catch.

“Why are you surrenderin’, honey?” The soldier’s strong American accent burned through my mind. I saw red. What I would give to charge in and strike him down, save her.

   “You plannin’ on jumpin’ down? Huh?”

   “Mhm,” she whimpered. I could picture her beautiful face, pale, and her dark eyes, frightened and tense.

   “You need a hand?”

   “No,” she sniffed.

   “Looks like it,” he said. “What happened to your hand?”

   “Nothing,” she said.

   “Nu-uh! Hands in the air!”

   I heard her cry out, choked by the soldier’s grasp. I could see his hands around her throat, strangling her to death just inches from his face.

   “Let go,” she whispered. “Please.”

   “Get your gun!” He shouted to another soldier behind him. I heard it click as the other soldier took aim.

   “You ready?”

   “Ben,” she whimpered.

   I froze.

   “Excuse me?” He sniffed.

   “Catch me,” she said.

   “What –”

   I leapt out and caught her expertly in my arms, elation leaping and bounding in my heart.

   “Run!” She shouted, wriggling out of my grasp and grabbing my hand.

   We bolted down the corridor together, turning as many corners as we could. We found a staircase and jumped down, skipping every four or five steps. My chest was burning, but I felt so giddy with happiness and energy that I kept going. I stole a glance at her and I could see the smile wide on her face.

   Eventually we found ourselves in the main foyer, crumbled to pieces and home to the flipped over chairs and tables of the café and the turned over drinks and snacks machines littering the floor. We stopped, panting heavily and laughing breathlessly.

   “Thank you,” she said. She turned and hugged me tight. I hugged her back, smelling the sweetness of her hair, even through the dust clinging onto it. “I thought for a second maybe you weren’t going to catch me.”

   “Well it’s a good job I did, isn’t it,” I laughed. “It was a very good plan.”

   “Thank you,” she replied, smugly. “It’s good we’re on the same wavelength.”

   Then her vision switched to something behind my head and the sparkle in her eyes dimmed.

   “Oh, no,” she murmured.

   I turned around. “What’s up, baby?”

  And then I saw it. The huge bar across the double doors of the main entrance, even though the glass was cracked. There was also a huge amount of rubble out there that would be a death trap to climb over. It seemed our chances of getting out of here were slimmer than I thought.