As soon as Milo heard gunfire, he ran as fast as he could and didn't look back for a very long time. Milo’s skin felt like it was covered in mosquito bites.
Several blocks later, Milo spotted a dumpster that had an open lid. He leapt into it, and the force caused the lid to shift and come down toward his head. Milo ducked, narrowly missing the impact of the very large and heavy lid. His ears were ringing, but he could hear sirens in the distance.
Milo had felt the wind of the bullet fly past his head, narrowly missing him. The exertion from the run caused sweat to get into his eyes, causing more tears. Milo felt something else prick the side of his face as he ran faster.
Milo felt his heart pounding in his chest and pains in his side and arms. Is this a heart attack? Dozens of thoughts raced through his head at once, paralyzing him. Milo had a sickening feeling as he dared to hope Nigel and Jet were okay.
He cursed at himself for running away. As far as he knew, his friend was lying on the ground bleeding to death. Jet had jumped on top of Nigel to shield him while Milo ran and hid in this dumpster, like a coward!
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The sirens were almost on top of him now. He squirmed in the dark, wet dumpster, trying to get into a comfortable position. In an attempt to conceal himself, Milo was able to move a couple bags over his body. He heard footsteps. He froze.
Is this the shooter? He couldn't tell where the steps were actually coming from; they seemed to be coming from all directions. Milo remained completely still and even held his breath as the footsteps came closer. However, some less-than-stable bags below him began to shift and his body was plunged into the inner side of the dumpster. Milo's heart skipped a beat. The footsteps fell back out of range. He sat very still for a long time.
As he sat in the dark, smelly, dirty dumpster, the wail of sirens continued. He dared not open the dumpster lid.
Milo thought it was unlikely the shooter would have accomplices, but he didn’t want to take chances.
He decided it was best to stay put. Then Milo remembered the radio sitting at the bottom of the backpack! Milo immediately started fishing through his backpack. He had to rely on his hands to guide the way. He found it after a minute of intense searching.
Milo was obsessed with radios of all kinds, which is why his civilian volunteer father let him use his handheld scanner.
Milo fiddled with the dials until he heard a rather loud squawk and the radio came to life in his hands, sounding as if several people were talking at once. He managed to find the volume button and lowered it as much as he could.