My hands were shaking and I wasn't sure if I would be able to stand up or if I should stand up. I didn't know who was left. Was everybody dead?
I peaked above the rusty machinery I was hiding behind and saw not a movement, just the smoke residue from fired guns in the shadowed oversized building as police moved in the chaos.
I popped my head back down and stayed squatted as I crawled around the side of the warehouse.
I saw Thug One, face down, stretched out as if he were bungy jumping. Blood seeped from his wounds staining the cold cement floor. I cringed and kept moving.
I heard moaning from the direction of knocked over corrugated boxes. I headed over there. I saw the black loafers and knew it was the other thug. I saw he had no gun and I kneeled down beside him. He was bleeding from the stomach.
"Listen, I got to ask you something, asshole. This might be a bad time, but you have no idea how much I pay for car insurance already. My parents said their house was cheaper than my car insurance. So listen, are you covered?"
"Aaah." His body went limp and I checked his pulse. Something I had learned in my College Health and Safety class. I felt nothing, but that could mean nothing since I failed Health & Safety.
'Where's Mike?' I thought. I looked up and yelled his name. Nothing. I started to panic and scanned the room.
"Mike?" I screamed. I stood up, "Mike!?"
I searched through more boxes from where I had last seen Mike. I repeated his name over and over when from the corner...
"Jesus, you'd think I owed you money," he whispered.
I moved to the shadows and found him laying on the floor, his pants wet.
I helped him stand up as a new flurry of police scurried into the room.
"Does this mean I can move back in?"
I looked at him and we stared each other down in silence-- grateful-- to be alive.
A Policeman grabbed my arm, motioning for us to step outside.
"Where's Kurt?" asked Mike.
The Policeman paused, asking someone passing by.
"He's hit," was the response.
I felt my stomach drop.
