Decision

What's happening? A terrorist attack? Laura thought for a second but immediately dismissed it. No, that was something worse.

Several explosions were heard from the outside, some very close to the stadium. The ground was shaking again, now even worse than the first time.

Large lights fell from the ceiling and more and more screams were heard from the crowd. Only a moment ago they were watching a fight, and now they were being crushed to death.

Panic broke out amongst the crowd all around the ring, most of them rushing to the exit. She, however, could only stare at the trembling ceiling. There was a crashing explosion and an entire section of the stadium crumbled.

And then it came down.

With a terrible loud crash large parts of the fallen ceiling hit the ground. She watched as hundreds of people were swallowed up by a cloud of rubble. Done. Just like that.

Laura was shocked and unable to move but tried to grasp the situation.

Her eyes widened in horror at the sight.

Hundreds of people had just died in front of her.

A dusty and ashy cloud formed around the place and the screams she could hear made it even worse. It felt like she was in a horror movie.

She forced herself to not look at it anymore. What should I do?

She averted her eyes from her surrounding area and looked at Peter who looked as shocked and puzzled as Laura. Their eyes locked and he screamed, "We have to get out of here!"

"Yes! Let's go!"

As they were about to leave to ring a loud female voice shouted at them right behind them.

"Wait!"Laura turned back and saw a familiar face.

"Let's go together." Anastasia slowly came from behind.

Laura didn't know why she wanted to join them but immediately nodded after she saw her part of the ring. A large pile of rubble hit her corner. Anastasia was bleeding from her head but that wasn't the worst thing. A horrible, bloody mess formed under the rubble. Everyone on her side must have died there. Laura looked at Anastasia's saddened face but couldn't imagine how she felt right now.

Both of the women jumped out of the ring.

Peter looked at them dumbfounded. They just jumped 2 meter in the air and landed on the ground like it wasnt something special. He didn't have time to question it, however, as all three of them ran to the exit. They were lucky. If they had taken the public exit, they still wouldn't have gotten far.

But only a few people grasped the situation fast enough and understood that rules didn't matter anymore. So the exit for the boxers and their crews were almost empty.

As they entered the hallway they passed the preparation rooms, completely ignoring the fact that they were still wearing their short boxing clothes. The ground was still shaking but it wasn't as bad as in the large arena. The lights fell down and there were cracks in the walls but the hallway was still passable.

They ran together but had slowed down as they realized that Peter wasn't able to catch up.

Explosions, shots and screams sounded from the outside but they knew that they couldn't stop here as the hallway was about to go down as the arena did. There was no hiding and if they would have stayed inside they would have died by now. Laura knew that most people who weren't able to leave the arena died. For a moment she felt a sour sadness.

As they were close to the outside they could already see the lights.

But it wasn't that light that was supposed to enlighten the area.

The streets of Las Vegas were covered in flames. Buildings, cars and trucks were burning and ripped by something that wasn't there anymore.

For a moment they couldn't do anything else but staring at the horrifying picture.

"This looks like a warzone.." Peter said in a trembling voice.

"More like hell", said Laura. Anastasia and Peter silently agreed.

There were mountains of unidentifiable corpses and the streets were covered in rivers of blood.

Peter almost puked at the sight of the dead bodies.

As they stood there they saw soldiers fleeing. They had already thrown away their weapons and were running for their lives.

It was then.

Another explosion shook the earth and a loud noise was heard above them. A piece of the building was falling on them.

Laura covered Peter without thinking about it for a second.

The piece must have weighed at least 100 kilograms and Laura went down on her knees. The pile shattered on her back.

Peter and Anastasia stared at her as she stood up like nothing happened.

"H-how..?" they said in unison.

At first Laura didn't know what to say but then she said what came in her mind "Anastasia's hits were harder." Peter and Anastasia looked at her like they expected her to laugh but Laura's face couldn't be more serious.

And again, like several times before they didnt know what to say. And they also knew that it wouldn't be the last time before the day was over.

"We have to leave now." Peter said.

But Anastisia spoke up as she silently watched in the direction the sounds of a battle were coming from. " Let's head there." she turned to Laura as she would understand.

"Are you insane?", Peter screamed, "that's suicide! You don't even know what is happening there!"

But Laura stayed silent as she looked at Anastasia. Before today she would have reacted like Peter at the absurd idea. But suddenly she remembered something. She remembered the lightning that woke her up today.

"Earlier today, did you see a lightning bolt?" Laura suddenly asked in a curious voice.

Before Anastasia could answer Peter interrupted them. "Are you both crazy now? What are you even talking about?"

But Anastasia knew very well what Laura meant. In the morning, she was still asleep and then a lightning bolt woke her up. But she didn't think about that since then, because she thought it was just a dream. But if the same happened to Laura as well it might wasn't just a dream.

So she nodded.

They had the same thought. The lightning, the inhuman strength and what is happening right now. Everything must be connected. It couldn't be a coincidence.

"You really want to go there?" Laura asked.

Peter let out a sigh as he heard what Laura said.

"If there is a connection we might be the only people who can handle it. I don't know what is happening there, but I'm sure that can't be explained by common sense.", and then she pointed to the debris that shattered on Laura's back.

She looked in the direction from which still a few soldiers fled. Surprisingly, she was not afraid but confident. Confident that whatever is happening there, they can handle it together.

"Okay, let's go.", Laura said and turned to Peter.

Peter noticed the confidence in Laura's eyes. She didn't turn crazy, she was sure she could do it. He knew that there was no point in arguing about if she should go. She will go, no matter what he says. It was incredibly reckless but Laura didn't seem like she was planning to die there.

"Laura, I…." he stopped because he didn't know what to say. "Just come back alive. Please."

"I will. I promise." She had tears in her eyes but she also knew it was the right thing to do.

Laura hugged Peter and they both enjoyed the moment in silence before they departed.

"Thanks. For everything.", she said as she turned towards Anastasia.

She smiled and nodded. "I will bring her back, don't worry."

Peter noticed the same confidence in Anastasia's eyes as in Laura's eyes. He was sure now. They can do it.

Without looking back they began to run to their unknown destination, still not sure what they would see and if the words they just said would become true.