Chapter Text
"Get on the ground now!!!" Shouted the masked man before shooting the bank celling with a machine gun. Scattering tiles for the ceiling could be heard shattering as they hit the concrete floor below. Everyone screamed and fell to the ground upon hearing the loud ear-piercing sounds of gun fire. A masked man watched from his high stance on the front desk of the bank as the twenty people occupying the space moved to the ground terrified, fearing their own lives could be lost. However, one of the ladies wearing fancy black pants, a designer buttoned white top and fur coat wouldn't sit. "Hey, I said get to the ground lady or I'll shoot you!" Yelled out the masked man.
"Sorry, sir I-"
"Mummy please make them stop, my ears hurt," called out a small child hidden behind the woman's leg. "Shhhh its okay sweetheart, keep quiet for mummy, okay? We are going to sit down now-"
"But I don't want to!" Complained the small boy stomping his feet on the ground with his shiny little yellow boots.
"Sweety please listen to mummy. Afterwards we can get ice-cream and buy that toy you wanted earlier, okay?" Spoke the lady in a calm manner to her child. Knowing the rewards their mother would give them the small boy began sitting down on the ground.
"Lady if you and your child don't sit down right now, I will put a bullet in both of your heads," said the masked man pointing the machine gun at the mother and child. He had clearly lost his patience by now. Quickly the mother sat down and held her child closely in her arms, stroking the little boy's golden locks that matched her own.
"Anyone else have any problems they want to bring up?!" Shouted the masked man who jumped off the front counter of the bank. A small thud could be heard echoing through the bank as both of his feet landed on the ground. "K' then. Boy's its show time!" Yelled the masked man as four more men walked inside the bank wearing the same black clothes, combat boots, black fingered gloves and black bandana mask as their leader. All of the masked people were also carrying either a machine gun or a handgun.
Suddenly two more masked men walked into the bank holding five empty duffle bags. The guards who once stood at the front of the bank had put their weapons on the ground and were forced to the ground by two other masked men. There was twelve masked men in total. This was no everyday stash and grab like most criminals, it was a well thought out operation.
And here I was, in the middle of all this shit.
'Of all the days I decided to come to work...' I thought while looking around the room. 'There must be a way out of here-' I stopped my trail of thought as I saw the two security guards by the door also on the ground with their hands behind their backs. 'Well then, that's convenient-'
"Bring them to the back," called out the masked man who was recently standing on the counter. The masked man's green eyes glinted behind his mask. The two men who were holding duffle bags walked off past the front registers into a small corridor. "You two, grab the newbie and follow the others," declared the masked man, who by now I knew was clearly in charge of this whole operation.
"Please, no! I got children!" Shouted the new employee as he was dragged away by two other masked men. My eyes widened as I saw him being taken away to the narrow corridor that led to the back of the bank. 'Their heading for the vault room, shit these people know what they are doing,' I thought in surprise. Now don't get me wrong, this is a frightening situation I find myself in, but when you experience three other robberies in the past couple of years you have been working at this place it kind of becomes an everyday thing, well, for me at least. Though it was obvious this time was different, the other three times the people robing the place just went for the front counters and there was only a couple of them, now there was a dozen guys with heavy weaponry and duffle bags ready to crack open the vault out back. If I was in another bank I wouldn't be worrying too much, but knowing the shit tone of stuff they have in our vault because it was said to be a 'good hiding place' and 'less of a target for criminals' made me quiver. By now it should have been obvious that this was a hot spot for crime and should have moved everything out of the vault years ago. But that didn't matter now.
These masked people, they knew what was in the vault.
And they were not going to leave here without it.
Even if it meant getting their hands dirty.
Looking once again around the room for any signs of a way to get in contact with the outside world I witnessed as Mr Smith was crouching on the ground, in pain from his previous knee surgery from a month ago. He had still not recovered. If he didn't get up from the ground soon, he would be in a whole lot more pain, potentially even losing his ability to walk enterally.
The rest of the people in the room didn't look like they were doing so good either but Mr Smith, he was afraid and in physical pain. Even thought I was terrified out of my mind seeing the machine guns a few of the men had I knew I would never live with myself if Mr Smith would end up unable to live properly because of something simple as not being able to sit in a chair.
Okay maybe I have lost the plot by now, but I wasn't going to leave an old man have to suffer through pain, especially knowing the events that Mr Smith had been through.
And the fact that he was one of the only people who I knew still had kindness in this world, it made me want to help him even more.
The rest of these people in the bank, they couldn't hold a candle against the bonfire of positive energy and good deeds this man had done.
That man had already been through enough and didn't need to now lose even more.
Slowly I crouched from my place behind the counter with my hands held low. Crawling to my right I tried to remain anonymous to the masked men out front as I stayed behind the large counters until I felt a pair of eyes were on me. 'Crap crap crap, what am I doing?! They're going to catch me-'
"Trying to be smart with me?" Said the masked man behind my back. Turning my head around his green eye's stared me down. Slowly he took the handgun from his belt and placed its muzzle on my forehead, pressed it down into my skin. I could feel it's cold surface making an indent on my head. "No, I would never, just, Mr Smith is a regular customer here and he has knee problems you see, I don't want him to be in pain-"
"And why should I give two flying f**ks about a man with knee problems? Sounds like more of an excuse to make a run for it," said the masked man as he was glaring down at me, gun still to my head.
"Look- Please sir, just let me move one of the chairs near the counter over to him," I said looking into the green eyes glaring at me. The man looked at me with angry eyes and continued to stare me down. I gradually raised my hands up to show him that I surrendered and did not intend to get in his way. "We all just want this to go as smoothly as possible sir, we will help you just please let me get Mr Smith a chair, that's all I ask." He continued to look at me and press the gun at my temple. 'Any moment now I could be shot, why did I even think of doing this. I swear the good-natured side of mind gets the better of me. I knew there was nothing I could do. They will not buy this I'm sure of it.' Suddenly the man took his guard down and took the gun away from my head. The green-eyed masked man looked over at Mr Smith who was trying to not shout from the pain in his knees. Then he looked over at the bank manager kneeling next to him trying to comfort Mr Smith.
"You, next to the old man," called the masked man. The manager looked up and pointed a finger at himself, trembling as he did so. "Yes you, go to the counter and grab the old man a chair then sit back down on the floor," said the masked man. "And you," the green-eyed masked man looked back at me. "You are coming with me," he stated. The man grabbed me by the arm and pulled me up into a standing position pointing the handgun at my chest. He pulled me by his side making his way to the entrance of the narrow hallway. Traveling down the cramped space I heard a gunshot coming from the destination I was being led to. We finally stopped as we reached the end of the hallway, in front of the silver round door of the bank vault. The man brought down here earlier lay dead on the floor with a gun wound bleeding out by the side of his head.
"Hey, look alive. We did what you wanted and now it's time you help us out. Didn't you say you wanted this to go smoothly~," he said while pushing me into the bank vault door causing me to almost fall on the marble floor. "Then be good and open the vault," he said holding up the gun in my direction. "Take all the time you need, no one is coming at this rate. Besides we know you are an employee here so you better open it up for us or you will end up like you friend on the ground over here. Do I make myself clear?" Said the green-eyed man.
"I- I understand sir, but please be patient with me, the code changes every week so it might be some time before I get the right one," I blurted out as I walked over to the left side of the big vault door where the keypad was located. "Don't worry about it, start trying!"
I heard a few more footsteps enter the room behind me. The thing was I knew I didn't know the bank vault passcode, only the people who came here on Thursdays to drop off and pick up from the vault knew what the correct password was. It didn't change every week, that was just a white lie I made up on the spot. I knew I wasn't going to get out of here alive, there was no chance. The look on these criminals faces, in their eyes, they weren't messing around. The fact that they killed a new employee and were all carrying firearms with them meant everyone stuck in here was as good as dead the moment these criminals got what they wanted. 'I can't let those innocent people die, Mr Smith, Miss Brown, wait what am I thinking?!... shit... I'm, I'm going to die... I'm not cut out for any of this- I'm no hero... But does that matter now?... shit, f**k it... there must be something, anything I can do- wait...' Thinking back I remembered a password was mentioned before during my first day working here, thought it wasn't the password to open the vault. It was one of a different kind. One that would ensure everyone outside in the foyer would be safe. '.... well, there's no one waiting for me at home anyways so at least no one is going to cry over me. If this is how I go out, then I'm going to go out guns blazing-'
I began typing password after password into the keypad, but none so far seemed to work. I remembered the first two digits to the four-digit password, but I couldn't remember the last two, that meant I would have to try every number from 1 to 9 for the last two digits to see which worked. It would take time, yes, but if it meant reducing the risk of the civilians out front dying then it was worth it. Besides I would rather go down with a fight instead of trying to give these monsters what they wanted when I had no idea how to give it to them. My destiny was already set, I knew that. There was no stopping it from coming either, but that didn't mean I had no control over the events that would lead to it.
"Hey what's taking so long?!" Shouted one of the men holding up a machine gun in my direction. "Just a second," I hummed, continuing to try password after password with no success. Then it hit me. I remember the password. A smile crept up the sides of my face.
"What the f**k are you smiling about? Get back to wor-"
"I remembered the passcode. But sir, I think you will need most of your men to open the vault door. Its automatic and since its only opened once a week on one day it's kept closed for the rest of the week meaning you and your men will have to open it manually," I said with a now neutral face. 'Come on, take the bait,' I thought. For a few moments the green-eyed man contemplated my request before finally walking out of the room to arrive back a minute later with a few more men from the front of the bank.
"Press the f**ken passcode in now you worthless piece of shit or I'll shoot you right here, right now," said the man, holding up his handgun at me once more. A smile filled my face once more as I typed in the first three numbers.
"If you insist~," I cooed.
I pressed in the last digit,
and all hell broke loose.
A loud emergency alarm sounded throughout the bank and red flashing lights came from above. Shouting could be heard coming from the foyer of the bank along with gun shots. The masked men behind me began running for the exit, however, a loud bang could be heard coming from the entrance of the room I was in. I knew the loud sound was probably some sort of metal bars falling down from the ceiling capturing anyone inside the vault room, leaving them trapped and unable to escape. That meant I would also not be able to escape. The men in the room would surely dispose of me, but at least I had done something unlike the corpse of a man that lay a meter away from me. An emergency signal would have also been sent out to the police about the robbery. Knowing only a couple of the masked men were left outside worried me, but at least I knew the security guards by the doors would have stepped into action by now and sorted them out. Gun shots could be still heard from the foyer. Hopefully everyone would be okay.
"What the f**k did you do! Hey, turn around you-"
"What you guys going to do, shoot me~?"
Everyone in the room held up their armed weapons ready to fire.
"Well, at least I deleted my search history-"
A bullet was shot through my chest.
I began falling to the ground as I felt more bullets pass through me. On my arms, legs and chest. After the realization I was being shot the pain came, and it didn't stop. It flowed through my whole body. I felt like I was lit ablaze and then pushed into a hot fiery oven to be cooked alive. An eternity passed before I finally collided with the ground, though I knew it was only a few seconds. My heart thudding slowly in my punctured chest, trying to pump blood through my body. Taking in air felt like breathing through a straw. I wanted to scream but nothing would come out, but even if I did what difference would that make. I was too tired. Even if I wanted to move I couldn't. My body refused to. I lay there in agony, wishing for anything to make the pain go away, and as if my prayers were answered I felt a set of hands grab my head and heard my final sound as my neck twisted, plunging me into pain free darkness.