AncilMegan pulled her sister, who was clutching onto Ray Carter, near to her. The people around us looked hungry, poor, and thuggish. I knew that they were looking at us but none of us made any eye contact. Suddenly a man came up from behind Megan and Melanie and grabbed Ray Carter from Melanie’s hand.
“This looking expensive!” The man said as he observed Ray Carter in the glow of the hover-lights that lit the bridge.
“Ray!!” Melanie shouted.
“Just leave him, Ray’s gone,” Rajiv said, continuing to hurry along.
I felt really bad leaving Ray Carter behind but it was probably the safest thing to do.
Or was it?
“Where allyuh feel allyuh going?” The bandit asked. He spoke in a thick olden day’s Trinidadian dialect. It was a dialect that died long ago but was still spoken by the lower echelons of the Twin Republic. I then heard the cock of a gun.
This wasn’t good.
“We’re just trying to get to San Fernando. That is all,” Rajiv said.
“Everybody you see here trying to get to San Fernando. Join the line. Here’s wha going an’ happen, give me all allyuh money and walk away with allyuh life. It very simple so don’t make this harder than it should be,” the bandit said.
We all had money to get to San Fernando but if he stole the money we wouldn’t be able to pay the admission for the ferry to enter into the city.
“If you don’t let us get to San Fernando we are all going to die,” I said to the bandit.
“Well at least we go dead with we belly full right?” The bandit laughed. There were four other bandits with him and they all laughed at his joke.
“You don’t understand, we are trying to save your lives,” Megan intervened. “There’s an army of Masqueraders out there that is planning on killing everyone.”
“Here this eh. Just give me all allyuh money and then allyuh could go play in allyuh imaginary world somewhere else,” the bandit laughed. “Don’t even think about trying to run. Don’t let me have to shoot this gun eh.”
I know that the bandit really didn’t want to have to shoot the gun. The guns nowadays are so powerful that shooting them may not only cause damage to the person shot but also to the shooter. One shot, if not shot correctly or with proper exo-wear, can propel the shooter dozens of feet into the air. Almost all guns nowadays were designed to be accompanied by a strong exo-suit so the shooter could remain grounded after firing. But most people who owned these guns illegally didn’t have the funds to purchase an exo-suit. The type of gun was called the power gun and it was built with enough power to completely penetrate titanium, destroy vehicles, and crumble thick walls. Its toll on the human body was immeasurable. It could cause a human body to explode into a million little pieces. The last thing I wanted was to see that gun go off.
“No need for the violence,” I said.
“I agree,” Rajiv said.
But what we said didn’t cause the bandits to reconsider their plea; it seemed to make them even angrier. The other four bandits behind the first one took out their guns cocked them and pointed them at us. They started walking with the guns pointed at us ensuring that we wouldn’t have tried to run. We slowly backed away but we couldn’t make any sudden moves or else they would have surely shot us. They reached up to us and started to finger our pockets for anything that they could have found. The only things that were in our pockets were our phones. Cell phones these days were simply flat, transparent, indestructible, and rectangular glass that could fold into any shape you want. Ours, like most people’s, were folded into a cylindrical shape like a rolled-up dollar bill. Everything else, like the money that we gathered from the house, was in Megan’s backpack but the bandits didn’t know that. They roughed us all up and ordered us to give them our backpacks. We gave them it.
“Please put me down,” Ray Carter said.
The bandits ignored him.
“Please put me down,” Ray Carter repeated.
“Somebody shut up that tin can,” one of the bandits said.
Ray Carter kept telling the bandits to put him down.
“Run!” Ray Carter told us.
We hesitated.
“Run!” He repeated right before a bright blinding flash came out of him which disoriented the bandits causing them to drop our bags. We quickly picked up our bags and ran off. I wasn’t too sure if the bandits were following us but I shouted to the others to keep running. Suddenly multiple shots were fired from behind. It didn’t hit any of us but it caused quite a stir among the other people who were at the side of the bridge. A little while after the shots were fired a domino effect of exploding cars ensued. The explosions were caused by the explosive power of the gunshots that were fired. Vehicles were hauled into the air as they exploded one by one. The explosive force propelled me dozens of feet into the air. I honestly thought that I was going to die but I simply landed on top of a car. The searing pain in my back was enough to incapacitate me for a few seconds. I couldn’t gather enough energy to get up. I felt like just laying there on top of the car. I had no idea where the others were and I was worried that something had happened to them. My thoughts were racing about all the possible things that could have happened until I was convinced that I should look for them. I got myself off the car and when I looked back, all I saw was a large smoke cloud emanating from the flames that beset the vehicles. I felt guilty because I couldn’t help but feel that it was all my fault.
I straddled my way along with a slight limp when I heard another gunshot fired. The bullet was actually aimed at me because I heard it whizz past my ear. It sounded like a mosquito in my ear as it flew past. I turned around and I saw one of the bandits running towards me out of the smoke. I darted away, went as low as I possibly could have in a crouched position, and hid behind multiple cars until I was assured that he didn’t know where I was. I stopped and sat on the ground for a rest behind a red Volkswagen trying to catch my breath and come to terms with what was happening. I had almost died, if the bullet was just a few more inches nearer it would have definitely blown my head off.
