Chapter 15.

I felt my head getting banged against the cold dance floor as blood trickled down my forehead due to the harsh impact. Everyone was scrambling around, trying to find a haven in this chaotic situation.

I felt someone pull me up carefully and trying to make me stand, I tried to control my wobbling legs, my mind still on the verge of losing consciousness.

"Mel, wake up....wake up," I heard the faint masculine voice of Ryan, trying to get my attention. I leaned against his chest as I tried to steady myself, slowly opening my eyes. When I finally got controlled of my senses, for a second I wished to lose my consciousness again once I saw the scenario in front of me.

The club that was once filled with glee and cheer was now filled with screams of agony, threat, and fear, like twelve or fifteen men, all dressed in black, armed with various weapons, were shouting and talking among themselves in a language which was definitely not English, as they pointed their guns towards the innocent spectators, forcefully moving them towards the corner of the club.

One of them stomped towards us, fury laced in his eyes.

"I told you to fucking move there," he yelled at us angrily as he tried to grab me. Ryan swiftly pushed me behind him and stood like a barrier between me and the incendiary.

"Get out of my way you motherfucker if you value your life," the man growled out at Ryan.

"Keep your filthy hands to yourself you bastard," Ryan screeched and launched his fist towards the armed man. The man must have anticipated his move because he swiftly dodged his punch, and smacked Ryan straight on his head with the back of his rifle. The blow must have been quite strong because Ryan passed out after a few seconds.

My whole body trembled with fear as Ryan's unconscious body fell on the ground with a soft thud. I instantly dropped to my knees, shaking Ryan, trying to wake him, but all my efforts went in vain when two other incendiaries pulled away from Ryan from me and dragged him across the club before dumping him in one of the shady corners.

"The son of a bitch is gone, now it's your time whore," the first man sneered at me and shouted something to the others.

Before I was able to comprehend what was happening I felt each of my hands being held tightly, securing me to my place. The leader of the group (the one who attacked Ryan), at least I guess he was the leader, came towards us and stood right in front of me.

I stared at him, straight in his eyes, silently signaling him that I refuse to bow down to a low life like him, who takes pleasure from other's fears and pain.

Suddenly I felt a gut-wrenching pain in my abdomen. Then the realization hit me, that sick bastard had punched me on my stomach.

Before I was able to recover from the initial pain of the punch, I felt a stinging sensation on my right cheek. I felt a deep gash on my cheek; he must have worn a ring or something. The man continued to punch me and with each punch, I felt my lungs getting constricted and black dots started to appear in front of my eyes, but he stopped before I can blackout and grasped my hair tightly, making me wince at the amount of pressure he applied.

"This must have taught you a lesson little bitch," he spat at me before harshly shoving me down on the ground. I slowly get up from the floor and turned to face him, he was already pointing his gun towards me, his fingers hovering right above the trigger.

I cannot just let him shoot me. I refuse to die young. So I did the only thing that came to my impulsive mind.

I run at him, grabbing his wrist. I felt his muscles shift lightly as he pressed the trigger and I moved my head. The bullet missed my head just by an inch. I quickly moved forward and kicked him on his ribs and twisted his wrist and made him drop his gun, without sparing him any time, I dive straight for the gun but I was held back from behind and the other man kicked off the gun.

Shit! My only hope of survival was gone now.

"You are going to pay for what you've done little bitch," the leader sneered at me as I felt a piercing pain in my lower abdomen.

My hand slowly crept towards the area where I was feeling the sheering pain, I felt something warm and wet on my fingertips. I brought my fingers towards my face and saw my own blood smeared over my palm and fingertips.

He stabbed me. He freaking stabbed me.

I looked up at him, he had an evil glint in his eyes. He pulled out the knife and pushed it inside again in one single go before pulling it out again as a scream ripped through my lips.

"Take her back to the others," the leader ordered to the guys as I felt myself getting pulled away from the cruel monster.

I felt pressure on my lower abdomen, right above where I was stabbed twice by the sick man. I tore open my eyes and saw Mia hovering over me, applying pressure on my now open wound as the blood splattered across her hands and dress.

"What are you doing?" I asked her, groaning a little when my throat felt as dry as sandpaper.

"What does it look like a genius," she snapped at me as she focused on applying pressure on my wound, trying to stop the bleeding.

"Why isn't it stopping?" She yelled out in frustration as the blood continue to ooze out of my wound.

"Because you are applying pressure on the wrong place," I croaked out.

"Here, move your right hand a little upwards," I added slowly as I slowly dragged her right hand upwards.

"Oh....sorry about that," she said and applied pressure on the right place.

"Where are the others?" I asked her breathlessly, gasping loudly.

Don't blame me, I know I should have been thinking about myself in this life and death situation but I can't help but think about others.

Mia's face fell lightly when she heard my question. I instantly realized from her fallen expression that something bad really bad must have happened to the others, well truth to be told, it's not too hard to guess in this situation....right?

Mia ignored my question and averted her eyes to my wounds. I shakily grabbed her bloody hands, squeezing her lightly.

"Tell me what has happened?" I demanded from her, I mean I do deserve to know whether they are okay or not, especially when I'm going to die.

"Will you ever stop worrying about others?" She screamed at me as tears brimmed in her eyes. I waited for her to calm down, which must have been around a few seconds but it felt much longer to me, maybe because of my present condition.

"Niel and Ken *hiccup* were *hiccup* shot during the initial firing and all others are okay with a few scratches here and there," she said as tears streamed down her face.

"What about Kate and Mr. Daniels?" She stilled at my question and slowly turned her head and looked at something behind her. I slowly got up from my sleeping position and sat up. I tried to look behind her but she stopped me every time I tried to look past her.

After trying a few times I was finally able to divert her enough to allow me to look past her.

What I saw next shook me to the bone.

Most of the people were huddled together in the corner, putting as much distance as possible between them and those goons.

In the middle of the dance, right at the center were Kate and Mr. Daniels, tied to chairs, all bruised and bloodied.

The leader of the incendiaries, the one who stabbed me was a man of strong built, towering over six feet with a built that can be compared to that of a beast, slowly stepped towards Mr. Daniels. He stopped right in front of him, they were inches away from each other.

From my current position on the ground, not everything was visible, and thanks to my current condition, the little vision that I had began to appear blurry.

He shouted something at Mr. Daniel and hit him hard with the back of his gun. The dried-up blood on his face was now once again stained with fresh ones. Mr. Daniel smiled painfully through his bloodied face, he whispered lowly to the leader, I only knew that because I saw his lips move.

From the looks of the leader, he clearly didn't like what Mr. Daniel said because he gave him that look that can make anyone go running for the hills. In a blink of an eye, he has his gun pressed against Kate's forehead, the mouth of the gun digging into her temple and his finger hovering right over the trigger. Kate's eyes were closed, fear was evident from her trembling figure bust she refused to bow down in front of him, refused to let him see her vulnerable side even in this dire situation and that's something that I am going to admire in her for the rest of my life.

"Since your sorry ass refuses to give us any information because of your fucking loyalty to the oath of omerta, we don't need you anymore but first of all, you will see your woman die in front of you. I want to see your face when her blood splatters across the room when I put a bullet through her head," he whispered sadistically and Mr. Daniel's facial expressions instantly morphed to that of horror from that of the smirk, the worry, and fear of losing his beloved getting hurt was clear on his face.

But before he can pull the trigger a loud bang sound erupted and the gun dropped from his hands. Looking closely I realized that blood was flowing slowly down his hand.

Holy cow....he's shot, serves him right though.

Before he can recover from the initial shock, he was shot straight in the chest, making his death slow, painful, and inevitable. He slowly collapsed on the ground, frantically looking around for his men, but none of them were there. The leader's body finally slumped to the ground, succumbing to his mortal wounds.

He's dead. He's freaking dead. Someone has shot him. I don't know whether to laugh or to cry or to be neutral. Well, I will most probably stick with the last option.

Suddenly smoke started to fill the room, both Mia and I were alarmed by this sudden appearance of smoke.

Where the hell is it coming from?

Mia cautiously made me stand up. The smoke was getting harder and harder to ignore. Within four minutes the place contained enough smoke to interfere with vision and breathing. Mia and I coughed violently and staggered as we struggled to find and exit like everyone is doing in this damned club.

I swear to God that if I stay alive to witness tomorrow's sunrise, I'm never going to step a foot inside a nightclub again.

Suddenly I fell Mia's grip on me loosening, and not before long I felt us getting completely separated in this crowd. I tried to go as far as I can with the open wound but slowly I felt myself getting dizzy and soon enough I found myself lying on the ground, slowly waiting for my end and praying to

God, not to get stamped over.

My eyelids started to get heavier as my breathing slowed down.

The last thing I saw before I closed my eyes were a set of warm chocolate brown eyes staring into mine.