening above me right now, maybe Oblivion has decided to give us another visit. Maybe I'll just find a lot of corpses. I don't know and I think I don't even want to know. 

When I start walking, I clench my jaw to bite through the pain. I'm limping as I do so, but at least I'm trying to get out. One door remains and I push it open. The storage room greets me with parts of the ceiling, fallen boxes and a lot of dust. 

I make my way over to the boxes with ''Bullets'' on it and open the lid. Dozens of packages are neatly stored and I take out three. I look around to hopefully find a bag or something similar, so that I don't have to carry it in my hands. 

On the top of one of the shelfs lies an old backpack. It's bright pink and seems to be fine. A small smile appears on my face, finally something good happens. I take 10 packages of bullets with me and let the bag hand around my shoulders. 

I walk back to the place I stood a few minutes ago and look at the staircase. The elevators have stopped working. The glass around it is shattered and I see small fires inside of it. In conclusion, the staircase is the only choice I have. 

I walk towards it, praying that it will be fine. A few steps are missing for as far I can see, but I can use it. My whole body protests when I place my feet on the first step, pushing myself up. 

''Oh, fucking hell,'' I mutter. 

This is going to take me a while.