Part ten

I was being dragged. My feet barely touched the ground as strong arms and firm hands grabbed me as if it were nothing. I couldn't move, couldn't fight it. My entire body felt like a helpless rag doll, unable to respond.

It was dark and oh so quiet. I heard scratching noises, feet shuffling over the ground (my own?) and then I was unceremoniously dropped on the ground. Whoever had been carrying/dragging me obviously thought I was dead.

I remained unmoving on the ground, too hurt and too exhausted to do anything. I didn't dare to stir, afraid he would see me breathing and finishing me off. But he didn't approach me and moved to a corner of the shack, using a flashlight to see where he had to go. Then I saw him kneeling on the floor, pulling at something.

Instantly I knew what it is, I had guessed it right before we were stopped. The body was under the floor.

My memories came back vaguely. I remembered the hospital, the car, Delaney, Cho … Cho, where was Cho? I tried to open my eyes and look around, only to find that I couldn't. They seemed to be glued together. Was I still out of it? Dreaming? I didn't know.

Then I heard a slight groan, not so far from me. That had to be Cho. I opened my eyes at last, following the direction of the moaning and saw some movement in the dark. "Cho," I whispered. "Cho … can you hear me?"

I knew I had to get to him but it was already too late. Our attacker turned towards us, got up and approached us. His flashlight hovered over Cho. Without a second thought Delaney knocked Cho out again with his flashlight. Cho went down without a single kick.

Delaney shoved the flashlight underneath his armpit and grabbed Cho, dragging him without mercy towards the corner of the small room. I heard a creaking sound, a thud and then he came back for me.

I forced myself to focus, to get up and to fight Delaney but my will couldn't control my body. I was too far out of it, my head spinning, seeing double and only shadows. I knew it was really, really bad.

Delaney flashed his light over my face. I shut my eyes against the sharp, blinding flash but of course he noticed I was awake. He waved the flashlight at me, ready to knock me out again.

With all the might I had in me, I rolled away from him, forcing my body to react in an almost unhuman way. I don't want to die this way, ran like a mantra through my head. With the flashlight's front illuminating his face, Donald Delaney looked like a madman, staring into the abyss. He was too far gone to stop now. He had killed and kept on killing. His rage was all-consuming, his anger aimed towards my cockiness in that hospital.

Delaney knew I wasn't a match in this fight. I was lying on the ground, groveling in dust, trying to find a way out of this as he came back at me. "No," I said, holding up my hands to protect my head as I crawled backwards on hands and knees. "We can talk about this, Donald. It doesn't have to end this way, you know. You can still go back. You haven't killed us yet."

My fingers crawled over the floor, trying to find something to defend myself with, only to see Delaney standing right before me. I recognized those shoes. Weakly I knew I had lost. The flashlight went up again, swinging into my direction. If he hit me full frontal on the head, I would die on impact.

As he lifted the flashlight a second time, it struck the wooden wall behind me. I used every skill in me, every prediction I had ever done, to avoid him twice, foreseeing where and how he could impact me.

The third time I wasn't so lucky. I fell aside, somehow avoiding the biggest impact. I could feel the lower end of the heavy flashlight hit my head but the blow wasn't as hard as it could have been. Later on, that would prove to be my good fortune. Yet, wounded as I already was, hurting as I already had been, it was enough to send me straight back into oblivion. And before I even reached the abyss, I knew that we were in a mess. A big, horrible mess. Me and my big mouth …