The officer raised his gun, shouting at Eli to freeze.

She stared back, dumbly, no idea of what to do. How had she gotten this gun? Eli looked down at her own hand, confused.

The officer fired. Eli saw the flash from the gun barrel just before she felt the impact, right at the base of her sternum, knocking her to her knees. This was a pain even worse than the headaches, worse than she’d felt in her entire life. Pressing her hand to her abdomen, Eli realized that she was bleeding far more than her body could handle.

Seconds later, Eli’s vision was already fading fast. Without the strength to even keep kneeling, Eli fell forward unceremoniously to the ground, leaving her field of vision consumed by concrete, for as long as it took for her body to issue one more long, rattling breath.