7. The Shooter

Rayleigh sat on the bench in the park in front of the hospital inhaling the sweet scent of the flowers.

She had been really stressed out lately and couldn't wait for her annual leave that was just around the corner. Rayleigh had already began to plan herself a trip far far away from the country.

She checked the watch around her wrist, she had five minutes of break time left. Rayleigh sighed as she rose back to her feet and began to make her way back to the hospital's main door.

"Help! Help!" A voice shouted from behind drawing her attention, "are you okay?" She asked the man

"My... My... someone hit him, he needs help" the man cried

"Calm down sir" Rayleigh said

"No, no... He's just around this corner. Hurry!" And then he took off. Rayleigh decides to follow the man, hoping she could help whatever it was the man said got hit.

"Slow down!" she yelled after the man who was running really fast. She followed him out of the hospital premise, into the corner he had earlier described but she was all alone when she go there, "hello?" She shouted

It was really late and the alley was so empty and silent her voice echoed back.

And then she realized what she might have gotten herself into. This was the perfect place to lure someone and lay waste to them without anyone figuring out until it was too late.

Without over thinking it, Rayleigh began racing back to the hospital. Maybe she was just being paranoid but her life was possibly at stake here so she couldn't really risk it.

Rayleigh successfully made it to the hospital her heart beating a thousand times a second "Dr. Cooper?  Is everything alright?" The guard at the hospital gate asked

"I... I" she stuttered as she tried to catch her breath. Just then, a car came speeding by but slows down once it got to the gate. A masked man who was behind the wheels points a gun at them before firing two times at Rayleigh and drove off.

The guard checks himself before running over to Rayleigh who was lying on the ground "Dr. Cooper, are you okay?" He asked

Rayleigh looked down to her stomach, apart from the few scratches on her after throwing herself on the floor, she was alright, the shooter had missed. She turn to the guard who had a worried look on his face. She nods repeatedly, tears streaming down her eyes "I'm alright," she barely said

***

"So this is the famous Essex foods' pizza" Ethan said taking a slice of pizza from the plate in front of him and taking a bite from it.

"So?" Deborah said a small smirk on her lips, "is it worth the hype or is it overrated?" She asked

"Somehow, it's underrated" Ethan replies as he takes another bite from the pizza slice in his hand, "I think i have a new obsession" Ethan says as he chews the pizza "tis tuu gewd"

"Please don't talk when eating,"

"Okay mom" he nods causing Deborah to throw her tissue at him

"You seem to have immaculate taste..."

"Obviously." She rolls her eyes playfully

"Oh... You're getting cocky now," Deborah laughs.

"What else do you like?" Ethan asked

"Well... I like-- wait, are you trying to steal my hobbies and likes?"

"What? No!" Ethan says

"I'm not telling you anything! Go get your own stuff" she said

"Come on?" He pleaded

"Maybe next time"

"Or so there is a next time?"

Deborah shrugs, "it's getting late,"

"Yeah, come on, i'll drop you off at home"

The two of them walk out of the food place making their way to the roadside where Ethan had parked his car. Just then, a car slows down in front of them and the driver sticks his right hand through the window and points a gun at Deborah.

Deborah felt as if the world around her had slowed down and she could see, through her peripheral vision, Ethan rushing towards her. In front of her was the car, and the man had a mask on. 'Is this the end' she thought to self as everything returned back to it's normal speed.

The man shot multiple times at Deborah but Ethan jumps in front of her, pushing her out of the way in an attempt to use himself as a human shield. The masked assailant drives away as Deborah falls to the ground.

She feels a sudden pain in her hand and checks to see a small cut on her arm, it must have been from the fall, none of the bullets reached her.

Deborah rushed over to Ethan who was lying on the road "Ethan!" She cried

.

.

.

"I'm fine" Ethan says as he sits up and unbuttons his shirt revealing he was wearing a bulletproof vest. He turned to Deborah who was shaken from the event "come here" he said pulling her close to himself. "It's okay, you're okay," he assured

***

The masked assailant drove the car as fast as he could until he reach the edge of town. He stepped out of the car, his hand still trembling as he took of his mask - it was the same man that lured Rayleigh out of the hospital. He walked into his house and opens a vault in one of the rooms from which he began gathering all the money inside it.

Just then, the man hears the front door bursts open and footsteps of someone walking through it. He quickly picks up his gun and rushed to the front door. Upon his arrival, the intruder fires a shot at him which sends his gun flying out of his hand

"I did everything you asked" the man shouted, his hand on his bleeding arm, "please, don't kill me... Please" he pleaded "we had a d--"

[GUNSHOTS!]

.....