I slowly raised my head above the cars to spot him leisurely strolling across the grass towards the parking lot. Dropping back down, I looked at Alison.

“My car is in the 2nd row and near the exit. Yes, I know it's a lucky parking spot, that's why I haven't moved it in a week.”

I saw Alison's knowing look and we both inched towards the end of the car.

“Okay get across this lane then we can get in your car and make a run for it”

“Oh, sorry, I consider this the curb row not first”

“We have to cross two lanes? Shit! That really sucks.”

As I was preparing to run across the lane to the next set of parked cars, the pop sound made me freeze up, but I did not hear the ting of the bullet hitting any of the vehicles. I quickly snapped around to Alison only to see that she was fine and holding a shrugging pose for me to see. I was about to rise over the car to see what was happening when I heard two more pops and a man’s voice.

“Holy shit, you shot me! What are you doing, Joshua? We are on the same side”

“You took too long Marvin, big Dom isn't happy, and worst of all you let three escape!”

“I did not, only two escaped and I got them pinned down in the parking lot, one is injured and both will be dead soon!”

“Check your mission page, Marvin, you missed someone else who probably has already escaped the area. Now they are going to be initiated into the system and become a rival for big Dom, this is not good.”

“I still have time to track them down and end them before they receive the system, besides, what right do you have to interfere with my initiation mission!”

“Do you even know who they are? Don't answer, it doesn't matter. Big Dom has sent me a new mission to clean up this mess.”

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

I grabbed Alison's hand, deciding now was our chance to put some distance between ourselves and these two crazy cultists. I quickly ran across the lane to the next row of cars in hopes I could lose them long enough to get to my car. Moving between the cars, I slowly headed away from my car, knowing it would take us longer to get to it, but maybe I could draw them away from our escape route. I slowly raised my head, looking over the cars again, as I heard a few more pops. The two men were circling each other as they tried to shoot the other. One of them had a hatchet in their left hand. I have no idea where he got that from, and at this point I didn't really care. I dropped back down and turned to Alison.

“Where is your car?”

“Oh, I don't have one, I ride my bicycle around campus because it helps the environment.”

“Of course you do,” I muttered to myself as I turned to get ready to run across the last lane. Tempted to take one more look before running, I closed my eyes and breathed out slowly before snapping them open and freezing just as I was about to launch myself forwards. I had heard the pop and ting, but luckily that ting sound was a long way away from us and had another pop that resulted in a scream of pain.

“Ha! I got you, Joshua, now I'm going to introduce you to my hatchet!”

“Your death notice is signed, Marvin! Big Dom gave it the green light half an hour ago, and you have already been kicked out of the clan, besides you got me in the leg, I can still limp away and be fully healed in a few weeks, but you have nowhere to run to!”

“So what? You expect me to just lie down and let you kill me?”

A few more pops a second later encouraged me to race across the lane. Kneeling down beside a green Camaro after I got to the second row. I placed my head against the car. ‘This insane mess was taking a fast turn from mass murder to cultist crazy/organised crime, or maybe a mix of both.’ I thought. Alison bumped me as she looked pointedly at me as if encouraging me to hurry up. I shook my head and moved around to behind the car so I could run down the line to my car.

”Hey, why are we at this end of the parking lot when your car is meant to be by the entrance? You are not thinking of drawing those crazy murderers with guns this way, are you?”

“Uh, I was thinking of doing that, but they are so focused on each other that it would have been fine to just leave.”

“Can we get to your car now, please? I don't want to be here anymore, And where the hell are the cops? Surely someone called them, shouldn't they be here by now?”

I gave her a worried look before raising my head over the top of the car and began to sneak towards mine. But as my head came over the roof of the car, something pulled at the top of my head. A burning heat radiated from the spot, causing me to let out a yelp of pain and drop to the ground. Groaning, I slowly got back up and started moving down the line of cars again. I could feel the adrenaline and fear racing through my body and all I could think of was getting to my car. I had to get to my car, I had to get to safety. Something warm and wet slowly ran down the left side of my face, but I ignored it and kept going, using the cars for support. My walking turned to a mad sluggish dash and the popping sounds increased in frequency and ting sounds soon joined them. It wasn't until I was leaning against my own garnet red Camaro That I realised I might be having a panic attack. Alison had also been trying to talk to me and get me to calm down, and I thought I could hear sirens. I slowly dropped to the ground, sitting next to my car and leaning my head against it. I looked at Alison, who had suddenly stood up and was waving her right arm back and forth as she screamed for help. I could feel my shirt sticking to me now, and my consciousness was starting to fade. I knew I was struggling to stay awake. ‘I really hope my car didn't get hit. Dad would lose his mind if it got damaged. After all the money, he spent making sure my baby got to America from Scotland for me.’ I thought as I slowly began to tilt to the side. I could see a couple paramedics running towards me as my eyes closed.