In the Moment

“It’s time,” a raspy voice spoke into the man’s earpiece.

The man wearing dark sunglasses stood up and pulled two military-grade rifles from inside his black wool trench coat. “For our country,” he muttered and fired two shots in the air. The entire room froze. Women dropped their luggage and screamed while men ducked, their fight or flight responses kicking in. “Everybody down now!” He ordered.

* * * * *

A few yards away, she crawled beneath the benches, shaking with fright. Her trembling hands wrapped protectively around her bulging belly. “The baby will due any day now,” she recalled the doctor’s words from this morning. Why can’t something go right for once? All of the sudden, a sharp pain hit her from below. The baby. Biting her lip, she refrained from screaming.

* * * * *

Outside the Washington D.C. Union station, police officers, SWAT, and FBI agents gathered. They got a tip fifteen minutes ago detailing what would go down in the station. “There’s a hostage situation in there, I say we take this slow otherwise, he might just start shootin’.” …

(~175 words)

This story was originally published on February 21, 2017.

Written for Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers, a flash fiction challenge hosted by Priceless Joy from 2015-2019. In this prompt, we are challenged to write a piece between 100 and 150 words (more or less 25 words) using the photo prompt given.