Exactly where we were.
“We need to move,” I stressed, breaking into a run.
I didn’t need to check and make sure everyone understood the assignment. My group was becoming rapidly adroit at hauling ass first and asking questions later. To the left of the elevator was the door leading to the stairwell. We reached it in a photo finish, pouring through just as the low chime of the elevator went off.
Two additional problems immediately presented themselves.
Chip, the last one in, made no attempt to silence the door from slamming shut behind him. It was a dead giveaway of our location for whomever had just arrived on the second floor. Worse, as I peered down the stairs, a masked figure was staring right back up at me. And they weren’t alone. Two others were flanking them, one holding the same bow gun that had just taken a man out hours ago.
It wasn’t much of a debate for us to know what we had to do next—not get caught.
“Go!” Dion demanded, ushering us to move our asses.
At the top of the next landing was the door leading to the third floor. Grace reached it first and proceeded to slam all her weight against it.
“It’s locked!” she exclaimed pulling and pushing to no avail.
“Keep moving.” I all but dragged her to the next set of stairs.
Again, the door on the next level was locked, forcing us to keep going. When we reached the fifth, a visceral sound traveled from the stairwell below, brutally penetrating our sense of sound. I didn’t know what the hell it was. I couldn’t stop to look down with these assholes hot on our ass. We had no choice but to keep going. The only other option was to stand still and let our pursuers catch us.
Every door that would have let us enter a new floor was locked, barring our entry and forcing us to go to a higher level. There wouldn’t be anything at the top of this building but a roof and a possible death sentence. It was the landing for the eighth floor where the rooftop door was placed.
A sign that read rooftop lounge at least let us know this wasn’t meant to be some prohibited area of the complex.
Filing up the next set of stairs in a single file line, I could tell we were approaching the final exit by the change in temperature. The warmth from outside overpowered the coolness within the building. We spilled out the door at the top onto a flat, rectangular shaped rooftop. There was an L shaped pool surrounded by a few cabana chairs and a small bar off to the right.
Nothing to hold the door shut with.
“What do we do now?” Dion yelled.
“Check the sides of the building,” Mel shouted, already running towards the rear of the complex.
Without having any better ideas, I grabbed Grace and we chased after her. She naturally got there before either of us did.
“It’s there!” she exclaimed.
Before I could see for myself what she was talking about she was gone. One second, I was staring at the back of her colorful head and in the next she had disappeared.
She jumped right over the side of the building, taking my heart plummeting down with her. Something rattled loudly. As we got up close, I looked over the edge of the building and saw Mel standing up from where she’d landed on a fire escape.
“Jump!” she commanded the second she seen us.
“Goddamnit,” I muttered.
There was a laundry list of reasons that this could go terribly wrong. The escape itself wasn’t directly beneath the rim of the building, but a few feet down. If I somehow missed sticking the landing, I would be screwed. We were eight—nine stories high. Nothing but solid asphalt would be waiting to greet me down below.
All of this went through my head as I was freefalling through the air, stomach feeling as if it were about to rocket out of my ass.
I did my best to tuck and role, forcing the right side of my body to take the brunt of my fall. Mel was pulling me to my feet and out of harm’s way as Grace followed me over. Dion came screaming after her. As their bodies hit the grated floor, the entire fire escape vibrated beneath us.
“Come on ya’ll,” Mel urged, jerking me towards yet another set of stairs.
As we proceeded down, Chip’s body zipped passed us faster than I could blink, His head banged off the side of the fire escape, the impact so hard it sent a clang echoing through the air and left behind a smear of blood. His terrified screams followed him all the way down, ceasing when his body hit the ground with a nauseating, audible crack and splat.
“Holy shit,” Dion croaked.
I risked a glance up, seeing one of the masked figures above. They had more than likely pushed him as he attempted to jump.