He’s a criminal, but a cool one, and his life depends on the next eighteen seconds. 

He approaches the big black car. There’s no turning back. Inside are three bad guys he needs to kill, and one he needs to keep alive. He opens the front passenger door and shoots, hitting his first target. The others fire back blindly as he dives onto the floor of the car, beneath the driver’s limp body. 

The first shot blew out his ear drums. Time slows, and soon all he can hear is the sound of air filling his lungs. His heart beats in line with the muffled bangs (they sound more like faint rain on the roof of a car than gunshots). Puffs of upholstery cloud the air. 

Suddenly, there’s silence, and then faint ringing.
They’ve run out of bullets.
In the brief moment before he 
sits up to fire back, 
he smiles. 

It’s a special smile, 
a weightless one, 
that says everything’s okay. 

And in that smile, 
that precious smile, 
the whole world fades away.