Dove

Styles grasps my arm hard and pulls me towards a street on the left, not looking back to see if anybody is following us. As soon as we round the corner he pushes me against the wall. "Be quiet and don't move" he whispers, before glancing around.

The first thing I notice is that we are completely alone. I can hear the sound of gunshots ringing through the air, but we must be well hidden from view, because none of them is too close. The guards are nowhere to be seen.

"Are we even sure they were attacking us?" I ask him, and he pressed himself against the wall next to me.

"We can't be completely sure, but I sure as hell am not going to go out on the road and see if they shoot me" he replies, "We need to find a better place to hide, like this, they'll find us in no time."

On the other side of the road, opposite to where we are, there's a building. Differently from all the others on the street, it seems to have light coming from inside. It takes me a few seconds to realise that nobody is actually in there, and that the light I'm seeing coming from the windows is none other than the light of the moon above us, because the house doesn't have a roof.

"Styles" I whisper, getting his attention. "There's an abandoned house on the other side of the street. We can hide there."

He looks in that same direction, but shakes his head. "Not gonna happen, we would have to run there without a cover."

"Do you have a better idea, then?" I ask him snappily as another gunshot reverberates through the air, this time way closer than before. "I'm not gonna die because you can take a minimal risk."

He looks at me hesitantly, and I understand that he's actually considering my suggestion.

"There's no other option!" I tell him as the gunshots get even closer, on our right. "Besides, I think they're on the opposite street right now."

He nods and slides against the wall towards the corner, checking the street. "It seems empty" he whispers turning to look at me. "We have to be fast but silent."

I hear the sound of steps coming closer, almost about to turn the corner on the opposite side. "Now" I whisper back, giving him a light push.

He hesitantly takes a step out on the street, and when no gunshot is fired, he moves, his fingers wrapping around my wrist to make sure I'm right behind him, the other hand taking his gun out, without taking the safety off in worry of the click being heard. We make it to the opposite side and, after opening the door, we slide in as silently as possible.

"Pay attention to the floor, it might creak" Styles says glancing at it, wooden and old. "Let's hide behind that wall, we'll be close enough to the door to hold the fire if they come in" he adds, pointing at a small wall between what probably used to be the kitchen and the living room.

I sit behind the wall, my back to it, carefully listening to any eventual sounds coming from outside, but there were none. I stand up to check the house to make sure nobody else is inside, and hear steps outside. Instantly Styles pulls me down next to him, taking the gun from his belt once again and pointing it at the door in one fast move. I touch the place where I knew my gun was, just to realise that my belt wasn't there.

"I lost my gun" I whisper as he kneels behind the wall.

"Stay down then, I don't have time to make sure you don't get hurt as well" he replies, and I do exactly as he tells me, not wanting to argue with him in that moment.

All of sudden the door opens, and I hear the distinct click of the safety of the gun being taken off next to me before another sound covers it.

"Don't shoot."

Recognising the sound of Max's voice I stand up and Styles does the same, pointing the gun at the floor with a sigh.

"I saw you come in from where I was hiding" the guard explains fast, "Are you all okay?"

I nod, and Styles does too.

"Is Aaron with you?" He asks, but Max shakes his head.

"I thought he was with you?"

Instinctively I turn to look at Styles, and he does the same, realising that we lost one of the guards.

"We can wait for him" I say, "I'm sure he'll come around."

Max signals us to lower our voices as we hear some sounds coming from outside. "We can't do that, it's too dangerous. Besides, we don't even know if he's alive. I heard some gunshots being fired."

Styles shakes his head in disbelief turning the safety of his gun on again and putting it on his belt again. "I don't understand why this happened. I thought we were safe?"

"You know this town, Mr Styles" Max replies, "We've probably been too careless, or the information of this trip got out somehow. After all, we did go around quite a lot with our hoods down, and you're the son of the most powerful person in the city. Someone probably recognised you."

"Fuck!" Styles hisses kicking a column of the house to let out his anger. "We're screwed."

"Let's just think about reaching the tunnels safely now. Let's wait until we hear no sound coming from outside before going out" Max suggests sitting down against the wall we hid behind, and I do the same, while Styles stands up and takes a look around the room to see if there's something useful to take.

"Yeah" Max says all of sudden, and I turn to look at him questioningly.

He looks back at me. "I was wondering how we all reached this house safely, and now that I think about it, it's probably why Aaron isn't here. He must've distracted them, you know, put up a fight or something to give us the time to run away."

I nod without saying anything, and turn to look at Styles. He gave up on doing anything, and he sat down against the column with a defeated look on his face.

"Alright" Max says after a while standing up, "we can go now. Be fast, but don't run. Hide in the shadows."

We move towards the door and Max checks outside from the window before opening the door. "The street is empty" he whispers, "Miss Winters, you go first. Mr Styles, you're in the middle. I'll watch your back."

We get out, walking as silently as possible. I look up, wondering what time it is. The moon is still up in the dark sky studded by a myriad of stars, so morning has to be still quite far away. We pass the street we hid in before and keep walking, looking around every once in a while to make sure nobody's behind us.

We take a turn between two high buildings in the direction of the tunnels, the street becomes smaller.

All of sudden I hear a gunshot fire through the air and I freeze, trying to realise where it came from. After a few seconds I hear another, and a window behind me breaks.

"Fucking shit!" I hear Styles shout, and I realise we fell into a trap.

I turn around, but I still see no one. Styles takes out his gun but he doesn't know where to shoot.

"They're attacking us from above!" I hear Max roar, "Run!"

As soon as he says that the sound of gunshots multiplies, letting us know that they heard him as well. Without thinking twice I turn around and run, hearing the sound of steps right behind me.

I'm about to take a turn for where I know the tunnels are when I realise that nobody is next to me. I turn around, and see that Styles stopped running.

I rush back to him and I grab his arm shaking him to get his attention. "What the fuck are you doing?" I whisper harshly, "Move!"

He doesn't answer, his gaze still fixated on something behind my head.

I turn around to see what he's looking at, and my breath stops in my throat.

There is someone lying messily on the ground. I don't need to get too close to recognise Max's slumped form.

I feel the sting of tears prickling my eyes, but I know we have to act fast. "We can't stay here" I say, my voice trembling, fighting the urge to rush next to the body on the ground, knowing that there's nothing we can do to save him.

Styles shakes his head, blinking a few times, trying to reassess himself. "Let's go" he whispers shortly.

I start running again, my fingers around Styles's wrist to make sure he won't stop again, and I don't come to a halt until I can see the entrance of the tunnels, the gunshots following us. As soon as I reach it I slide in, my hand leaving his, and turn around to check if he's next to me. The gunshots stop all of sudden, and I take a deep breath. We managed to leave them behind.

Styles reaches the opening of the tunnels and turns around not walking in right away, giving one last glance to the body on the street.

I see a light movement in the darkness on the other side of the street and I snap my head towards it. All of sudden I hear a familiar click, and before I can truly realise what's about to happen I throw myself on Styles, taking him down the the floor as the familiar sound of a gunshot is heard.

I feel his breath hit my face as he hits the ground harshly, his eyes widening.

"Harry are you okay?" I say anxiously looking into his irises, and he gives me a brief nod.

"Thanks" he just whispers as I stand up again and take his forearm to pull him up, knowing that we don't have much time.

We duck as we hear another gunshot, and then we just stand up and run into the tunnels as fast as possible, taking the first turn we see to hide. I press myself against the wall, feeling my heart beat so fast it could almost leap out of my chest.

"They're in the tunnels" a high-pitched, delicate voice says from outside, the words reverberating through the walls.

I hear the sound of steps coming closer. "Just leave them there" another voice says, "Nobody knows what the tunnels look like, they'll probably die in no time."

"Alright" the same voice from before says.

The other man clears his throat. "Just call Payne" he says snappily, before the fading sound of steps on the concrete is heard.