No more sounds and voices were heard
from them. But after the shattering silence, Imah laughed. It was nothing like
the warm, comfortable sound that I used to hear and it made my blood curdle. It
made me see red. She speaking, “It’s a wonder actually –the fact that they had
no idea I was putting a tracking device on the dog since the first time I met
Cavanagh. You people are so blind.”
“You betrayed us.”
“That I did. It’s a pity you haven’t
realized that sooner. Not very good with guns,” she scoffed, “I’m better than
you at that. Look at you now, no weapon, no anything. Once I got acting, you
gave me your trust immediately. You are so stupid.
Ryne didn’t even realize why ushered her to get closer to Sky. Ice knew this
would happen – ”
“She’s dead. And you’ll be with her
soon enough – ”
The next thing we heard was scuffling
and the sound of metal hitting – something. Then I’m sure, so sure, it was a
body that could be head falling to the floor. The instant we heard the
footsteps, Sky got ready to battle as he clicked his gun and I followed suit.
When her silhouette can be discerned from the black drape and her hand swept it
to her side, Sky fired.
“Fuck!”
She drew cover automatically and
retaliated – multiple times. There were splinters of floorboards and wood
flying everywhere. Sky threw the table nearest us to its side and used it as a
makeshift shield. It faced the source of the bullet shots and we did our best
to keep our head low, the thick oak wood protecting us from dangerous injuries.
I looked at the gun in my hands. I
took a deep breath. Just fire, don’t
think. Thinking is what makes you fall dead on your feet. I adjusted my
position and pulled the trigger. Quickly, I pulled myself back before a bullet
can graze my arm and I avoided the pieces of wood falling from the ceiling. I
breathed in hard, and then felt Sky’s hand gripping my arm.
“She’s not alone. I know it. There are
others with her behind that partition.” he said that as best as he could under
all the noise around us, blanketing us. It was deafening.
“What do we do?” I asked with my eyes
wide. He shifted closer to me and got out his phone and stuffed it in my hands.
“We call for help too. Now.” He started firing again and my breath drew in
realization. I started rummaging through the contacts with my both hands
shaking, still holding the gun. I pressed call and placed it in my ear
immediately.
It picked up.
“Hello?”
“Grandpa? It’s me! We need – ”
“On our way.”
The call ended and I turned to Sky. I
gestured yes and started shooting. I love
my grandpa. The never-ending stream of gunshots still rained upon us
between seconds. Minutes. It could’ve been years but all we needed to hear was
the grenade explosion to recognize their arrival.
The floor shook and my ears hurt. I
closed my eyes shut for a few seconds, unbelievably disoriented. This is
fucking insane. I heard men shouting then, giving orders and bullets were being
fired again, but this time, it was aimed at the opposite direction; not at us.
“Ryne.” Familiar hands shook my
shoulders, I opened my eyes and my gaze landed on Sky. And the two people
beside him.
They were crouching on the floor as
well, keeping their heads low to avoid damages from the commotion and they held
their firearms out. “Ryne, my dear.” The older of the men put his hand on my
shoulder, his brown eyes darkening. “Act now, talk later. We have to get out
now.”
Sky was right. He must’ve been
handsome once and he looked as if he just had a hard-fought battle. His grey
hair was in a buzz cut and he looked ready to kill someone.
I nodded soundlessly in response. The
younger, handsome guy turned to me then but he didn’t say anything. He came
closer to me and pecked me on the cheek.
“Hi, sis. We have to get going.” Mark
said urgently.
George Cavanagh spoke to the three of
us after my brother had his greeting. “My men are few. If we go now we can all
– ”
He was cut off from completing what he
was saying when something caught flame, and the endless piles of woods are
already burning and releasing chocking smoke into the room. It crept up
quickly, catching everything it can and turning it into black ash. It was hot
already but the bullets never ceased.
“Let’s cover Ryne, and get the fuck
out of here.” he finished, coughing.
What?!
No!
“I don’t need to be covered – ”
“Not now Ryne.” said Mark. They
started taking positions around me and I saw –
“Fuck it, Sky. Why are you covering
out front? Are you fucking insane? You’ll get shot – ”
A pillar gave in and crashed to the
floor, almost shattering our eardrums and the fire rose higher and roared
louder. The heat was intensifying. The experienced leader now said, “Go.” The
four of us stood up, we sped through the entire space of the room, shooting at
visible enemies and avoiding the shots they fired. The fire made it hard for us
to see and the smoke made us cough violently. Everything seemed to go in slow
motion. We were halfway across the other side – the exit – when it happened.
Underneath the sounds and disturbing
visions, I saw a mane of blonde hair. I had no trouble figuring out who that
person is.
She was holding a gun, which seemed to
be gleaming in the light of the fierce fire and it was pointing straight at me.
Before anything else registered, the bullet shot she fired seemed to drown out
all the other things.
The bullet shot that changed my life.
That ruined my life.
My world turned blank and all the
other things in the world became impotent as Sky fell down to his knees and
unto his side. Blood was already seeping through his shirt and his breathing
was ragged, even as he pulled the table down and used it as a cover. And nothing made sense.
I ran to him but felt iron grips
stopping me and pulling me away from him. I struggled as I never had in my
life.
“Get
off me! We have to go back – we have to – ”
I felt myself being put down on the
floor hard and we used the table as a shield again. We were almost to the exit
– just mere meters – but I won’t go out. I can’t.
I clicked my gun furiously and started standing up but they held me down, and
wrestled the gun out of my hands.
“NO!
Get back! I have to go back – ”
“You won’t make it – ”
“I
can! I can get him! I can – just let me fucking go – ”
“You can’t do anything, Ryne.”
No. That’s not true. Not true. I
searched with my eyes through the smoke and I – I found him.
He’s there. Still on the floor, but now he’s sitting up with his back on
the table he’s using for defense and he was looking at me.
His chin was dripping with blood and
his hand was covering his chest and as he pulled it away, it was smeared with
blood as well. Blood. He looked at me like never before but his breaths were
becoming shallower, his eyes getting blanker. I never noticed it, but anguished
sobs tore at me and unstoppable tears were streaming on my face. I
unconsciously struggled, but deep down I knew. I knew. But I don’t want to
believe.
The fire behind him crept closer.
Closer and closer, but he reached out for me.
No.
“Sky.”
No.
My heart. I can feel it dying. I feel it. His hand fell to the floor
right then and his eyelids fluttered. I saw him take his last breath and I
remembered. I remembered.
“Have
you ever thought of Britain?”
Whoa.
Where did that come from? I faced him, saw that he was still paying attention
to the road and then I replied, “Sometimes. Why?”
He
never took his eyes off the road as he said, “I’d like to take you there
someday.”
His green eyes lost their light and he
closed his eyes.
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