BOP 2: On the Offensive

He clutched the pistol in perspiring hands, nervously fingering the safety lock.

Silvanus had never seen, let alone hold, a real gun, and its weight felt far greater than the mere 5 lb. the engraved label had claimed it to be. 

In his ears he heard the thump of his pulse and the painful clench in his chest. Breathlessly he slid to the ground, knees wobbly and hands shaking with adrenaline as he strained to hear something -anything- in the deathly silence. 

As if the nighttime visibility wasn't bad enough, a light fog had settled over the city, blanketing the landscape in an mist. Despite the lack of wind, the fog swirled and twisted, ghosting around the streetlamps, wisps curling under their light.

Still he heard nothing, and he shivered lightly. The night was neither hot, nor chilly, yet he felt cold inside as hot prickles ttickled his skin. 

Then, out of nowhere a gunshot rang out, near deafening as it broke the stillness of the night. 

A gasp escaped him and he shrank back, pushing deeper into the corner where he had jammed himself into.

A sob threatened to bubble out, but he forced it down. Igneus and Forswua were out there. Forswua had been the first to notice the footsteps, and their continued presence trailing them all the way from the party. 

With a knocking of shoulders, the stoic twin had nonchalantly grunted a warning to Iggy and the two together had casually, but with all due haste, donned on their respectful Blitz Gear while shoving a G-lock pistol into Sil's hands. 

The recent reports of prowlers and student attacks, likely having some root in the recent riots and political upsetting, had resulted in the allowance for students to carry their Strife Allocaters off school grounds.  

As the footsteps trailed behind the trio even as they winded past several empty streets, not unusual given the late hour, Iggy had leaned down and whispered to Sil, "Lay low, and don't come out no matter what, okay? One of us will come for you."

And just like that, on the next turn he had, in one smooth and fluid push, been nonchalantly shoved into an alleyway as Iggy and Forswua continued on, carrying on a facade of smalltalk as they did. 

He heard more than saw them quicken their pace and likewise did their lurker. They were luring the danger away from him, baiting their pursuer far from the physically compromised redhead.

Like a helpless fawn hid, still as death, while the mother doe risked her own life to draw away the would be predators.

He shut his eyes tightly as the excessive adrenaline fatigued his muscles and made him both light headed and short of breath.

Silvanus tried to even out his breathing even as choked gasps forced their way out, fear driven tears pricking at the corner of his eyes and panic flooding his senses as images of mutilation and blood from the recent media played like a broken film behind the darkened screen of his lids. 

He was hiding like the useless whelp he was.

One of his flatmates could be bleeding out on the pavement and here he was barely able to even hide properly.