Resistance Is Useless

We had to move faster. If someone pulled the door and heard screaming, they’d definitely know something was wrong. Jack paced back and forth. I did this for them. I didn’t want anything to happen to Alex.
Sirens wailed from all over and the flutters of helicopters could be heard from inside. I could only imagine how many people were outside the bank by now; reporters, feds, everyone. Rian had the doors so we could see out but they couldn’t see in. This was a bank robbery, not a hostage situation.
“If I find out anyone called someone, I’ll--”
Alex grabbed Jack’s arm, whispering something to him and then glancing at me. They continued bickering with each other, and I could tell something was wrong. Alex clenched his fist and his eyes seemed to turn darker.
“We’re going to find out who called,” Jack reiterated a little more calm.
“This is now a hostage, if you wanna play it that way,” Alex announced. “If you don’t cooperate, you’ll wish you did when I’m done.”

“Phones,” Alex barked orders at the people. “anything capable of communication. Give me them.”
They forgot to cut all communication off? That’s what went wrong. While Alex talked to me, they should’ve done that and they didn’t. How could they even forget something like that?
They all scrambled to empty their pockets of phones and such. Rian walked around collecting them in a bag while Alex continued giving orders and threats. Again, I hated seeing him this way. It made me want to turn my back until this was over, yet I couldn’t bring myself to. I found myself slipping out of the chair and standing up, making my way towards Alex.
I grabbed his jacket, turning him around. “What happened to not taking hostages?” I whispered angrily. “I told you not to hurt them. This building is probably surrounded by cops. Do what you have to do so we can get out.”
He stared at me for a minute before placing his hand over mine that was still holding on to him. He slowly pulled my hand from the material, glaring at me. “Go sit down.” He ignored everything I said.
I scoffed and rolled my eyes. “Says the person who’s going to get arrested if we don’t get out of here.” I still stood there stubbornly.
“Yo,” Rian waved Alex over. “He says he doesn’t have his phone.”
I noticed it was the guy from earlier that directed me to the bathroom and kept staring at me. He looked like he was going to piss himself. He stuttered and fidgeted while talking to Rian. Alex walked over, stopping at them. I walked over too, to stop Alex from doing whatever he thought he was going to. Alex pushed me back gently with his arm.
The guy looked over me again and practically gasped that I was in on it with the guys. But that still didn’t stop him from undressing me with his eyes. And even though I knew Alex wasn’t going to have it, the guy still made me uncomfortable. Alex snaked his arm around my waist and pulled me closer, though I could sense that he was tense.

“You’re looking at my girl,” Alex spat. “I’d stop looking at her, if I were you because you should be paying attention to me more than anything.”
“I-I--”
“Shut up,” Alex told him, letting go of me and pushing me back again. “So you don’t have a phone?”
“No,” He gulped.
“Well, where is it?” Alex asked, feigning curiosity.
“I-I left it at home,” He stuttered. “My wife probably has it.”
I refrained from rolling my eyes. What businessman leaves his phone at home? It was clearly a lie.
“What’s your name?”
“Peter.”
“Peter what?” Alex asked, fishing for a last name.
“Hammond,” Peter responded quickly.
“Where is your phone, Peter?” Alex raised his voice.
“I’m telling you I left it at home!” Peter tried to convince us.
Alex raised his eyebrow and got closer to Peter. “Peter, think very carefully about how you answer my next question. Because if you get it wrong, you’re going to,” Alex pulled out his gun and pressed it to Peter, “end up shot in the fucking head.”
I bit my lip, looking at Rian for help on this.
“Now, Peter Hammond, where is your cell phone?” Alex asked again calm but menacing.
“I already told you, I left it at home,” Peter stammered again.
“Okay,” Alex nodded his head, putting his gun away.
Peter exhaled in relief, but I could tell Alex was up to something. Alex snatched the bag of devices from Rian’s hands and stuck his hand in it. He picked out a random one, pressing buttons on it before throwing it to the floor. He picked another one doing the same, before tossing it on the floor. He must’ve gone through at least ten phones before he got to a Blackberry. He went through that one, before he looked at Peter again and pressed the call button.
A loud rap song played from a few feet away. Alex walked over the cubicle where I’d first seen Peter, searching the desk and drawers for the phone. After a while, the ringer stopped. Alex walked back over with Peter’s phone in the palm of his hand.
“O-okay, I l-lied, I’m sorry. Don’t hurt me,” Peter begged.
“Forget about it,” Alex shrugged nonchalantly, putting the phone into the bag.
Peter nodded and gulped, obviously shaken up. Alex went into an office and closed the door behind him. Rian and I both looked at each other. It was only a brief moment before he came back out again.
“I told you to cooperate,” Alex said roughly, grabbing Peter by his suit and dragging him into the office, closing the door again.
I flinched at Alex’s yelling and Peter’s screams. I could only imagine how badly bruised he was going to be. I walked away, not wanting to hear Alex hurting him anymore. The door opened again and Alex walked out looking pissed.

“Now, does anyone else here think they’re smarter than me?” He growled. No one responded. “The more you cooperate, the faster you’ll be out safe and we’ll be out.”
“Who knows the combination to the vault?” Jack asked.
A worker raised his hand. “I’m a teller, I know it. I swear.”
“You, get up then,” Rian said.
The guy nodded and stood up slowly. “It’s, it’s back there.”
Alex motioned for Zack and Rian to go with him and collect the money. I stood around, avoiding Alex. I couldn’t keep my eyes off the clock. We’d been in here for almost an hour now. I’d watched tons of movies. The cops could play this for hours, but we didn’t have hours to stall. This was supposed to be a simple robbery. Any longer, and they could storm in here at any minute.
The red and blue lights of cars reflected into the bank lobby. It was quiet outside and inside for the most part, besides the occasional speaker of the police. Rian and Zack came back with two black duffle bags each.

“Let’s get out of here,” Zack said. “We got what we came for.”
“Alright, everyone stand up,” Alex ordered. “Make one suspicious move and you’re done.”
The “hostages” got to their feet quickly, some struggling, in fear. They all stood straight and tense.
“We’re going to open the door and you’re going to run out, got it?” Alex said and then there were variants of words.
Rian unlocked the door slowly and backed away. “Go.”
It was like a stampede as the fifty or so people all dashed through the double doors, yelling and screaming. It was like a riot as police tried to control them. They didn’t know who was who. Something inside of me realized I was lucky something like this didn’t happen at Provident. I probably wouldn’t have dealt with it very well.
“Dude, they have everyone out there,” Rian sighed. “It’s like fuckin’ G.I. Joe.”
“Then grab a bag and let’s go,” Alex said, slinging a duffle bag over his shoulder. “They most likely don’t have the back covered with that many people out there.”
I followed them quickly and quietly, my shoes clicking on the floor every now and then. Alex lagged behind the guys, walking beside me. I ignored him standing there uncomfortably. He reached out, catching my hand in his. I looked at him.
“It’s alright. Everything worked out. We’re safe, they’re safe. Everything’s going to be okay.”