Week 129 – What he saw couldn’t be real

The scene before him was chaos. People were screaming and running about, there was broken glass, upturned tables, a car had crashed into the wall of a building partway down the block, and he saw blood.

Detective Connor Zaal stepped into the street and tried to decide where he should go first. No doubt someone, or probably multiple someones, had called 911, and other cops would be showing up on the scene within minutes, but for now he was on his own.

There was the body of a woman lying just across the street, that seemed as good a place as any to start.

Connor ran over, dropped to his knees, touching his fingertips to the woman’s neck to check for a pulse even though he could tell by all the blood that she was already gone.

When he confirmed that she was deceased he stood, his eyes falling on a woman standing just a couple of feet away. She stood out because she was the only person in the street who was standing still.

The woman looked like an angel. Long golden blonde hair tumbled around her shoulders, large blue eyes framed by long dark lashes, pale skin that looked like porcelain, and a small, lean body. She was dressed in what looked like a black leotard and pink sweatpants, and there was a dark spot on pants.

What he saw couldn’t be real.

Blood.

Had she been shot too?

Connor stood and strode to the woman. “Ma’am, are you okay? Are you hurt? Did you get shot?”

The woman just stared through him, she was clearly in shock, but they didn’t have time for that. There was no telling whether the person who had just shot up the street would return.

As though his words brought it about more gunfire erupted.

Without a second thought, Connor flung himself at the woman and knocked her to the ground, covering her body with his own and praying that back up arrived soon.