Abby never finishes her thought. The man shoots. Abby instinctively squeezes her eyes tight, and recites the Lord’s prayer in her head. When she reaches the end of the first verse, it dawns on her that she should not have made it to the second word.

She opens her eyes, and witnesses a most unbelievable site. The owner’s aim was straight and true. But instead of ripping through her skull, the bullet quivers in the air just 3 inches in front of her eyes.

The man is frozen in place, his gun recoiled slightly in his grip. A trail of heat and smoke lingers in a straight line from the weapon’s barrel to the butt end of the impending bullet. And like the man, Abby finds herself also unable to move (beyond the blinking of her eyes). She has no choice but to stare dead-on at the hot sliver of metal about to end her days.