Chapter 19

Dean made it to Alyssa's side and aided her to a sitting position. Dean held her close in his arms as he brought her to her feet.

"Are you alright?" he asked her worriedly.

Alyssa could only nod. He inspected her right cheek touching it carefully. Dean seethed looking down at Paul, then turned his concerned blue eyes back to Alyssa.

"Alyssa, I need you to get out of here. My horse is tied up to a tree on the left side of the bridge. Get atop the bridge, stick by horse, and wait for me. Understand?"

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm gonna take care of Paul. Go. Now."

Alyssa wasted no time in heading to the top of the bridge. Dean watched her disappear. However, the very moment Dean turned around, Paul was back on his feet and socked Dean squarely on the jaw. Paul wrapped an arm around Dean's neck pulling him back towards him.

"Oh, Dean...I've looked forward to this moment."

Dean stomped on Paul's left foot, elbowed him in the ribs, grabbed hold of his arm twisting it behind his back causing Paul to groan in pain. Dean wrapped his own arm around Paul's neck.

"You're gonna wish you hadn't waited for this." Dean threw Paul to the ground and he landed stomach-first with a grunt. Paul looked up at Dean. "You like beating on women, let's see how you like getting beat on."

Paul rose to his feet chuckling softly. "I admire your courage, boy. But, I'm afraid...this is one fight you won't win."

"We'll see about that." Dean brought his fists up in front of him in a fighting stance, and Paul copied.

Paul took a swing at Dean, only to have Dean bring his arm up to block the blow. Dean connected with a right hook to Paul's nose. He landed a left-hook to Paul's cheek cutting it instantly. Dean brought up his foot to connect with Paul's midsection, then landed an upper cut sending Paul to the ground. Paul groaned holding his nose. Dean walked over to pick him Paul up off the ground.

When Paul was brought up to his feet, he landed a hard right to Dean's midsection causing him to double over. Paul drove his knee into Dean's stomach, staightened him up and connected with a few punches of his own to Dean's face, the last punch sending him to his knees. Paul bent over, grabbing a handful of Dean's hair and pulling him to a kneeling position.

"I'm not going to make this easy for you, Dean."

Dean socked Paul in the stomach, then rose to his feet and delivered a few more punches to Paul's face before he hit the ground. Dean reached for the handcuffs in his back jeans pocket.

"Get up, Paul. It's over...unless you want the beating to continue."

"No..." Paul groaned. "No more. Please.."

Dean reached down and grabbed Paul by the collar of his shirt, pulling him to his feet. Dean pulled Paul's arms behind his back. "You've lost, Paul. It's over."

Paul threw his head back into Dean's face, causing Dean to drop the handcuffs at his feet. Paul brought his left elbow up into Dean's nose breaking it instantly, then socked him hard sending him to the ground. Paul walked up and with his right foot, rolled Dean onto his back. Paul looked down at the beaten, battered, bloodied face of Dean Ambrose and shook his head in disgust.

"Pathetic..Completely pathetic."

With both hands, Paul reached down and grabbed Dean by the neck, Dean's hands wrapping around Paul's wrists. "GET UP!"

Dean rose to his feet with Paul still gripping his throat. He slammed Dean back-first into the tunnel wall underneath the bridge. Dean gagged, and gasped for his breath, but he couldn't draw a proper breath in cause Paul's grip was so tight around his throat.

"Look at you, Dean. Trying to be the hero. Trying to save the day. That's not what's gonna happen here, boy. I shot Randy and Batista, and buried them. Their bodies will never be found...and neither will yours."

Paul released his grip on Dean. Dean gasped and coughed trying to catch his breath. Paul retrieved the cuffs from the ground, then walked back over to where Dean lay and cuffed his wrists behind his back. Paul grabbed a bandana from his back jeans pocket and tied Dean's ankles together. Dean was officially defenseless. Paul delivered a couple of kicks to Dean's midsection. Paul simply shook his head again before walking over to his horse on the other side of the bridge tunnel and reached into one of the saddlebags. His six-shooted fit comfortably in his hand. Paul turned his eyes back towards Dean, whom was struggling to rise to his knees. He eventually made it onto his knees. Paul scoffed in disbelief as he walked back towards the vulnerable Dean Ambrose.

"You know, any normal person would stay down from a beating like this."

"But I'm not...a normal person," Dean said between breaths. "I'm Dean Ambrose. I might go down...but I don't stay down."

"Well then, I guess I'm gonna have to change that...permanently."

With gun in hand, he struck Dean across the face, sending him on his stomach. Paul reached down and rolled Dean onto his back. He aimed the gun at Dean's face. "This is where it ends. It's over for you, Ambrose. Take a good look, Dean, cause this is the last thing you will ever see."

Dean eyed the barrel of the gun aiming directly at him. He had a feeling of what he was getting himself into today. He had a feeling something like this would happened. He feared that one day, Paul would find him, and kill him. In his mind, today was that day. He thought about the past few weeks and the events which took place, and the people whom entered his life. The sheriff's, Mark, and Alyssa...oh, Alyssa. How he loved her. He loved her and she loved him. If this was how his life was going to end knowing that Alyssa loved him, and that God forgave him of his sins that day at church, then he was ready to go.

"Any last words?"

"Thank you God, for forgiving me," Dean said with tears forming in his eyes. One single tear fell down his cheek as he spoke his 4 last words. "I love you, Alyssa."

Dean took one more deep breath before closing his eyes waiting for his end. One second, he heard Paul pull back the hammer of the gun, the next second, the sound of a gunshot filled the air.