Raining Men

How I ever managed to fall asleep was a complete mystery. Between my advanced training and my advanced anxiety I had never been on good terms with sleep. But now as my alarm buzzed at me I couldn’t bear to get out of bed. I hit the snooze without even opening my eyes. There wasn’t even anything for me to get up early for anymore. No job. No husband. No reason to have the alarm set in the first place really.

My body stiffened reflexively as a slight noise from the front of the apartment drew my attention. Statistically it was probably just the cat messing around but I reached for the gun on my nightstand anyway. Or where the gun should have been at least. I had to turn in my sidearm with my credentials. The apartment on the other side of the door was still again…too still. Shit. They found me already?

I pulled the covers back and stepped down onto the floor silently. I pushed the pillows from Clark’s side of the bed down where the intruders would expect my body to be when they come through the door. The door handle started to turn just as I slipped behind the door. A man entered my room, defiling my sanctuary with each quieted step he took. He had shed his shoes somewhere else and was walking instead with disposal covered over his socks instead. Not a terrible idea for stealth but I stupid move for a fight. I wasn’t going down that easily.

As he passed by me, gun raised towards my pillow without scanning the rest of the room. Focused and foolish. It would be his downfall. I came up behind him, tapping his right shoulder before ducking to the left to push his gun up towards the ceiling as he looked for the source of the touch. I attempted to sweep his leg out from beneath him while I pulled the gun free from his hand but underestimated the amount of weight on him. The gun still loosened from his grip but I was rewarded with a head to my chin. A copper taste flooded my mouth but that was the least of my worries. The big guy regained his balance but not as quickly as I did. With one hand on his weapon still I jumped onto his back, wrapping my legs around his waist and pulling his own arm around his neck. He stumbled backwards and bashed me into the closet wall while trying to reach back to grab me with his left hand. My head was pulled to the left with a swift tug of my hair, his thick fingers entangling in the stands as we stumbled backwards again. My head throbbed with each blow, I looked around the room for some aid since it was becoming apparent that the goliath wasn’t bothered by my grip.

 We moved back into the living room, falling over the coffee table as we went. A loud clatter rang through the silent apartment as the gun slipped from both of our grips, overshadowed immediately by the shattering crunch of my cheap ass coffee table giving into our combined weight. My ribs stung and lungs screamed as the air rushed out of my chest. Luckily I wasn’t stuck between a man and a hard place for long as he rolled off me gashing for breathe himself now that I had released my grip. I reached behind me for anything I could put my hands on, closing my fist around the umbrella I had abandoned by the couch the night before. I raised the top of it to shield my face, steadying it with my elbow just as the man rolled back over. A guttural scream filled my apartment, as the sharp metal tip connected into his eye socket with a familiar pop. Hot liquid splattered across my face as I scrambled out from beneath him to lung for the gun, finishing the job with the same silenced bullet that was meant for me.

The alarm started blaring from my bedroom again. I forced myself up from the floor to silence the snooze before it drew the attention of my nosey neighbors. I stared at the phone in my hand before snapping it closed again. None of my old contacts would be able to help me now that I had been excommunicated without risking their own lives and the police weren’t a viable option either. Such a mess in just seven minutes.

From the suggestions of an unusual weapon (umbrella) and a time period (the time between alarms).