"Aha, A hero at rescue! Not a bad entry, some thunder bolt sounds would have helped with the background music," Ethan teased and Noah scoffed from beside me.

I asked in a low voice, "You didn't go to the town festival?"

"Do I look like I have gone?"

"No, but why?" I insisted and I could see a weary look on his face.

"I didn't feel like, now would you stop asking questions," Noah snapped at me and I nodded faintly, instantly pursing my lips into a thin line.

"Whatever you do hero, you can never stop from making her mine
forever." Ethan winked at me and the contents in my stomach threatened to spill out. Noah's grip tightened on the gun and his jaw clenched.

"You carry a gun?" I whispered timidly.

"I saw you getting kidnapped so I hurried down with my father's gun---"

"Don't you want to give me another love bite, princess?" Ethan interjected and I scowled. I knew he was indicating to his scar on his forehead. I recalled that day, when he pulled me towards him and struggling to be free, I unintentionally peeled his forehead skin with the sharp edge of my ring. The memory was vivid as it had left a nasty scar on his roguishly handsome face. "Come on hero, let's not waste time. She's quite tired and she would like to come home, won't you?"

"Not even in your dreams," I hissed and before I could count till ten, the fight began. All I could hear was the loud booming of the gun firing and the bullet richocheting from the surface of the cars since we were shooting from behind the protective body of a car and they from behind another car. The team was unequal and unfair. Ethan had one man along with him as well as Donny who continued to shoot even in his injured state. While here, only Noah had a gun and could actually oppose them.

"Amelia, carefully go back to your house and hide," Noah bellowed and I shook my head frantically.

"No, I won't! I'll help you!" I shouted impulsively.

"I said go back to your house, now!" he ordered and loaded his gun.

"No, I got you into trouble so I should stay here and help you!" With that, I picked up the dead man's gun and started shooting gingerly. All the previous memories were now visible right in front of my eyes, but I chose to ignore it. Although I barely contributed anything considering how aimlessly I was firing with no previous experience, it did distract the enemies to a great extent.

"Where did you learn to fire a bullet?" I asked, my voice muffled under the sound of the gun fires.

"I don't know either, I just do," he surprisingly replied. "Maybe video games and virtual reality games paid off."

"That's assuring," I remarked and quickly took cover behind the car to load more bullets which Noah had carried with him.

Suddenly, I heard the noise of a car fast approaching. I glanced at Noah in alarm, my stomach in knots. I didn't know if it was the police or more men from the mafia.

"Don't worry, it's Jack and Katy," Noah said calmly and I sighed in relief.

"How did you call them? I mean when?"

"I called them before coming down here. Thought, might need some help."

Jack and Katy quickly hid behind their own car, their eyes locking with ours. Jack and Noah nodded to each other and I smiled weakly at Katy. I could finally breathe since now we were four and Ethan's team only had three people including him.

Suddenly, I saw the silhouette of three men on a bike and I looked at Jack with a kind of desperation in my eyes, but he shook his head. These weren't our men, these were Ethan's men. Now my theory went completely wrong. It was four versus six. Each of the three men had a shield and a gun resembling some top force officers when they were merely from the mafia. Due to the large metallic shield covering them, they didn't hide behind trees or cars. They had a determined expression on their face as they approached us cautiously, but fearlessly.

Noah with his incredible presence of mind quickly shot one of the men right on his leg and he cried out. He stretched his other leg and limped, dragging his injured leg and not giving up. The other two men charged towards us and before I could shoot at any of them, one of the man grabbed my hand while the other flicked my gun away. Noah took a couple of steps back before they could reach him and shot one man. I couldn't see where due to the mayhem and the darkness, but the man dropped dead. I shrieked while Noah ditched his gun and tried to tackle another man.

Jack and Katy came out from behind the car and started shooting openly, so did Ethan and Donny. It was risky and the tension in the air increased every other minute as they dodged the bullets, definitely experienced in fighting. I recalled that Katy had taken some firing lessons before she was allotted to take care of me and it definitely paid off.

Noah successfully threw one of the man's shield and punched him squarely against his jaw. I managed to wiggle out of the grip of the man and I too punched him, though it didn't help much and instead, it hurt me.

My hand and legs went flailing everywhere, kicking and punching and pushing. I looked like a mad woman and tried to calm myself in my mind by reciting some prayers. Letting out a deep breath, I stopped struggling, slipped out of the man's arms like a soap and hastily picked up the shield that Noah threw away from one of the man. I swallowed the lump former in my throat and recklessly started hitting the shield on the man's bare head.

This worked because the man couldn't snatch the shield from me as I was continuously hitting his head with no mercy. I didn't give him a moment to breathe or protest or even think. Now one man was dead, the one whom I was hitting with the shield looked unconscious, while a fierce battle was going on between Noah and one more man with the wounded leg. It seemed like Noah was clearly winning.

Meanwhile on the other hand, Jack and Katy were still battling with Donny and Ethan. The man who was earlier with Donny and Ethan seemed to be dead and I smiled in triumph since we were winning. The man with the injured leg too dropped down dead or unconscious.

Noah darted towards Jack and Katy to help them. On the other hand, I stood there with a shield gawking at the unconcious men like a hawk, to make sure if they any of them got up again they wouldn't attack us. All they needed was one bang from my shield.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, I heard Noah groan in pain and I whirled around to see his leg bent. I gasped when I heard another groan from him, but I couldn't comprehend or see where the bullet hit him. Sweat trickled down my forehead as tears pricked in my eyes.

My lips quivered in fear as Noah dropped on the ground, his body lifeless. I rushed towards him, to hold him, with no fear of getting killed. Jack shot right at Ethan and I heard his piercing scream.

I placed Noah's head on my lap and brushed his hair. His eyes were half -opened and he smiled faintly, but the pain he was going through was clearly visible behind his feigned smile. Ethan was injured due to the bullet fired by Jack and so was Donny, so they quickly climbed inside their car like cowards.

My eyesight turned obscure as tears rolled down my cheeks and softly landed on Noah's forehead. From the corner of the eye, I noticed Ethan drive back, but then our eyes met and he smirked. I grimaced and he twirled his gun playfully and then pointed at Jack's back who was approaching me. My eyes widened in alarm as I screamed, but I was too late. Jack dropped right in front of my eyes.

* * *

The ambulance soon came and took us all to the hospital. I didn't know where the bullets had hit Noah and Jack since their entire clothes were bloodied and it was too dark. Katy and I were praying and weeping the entire way to the hospital. All I knew was two bullets had hit Noah and one bullet had hit Jack.

Once we arrived at the hospital, the nurses pulled me and Katy, but we were protesting and screaming at them to let us in. Exasperated, the nurses had to call the hospital security to calm us down.

We sat outside the operating theatre clutching each other's hands and our bodies shaking terribly. Carla and Kyle arrived and I saw them running towards the doctor. More and more number of people came as time passed by and it seemed like the entire town had gathered, all dressed ostentatiously, obviously having returned from the festival. The hospital staff sent them all back as they gave us sympathetic looks and only a few people were left with us including Carla and Kyle.

After an hour or so, the door creaked open and the doctors emerged out solemnly.

"What h-happened doctor? Is there any n-news?" I asked worriedly and the doctor's lips pursed into a grim line.

He then wiped his glasses and said in a sombre tone, "Mister Noah had two bullets which wounded him severely. One on his right leg and the other on his left arm. He lost a lot of blood, but fortunately he'll survive. He'll just take some time to recover."

I sighed and leaned against the wall in relief, my shoulders s slumping. Then my eyes met Katy's who was too shocked to speak. Remembering Jack, I asked softly, "Doctor, what happened to the other patient?"

"Unfortunately he couldn't--- "

Katy's wail shot through the room and oddly enough, I felt the room spinning and finally engulfing me in an endless void.