He felt nothing at that moment. All the pain suddenly and all at once vanished as he stared straight into the gun barrel.
It was as if life itself had urged him to die without pain, to let him smile in his last moment before the darkness swallowed him whole.
He stepped forward and fell to his knees, his gaze still on the officer, but his eyes were hollow, his face bloodied, and the smile slowly faded as his head slumped forward, still awake, but when he tried to open his eyes, all he saw was darkness, all he smelled was blood.
He felt it, the warmth of the gun barrel that had shot him, the gun that would send him off. His last thought was Charlotte.
Is she still watching?
Then—
A shot rang out, and he felt the officer dropping before him. He heard his body collapsing against the road, his gun clattering on the asphalt.
And he heard more and more gunshots ringing out.
