This is it.

Chapter 14

Eventuality

They were too late.

He ran red lights, never pulled his foot off the gas pedal, endangered all of their lives, and they were still too late.

Johnny couldn't stand the thought of losing little Squeegee to that goddamn wall.

You don't have much of a say in that matter.

He took the stairs in his basement three at a time, sometimes more if balance permitted, the women close behind him. When they reached the final stairwell, the last barrier between them and the boy, he stopped and turned around.

"Wait on the stairs," he whispered, "Please. If I need help, then help me, but otherwise stay here." His voice shook, "The fewer people that are hurt in this the better." He turned back and continued down the stairs.

He was at the threshold when he heard a quiet "Be careful, Nny" from someone behind him.

Those words meant so much to him.

The room was bigger than he remembered. Brighter too. Squee was there, his hand pressed to the wall, oblivious to the world around him. Johnny looked to Tess, she nodded and loaded her weapon.

Tenna stopped her before she could take aim. "This is his fight," she said, "we're only here to assist, if necessary."

She lowered her gun.

They watched with bated breath.

"Squee?"

Todd's head jerked to face him. His eyes were wide and glassy, his jaw clenched. He wasn't himself.

"Squee," Nny continued his approach slowly and with caution, "It's me, Johnny."

The boy twitched at the name.

"I'm not going to hurt you."

"No… you're not."

Johnny was in arm's length. He reached out to pull Todd away from the wall. As soon as contact was made, Squee exploded into motion, pulled a knife from his sleeve, and slashed Nny's hand. "I'm going to hurt you."

He was at the other side of the room when Johnny looked up. Knife drawn, waiting for the cue to move.

"Oh shit."

Squee attacked him.

"This can't be good."

Devi looked at Tess, there was some sort of tension there she hadn't noticed before. "He'll be okay."

They all flinched when the boy slashed his hand.

"Someone's gonna die!" Tenna hissed.

Tess nodded firmly, "That's the point."

He wasn't going to hit him. He wasn't going to hurt Squee.

Johnny took the abuse stoically; getting thrown against walls, stabbed at, slashed, tripped, punched, everything he used to do to his victims.

"Don't you understand?" Todd exclaimed as he took another swing, "Don't you understand what this can do? If I give you back to him, he'll let me go!" Stab, slash.

"No he won't!" Johnny on one side of the room, Todd on the other. They stared at each other. "He won't let you go! It's all a pack of lies!"

"You're the liar!" He pointed the blade, "You've done nothing but lie to me ever since I met you! You were never concerned! You did this to me on purpose!"

"No! That's not true!" he tried to get out of the way as the boy rushed him, but he tripped over a loose board and fell to the floor in a heap.

"This is what my 'superior perception' has given me!" He stabbed downward, but the blade sank into wood where Nny's body should have been. He shot the man a wide sarcastic smile, "Aren't you just swelling with pride over the effect you've had? Aren't you just so proud about what you've done to me?"

"I didn't do this to you!"

"Lies!" he tried to stand, but the knife was wedged too deep. He struggled for a moment.

It was long enough for Nny to arm himself with a knife from the rack.

Todd stood.

"I can't watch this."

Devi sat down on the stairs, Tess crouched behind her. Tenna covered her eyes, but then peaked through her fingers anyway.

It was like a train wreck in slow motion.

When Todd rushed for him this time, Johnny was ready for it, grabbed the boy by the shoulders, and stopped him.

His arms hung limply at his sides, his eyes glazed over, and slowly they began to close. Squee leaned forward heavily, Johnny caught him.

"Its okay, Squee. It's over," relief flooded through Johnny. He saw the others stand on the stairs. He wrapped his arms around Squee's shoulders and hugged him close. "It's over."

Squee returned the hug, loosely. The knife was still in his hand.

"I know something that would beg to differ."

A sharp white-hot pain shot through Johnny's back, just above his left hip. He yelped and fell to the floor. He couldn't breathe. Todd held onto the blade, twisted, and wrenched it back out before Nny had entirely hit the floor.

A tri-tone gasp turned the teen's attention to the stairs.

Johnny was down. Squee had seen them.

They were fucked.

But, all three remained stone-faced even as he approached them.

Tess went for her weapon.

When his world returned the first thing Nny heard was Tess cocking her gun. Numbness in his left leg disabled standing at present, but Squee was close enough for him to take a swing and hope for the best.

The steel sank in high on his calf. Todd went down and turned to face the wounded man. Squee's right leg for Johnny's left hip.

They were evenly matched again. Except, Johnny still couldn't get back up.

"Squee," he panted, the pain came in volts "I don't want to hurt you. Please, Squeegee, fight this."

"You're the only thing that stands in my way." The hissing retort, "You separate me from my freedom."

Kill him while you still can.

No.

"I don't!" His eyes stung, "There is no freedom! I thought you would be able to see that. I thought you would be able to fight this. That you wouldn't end up like I did."

Squee was back on his feet, but conspicuously unarmed, "You overestimated me."

Nny had no option, but to force himself to his feet. He wobbled, but managed to keep his footing. Adrenaline blocked most of the pain. His grip tightened on his knife.

Another rush, Johnny was slammed into a wall. Squee's hands tightened around his neck.

Do or die.

"Shoot him!" Tenna growled at Tess.

"I can't get a good shot; I might hit both of them."

Tenna didn't understand what the big deal with that was, but Devi did. In seconds Devi understood why Tess was so willing to be involved, why she worked with Nny as much as she did, why she was so unafraid, so sympathetic.

She snarled quietly to herself, and then said "You need to make that sacrifice."

Tess lowered her gun. "No. I don't have to."

Devi and Tenna turned to the two men in the next room. It was too hard for them to see what was going on.

Tenna said it first, "Why?"

"He's dead."

Squee's blood felt like battery acid on his hands.

Johnny couldn't catch his breath, he gasped desperately for air as he slid down the wall by the force of Todd's weight.

Squee had let go of Johnny's neck the moment the blade made contact. He went limp and slumped heavily against the other. They slid to the floor together.

The boy was like a heavy blanket suffocating him. He was dead, gone.

That monster had taken Squee from him.

All of his strength was kept in the two-handed grip he held on his knife. He pressed his cheek against the top of Todd's head. He was still warm. "Squee…"

There was no response.

Johnny didn't even have the energy to be upset, to be angry, to yell, to cry, to blame the world, to move. He just closed his eyes and rested against the dead boy that pressed heavily on his chest and heart.

It was over. They lost.

He heard heavy booted footsteps approach from all sides. Todd's fleeting, but comforting, warmth was taken from him. He wanted to whimper, to demand that he be put back, but consciousness was slipping through his fingers.

A new warmth, a stronger, more stable warmth pressed against his side. It smelled of acrylic paint and lavender.

Devi's voice was so close, "He's still breathing."

Those were the last words Johnny heard.

A/N: Epilogue to follow.

I have wanted to write this for so long. It feels so good to finally get this chapter out in the open.

Thank you all for reading, thank you for getting this far. I love you guys. Review as you see fit.