Julie Koop walked through Willowbrook Mall, her thick hair cascading down her back as she effortlessly turned heads strolling through the upscale boutiques. She was wearing a tight jean skirt and a pair of black knee-high boots with six-inch stiletto heels.  She was carrying a small black clutch purse in her right hand, her large breasts gently bouncing with each step.  Moving through the mall, shoppers couldn't help but steal glances at her enigmatic charm. She seemed to be on a mission, her stiletto heels clicking against the polished marble floors.  It was as if the entire mall came alive in her presence, with each store's window displays and upscale brands vying for her attention. She had just had her nails done and was sporting French tips with slick black nail polish glistening on each.

As she made her way towards the exit, she passed a cute little boutique and stopped to look at the mannequins in the display window captivated by the vivid allure of a hot pink, one-piece bathing suit on one of the mannequins. The sleek fabric clung to the form of the mannequin, accentuating its curves in a way that promised confidence and a dash of daring for any who would wear it.

“God, I would look so good in that,” she said quietly under her breath.

She turned away from the display window of the boutique and exited the mall through the Walmart entrance just as she always did.  But as she left the mall, an unease settled in the pit of her stomach, something wasn’t right.  As the harsh fluorescent lights of the store gave way to the natural light of the sun, she detected the presence of two sinister-looking men positioning themselves behind her.   She knew they weren’t just two random shoppers, they were walking with a threatening purpose.  They were focused on her, and only her, and something about them sent a chill down her spine.  It was too soon to panic, and too soon to run, so she decided to keep her cool and show no outward signs of concern.

Something in the pit of her stomach told her that she was in danger. It wasn’t something rational, but something she felt deep in her gut. These two men, dressed in dark clothing seemed to be coming up behind her and speaking to each other in hushed tones, they were walking with a purpose; their body language was determined and threatening. Julie’s heart rate quickened as she increased her pace, their footsteps echoing ominously behind her.  She continued walking in front of the mall, picking up her pace ever so slightly. To her right she could see her red Mustang parked five hundred feet away, her instinct was to move in that direction, but she felt perhaps it would be safer to stay closer to the store.  Her mind had grown cloudy as her adrenaline increased, she was frozen with indecision.

It was too late to turn around and go back into the mall, it was also too late to make a beeline for her car.  She had no choice but to continue moving forward, hoping desperately that somehow she could escape this terrifying situation.  What options did she have? The two men trailing her were two hundred feet behind her, and there was no doubt they were following her, that was now obvious.  As she continued walking towards the corner of the building, there didn’t seem to be anyone else around.  She wasn’t moving towards the busy epicentre.of the shopping mall, but rather away from it.  She was slowly growing more and more isolated and running out of options for an escape, the crowds of afternoon shoppers had thinned.

The corner of the building quickly approached, leaving her one of two options to choose from.   She could turn left around the corner of the building, or turn right and make a sprint for her car.  In a split-second decision, she decided to turn left, hoping to find an open door leading back into the mall.  But when she turned left her heart dropped, there was no side entrance leading back into the mall.  What she saw before her was five hundred feet of deserted alleyway, it was a forlorn and forgotten space. On the right-hand side was a weathered concrete wall, its gray surface marred by graffiti tags that told stories of a fleeting presence. On top of the wall was a chain-link fence which extended the full length of the alley, its rusted wires entwined with ivy, providing a fragile barrier between this desolation and the bustling retail world mere steps away.  There were numerous garbage dumpsters huddled together, remnants of discarded consumerism, their metal surfaces bearing the scars of countless impacts.

It was a cruel paradox that even though Julie found herself all alone and isolated, somehow she was close to thousands of shoppers inside a busy, bustling shopping mall.  It was almost surreal that somehow these two sinister men had managed to corral her into a deserted alley while just moments before she had been surrounded by other humans.  It added to the hopelessness of her situation.   

As the fear of death continued growing even more, Julie began regretting her decisions. Why didn’t she make a beeline for her car? Why didn’t she just call out for help? It was too late now.  She looked over her shoulder at the two sinister men following her, and they were now closer.  Her heart rate increased even more.  Julie had never felt such a paralyzing fear in her life. Her heart was now racing in her chest, and her breath came in short, panicked gasps.  The fear of death was now coursing through her soul, she knew that these two men must be connected to the threatening message she had received just days before.  In this moment she knew that somehow her past gambling debts had come back to haunt her.   

“This is it, this is how I’m going to die,” she thought to herself.

With all the adrenaline coursing through her body, her senses seemed to be heightened, and her survival instinct kicked in.  Physically, her muscles felt pumped and powerful, and her energy had tripled.  She was in full survival mode.  She was also an unarmed woman being pursued by two men who almost certainly had guns.  She was in a hopeless situation, her stiletto boots and tight jean skirt were a hindrance to her movement, and she knew she would struggle to run in such an outfit.  She picked up her pace and started walking faster.

The two men pursuing her were ominous figures, their footsteps echoing off the side of the building like sinister drumbeats.  They were relentless, driven by an insidious intent that Julie could feel radiating from them; they were here to kill her.  One of them called out her name which echoed off the wall of the building next to her and sent shivers down her spine, intensifying her fear.  Any distant hope she had that maybe these two men weren’t after her was shattered in that instant. Now, there could be no doubt.

The weight of her past decisions suddenly bore down on her with an unbearable force. The memories of countless nights spent in the intoxicating allure of the casino, the clinking of coins, and the rush of adrenaline all flooded back. Regret washed over her like a tide, she couldn't escape the painful truth that her gambling had come full circle and would now cost her her young life.  She felt a sickness in her stomach as the fear of death increased even more.  Julie's mind raced searching for an escape route, but there wasn’t one.  She wanted to call out for help, but her voice seemed paralyzed by fear and her heavy breathing, she could produce no sound.  She was going to die at twenty-eight years old, in an alleyway behind a Walmart Supercenter.

As the adrenaline continued to build, a certain clarity came over her mind, and all she was aware of at this moment was the material of her tight skirt snapping hard against her thighs with each of her powerful strides, and the loud clicking of her stiletto heels echoing off the walls of the superstore.  She had to survive this even though she was completely unarmed.  Again, she looked over her shoulder at the two men who were still pursuing her, the smaller of the two men had broken into a lead and was fifty feet ahead of the second man.   He looked as though he was about to break into a sprint, but he kept walking at a stern pace; they were slowly catching up to her.

She felt her heart rate increase even more. Just a hundred feet in front of her, the alleyway came to an end, and turned left around the back of the building.   She had no idea what to expect when she turned the corner but hopefully, there would be some kind of an escape.  With any luck, the alleyway would turn back towards the parking lot; but it didn’t. 

When Julie got to the end of the alleyway and turned left, her heart sank, and the loud clicking of her stiletto heels on the pavement came to an abrupt stop.  It was a dead end.  To her left was the backside of the Walmart Superstore and to her right, an overflowing dumpster and a pile of cardboard boxes. In front of her was a large loading dock, she was surrounded by chain-link fences.  There was no escape and no retreat option possible. Behind her, the two assailants that were hot on her trail had now started running and would soon be coming around the corner of the building, she was about to be face-to-face with her killers. She could hear their footsteps getting closer and closer.  Fifty feet, forty feet, thirty feet…

The next twenty seconds of Julie’s life was a blur, she was running on pure adrenaline and pure survival instinct.  She had no choice but to try to physically overpower them, it was do or die.  There was nothing rational or preplanned about what she was about to do, it was pure adrenaline.  When Jimmy Chen came running around the corner, he expected to find Julie waiting in fear, begging for her life.  But instead, he found himself running straight into her, which startled him.  She immediately brought her hands to his gun and a brief scuffle ensued as Julie desperately tried to wrestle it from his hands, both of them locked in a fierce battle of wills and strength amidst the grime of the secluded alley.

“Fuck! Let it go bitch! Let it fucking go!” Jimmy commanded.

Even with all the adrenaline coursing through Julie's body, it was no use, Jimmy’s grip was too strong, and she couldn’t wrestle the gun from his hands.  She could hear the footsteps of the second man rapidly approaching as he too was about to come around the corner.

Instinctively, she quickly and powerfully thrust her knee into Jimmy’s gut.  He let out a cry of pain, completely surprised and caught off guard by her strength as his breath was taken away by her powerful knee thrust to his solar plexus.   He doubled over in pain and fell to the grimy pavement, dropping his gun.  Julie quickly bent down, picked it up, and pointed it toward the corner of the building where the second assailant would soon be appearing.

A moment later, Clayton Radcliffe came around the corner startled to see Jimmy lying on the ground, and Julie standing confidently with both hands on Jimmy’s gun and pointing it directly at him.  Before Clayton could raise his gun, she squeezed the trigger four times.  Clayton called out at the shock and pain of having four hot bullets pass straight through his body, as four small red pinpoints of blood marked where the bullets had struck him square in the chest.  The force of the bullets threw him back onto a pile of cardboard boxes; he was dead.

Before Jimmy Chen could even breathe or stand up, Julie swivelled around, pointed the gun directly at him and pulled the trigger four more times without hesitating. The loud shots rang out and echoed off the walls of the superstore, the smell of gun smoke filling her nostrils as the bullets ripped through his body killing him instantly.

These two men, who just moments ago had been ruthlessly pursuing her down a deserted alley were now lying dead at her feet.  She had killed them both in just ten seconds.  First, she looked at the dead body of Jimmy Chen and then turned to look at Clayton Radcliffe whose body was laid out in a Jesus Christ pose on a pile of discarded cardboard boxes, his gun lying a few feet away from his dead body.  An amazing sense of peace and calm descended over her as her heart rate slowed, and her breathing returned to normal.  She felt no fear, no guilt or remorse about having shot two men, but quite the opposite. What she felt was strength and power.

As her adrenaline levels dropped, the world around her came more into focus. There were several doors at the back of the building, and she was expecting someone to come out at any moment, but they never did.  She was expecting to hear police sirens at any moment, but she didn’t.  Jimmy and Clayton‘s decision to squeeze Julie into a deserted alley to avoid witnesses would ironically be the one thing that would allow her to get away with killing both of them.  There was no other human being in sight.

She was standing all alone with a gun in her hand, it was the first time she had ever fired a gun in her life, and she was amazed at how easy it had been.  She was also amazed at how calm and relaxed she was in this moment, she wasn’t shaking at all.  She felt no emotion of any kind, but rather a calm, serene strength that had come over her.  She felt nothing for the two men she had just killed.  What she felt was an amazing sense of survival, somehow she had come out on the winning end of this deadly pursuit.  It was obvious to her in this moment, that these were the men responsible for the threatening message on her phone, and that she no longer had to worry about them.  She felt free.