I was unsure of what to expect, but my anticipation did not last long. A loud thud issued from the other side of my door, and I knew the men were going to break in. I tightly held the poker with both hands, hoping that some miracle would prevent them from entering my home. I have only rarely had to physically defend myself against a fellow man, and therefore, the thought of actually needing to use this makeshift weapon filled me with a growing sense of dread.
Several more thuds broke the silence. The men were not talking to each other. They knew what their mission was, and were not about to betray their intentions to me. Keeping me in the dark until they had me in their clutches. Even then, maybe I would never know what they wanted me for. I know not what they did to Yates, but I have no doubt that if he needed to be struck in the head, and dragged into an alley, it could not be anything good.
A final bump, and my door was ripped from its hinges. I heard several pairs of shoes clacking against the floor, going to ever corner of my home.
"I'm not finding anything!" shouted one voice. It wasn't one I recognised.
"Keep searching! And someone get us a damn light!" another voice said. I recognised this voice as belonging to the blonde man who struck Yates.
The sound of shoes on wood came closer to my hiding place. I did not know how to react. My senses were completely dulled. My only reaction at that point was to hold my poker a bit harder then before, which was pretty well impossible, considering how tightly I was already clutching it.
I was taken completely by surprise when the closet door was opened with all the force of an M&P Armoured Steam Walker ™. At the other side stood a man with the build of one. Even in the dim light, I could see that he looked surprised for a moment, but quickly replaced it with a look of determination.
"Found -!" said the man as I struck him in the face with the poker. I made a break for my door, only to find two more of the men standing guard in front of it. I had only a moment to assess the situation before I felt something come down over my neck, and pull me from behind.
Pulled to the floor, I looked up to see the blonde man staring down at me, as if in a trance. A strained glance revealed that he had his umbrella, of all things, held over my throat. With the look a of a man in a trance, he brought down the umbrella, sealing off the flow of air to my lungs. I did not know if intended to incapacitate me, or kill me, but I struggled with him, trying to push the umbrella off me. He pushed down with a grip of steel, and I knew it was hopeless to try and resist.
But try, I did. I seemed like an hour was spent, struggling to push him off me. The other men in his the group were beginning to close in. If I did manage to escape the blonde man, one of his associates would undoubtedly catch me before I could make it even a metre from them.
It was then my salvation came in a very strange form. An inconsequential detail at the time it seemed, but positioned behind the blonde man was a wall, and on the wall was positioned an air vent. The entire event happened in about three seconds, only one of which I saw clearly, but something seemed to pull at the blonde man from me. He dropped his umbrella, leaving it in my grasp, and for a moment I lived in the bliss of freedom from his grip.
This bliss was short lived, as I saw to my combined horror and relief that my attacker's foot disappeared into the vent.
His 'friends' seemed even more terrified by this than I, as they completely abandoned all interest in me, and were now doing a most peculiar thing; aiming their umbrellas as if they were rifles. Even more peculiar was the fact that they actually seemed to be doing something. Small pops issued from each of the umbrellas, and thumps were ringing out behind me, against the wall. What appeared to be small bullet holes were beginning to surround the air vent.
Barely even thinking, I felt around the umbrella, try to see what being used to convert these objects into weapons. One of the five remaining men finally seemed to remember what he was there for, and aimed his umbrella at me. In that moment, I found a small switch that a normal umbrella does not have. The only thing going through my mind at that moment was survival.
In less than a second, I aimed and fired.
❦ J.T. Marker
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