53. Muddy Waters
I stared at the gun in the man's hands. My muscles felt like they had locked in place as soon as he had pulled back the safety. I could see my life in that small hole, suspended in the darkness. A part of me wanted to scream. The other part wanted to fight. And another part wanted to be brave without being stupid.
"…Is that gun even real since your face isn't?" I asked. Unfortunately, I included the "stupid" part with the whole bravery thing. You could hear the fear in my voice—a wobble that gave away my attempted bravery. "Doesn't that make you…two-faced?" That probably wasn't even going to earn me a pity laugh—especially when now wasn't the time to be making jokes. It was all my body could do, though—make stupid jokes and try to defuse the reality that this man was holding a gun to me and threatening my life with it.
His faces continued flickering back and forth. Both looked unamused. "Not very bright, are you? When you have a gun pointed at you, that usually means you should shut up. But since you asked…" I saw his index finger twitch on the trigger, and I flinched, feeling my body jump from the inside-out. I was pretty sure my kidneys did a somersault, while my stomach completely pancaked, lying flat over my intestines.
The man laughed and did a sweeping motion with his other hand. "Move aside. I really didn't want to kill anyone today. And get your furret off of my zorua or I'll kill it, too."
"Rochelle, what is that?" Bundy whispered in my ear. "How can it kill you?"
"Get up, Poona," I urged. "And come over here. Please."
Poona rolled off of the zorua slowly, glancing back at me nervously. She kept looking back and forth between me and the gun. I knew she didn't know what it was, but she knew it wasn't anything good. I tried speaking to her with my eyes—keeping them wide in warning. She picked up on the danger, but the confusion was still strong in her face, as if she was incapable of accepting that, hey, this guy could kill us.
Once Poona was back at my side, the man seemed satisfied, but the gun was still in his grip. He studied the three of us lazily, but it was hard to get a read on his expression until one face finally solidified—the face of an old man. I had a feeling it was an illusion.
"Good, now stand aside. You didn't see anything here today. And if you say you did, I have ways of coming back."
The man pocketed the gun, put a hand behind Glenda's back, and pushed her forward. The zorua padded after its trainer loyally, flicking its bushy tail tauntingly.
That was when Sophie came out of the room. Fully dressed in pink from head to toe except for her pokémon accessories, she assessed the situation and watched the three of them pass us. I thought that meant we were in the clear.
But then, without warning, Poona launched herself at the man, sending him to the ground.
"NO!"
I knew this meant the man wasn't going to leave quietly now, but Poona reached inside his tan jacket pocket and pulled out the gun with her mouth. She trotted over to me and placed it down at my feet. I gawked down at it, unsure of what to say or do.
I stared into Poona's hard eyes. They were filled with a determination I had only seen in her a handful of times. She wanted to protect all of us. That's why she had done it. Even so, it was too dangerous. Having a gun at all was dangerous. Poona had no idea what she just did, but she thought it had been right. I wasn't sure if it was or not.
"Poona…"
"It's bad, isn't it? Then no one needs it," she stated. Even so, she had laid the gun at my feet. What was I supposed to do now? If I took it, did I become the threat, or was it still the man because it was his gun?
I didn't have to worry about it for long. Sophie reached down and grabbed the gun, making Poona's ears go flat. Sophie observed it, grasping it gently in her hands before holding it up at the man. Somehow, her gaze was deadlier than the gun she held, and right now I was more afraid of her than I had been of the man.
"Tell us what you're doing," she demanded. If the gun was heavy, Sophie didn't show it. Her bony hands seemed as unshaking as her resolve. Her arm and hand looked flimsy in comparison to how bulky the gun was, but she was managing to keep it up despite how weak her body was.
The man got back to his feet, placing his fallen hat back on top of his head, which had started wavering between faces again—one that was wrinkled and old, while the other was young and smooth. He didn't look amused at the threat but smirked nonetheless. "You're Sophie, aren't you? The girl with the bone in her hair. I've heard things about you."
"So you were sent by my sister," Sophie said calmly. Her hands tightened on the gun. "I don't like repeating myself. Why are you taking Glenda?" At being acknowledged, Glenda shook her head, panic screaming in her eyes. She wanted us to get away. I wanted that, too, but I knew Sophie wasn't going to listen to me.
The man didn't say anything and stood up, staring down at Sophie with this concrete expression. The gun wasn't going to chisel him; if anything, pointing it at him made him more confident.
"…Why don't you ask your dad?"
Sophie's eyes traveled from the two-faced man to a space in front of her. There was nothing there, but even so, Sophie started trembling. She stepped back with the gun still trained on the man, but with how little strength she had it didn't seem like she could hold it up for much longer.
I looked over at the zorua, who was focused on Sophie. They were trying to trick her. They were making her see things that weren't there.
"Bundy, tackle the zorua," I whispered.
Bundy drooped against me, hiding his face in my scarf. "I'm a pacifist."
"Not right now you're not."
However, before anyone could do anything, Sophie pointed the gun away from the man and started shooting at the wall. The noise was so loud that I screamed as the shots rang out, covering my ears. Even after she stopped, the noise was ringing in my ears, and it felt like I couldn't hear out of one ear anymore. I felt my whole body shaking, and a whimper escaped my mouth before I could stop it.
Down the hall, a few nurses poked their heads out of rooms, but they ducked back inside, too scared to approach. Over the intercom, an announcement had started, urging everyone to stay inside their rooms.
"I know that was an illusion of my father, whom I know is dead, and now you are aware that I know how to use this," Sophie said coldly. "So I suggest you start answering my questions before I use it on you."
The man laughed. "You have guts. That's what she told me. I see what she means." He shrugged and then held up his hands innocently. "I was hired to escort this lady. Not kill anyone. That's why I'm a little sad I had to pull out my gun."
"Tell me everything you know."
"Sophie, please don't do this," Glenda begged from beside the man. Her arm was being gripped by his hand, which might as well have been a pair of handcuffs. She looked between all of us, shaking her head. "He wants me, and I'm going with him. Just please don't do this. You're too young. Don't make these mistakes."
"Why does he want you?" Sophie demanded.
"I-I don't know, but you shouldn't be doing this. Please go back to your room."
"Not until I get my gun back," the man said monotonously.
"Then answer my questions."
I finally stepped toward her, but I didn't dare touch her. "Sophie, this is dangerous. Stop. Please." I wished that Keane was here so that he could teleport us away. Where was he? We needed him now.
"You should listen to your friend. It's the smartest thing she's said," he remarked. Jerkass.
"You're not very smart if you're working for my sister."
"It's a temporary job," he admitted, shrugging.
"It is because you're about to die."
"NO!" I knocked the gun out of Sophie's hands, causing it to crash to the floor at her feet. It slid forward, going to the center of the hallway. The zorua immediately made a run for it, snatching it with its mouth.
She scowled at me. "What are you doing?! You idiot!"
"What are you doing?! You're just getting released today! This isn't some kind of game, Sophie. You can't go around killing people." I tried grabbing her so that we could run and take cover in her room, but she dodged me.
"Your friend's right."
We all looked over at him at the same time. The zorua had retrieved the gun with its mouth and set it down in front of its trainer's feet. The man stooped to pick it up and twirled it around before holding it back out.
"You know, my orders were to escort the lady and then take my money. I was told not to kill witnesses—especially not the girl with the bone in her hair. You don't want me to disobey orders, do you?"
"We have more pokémon than you. We can still kill you," Sophie threatened. How was she still going when there was a gun pointed at her? Poona and Bundy cowered at what she was suggesting.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that." And with that, he pulled out two pokéballs, pressing the buttons and summoning two pokémon in a flash of light. "My orders were I wasn't allowed to kill witnesses. They didn't say anything about my pokémon."
Before us now stood a beige pokémon with green nubs on its arms and the top of its head. It looked like it was trying to impersonate a tree. The other one was a tall blue, wolf-like pokemon with piercing red eyes, standing up on two legs. The sudowoodo and lucario glowered down at us, as if our presence alone incited their fury.
The man pulled Glenda toward him as she cried out tearful apologies toward us. "Balboa. Lufrid. Kill, but don't touch the girl with the bone in her hair."
They lunged so quickly that it was like they had been expecting this order. I started screaming, but Sophie ran in front of us and held her stance, gritting her teeth. The lucario swerved around her and aimed for my face as it dashed forward, its glowing claws extended. But before it could get within ten feet of me, it ricocheted backward, flipping until it landed on its feet.
Keane's voice infiltrated my mind, calming me. "I am sorry I wasn't here sooner."
I saw the psychic barrier in front of us flash, making itself known. Keane appeared in front of us, suspended in midair, willing the barrier into existence. It looked like he was trying to spread it out, trying to encompass us within a dome. Sophie was a few feet ahead, but the barrier extended past her now.
"Ohgod. Ohgodohgodohgod." I didn't realize I was crying until I spoke. Bundy fell off of me as I fell to my knees and slumped forward, but Keane ushered me back up.
"We have no time. Grab a hold of Sophie, Bundy, and Poona. We are leaving."
I reached for Poona first, who was in her battle stance, ready to defend us. I heard the man mumbling to himself about psychic pokémon, and that was when I saw it: his gun pointed straight ahead, at Keane's barrier. Would it break?
Before I could grab Poona, the shot rang out. The scream that resounded was shrill, but it wasn't mine.
It was Keane's.
The barrier collapsed from in front of us, and Keane started falling toward the ground. I reached out and caught him, holding him in my arms as I saw the blood drip from the wound upon his skull. It had lodged itself just above his eyes, no doubt nesting within his brain. And yet, he kept screaming, as if he was trying to forcibly tear it out. Tears streamed from his glassy eyes.
"KEANE!"
The last thing I saw before Keane and I disappeared was the man lowering his gun as Sophie threw herself in front of Bundy and Poona.
