RENAISSANCE

28. The song of chaos

I felt the vibrant atmosphere of the nightclub collapse around me. The music, which moments before had been pulsing in harmony with the beating of my heart, was now drowned out in a deafening din.

Beside me, Suzan, eyes wide, seemed just as caught in this whirlwind of panic.

"SUZAN WHAT IS HAPPENING?" I cried again, shaking her by the shoulders.

But she didn't even look at me.

Instead, she looked behind me, and started to walk to the end of the damn crowded hallway, probably to go look for the boys.

I began to follow her without leaving her side, trying as best I could not to lose sight of her.

At the end of the corridor, what we saw was chaotic.

The crowd rushed towards the exit doors, in a tumult of fear and confusion.

In the confusion, I saw dark figures emerge, armed men, stationed like nightmare ghosts in the four corners of the room. Their sinister presence transformed the party into a theater of horror. Their weapons, menacing and implacable, directed a macabre ballet.

They were scattered like predators among frightened prey.

"We have to get out of here!" I exclaimed to Suzan at the sight of these guys.

"No ! These are our men!" she replied, raising her voice to be heard.

Then she headed quickly towards the stairs that led to the first floor, while I continued to follow her.

Up there, she went to meet one of the armed men, posted in front of the railing like her other colleagues. He nevertheless seemed to be a superior, he was older than the others.

"Mike asked us to evacuate everyone," the latter began.

"And that's how you do it?!" Suzan got angry.

Certainly the voice of wisdom and peace will never leave her, no matter the situation.

"I doubt that in the gentle way your friends the traffickers would have been kind enough to leave the premises," he replied dryly.

He seemed deeply irritated by the situation.

"Be careful with your tone, Zane," retorted Suzan.

"I don't know what you're playing, but I think you've forgotten why we're here. I thought we had to follow the plan to the letter? What the hell is this?"

"Well change of plans, as you can see. Stand your ground."

Then she turned on her heel, grabbing my hand to take me with her. I didn't know where we were going, and the chaos was unbearable.

His expression betraying a mixture of concern and determination.

Strobe lights cast ghostly glares on the dancers' faces, transforming the place into a maze of distorted faces and jerky movements.

I crossed the threshold of the top floor after Suzan who stopped abruptly, short of breath, wide-eyed.

Before me, in the trembling shadows of the dim lights, a scene of horror unfolded. Isaac, whose features I hardly recognized anymore, was there, his silhouette distorted by uncontrollable rage.

His hands, like pitiless claws, came down with unbridled brutality on something. A mass of flesh and blood.

Suzan, in front of me, collapsed on her knees. His shoulders trembled under the weight of his helplessness, his lips murmured inaudible words, perhaps prayers, supplications to a sky that seemed deaf to his distress.