Deadly Silence (complete) Chapter 55

“Stay down,” he ordered, his eyes on their surroundings. People were shouting as chaos ensued. “Okay, on your feet. We need to get to the car.”

“What’s going on?” She demanded as Gilbert grabbed the back of her uniform and dragged her up into a crouching run. It was an awkward posture to be forced to move in and Vivian, though scared, was also feeling annoyed with how she was being treated.

Another *pop* and Gilbert’s hand loosened its hold on her shirt, allowing Vivian to half turn to face the person manhandling her. The sight that met her eyes wasn’t what she’d expected.

His suit jacket had a tear in it where the sleeve met his shoulder and what Vivian could see of the white shirt underneath was red with blood. By this time Gilbert had recovered and gave her another shove as he favoured his right leg. “Move!”

“What’s going on?” She demanded again as her body collided with the car but she no longer cared how he was treating her; how had he gotten hurt? “You’re bleeding!”

“Get in!” He ordered as he flung open the closest car door and dragged her to the opening, almost throwing her inside before slamming it shut behind her.

Vivian watched as Gilbert pulled a gun out from a holster hidden by his suit jacket. With wide eyes, she saw him raise the weapon and pull the trigger three times as he circled the car. A fourth round was fired as he opened the passenger door and dipped inside, slamming it shut after. “Drive,” he told her as he set the weapon on the dash before pulling off his tie. It was obvious the wound on his shoulder bothered him but that didn’t slow him down as he tied a tourniquet around his upper thigh. This was how Vivian came to realize he’d been hit in the leg, blood already soaking through his pants.

“I don’t know how to drive,” she yelled, unable to control her voice with the flood of adrenaline racing through her body. “Why do you have a gun?!”

Gilbert shot her a look as he pulled a small first aid kit from the glove compartment. “I’m your bodyguard, Miss Vivian. It’s my job. Now drive.”

Bodyguard? Since when did she need a bodyguard? Vivian stared at the mess of… driving things in front of her, feeling overwhelmed as she struggled to recall anything from being driven everywhere. Not once had she paid attention to what people did when they sat in the driver’s seat — at least not in the sense of driving — meaning she was grasping at straws.

Then she remembered some movies and tv shows she’d watched over the years. Those were accurate to some degree, right? Yes, definitely. Follow what they do on screen! What could go wrong?

After buckling herself in — this was not going to end well, she just knew it — Vivian looked around the steering wheel before shouting, “there’s no key hole! And I don’t have a key!”

“It’s push to start,” Gilbert growled. “Hold the brake down.”

Looking between her legs, Vivian did know which pedal did what so she slammed her foot on the brake. Gilbert pressed a round button near the steering wheel and the engine purred to life like magic.

Perfect. The car was running, that meant all she had to do was…

Vivian grabbed the steering wheel and slammed her foot on the gas only for the engine to rev with no forward momentum.

“Hold on,” her driver, or bodyguard, ordered as she released the gas. He dropped the gauze he’d been using to clean his wound to move the stick coming out of the thing between their seats. “Now go.”

“Put on your seatbelt,” she told him.

“Just go!” He ordered a second time, his voice harsh in its urgency.

*Your funeral*, Vivian thought to herself as she slammed her foot on the gas and they shot forward. The gun that had been on the dash slid off, almost smacking Gilbert in the face as he was also thrown back, then forward again as she was forced to slam on the brakes barely a second later. A parked car had materialized in front of her when they’d charged forward and, not wanting an accident on her first attempt at driving, Vivian was quick to react. Or maybe it was the adrenaline.

Vivian looked down at the stick he’d moved and noted the letters beside it and guessed at what they might mean. Pushing it up a notch so it aligned with the R, she pressed the gas again, though with much less force this time, and they crawled backwards a few feet. Switching it back to the D, Vivian, now hyper aware of her lead foot, gently pressed on the gas and they began to move forward.

Something ricocheted off her window, leaving an indent but not breaking the glass. A second strike had her heart in her throat as she stared at the glass.

“Drive, Miss!” Gilbert shouted.

Not needing to be told a third time, Vivian floored it.

The once busy parking lot was now empty of pedestrians. As they flew by, Vivian barely noted seeing some people hiding behind parked vehicles but everything was happening so fast she couldn’t say if it’d been a hallucination or not.

Having mastered the art of driving forward, Vivian tried turning the wheel only to be met with screeching tires and a locked seatbelt as she took the turn too sharply for the speed they were moving. Gilbert grabbed the wheel and turned it opposite of what she’d done, levelling them out after a second. “There,” he pointed towards the parking lot’s exit. “We’ll lose them on the street.”

Lose them? On the street? Did he expect her to drive in traffic? The parking lot had been a horrible mess and he wanted her to *drive in traffic*?!

Not bothering to fight him on the matter, Vivian did as she’d been instructed, turning the wheel again as they flew past the exit and onto the road. The screeching tires were now accompanied by people blaring their horns as she cut through two lanes of cars to somehow righten out and flow with the late afternoon traffic.

A glance towards her right showed Gilbert was still busy cleaning his wound. Vivian hastily looked away, a grimace on her face as she wondered if there was anything left of her lunch she might puke up. “Now what?” She asked after a minute of silence between them. Her hold on the wheel was so tight her knuckles had turned white as she fought her panicked mind.

“We get you home,” he replied as he looked over his shoulder every few seconds.

“Aren’t you my driver? Why are you a bodyguard?” She blurted out, voice pitched a bit high. “How do you know how to use a gun?”

“Ask Mr. Devreaux,” was all Gilbert said on the matter, his tone telling her there was no point asking a second time. “We’ve got a tail.”