The Break: Nash

“Nash, get up… Get up!”

Nash awoke to find Jessica standing over him, a yellow umbrella protecting her from the falling rain.

“What the hell are you doing out here?” she asked.

He shook his head to clear his mind, apparently he had blacked out again. It’s been quite annoying lately, all of these blackouts. But he couldn’t think about that now. He heard the sirens in the distance. Damn it, they’re after me again!

Jessica saw him look down the alley and followed his gaze towards the sound of the sirens.

“Great… What did you do this time?” She extended her hand to him with an eyeroll.

Nash gave a nervous laugh at her jest, though his eyes were wide with building fear. As he gathered his legs beneath him and readied to grasp Jessica’s hand, he glanced at his left hand. It felt funny, and he had no idea why. As he pulled it from the puddle, he saw that the water looked rusty. Shit! I’ll bet I have tetanus by tomorrow!

Shaking his head after being helped up by Jessica, he cursed the rain and his blackouts. His clothes were soaked. But the proximity of the sirens, and their growing number, catapulted him out of his thoughts and into action.

“I work at an accounting firm, Jess, what the hell do they want from me?” he said as they started quickly down the alley, opposite the direction of the approaching sirens.

Her voice remained calm as the heightened activity labored her breathing. “Do you really know what your firm does? They may need you as a material witness.”

“Give me a break! If it was only for being a witness, I don’t think they’d come at me blaring their sirens!” And through his peripheral vision he could swear that he saw the reflection of light from a flashlight in one the windows. Were those dogs barking?

As the end of the alley approached, his mind went back to his work. Nash was nothing more than a clerk, or, as he felt about it, a paper-pusher and a gopher. He didn’t know anything! Hell, he only took the job because Winslow & Associates was right next to Maroney’s, where his roommate, Bruce, worked. It saved him money because he didn’t need a car. He and Bruce had become inseparable of late. Even to the point that he had to stay with him at Maroney’s over the weekend since his parents kicked him out.

This time he was sure he heard the barking of the dogs.

“Son of a bitch!” Jess yelled. She ditched the umbrella, still holding onto Nash’s hand, and broke into a full sprint. “We gotta get the hell out of here, Nash!”

They hung a right onto Harrison St, and in his sights, Nash saw The Golden Panda, the best Chinese food in town. Tonight, however, he would not be dining in, he’d be hiding. Nash pointed to Jess and she nodded to him. Her heels made small, but powerful, splashes as they ran down the street. The familiar blue and red lights of the police began to light up the street, and the barking dogs sounded as though they were close enough to nip their feet. Somehow, Jess had let go of his hand and pulled so far ahead of him that she was holding open the door to the Chinese restaurant, waiting for him and waving her arm frantically.

“Let’s go, Nash! Let’s go!”

Only a few strides from the door, Nash ducked his head as the first bullets began to rang out.

“I haven’t done anything!” he pleaded to nobody.

By the time he was through the door there were three bullet holes through the now shattered glass. The crowd inside let out quick screams of fear as Nash bounded noisily to the center of the dining room. Here was a man that was drenched in rain, breathing heavily, and a look of desperate fear on his face.

“C’mon, Jess! We have to find a place to hide!” he yelled. The diners sat rigid in their seats, watching this man yell and search for a place to hide.

He backed up hurriedly right into a table and nearly knocking it over. Drinks and food spilled over the family sitting at the table. Nash saw the police bust through the door, and he looked around for Jessica. “Get down, Jess!” he screamed.

He ducked behind the table he had just bumped into as more gunshots exploded in the restaurant. The sound of the sudden intake of breath by Jess forced his own breath to catch in his throat. He didn’t even have to look to know what had happened. Through the constant orders by the police to “Stay down! Stay down!”, Nash saw Jess laying on the ground two tables over, three entry wounds, center mass, were bleeding profusely.

Nash broke in that moment, and he skittered over towards Jessica. “NO!... NO!... NO!”

Holding her in his arms, the rage within him seethed with the heat of the sun. As he stood, Nash put his hands on the underside of the table in front of him and threw it towards the officers, guns still trained on him. Numerous bullet holes penetrated the wood in a spray of splinters. But Nash charged furiously. Like lightning, he took down the officer closest to him and wrested the gun from his hand. Two shots to the head took care of him and he was sighting in the next one. Understanding his luck at not having been shot yet, he methodically took out the four other police in the room.

When the dining room was finally silent, he looked around at the people still sitting at their tables, their faces white as ghosts. He looked down again at Jessica’s body. A long, distressed scream exited his mouth, his crazed eyes locking with those of several patrons. When he came back to himself, he looked towards the kitchen entrance. The back door…

I gotta get to Max’s Bar… he thought and took off running. When he was gone, the diners looked around, faces dumbfounded about what the man had been looking at.

Read Part 3 of "The Break" using the link below:

The Break: Fisher