Hold the Trigger

The leather seats were smooth and cold which was preferred on a warm summer night. The music blared and shook the air in the interior of this Model S Tesla 2019.

It was a fast ride because shortly we were pulling up to the back of a building.

"Alright. Go enjoy yourself," The driver sneered. I froze up and peeked out the window.

"What are you talking about," I questioned, "this isn't where we were supposed to go-"

"I said go enjoy yourself," He demanded, hitting the steering wheel.

I swallowed my words as I exited the car. It didn't make any sense. I listened to music blasting from the building behind me. Why not enjoy myself? Perhaps because it was impossible to ignore the knot in my stomach. I pushed open the back door and found two big guys leaning against the hallway walls. They stood up straighter as they saw me.

They didn't say anything, instead they just glanced behind me expecting another person.

"Did you think people are incapable of opening doors on their own?" I was still unsure what I was doing or where I was.

They leaned back against the wall not talking. I know better than to walk in between two people on either side of me but what else was I supposed to do. I took a confident step to pass them and their arms wrapped around me and I didn't try to fight them.

I just had them pin me against the wall. When they realized I wasn't putting up any fight they let me go with a confused expression.

"Who do you think you are," one guy muttered, sounding lethargic. I followed in the direction of the music playing. People were jumping everywhere and beverages were splashing in the air, smoke drifting and lights strobing.

This wasn't the atmosphere I dressed for, I was wearing black leggings with a boring grey tank top with a black hoodie. A hidden switchblade on my hip. A hidden handgun belt that happened to be empty along with tactical boots. I appeared as a threat.

I gradually began to realize this was one of the most dangerous things I could have done. I tried to look for the exit I entered through but the crowds, music and lights had become an unworkable maze.

I reached for my phone but my pocket was empty.

"Shit," I remembered I had left it on the back seat of the car in a dazed hurry.I lifted my eyes up and saw four men staring down at me from a balcony.

I disconnected the eye contact and turned around to get lost in the crowd. Unfortunately I was like a thumbtack in a garden of tulips.

"Shit…" I felt my heart begin to pick up. My brain recalled the device that was connected to the inside of my wrist. Maybe they'd see my heartrate pick up on their computers.

I saw a flash from a small handgun from one of the men. You couldn't hear the shots but I shuffled amongst people frantically. Something hot grazed my shoulder but I was slightly relieved knowing backup would be on its way when the device calculates the bullet wound.

I smirked however my smile didn't last long. People began to become wide eyed with muddled awareness.

People began to exit the building. The DJ started to mess up the beats. I threw myself behind a bar and kept my head down. My palm pressed against the blade.

"A knife in a gunfight…" I chuckled. I whispered as the building became quiet. I heard the last footsteps run and the door closed behind them.

I shut my eyes and took a breath through my nose and out my mouth. I attempted to block out the pain from my shoulder. Hands had seized me from behind the bar and they dragged me over the counter and hurled me onto the concrete flooring.

The sound of my body hitting the floor was a dull thud. My head connected with the floor with a crack. I saw boots in front of my face.

"That's all you got," I muttered groggily.

"Arrogance won't get you to where you want to be," He grumbled, "you don't have a phone or a weapon," he stated with a hint of irritation.

"I'm still trying to process why I'm here in the first place, " I hoisted myself onto an elbow working on holding my head up. They weren't bothered by me moving around since there were four of them and one of me.

"It was a setup-" "I couldn't believe how obtuse I had been.

The man in front of me hunched down to my level, arms crossed waiting for me to figure it out, "-you knew and you still entered the building. Why."

In one swipe I had pulled out my switchblade I had tucked into my sleeve. I took out the man behind me and the man stupidly beside him who was obviously not paying attention to the situation. One hit the ground and the other stumbled backwards in a daze. His forearm was cut deep. He would lose consciousness quickly.

I dove to the side and smashed into the accomplice of the man in charge as a bullet rang.

We collided and both sprung to our feet, I drove my foot into his knee. He buckled forward and I nailed him in the stomach so he crashed down onto the floor. He was winded and struggling to breath.

He wasn't getting back up. I wasn't quick enough and I had left my back vulnerable and sure enough a blade pressed against my throat.

He held me from behind. He was snickering; his breath in my ear. He smelt of ash and something metallic. He smelt of gunpowder….bullets.

He must have been the man we were making a deal with about a weapon trade. I could only yell out, staring at the empty room, music still playing, lights flashing.

I hadn't noticed the music and lights were on this entire time until now. I took in a weakened laugh. It was one sick joke and I walked right into it.

"You didn't answer my question," he hissed in my ear, "why," He wrenched my head back farther, I could see an exit.

"I was curious what would happen," I spoke through gritted teeth.

I felt his blade press start to nick the surface of my skin as I spoke. I blinked to gather my thoughts back together. I found myself choking on panic.

I wasn't sure what he was waiting for, a part of me was convinced he didn't want me dead, "you don't want to kill me-"

"You are like me, cut off and overpowered by a large number of people and they fuck you over. All I wanted was a certain price and you needed weapons. Your man hijacked my weapons and I don't play games."

A single gunshot went off and his hand gripping my hair immediately released me and I fell backwards over his body.

I heard multiple footsteps hurry towards me, some came from downstairs and the exit burst open.

I tried to wipe his blood off of my shaking palms. I had a good look at him until now as the hands that were picking me off the ground. He had bushy black hair with a brown bandana over his forehead with a tattoo of a skull being shattered by a bullet on the back of his hand. His eyes were almost black and his skin had an olive undertone. No one gets out of a fight without their own blood spilled.