The Wall

80

It was like a bad bit of dialogue. First the one shot, then the next, followed by a third after the same time span. And then everyone was talking at the same time. Moses had gotten caught in a shootout once that had escalated at a gas station. A robbery gone wrong. Everyone in close proximity had taken cover as best they could. By the end, the four thieves, two cops and two schoolchildren were lying dead on the pavement. He’d never forget that. Above all, because he’d been caught in the middle of it all. He had hidden under one of the delivery vans, hoping its gas tank wouldn’t be hit. The day that he’d come the closest to dying.

But that wasn’t anything like this situation. Back then he’d been lying under the delivery van, listening to the burst of individual gun shots. This time he could hardly distinguish one shot from the other.

The three men had immediately thrown themselves onto the ground. Even the referee, who had just needed support to walk, found a new lease on life in the moment he thought he might die. It took a few seconds for the three of them to realize that the gunfire was some distance away from them. They stood back up and took cover behind a shoulder-height wall. They then ran singly to the next closest hiding spot. Heading toward the shootout.

The referee left a trail of blood behind him.