“Run!” Javier yelled.
Right. I quickly shook my head, trying to focus. There’s was only one place for us to go.
Camden was already climbing over the railing and helping Violetta over.
It was only a twelve foot drop or so. It wouldn’t kill us but it wouldn’t feel good either.
“Ellie,” Camden yelled, “come on!”
I nodded absently, still dazed, and brought my legs over the side of the railing just as Camden and Violetta dropped to the roof. Camden’s large frame landed with ease, sending the terracotta tiles of the roof flying, while Violetta quickly crumpled to her knees, her flip flops providing no traction. Within seconds Camden was helping her up.
The roof was almost totally flat, just peaking a bit at the spine, but I still had to be careful how I landed.
“Jump!” Camden yelled up at me as a bullet whizzed past my shoulder.
I turned to look in time to see Javier bursting through Violetta’s bedroom, simultaneously running toward me and shooting at someone who was in pursuit, the assailant’s gun aimed at me. Javier shot them in the shoulder and in seconds he was beside me, yelling “What the fuck are you waiting for, the circus?”
I stared at him for a moment, wondering why I felt relief coursing through me at the sight of him.
Then he put his hand on my back and pushed me off the balcony.
I screamed in surprise but managed to land in the right spot, my shins taking a beating but I still remained on my feet. Gunshots followed and Javier landed beside me seconds later.
“You ass!” I yelled at him.
“Keep running!” he yelled back and started sprinting past me.
Another bullet went screaming past my ear. Too many close calls and too soon. Too dangerous to even think about it.
I started running, the tiles sliding under my boots, following behind him. Camden and Violetta were a few paces ahead, slowing down as they came to the edge of the roof. Luckily the next building was the same height and there was no gap in between them. In fact, the sea of roofs on the block all seemed to be together, like one giant, distorted house.
Another gun shot rang out and beyond the thudding of my heart in my ears, I could hear the assailants landing on the tiles behind us. Motherfucking shit, they were persistent whoever they were.
We kept running and I willed my legs to move faster as we went from tile, to shingles, to gravel, to stucco, roof to roof to roof. Somewhere in our retreat, Camden and Javier got ahead of us and Violetta started to stagger, her flip flops causing her to stumble so often. I grabbed her by the arm and kept her upright and ran alongside her.
But I knew the men were gaining on us. And I knew we would run out of luck.
I squeezed her arm and told her to keep going and then I stopped and spun around.
A few yards behind us was a lean, dark-complexioned man with an eye patch, ready to take a shot at us. I pulled my trigger before he could, getting him in the stomach by accident.
The man went down with a scream, his gun shooting at nothing. Fucking Mexican pirate.
Unfortunately there were three more men behind him, albeit further back. I didn’t have much time to try my luck. I tried to take in a deep breath, my lungs burning from the air pollution and the exertion, and aimed at them. I fired off three rounds and hit only one of them. The remaining too kept coming.
Time to move.
I turned around and started running again, surprised to see that not only were Camden and Javier further away but that Violetta had stopped and was looking down at something. I booked it up to her and saw what made her pause. There was a large gap between this roof and the next, though it fortunately was half a story shorter. We could make it if we had a running start, a running start we’d both just lost.
“Fuck!” I yelled then whipped behind me to see how much time we had before our pursuers were at us. Not much. I grabbed Violetta’s arm and started running with her back a few steps.
“Ready?” I asked her.
She nodded, her eyes welling with fear.
We both started running, as fast as we could, my hand holding hers until we both launched off of the roof and into the air.
I landed on the roof below, my ankles shuddering in pain from the impact. Thanks to my scarring, they didn’t always hold up after a lot of wear and tear, and I immediately fell to my knees, my legs getting scratched up by the tar shingles.
Violetta’s scream came through a second later.
She had hit the roof, scrambled to hold on then disappeared, falling down the gap to the ground below.
I looked over the edge and saw her lying in a heap on the dirt alley, holding her arm in pain and crying out.
Another shot came dangerously close. The men were coming closer. There was no time to think.