Chapter 14
We were back at the base. I had gotten four hours of sleep, including the ride here, and while I was still yawning I could think again, aided by two caffeine pills. I was sitting at in a different room than before with my head leaning on the table as I waited for important people to show up. I didn't care if they found me sleeping. It wasn't even five yet and I shouldn't have been up.
When Duo did walk into the room, followed closely by Jack and Blake, I sat up and prepared myself for the incoming questions. Duo had creases under his eyes, I don't think that he had slept last night. I was happy that I wasn't the only tired one in the room.
"Alex, do you know what was on the disk that you that you recovered?" Duo asked. I shook my head as I rubbed my eyes. "It talks about a virus, a very dangerous one. I think he found a way to mass produce it. If that gets out to the public…"
"It'll kill anyone and everyone," I finished. "I know, I know all about it." I was too tired to be tactful, and besides, blunt worked for me. Zechs wasn't in the room so I didn't have to worry about what he thought of the whole situation. He could yell at me later. I'd have to trust myself not to say too much. Not to mention I wouldn't put Zechs in such a bad position with Duo. As far as this meeting went Zechs knew nothing.
"How exactly do you know?" Blake asked.
I turned to him. "For starters I had a nice chat with Gab last night. Found out all sorts of interesting things, as did he, of course. But that's only to be expected." Their surprised faces kept me going. "You should really learn more about you enemies, or at least tell me what you know. I hate going in blind but that seems to be the only thing I can do right now. Gabriel could have killed me, or worse. He could have gotten me to kill you." There was a lot of anger in my last statement, but it was the truth.
Duo looked shocked, Blake mimicked him. Jack stayed emotionless. Maybe I had said too much. Maybe not.
"What do ya mean?" Blake demanded.
I shook my head. "It's not important." Well, that was a big lie, but they lied too. The excuse didn't work. Mainly because I knew that wasn't a good reason to put them in so much danger.
"I think it is," Duo said.
I shrugged. "So?" I asked.
Gabriel had never threatened them. I would have felt it if he were controlling them. Gabriel's power couldn't be that subtle, especially not sense I had been surrounded by it. I would recognize it without having to think. Maybe he couldn't control them like he would have been able to with me. Maybe there were reasons he didn't try to start taking over everyone now.
"Alex…" Duo wasn't sure what to say.
I gave in. For once he was as confused as I was and that made me happy enough to share information. "Gabriel is a psychic black hole, or at least that's what it felt like. Somehow he can pull in other psychic's power, and control it, and control them. I don't know how, I was too busy not losing my mind to ask. I don't know what effect it would have on a normal human," I explained, "but probably not a good one."
Maybe it would have a really bad effect. Maybe that was why he didn't do anything to them. Or at least not much. His driver had seemed pretty out of it, maybe he was being controlled. That would explain the mindless feeling coming from him.
"So you're saying that he can control people?" Jack asked, sounding as if it didn't matter. I wasn't sure I liked the way he was acting. He was too calm for starters, but that wasn't really it. There was just a feeling he was hiding something.
"I think so," I replied.
Duo and Blake exchanged knowing glances. Suddenly I felt as if they were hiding something too.
"Was there anything else on the disk?" I questioned.
Blake looked to Duo, who replied as he shook his head, "Not a thing." Now I knew he was lying.
"Oh, come on Duo," Jack snapped at him, glaring. "Your son's out to kill her and you're not even going to give her a warning?" I froze, looking as startled and almost as angry as Duo did. Jack was just angry. "I can't believe it. You pull her into our mess and then you don't even help her. She's told you something important and you strait out lie to her. She's got a very good assassin looking for her and you don't say a word."
My anger wasn't pointed at the same person as Duo's was. I turned from Jack to Duo. "Your son? You have a son? And he's after me? That's who the guy was? He certainly looks like you, that's for sure. Jack's right, you are a liar." If I didn't want answers so badly I would have run from the room. I just wished answers ended things, they never did.
Duo couldn't turn away from glaring at Jack. "You weren't supposed to say anything," he growled.
"Someone has to," Jack replied, just as cold and just as angry.
"You two fight later, I need to know what's going on before he shots me," I said sounding much too calm. "I don't want to go home and find someone dead, or him waiting for me. I was lucky he didn't kill Ethan last time we met, he might not be so kind if I see him again."
Duo looked at me, concerned. "What happened?" he asked. He didn't know what was going on. I could tell he recognized the mention of Ethan, but he didn't see pass that. Jack hadn't told anyone what happened, and that made me like him a lot more. Especially sense he wasn't letting Duo throw me out without knowing a thing.
"Nothing happened Duo," my voice was normal, as if I was talking to anyone, but there was a cold, crisp feeling in the air around me. "Nothing that you should care about. I want to make sure nothing happens. So tell me what's going on."
He did. He told me a lot.
Matt Maxwell was Duo's son. He was born by accident. Duo hadn't even really known his mom. The entire relationship had taken place about five months before he met Alanis, Julia's mom. Matt was twenty-three, smart, strong, and an expert in guns. He was a well-known assassin, not legal, and not really caring. He'd grown up on North America in the Northwest American territory. He owned several clubs and bars throughout America and Europe, taking jobs wherever he wants. Quite a formidable enemy, but I was told I shouldn't have to worry too much about him.
Blake had hired him to kill someone else in the area. That's how Gabriel had met up with Matt. So even though he's hunting me, I wasn't the only one he was after. That could be a good thing, I guess. But Duo wouldn't tell me where he was or who else he was chasing. I wanted to know. It took longer, and a lot of help from Jack, to get Duo to tell me where I could find his club near here. He still wouldn't tell me who else he was after. I didn't push after that. I didn't need to. I could find things out on my own.
I stood up the moment I was sure they wouldn't tell me anything else. Ignoring complaints I left the room.
By now I knew my way out of the base, and it wasn't a problem getting to Zechs car. He'd be ticked that I took it without asking, but he'd get over it. Zechs had a lot of sports cars, none of them meaning much. They were for show. He knew that if I ruined one I'd buy him a new one.
Once again Jack followed me out of the building. He got to Zechs car before I could hot wire it and drive off.
"Alex, don't go after Matt. He's good, I don't want you dead," Jack requested.
"I'm not going after him and why would you care if I was?" I said.
Jack answered, "Because I do care, and I don't want you dead, and Matt isn't some idiot with a gun. He knows what he's doing and if you kill him Duo will be pissed, and if you die someone will kill Matt, which won't change the fact that you'll be dead and it really won't be worth it." He rambled as much as I did when I was mad or nervous. I think he was both, making him allowed to talk extremely fast and make little sense. It made me happy that he truly did care, though.
"Don't worry. Unless he fires first no one will die. I'm going for a truce not to get someone killed," I explained.
He didn't sound too sure when he replied, "I'm trusting you on that. And don't take the sports car. Someone will break it while you're in the club. They're trash any car that you bring, but it'd be better if you didn't pull Zechs into this."
I grinned my thanks. "I'll try to meet up with you later, though I'm not sure when I'll have time," I said.
He nodded agreement. "Don't worry about it. You'll probably end up here to see Duo again pretty soon."
I drove off, heading for the hanger instead of the club. I'd go to the apartment but the hanger was closer to the club. I needed a place to stop, switch cars, and pick up two or three guns. I only had one on me and I would be walking into the wolf's den. I needed to be armed with whatever I could carry and not look too obvious. Too obvious didn't mean I wouldn't have a gun showing.
The drive went quickly as my mind wondered. When I did arrive I went strait to the armory.
I had a trunk in my room with weapons, but I wanted to borrow a few of Julia's. I grabbed the weapons I wanted before going to my room.
Quickly I changed cloths to something I'd be more comfortable fighting in. I through on black jeans, strapping a knife and a gun to either leg before hand. The gun was the one I usually carried in the small of my back. I also had a knife in one of the boots I would be wearing. I had my normal Browning high power handgun in a shoulder holster over my black tank top. I had a two-bullet derringer in my left-hand pocket, happy that my pants were loose enough that it wouldn't dig into my thigh. I didn't have a holster for it, not knowing where Julia kept hers. It wasn't my gun so it didn't really matter. I threw on my black leather coat to hide the knife on my left wrist, and the knife in the small of my back. I left the hanger feeling armed and safe. The safe part might not be true, but I'd deal with that when the time came.
I switched cars when I left, following Jack's advice. Again I was in my jeep, which was a good thing. I had extra weapons stashed in here if I needed them. I knew the area of town I had to go to. It was the bad side, as some would say. It wasn't really a side of town, though, more of a corner. A small spot where we stuck away all the dangerous people to kill each other and give us something to talk about. Pretty sad if you thought about it that way, but reality often was sad. And as my dad had put it, it stopped most of the bad guys from killing everyone else.
The only problem I had when in the area was everyone knew who I was. They knew my car, my dress style, and my general appearance. Not everyone disliked me, but they weren't fooled by me, either. Then again there were enough people not liking me that I didn't go there unarmed, and always checked me jeep before getting back in. Too many people like to put bombs on the bottom of my cars for me to do otherwise.
I parked in a spot not really made for anything. It was about a block away from the club, and I had a better chance of keeping it in one piece if it wasn't nearby. Stepping out I looked at the building around me. They looked worn, old. There wasn't much that was really wrong. They'd handle an earthquake all right, but the area reflected the people living in it. As I walked further I saw the different signs from graffiti, and the people hiding out in ally ways. Drug dealers and should be prisoners walked the street. Normally I would watch out for them, but today they didn't matter.
I took my time reaching the club. It looked like an old warehouse from the outside, and it probably was. Even though dawn was inching its way towards us loud music continued to blare from the building. It wasn't bad, I liked the band, but if it was this loud outside it would be worse inside. Suddenly I wished that I had thought to bring earplugs. With a sigh I knew it didn't matter. I was still going in.
Walking into the main room was easy, walking around inside wasn't. To say it was crowded would be a bit of an understatement. It was just after five in the morning and some people were still partying. Bodies pressed up against each other, all dressed up for a night out. Most were dancing or jumping to the music. The DJ was the only person who seemed to have room to breathe, but I must admit it made it a bit easier to go unnoticed. I shoved my way through, wondering where I would end up if I just went with the crowd.
Slowly but surely I made my way to the far wall. I looked around, trying to find a spot where I might get a moment to think. There was a second floor I could head up to that didn't look as crowded. It seemed to be my best bet. I continued to scan the room as I once again began to push through the crowd.
It didn't take long to notice the huge screen on one side of the club. When I looked closer I saw that it was actually made up of sixteen smaller screens. Sometimes they flashed one large picture, other times they showed smaller ones. In any case the picture kept changing. I soon picked up the pattern to the different pictures. I watched it as I reached the stairway. Then I noticed what I hadn't before. One of the cameras was watching me. Every so often there would be a flash of the part of the club I was in, my face clearly visible. Cursing under my breath I continued up the stairs. No use kicking myself. Not yet at least.
Sure enough the top floor was almost completely empty. I wondered why, sure they had a reason. Maybe only certain people were allowed up here. It didn't matter, I wasn't leaving until I knew where to go.
First thing I looked for were doors. If someone was watching me I wanted a way out of the room. There were quite a few doors, and I wasn't sure which to take. Slowly I walked around the room, reading signs on the door. They were all clearly labeled, most saying staff only. I stopped at the 'Danger, do not enter' sign. There was some lame reason for staying out below it. The sign was a beacon saying to me 'Bad guys don't want you here, come on in.'
I opened the door and stepped inside. I didn't see anything electrical that the sign had warned about. What I did see was an office, nicely decorated in black and white, with hints of red sprinkled about. There was a black desk with a white chair behind it. The flat screen computer was all black, including the keyboard. The light beside it was also black, but it had red etching on it. I ignored most of the other furniture, walking into the room to get a better look.
The walls were eggshell white, which knocked down Matt's decorating taste a few points. One wall interested me quite a bit though. If I hadn't know he was an assassin I would have by looking at it, either that or someone way too obsessed with a certain young lady. The wall was covered in pictures. There were all shapes and sizes, some black and white some colored. Every picture had something to do with the same person. Mariemaia. She was in all sorts of places: restaurants, parks, her work, her house. There were pictures without her, but always in places she would normally be.
It wasn't a mystery who Matt's second target was.
"Alex," he used the same cold voice as he had in my apartment, though this was somewhat amused.
I turned to face him, indifferent to what I had seen. I could spot two guns on him, and I didn't know if there were others in the room. he probably had another weapon on him as well. It was important that I kept my eye open. I didn't want to be shot because I glanced away.
"Matt," I said it more sarcastically than anything else.
"Talk to my dad?" he made it a question, "Or do you have other sources?"
I shrugged, "Does it matter? I'm here either way."
He shrugged in response, his eyes not leaving mine as he took in everything he could about me. I knew I wasn't hiding much from him and that he'd find every weapon I had. I hadn't taken a lot of time concealing them. As Jack had said, he wasn't an idiot. I knew Matt would find them either way.
Matt walked around the room, I turned with him, watching carefully as he took his seat behind his desk. He leaned back, slouching comfortably as he waited for me to say why I was here. I didn't. He continued to stare, I watched him.
Matt gave in first. "So, what brings you to my place?" the amusement hadn't gone, but he held my gaze so steadily I knew for sure I shouldn't look away. He wasn't kidding about killing me.
"Good question, actually. I was trying to figure that out myself on my way here," my humor was lost on him, but I kept talking. "I heard from Duo that you were hired to kill someone else first. Now that I know who I don't care if you kill her. Not that I dislike her, but it doesn't really matter to me."
"Your point?" I wasn't sure whether or not he was feigning bored, but I didn't want him that way. It could be a problem.
I crossed my arms over my chest with a sigh. "I'd like to make a deal with you so that you won't kill me until after Mariemaia is dead." That caught him by surprise. Yeah for me.
"And why would I do that?" his voice held a dry humor, as if he was silently laughing at me. He probably was. He could laugh, but I'd make a deal with this and leave this club alive.
"I don't know," I said with maybe too much sarcasm. "That's why I'm asking you just that question."
He did laugh this time, a deep throaty laugh. "And I'm just supposed to say, 'do this' and you'll do it? Yeah right. I've already taken this deal, and I don't care who I kill, or win, as long as I do it." So maybe I had been a little blunt. Oops.
"If you don't care when you kill me then why not wait?" I asked.
He grinned, seemingly happy that I had caught the screw up that he'd said. "Because I don't want to." In one fluid motion he had a gun pointed at me. I was just as quick, the browning resting easily in my hand, aiming for his forehead. His grin widened.
"As much as I enjoy a good stand off, I've got better places to be," I stated.
He asked, "Then why come and see me?"
"Because I don't want you to be in those other places with a gun to my head."
We were both silent for a moment. Both considering what the other had said as we held our guns steady. I wondered just what his small smile meant. Hopefully it meant that he wasn't going to kill me, though I really didn't know.
Matt finally asked, "What would you do to keep yourself alive?"
I still hadn't looked away, but his gaze grew more intent.
"I don't know," I stated truthfully. A lot of things, but not everything.
Matt raised an eyebrow. "Really? Well then… would you kill someone?"
"Who?"
"Does it matter?"
It was my turn to smile. "Yes."
He smiled in response as he put his gun on the table. I was so surprised that I lowered mine, if only for a second. He stood up and walked around the desk, his trench coat following him like a cape. "I won't have you kill anyone. You'd say no," he paused to hold up a hand so I wouldn't speak. "Yes, you would. I don't need to know you to know that. It's the principal." I bite my tongue to stop myself from arguing. He was probably right.
"So?" I asked.
He grinned. "So you're going to help me."
I asked, "With what?" I didn't like having to push around the subject, and he was doing an excellent job of it.
"I'm not sure yet. Probably getting at Mariemaia, for starters. She knows about me, which isn't surprising sense she's working for Gabriel," Matt explained. "He doesn't want her dead yet so he's helping her. When convenient he'll drop back, but I don't want to wait that long. With your help I'll kill you both soon enough that it'll make up any time wasted in killing you." He said it in such and uncaring way that I began to see where his cold voice came from. You can't afford too much emotion when your job is killing people.
"Fine, not a problem," I said. I didn't mention that I wasn't aware that Marie was working with Gabriel. Not to mention it bugged me that he knew I was mixed up somewhere in the mess. I understood where he was thrown in. He probably didn't care about Gabriel or the mess involved with him. He just had to get to Mariemaia.
Matt looked unbelieving. "Fine? Just like that?"
I nodded. "Yeah. Fine. I have nothing against you killing Marie. I've already said that."
He shrugged. "Okay."
Satisfied that we had come to as much of a truce that we would I turned away. He didn't say anything as I left.
Plowing my way through the crowd I ignored everyone. I was too busy thinking about what was going on, and what I'd end up doing. I'd made a deal with Matt. Hopefully he'd live up to it. I had to. I couldn't just break my word. It went against my morals, but it would be difficult if I had to go into a serious situation. Matt knew that. I wasn't quite sure just what helping him actually meant. Maybe it would be something small, but probably not.
It didn't take long to get outside. The beginning of a sunrise was creeping towards us, promising another blistering hot day. I grimaced at the thought and quickly started off towards the jeep. If I was lucky I could get home before the sun rose all the way and have a very long nap.
Walking at a brisk pace I continued to ignore the world. Lost in thoughts about what all was going on I didn't see the man trailing behind me until he reached out and grabbed my shoulder.
Reflex made me reach for my gun. I was quicker than he was, but by the time the browning was out and pointed at him he had his hand up to stop it. Swiftly he grabbed the gun, twisting it out of my grip and throwing it somewhere on the ground. I didn't have time to see exactly where it landed.
The man stared at me blankly with too empty of eyes. I would have said something but I didn't think he was able to listen. He seemed to still, too, dare I say it, dead. Yet he was alive and breathing and gripping my shoulder with the strength of iron.
Suddenly he pushed into me, forcing me to shuffle backwards. He leaned into me and kept walking with a pace I couldn't match while going backwards. Twice I should have tripped but he held me to my feet.
"Are you Alex Yuy?" he hissed while his small, rat like eyes glared into me. I found it rather funny that such emotionless dead eyes still were able to glare. Zombie like people must just know how to be intimidating.
"Why?" I asked, knowing instantly it was the wrong thing to say.
The man, though he looked rather scrawny, had enough strength to slam me into a wall hard enough that it knock the air out of me. When I was able to talk again I muttered a soft, "Owe," before the man came at me again.
He stomped up to me, grabbing my hair from the back of my head and pulling my face close to his. "Are you Alex Yuy?" His voice was a low growl. I was beginning to get scarred, realizing I should have been when I had first lost my gun.
"Does it really matter?" I snapped.
His growl grew till I half expected him to turn into a snarling wolf. He was loud enough, not to mention angry. His grip tightened on my hair, right before he slammed the left half of my face into the wall.
I screamed. It hurt. My hands went to my forehead as I tasted blood. I felt several scrapes and cuts, nothing too serious. I had probably lost some hair pulling out of his grip, but I'd deal. Right now I just wanted a warm, wet washrag.
"Are you Alex Yuy?" he demanded.
Cursing for a moment I didn't answer. It wasn't until I realized he was going to hit me again that I said anything. "Yes, damn it. Now leave me the heal alone." It wasn't going to happen, but I could ask anyway.
When I looked back up I knew I had said the wrong thing.
Two men had joined the man who looked so oddly like an emotionless rat it wasn't funny. Then again the two men beside him were just as strange.
One was tall, broad shouldered, with arms as wide as my head. He was so intimidating I didn't think they needed the other two. He was a giant that loomed over me, being a minimum of six ft. five. I wasn't good on guessing heights so I'd leave it at that.
The other was small, dwarfish. He squinted at me from abnormally large eyes. He was roughly four feet tall, making up for any lack of height with rather large muscles, even if they weren't as big as the giant's. The thing that made him look most formidable was the small ax he held loosely at his side.
All three looked ready to kill. Suddenly running sounded like a grand idea.
I stumbled to my feet, hobbling backwards as I almost lost my balance. None of them moved, and I wasn't sure why. Was someone behind me? I glanced but didn't see anyone. Turning back the giant was right in front of me. My eyes widened at his speed. I took in a deep breath right before one of his huge hands gripped my neck. My hands moved to stop him before I thought a second about what might be smarter.
I reached for the derringer in my pocket. Two shots to get me out of this mess. I could just kill him. At the range it would be easy, one simple shot. The problem with that plan was I was pretty sure that he wasn't controlling himself. A certain someone had messed with his mind, turning him into the zombie he was. He didn't deserve to die. Than again, I didn't think I needed to die, either.
I fired a shot, right into his shoulder. He grunted and flinched back. His grip loosened but not enough for me to get away. I fired again, this time a little lower on his arm. He let go and I moved backwards, promptly tripping over some piece of trash.
Falling backwards with a thud I clinched my eyes for a brief second. When I opened my eyes the giant was inching backwards, not liking the gun. I was tempted to throw it at him, now that it was empty, but it would just bounce off. Quickly I reached for two things, stashing the derringer in its pocket. When I carefully came to my feet I was holding a knife in my left hand and a gun in my right. I had six bullets until I ran out. If I could find the browning I'd have eight more plus and extra clip that was in my coat pocket.
I looked up to see the giant towering over me again. He had gotten rid of his fear of guns rather quickly. Bending down he grabbed me by my shoulder, pulling me to my feet. He handled me like a rag doll. I wasn't sure whether to stab him or shoot him again, the first two shots didn't seem to have bothered him much.
Then he punched me. I grunted and feel to the ground as he dropped me. My stomach did flip-flops and I took a moment to get over the pain. A brief memory of Olaf punching me and the fire that appeared because of it came to me. I shuddered, knowing that it wouldn't happen again but I wouldn't let myself get angry with this guy.
I felt more than saw his fist coming to hit me again, and immediately I reacted. It took only a second for me to slid to my feet and push myself backwards, shooting up while I did so. The giant missed me, barely, but my bullet didn't miss him. He staggered backwards, clutching his chest.
Slowly I climbed to my feet, watching as the giant stumbled and fell, collapsing onto himself. He seemed to shrink as died, so huddled in that he didn't seem to be any larger than a normal man. For curiosity's sake I wanted to poke him, but I knew I didn't have the time.
The midget came next. If he didn't have the axe I might have tried something with my knife, but it didn't seem like a good idea. I wasn't sure how fast this guy was, so I decided to run. Sheathing the knife I sprinted for the exit. If I could get away from these guys then I should be okay. At least that was the theory.
I heard footsteps following me out. They only made me run faster. The moment I was out of the ally someone tackled me, and just to my luck no one was around to help. I knew almost instantly it was the rat guy. He clawed at me as I tried to push him off of me. Once again the man proved to be quite strong as he held me in place without much of a problem. The little man came up with his axe. He aimed carefully, avoiding the man atop me as he prepared to swing. I took in a deep breath, closed my eyes, and fired.
Inching an eye open I saw the dwarf on his knees clutching his chest, but not dead. He wasn't going to die easily, no matter how much I wanted him to. Not that I really wanted him dead.
Ratman seamed to get the idea that guns were bad, and once again slammed me into something. The sidewalk and my head collided as I sucked in a shout. I knew that I was bleeding a lot now, which was so not a good thing. The man grabbed my gun. He wrenched it out of my hand and threw it into the wall behind him. The gun fired a shot, the trigger being hit by something. He wouldn't let me pull out another knife.
Running was out of the question now, and the whole weapon thing wasn't working. Of course I no longer had to worry about the giant but the midget looked quite capable of getting to his feet. Even though I'm sure it would kill him to do so. The pain didn't stop him from grabbing the ax and slowly moving to attack.
Then a really funny thought came to me.
I don't want to die.
For some reason actually thinking what I had been feeling through the entire fight helped. I didn't want to die so I should probably do something to stop it. The whole idea seemed so obvious that I realized I should have thought of it before. I guess you just don't think well under stress.
I did the first thing that I thought of. Moving into push up position I pushed up with such force that I almost knocked the guy off of me. I say almost because while I was scrambling to stand up he was still on my legs, pulling me back down. I kicked at him, which didn't help much.
I wasn't sure just what would help until the sound of sirens came into hearing. It sounded like someone a block over had just flipped them on, which was likely. There always seemed to be some cop sitting around waiting for something to happen. They were rarely disappointed.
Squealing tires came around the corner as I kicked again, this time only buying time before I might be able to get some help. I wasn't sure why the cops were coming, but they were defiantly heading for me. Maybe they'd heard gunshots. Maybe someone had called. It didn't matter.
The lights kept flashing when the car stopped, giving me light to see just what was going on. Nothing looked much different, but I was able to spot both of my guns that had previously been lying in shadows.
"Let go of the woman and stand up!" a cop yelled as he quickly got out of the car, gun pointed at the three of us. I wasn't sure if it was focused on a particular one.
I was considering telling him that they probably wouldn't listen but decided he'd find out soon enough. After all, the man was completely ignoring him, not even giving him a glance. It wasn't until the little guy was fully on his feet before I realized it would be a really good thing to get help.
"He not going to listen," I said dryly. It would have sounded sarcastic if it hadn't been for the trace of fear.
The man glanced at me for a moment, before trying again. "Let go of the woman now!" Rat-guy continued to ignore and the policeman's partner began to get out of the car.
"Look," I said, attempting to be friendly while trying to fight off panic. I had given up on fighting off the rat guy who seemed to be having trouble figuring out what to do with me, though he had full possession of my legs and I couldn't move. "Can you just try to get him off of me. He won't listen, or at least not to you, and I doubt the guy they will listen to is anywhere nearby."
The policeman looked confused. I probably wouldn't have minded except that the zombie was about to hit me again. It wasn't until Ratman hit me again that his partner sprang into action. At least one of them had sense, and I'm sure saved my life. He was trying to pull the man off of me while I was trying to see pass stars.
That was when the midget got back into the action. He swung his ax over his head, and the police man being the good guy that he was, put his arm in front of it blocking the edge from slamming into my head. The sight of blood made the first guy fire, right into the rat guy who was about to hit me again. The midget had fallen over, collapsed from the effort of swinging the ax and lack of blood. Maybe he thought I was dead.
"Damn it! Get me a bandage or something," muttered the police guy on top of the rat guy. He didn't seem too particularly irritated with the situation, other than the fact that he had a deep cut. Unsteadily he got to his feet while his partner rummaged through his car. Even though he was hurt he still offered me a hand up. "What are you doing here anyway." Despite the sharp words he looked genuinely concerned.
I accepted his hand and pulled myself to my feet, taking a second to steady before answering. "Uh, tell you later, I'm having trouble thinking," I paused a moment, trying to think because it was true that it wasn't working very well. "I have to find my guns," I murmured, pulling away from the cop.
"Guns?" Now he was suspicious.
I nodded. "Yeah," I answered, "but I'm not a bad guy, I just don't come to this neighborhood unarmed. I value my life a little." Rummaging around in the piles of bricks and trash I found the gun for my leg holster. Carefully I put it back at my ankle as looked for the browning. It was somewhere near the entrance, which is where it was knocked out of my hands.
"Is this one of them?" asked the first cop, kicking it out from a shadow.
I smiled at him thankfully. "Mucho gracious." I bent and picked up the gun, needing to use my hand for support as I got to my feet.
"Why are you out here?" said the second cop, he was sticking with the suspicious theory.
I truly intended on answering, but between fully getting to my feet and turning to face the cop something hit me. My vision seemed to blur and all those times I got knocked into hard objects caught up with me. I blacked out.
So... what do you think? again, thanks for the reviews, and I'm fully agreeing with mooncancer on the last one, but I do like the way the stories ending up. This one was a bit longer than the last, which was slightly what I was going for. *shrugs*
~Rave
We were back at the base. I had gotten four hours of sleep, including the ride here, and while I was still yawning I could think again, aided by two caffeine pills. I was sitting at in a different room than before with my head leaning on the table as I waited for important people to show up. I didn't care if they found me sleeping. It wasn't even five yet and I shouldn't have been up.
When Duo did walk into the room, followed closely by Jack and Blake, I sat up and prepared myself for the incoming questions. Duo had creases under his eyes, I don't think that he had slept last night. I was happy that I wasn't the only tired one in the room.
"Alex, do you know what was on the disk that you that you recovered?" Duo asked. I shook my head as I rubbed my eyes. "It talks about a virus, a very dangerous one. I think he found a way to mass produce it. If that gets out to the public…"
"It'll kill anyone and everyone," I finished. "I know, I know all about it." I was too tired to be tactful, and besides, blunt worked for me. Zechs wasn't in the room so I didn't have to worry about what he thought of the whole situation. He could yell at me later. I'd have to trust myself not to say too much. Not to mention I wouldn't put Zechs in such a bad position with Duo. As far as this meeting went Zechs knew nothing.
"How exactly do you know?" Blake asked.
I turned to him. "For starters I had a nice chat with Gab last night. Found out all sorts of interesting things, as did he, of course. But that's only to be expected." Their surprised faces kept me going. "You should really learn more about you enemies, or at least tell me what you know. I hate going in blind but that seems to be the only thing I can do right now. Gabriel could have killed me, or worse. He could have gotten me to kill you." There was a lot of anger in my last statement, but it was the truth.
Duo looked shocked, Blake mimicked him. Jack stayed emotionless. Maybe I had said too much. Maybe not.
"What do ya mean?" Blake demanded.
I shook my head. "It's not important." Well, that was a big lie, but they lied too. The excuse didn't work. Mainly because I knew that wasn't a good reason to put them in so much danger.
"I think it is," Duo said.
I shrugged. "So?" I asked.
Gabriel had never threatened them. I would have felt it if he were controlling them. Gabriel's power couldn't be that subtle, especially not sense I had been surrounded by it. I would recognize it without having to think. Maybe he couldn't control them like he would have been able to with me. Maybe there were reasons he didn't try to start taking over everyone now.
"Alex…" Duo wasn't sure what to say.
I gave in. For once he was as confused as I was and that made me happy enough to share information. "Gabriel is a psychic black hole, or at least that's what it felt like. Somehow he can pull in other psychic's power, and control it, and control them. I don't know how, I was too busy not losing my mind to ask. I don't know what effect it would have on a normal human," I explained, "but probably not a good one."
Maybe it would have a really bad effect. Maybe that was why he didn't do anything to them. Or at least not much. His driver had seemed pretty out of it, maybe he was being controlled. That would explain the mindless feeling coming from him.
"So you're saying that he can control people?" Jack asked, sounding as if it didn't matter. I wasn't sure I liked the way he was acting. He was too calm for starters, but that wasn't really it. There was just a feeling he was hiding something.
"I think so," I replied.
Duo and Blake exchanged knowing glances. Suddenly I felt as if they were hiding something too.
"Was there anything else on the disk?" I questioned.
Blake looked to Duo, who replied as he shook his head, "Not a thing." Now I knew he was lying.
"Oh, come on Duo," Jack snapped at him, glaring. "Your son's out to kill her and you're not even going to give her a warning?" I froze, looking as startled and almost as angry as Duo did. Jack was just angry. "I can't believe it. You pull her into our mess and then you don't even help her. She's told you something important and you strait out lie to her. She's got a very good assassin looking for her and you don't say a word."
My anger wasn't pointed at the same person as Duo's was. I turned from Jack to Duo. "Your son? You have a son? And he's after me? That's who the guy was? He certainly looks like you, that's for sure. Jack's right, you are a liar." If I didn't want answers so badly I would have run from the room. I just wished answers ended things, they never did.
Duo couldn't turn away from glaring at Jack. "You weren't supposed to say anything," he growled.
"Someone has to," Jack replied, just as cold and just as angry.
"You two fight later, I need to know what's going on before he shots me," I said sounding much too calm. "I don't want to go home and find someone dead, or him waiting for me. I was lucky he didn't kill Ethan last time we met, he might not be so kind if I see him again."
Duo looked at me, concerned. "What happened?" he asked. He didn't know what was going on. I could tell he recognized the mention of Ethan, but he didn't see pass that. Jack hadn't told anyone what happened, and that made me like him a lot more. Especially sense he wasn't letting Duo throw me out without knowing a thing.
"Nothing happened Duo," my voice was normal, as if I was talking to anyone, but there was a cold, crisp feeling in the air around me. "Nothing that you should care about. I want to make sure nothing happens. So tell me what's going on."
He did. He told me a lot.
Matt Maxwell was Duo's son. He was born by accident. Duo hadn't even really known his mom. The entire relationship had taken place about five months before he met Alanis, Julia's mom. Matt was twenty-three, smart, strong, and an expert in guns. He was a well-known assassin, not legal, and not really caring. He'd grown up on North America in the Northwest American territory. He owned several clubs and bars throughout America and Europe, taking jobs wherever he wants. Quite a formidable enemy, but I was told I shouldn't have to worry too much about him.
Blake had hired him to kill someone else in the area. That's how Gabriel had met up with Matt. So even though he's hunting me, I wasn't the only one he was after. That could be a good thing, I guess. But Duo wouldn't tell me where he was or who else he was chasing. I wanted to know. It took longer, and a lot of help from Jack, to get Duo to tell me where I could find his club near here. He still wouldn't tell me who else he was after. I didn't push after that. I didn't need to. I could find things out on my own.
I stood up the moment I was sure they wouldn't tell me anything else. Ignoring complaints I left the room.
By now I knew my way out of the base, and it wasn't a problem getting to Zechs car. He'd be ticked that I took it without asking, but he'd get over it. Zechs had a lot of sports cars, none of them meaning much. They were for show. He knew that if I ruined one I'd buy him a new one.
Once again Jack followed me out of the building. He got to Zechs car before I could hot wire it and drive off.
"Alex, don't go after Matt. He's good, I don't want you dead," Jack requested.
"I'm not going after him and why would you care if I was?" I said.
Jack answered, "Because I do care, and I don't want you dead, and Matt isn't some idiot with a gun. He knows what he's doing and if you kill him Duo will be pissed, and if you die someone will kill Matt, which won't change the fact that you'll be dead and it really won't be worth it." He rambled as much as I did when I was mad or nervous. I think he was both, making him allowed to talk extremely fast and make little sense. It made me happy that he truly did care, though.
"Don't worry. Unless he fires first no one will die. I'm going for a truce not to get someone killed," I explained.
He didn't sound too sure when he replied, "I'm trusting you on that. And don't take the sports car. Someone will break it while you're in the club. They're trash any car that you bring, but it'd be better if you didn't pull Zechs into this."
I grinned my thanks. "I'll try to meet up with you later, though I'm not sure when I'll have time," I said.
He nodded agreement. "Don't worry about it. You'll probably end up here to see Duo again pretty soon."
I drove off, heading for the hanger instead of the club. I'd go to the apartment but the hanger was closer to the club. I needed a place to stop, switch cars, and pick up two or three guns. I only had one on me and I would be walking into the wolf's den. I needed to be armed with whatever I could carry and not look too obvious. Too obvious didn't mean I wouldn't have a gun showing.
The drive went quickly as my mind wondered. When I did arrive I went strait to the armory.
I had a trunk in my room with weapons, but I wanted to borrow a few of Julia's. I grabbed the weapons I wanted before going to my room.
Quickly I changed cloths to something I'd be more comfortable fighting in. I through on black jeans, strapping a knife and a gun to either leg before hand. The gun was the one I usually carried in the small of my back. I also had a knife in one of the boots I would be wearing. I had my normal Browning high power handgun in a shoulder holster over my black tank top. I had a two-bullet derringer in my left-hand pocket, happy that my pants were loose enough that it wouldn't dig into my thigh. I didn't have a holster for it, not knowing where Julia kept hers. It wasn't my gun so it didn't really matter. I threw on my black leather coat to hide the knife on my left wrist, and the knife in the small of my back. I left the hanger feeling armed and safe. The safe part might not be true, but I'd deal with that when the time came.
I switched cars when I left, following Jack's advice. Again I was in my jeep, which was a good thing. I had extra weapons stashed in here if I needed them. I knew the area of town I had to go to. It was the bad side, as some would say. It wasn't really a side of town, though, more of a corner. A small spot where we stuck away all the dangerous people to kill each other and give us something to talk about. Pretty sad if you thought about it that way, but reality often was sad. And as my dad had put it, it stopped most of the bad guys from killing everyone else.
The only problem I had when in the area was everyone knew who I was. They knew my car, my dress style, and my general appearance. Not everyone disliked me, but they weren't fooled by me, either. Then again there were enough people not liking me that I didn't go there unarmed, and always checked me jeep before getting back in. Too many people like to put bombs on the bottom of my cars for me to do otherwise.
I parked in a spot not really made for anything. It was about a block away from the club, and I had a better chance of keeping it in one piece if it wasn't nearby. Stepping out I looked at the building around me. They looked worn, old. There wasn't much that was really wrong. They'd handle an earthquake all right, but the area reflected the people living in it. As I walked further I saw the different signs from graffiti, and the people hiding out in ally ways. Drug dealers and should be prisoners walked the street. Normally I would watch out for them, but today they didn't matter.
I took my time reaching the club. It looked like an old warehouse from the outside, and it probably was. Even though dawn was inching its way towards us loud music continued to blare from the building. It wasn't bad, I liked the band, but if it was this loud outside it would be worse inside. Suddenly I wished that I had thought to bring earplugs. With a sigh I knew it didn't matter. I was still going in.
Walking into the main room was easy, walking around inside wasn't. To say it was crowded would be a bit of an understatement. It was just after five in the morning and some people were still partying. Bodies pressed up against each other, all dressed up for a night out. Most were dancing or jumping to the music. The DJ was the only person who seemed to have room to breathe, but I must admit it made it a bit easier to go unnoticed. I shoved my way through, wondering where I would end up if I just went with the crowd.
Slowly but surely I made my way to the far wall. I looked around, trying to find a spot where I might get a moment to think. There was a second floor I could head up to that didn't look as crowded. It seemed to be my best bet. I continued to scan the room as I once again began to push through the crowd.
It didn't take long to notice the huge screen on one side of the club. When I looked closer I saw that it was actually made up of sixteen smaller screens. Sometimes they flashed one large picture, other times they showed smaller ones. In any case the picture kept changing. I soon picked up the pattern to the different pictures. I watched it as I reached the stairway. Then I noticed what I hadn't before. One of the cameras was watching me. Every so often there would be a flash of the part of the club I was in, my face clearly visible. Cursing under my breath I continued up the stairs. No use kicking myself. Not yet at least.
Sure enough the top floor was almost completely empty. I wondered why, sure they had a reason. Maybe only certain people were allowed up here. It didn't matter, I wasn't leaving until I knew where to go.
First thing I looked for were doors. If someone was watching me I wanted a way out of the room. There were quite a few doors, and I wasn't sure which to take. Slowly I walked around the room, reading signs on the door. They were all clearly labeled, most saying staff only. I stopped at the 'Danger, do not enter' sign. There was some lame reason for staying out below it. The sign was a beacon saying to me 'Bad guys don't want you here, come on in.'
I opened the door and stepped inside. I didn't see anything electrical that the sign had warned about. What I did see was an office, nicely decorated in black and white, with hints of red sprinkled about. There was a black desk with a white chair behind it. The flat screen computer was all black, including the keyboard. The light beside it was also black, but it had red etching on it. I ignored most of the other furniture, walking into the room to get a better look.
The walls were eggshell white, which knocked down Matt's decorating taste a few points. One wall interested me quite a bit though. If I hadn't know he was an assassin I would have by looking at it, either that or someone way too obsessed with a certain young lady. The wall was covered in pictures. There were all shapes and sizes, some black and white some colored. Every picture had something to do with the same person. Mariemaia. She was in all sorts of places: restaurants, parks, her work, her house. There were pictures without her, but always in places she would normally be.
It wasn't a mystery who Matt's second target was.
"Alex," he used the same cold voice as he had in my apartment, though this was somewhat amused.
I turned to face him, indifferent to what I had seen. I could spot two guns on him, and I didn't know if there were others in the room. he probably had another weapon on him as well. It was important that I kept my eye open. I didn't want to be shot because I glanced away.
"Matt," I said it more sarcastically than anything else.
"Talk to my dad?" he made it a question, "Or do you have other sources?"
I shrugged, "Does it matter? I'm here either way."
He shrugged in response, his eyes not leaving mine as he took in everything he could about me. I knew I wasn't hiding much from him and that he'd find every weapon I had. I hadn't taken a lot of time concealing them. As Jack had said, he wasn't an idiot. I knew Matt would find them either way.
Matt walked around the room, I turned with him, watching carefully as he took his seat behind his desk. He leaned back, slouching comfortably as he waited for me to say why I was here. I didn't. He continued to stare, I watched him.
Matt gave in first. "So, what brings you to my place?" the amusement hadn't gone, but he held my gaze so steadily I knew for sure I shouldn't look away. He wasn't kidding about killing me.
"Good question, actually. I was trying to figure that out myself on my way here," my humor was lost on him, but I kept talking. "I heard from Duo that you were hired to kill someone else first. Now that I know who I don't care if you kill her. Not that I dislike her, but it doesn't really matter to me."
"Your point?" I wasn't sure whether or not he was feigning bored, but I didn't want him that way. It could be a problem.
I crossed my arms over my chest with a sigh. "I'd like to make a deal with you so that you won't kill me until after Mariemaia is dead." That caught him by surprise. Yeah for me.
"And why would I do that?" his voice held a dry humor, as if he was silently laughing at me. He probably was. He could laugh, but I'd make a deal with this and leave this club alive.
"I don't know," I said with maybe too much sarcasm. "That's why I'm asking you just that question."
He did laugh this time, a deep throaty laugh. "And I'm just supposed to say, 'do this' and you'll do it? Yeah right. I've already taken this deal, and I don't care who I kill, or win, as long as I do it." So maybe I had been a little blunt. Oops.
"If you don't care when you kill me then why not wait?" I asked.
He grinned, seemingly happy that I had caught the screw up that he'd said. "Because I don't want to." In one fluid motion he had a gun pointed at me. I was just as quick, the browning resting easily in my hand, aiming for his forehead. His grin widened.
"As much as I enjoy a good stand off, I've got better places to be," I stated.
He asked, "Then why come and see me?"
"Because I don't want you to be in those other places with a gun to my head."
We were both silent for a moment. Both considering what the other had said as we held our guns steady. I wondered just what his small smile meant. Hopefully it meant that he wasn't going to kill me, though I really didn't know.
Matt finally asked, "What would you do to keep yourself alive?"
I still hadn't looked away, but his gaze grew more intent.
"I don't know," I stated truthfully. A lot of things, but not everything.
Matt raised an eyebrow. "Really? Well then… would you kill someone?"
"Who?"
"Does it matter?"
It was my turn to smile. "Yes."
He smiled in response as he put his gun on the table. I was so surprised that I lowered mine, if only for a second. He stood up and walked around the desk, his trench coat following him like a cape. "I won't have you kill anyone. You'd say no," he paused to hold up a hand so I wouldn't speak. "Yes, you would. I don't need to know you to know that. It's the principal." I bite my tongue to stop myself from arguing. He was probably right.
"So?" I asked.
He grinned. "So you're going to help me."
I asked, "With what?" I didn't like having to push around the subject, and he was doing an excellent job of it.
"I'm not sure yet. Probably getting at Mariemaia, for starters. She knows about me, which isn't surprising sense she's working for Gabriel," Matt explained. "He doesn't want her dead yet so he's helping her. When convenient he'll drop back, but I don't want to wait that long. With your help I'll kill you both soon enough that it'll make up any time wasted in killing you." He said it in such and uncaring way that I began to see where his cold voice came from. You can't afford too much emotion when your job is killing people.
"Fine, not a problem," I said. I didn't mention that I wasn't aware that Marie was working with Gabriel. Not to mention it bugged me that he knew I was mixed up somewhere in the mess. I understood where he was thrown in. He probably didn't care about Gabriel or the mess involved with him. He just had to get to Mariemaia.
Matt looked unbelieving. "Fine? Just like that?"
I nodded. "Yeah. Fine. I have nothing against you killing Marie. I've already said that."
He shrugged. "Okay."
Satisfied that we had come to as much of a truce that we would I turned away. He didn't say anything as I left.
Plowing my way through the crowd I ignored everyone. I was too busy thinking about what was going on, and what I'd end up doing. I'd made a deal with Matt. Hopefully he'd live up to it. I had to. I couldn't just break my word. It went against my morals, but it would be difficult if I had to go into a serious situation. Matt knew that. I wasn't quite sure just what helping him actually meant. Maybe it would be something small, but probably not.
It didn't take long to get outside. The beginning of a sunrise was creeping towards us, promising another blistering hot day. I grimaced at the thought and quickly started off towards the jeep. If I was lucky I could get home before the sun rose all the way and have a very long nap.
Walking at a brisk pace I continued to ignore the world. Lost in thoughts about what all was going on I didn't see the man trailing behind me until he reached out and grabbed my shoulder.
Reflex made me reach for my gun. I was quicker than he was, but by the time the browning was out and pointed at him he had his hand up to stop it. Swiftly he grabbed the gun, twisting it out of my grip and throwing it somewhere on the ground. I didn't have time to see exactly where it landed.
The man stared at me blankly with too empty of eyes. I would have said something but I didn't think he was able to listen. He seemed to still, too, dare I say it, dead. Yet he was alive and breathing and gripping my shoulder with the strength of iron.
Suddenly he pushed into me, forcing me to shuffle backwards. He leaned into me and kept walking with a pace I couldn't match while going backwards. Twice I should have tripped but he held me to my feet.
"Are you Alex Yuy?" he hissed while his small, rat like eyes glared into me. I found it rather funny that such emotionless dead eyes still were able to glare. Zombie like people must just know how to be intimidating.
"Why?" I asked, knowing instantly it was the wrong thing to say.
The man, though he looked rather scrawny, had enough strength to slam me into a wall hard enough that it knock the air out of me. When I was able to talk again I muttered a soft, "Owe," before the man came at me again.
He stomped up to me, grabbing my hair from the back of my head and pulling my face close to his. "Are you Alex Yuy?" His voice was a low growl. I was beginning to get scarred, realizing I should have been when I had first lost my gun.
"Does it really matter?" I snapped.
His growl grew till I half expected him to turn into a snarling wolf. He was loud enough, not to mention angry. His grip tightened on my hair, right before he slammed the left half of my face into the wall.
I screamed. It hurt. My hands went to my forehead as I tasted blood. I felt several scrapes and cuts, nothing too serious. I had probably lost some hair pulling out of his grip, but I'd deal. Right now I just wanted a warm, wet washrag.
"Are you Alex Yuy?" he demanded.
Cursing for a moment I didn't answer. It wasn't until I realized he was going to hit me again that I said anything. "Yes, damn it. Now leave me the heal alone." It wasn't going to happen, but I could ask anyway.
When I looked back up I knew I had said the wrong thing.
Two men had joined the man who looked so oddly like an emotionless rat it wasn't funny. Then again the two men beside him were just as strange.
One was tall, broad shouldered, with arms as wide as my head. He was so intimidating I didn't think they needed the other two. He was a giant that loomed over me, being a minimum of six ft. five. I wasn't good on guessing heights so I'd leave it at that.
The other was small, dwarfish. He squinted at me from abnormally large eyes. He was roughly four feet tall, making up for any lack of height with rather large muscles, even if they weren't as big as the giant's. The thing that made him look most formidable was the small ax he held loosely at his side.
All three looked ready to kill. Suddenly running sounded like a grand idea.
I stumbled to my feet, hobbling backwards as I almost lost my balance. None of them moved, and I wasn't sure why. Was someone behind me? I glanced but didn't see anyone. Turning back the giant was right in front of me. My eyes widened at his speed. I took in a deep breath right before one of his huge hands gripped my neck. My hands moved to stop him before I thought a second about what might be smarter.
I reached for the derringer in my pocket. Two shots to get me out of this mess. I could just kill him. At the range it would be easy, one simple shot. The problem with that plan was I was pretty sure that he wasn't controlling himself. A certain someone had messed with his mind, turning him into the zombie he was. He didn't deserve to die. Than again, I didn't think I needed to die, either.
I fired a shot, right into his shoulder. He grunted and flinched back. His grip loosened but not enough for me to get away. I fired again, this time a little lower on his arm. He let go and I moved backwards, promptly tripping over some piece of trash.
Falling backwards with a thud I clinched my eyes for a brief second. When I opened my eyes the giant was inching backwards, not liking the gun. I was tempted to throw it at him, now that it was empty, but it would just bounce off. Quickly I reached for two things, stashing the derringer in its pocket. When I carefully came to my feet I was holding a knife in my left hand and a gun in my right. I had six bullets until I ran out. If I could find the browning I'd have eight more plus and extra clip that was in my coat pocket.
I looked up to see the giant towering over me again. He had gotten rid of his fear of guns rather quickly. Bending down he grabbed me by my shoulder, pulling me to my feet. He handled me like a rag doll. I wasn't sure whether to stab him or shoot him again, the first two shots didn't seem to have bothered him much.
Then he punched me. I grunted and feel to the ground as he dropped me. My stomach did flip-flops and I took a moment to get over the pain. A brief memory of Olaf punching me and the fire that appeared because of it came to me. I shuddered, knowing that it wouldn't happen again but I wouldn't let myself get angry with this guy.
I felt more than saw his fist coming to hit me again, and immediately I reacted. It took only a second for me to slid to my feet and push myself backwards, shooting up while I did so. The giant missed me, barely, but my bullet didn't miss him. He staggered backwards, clutching his chest.
Slowly I climbed to my feet, watching as the giant stumbled and fell, collapsing onto himself. He seemed to shrink as died, so huddled in that he didn't seem to be any larger than a normal man. For curiosity's sake I wanted to poke him, but I knew I didn't have the time.
The midget came next. If he didn't have the axe I might have tried something with my knife, but it didn't seem like a good idea. I wasn't sure how fast this guy was, so I decided to run. Sheathing the knife I sprinted for the exit. If I could get away from these guys then I should be okay. At least that was the theory.
I heard footsteps following me out. They only made me run faster. The moment I was out of the ally someone tackled me, and just to my luck no one was around to help. I knew almost instantly it was the rat guy. He clawed at me as I tried to push him off of me. Once again the man proved to be quite strong as he held me in place without much of a problem. The little man came up with his axe. He aimed carefully, avoiding the man atop me as he prepared to swing. I took in a deep breath, closed my eyes, and fired.
Inching an eye open I saw the dwarf on his knees clutching his chest, but not dead. He wasn't going to die easily, no matter how much I wanted him to. Not that I really wanted him dead.
Ratman seamed to get the idea that guns were bad, and once again slammed me into something. The sidewalk and my head collided as I sucked in a shout. I knew that I was bleeding a lot now, which was so not a good thing. The man grabbed my gun. He wrenched it out of my hand and threw it into the wall behind him. The gun fired a shot, the trigger being hit by something. He wouldn't let me pull out another knife.
Running was out of the question now, and the whole weapon thing wasn't working. Of course I no longer had to worry about the giant but the midget looked quite capable of getting to his feet. Even though I'm sure it would kill him to do so. The pain didn't stop him from grabbing the ax and slowly moving to attack.
Then a really funny thought came to me.
I don't want to die.
For some reason actually thinking what I had been feeling through the entire fight helped. I didn't want to die so I should probably do something to stop it. The whole idea seemed so obvious that I realized I should have thought of it before. I guess you just don't think well under stress.
I did the first thing that I thought of. Moving into push up position I pushed up with such force that I almost knocked the guy off of me. I say almost because while I was scrambling to stand up he was still on my legs, pulling me back down. I kicked at him, which didn't help much.
I wasn't sure just what would help until the sound of sirens came into hearing. It sounded like someone a block over had just flipped them on, which was likely. There always seemed to be some cop sitting around waiting for something to happen. They were rarely disappointed.
Squealing tires came around the corner as I kicked again, this time only buying time before I might be able to get some help. I wasn't sure why the cops were coming, but they were defiantly heading for me. Maybe they'd heard gunshots. Maybe someone had called. It didn't matter.
The lights kept flashing when the car stopped, giving me light to see just what was going on. Nothing looked much different, but I was able to spot both of my guns that had previously been lying in shadows.
"Let go of the woman and stand up!" a cop yelled as he quickly got out of the car, gun pointed at the three of us. I wasn't sure if it was focused on a particular one.
I was considering telling him that they probably wouldn't listen but decided he'd find out soon enough. After all, the man was completely ignoring him, not even giving him a glance. It wasn't until the little guy was fully on his feet before I realized it would be a really good thing to get help.
"He not going to listen," I said dryly. It would have sounded sarcastic if it hadn't been for the trace of fear.
The man glanced at me for a moment, before trying again. "Let go of the woman now!" Rat-guy continued to ignore and the policeman's partner began to get out of the car.
"Look," I said, attempting to be friendly while trying to fight off panic. I had given up on fighting off the rat guy who seemed to be having trouble figuring out what to do with me, though he had full possession of my legs and I couldn't move. "Can you just try to get him off of me. He won't listen, or at least not to you, and I doubt the guy they will listen to is anywhere nearby."
The policeman looked confused. I probably wouldn't have minded except that the zombie was about to hit me again. It wasn't until Ratman hit me again that his partner sprang into action. At least one of them had sense, and I'm sure saved my life. He was trying to pull the man off of me while I was trying to see pass stars.
That was when the midget got back into the action. He swung his ax over his head, and the police man being the good guy that he was, put his arm in front of it blocking the edge from slamming into my head. The sight of blood made the first guy fire, right into the rat guy who was about to hit me again. The midget had fallen over, collapsed from the effort of swinging the ax and lack of blood. Maybe he thought I was dead.
"Damn it! Get me a bandage or something," muttered the police guy on top of the rat guy. He didn't seem too particularly irritated with the situation, other than the fact that he had a deep cut. Unsteadily he got to his feet while his partner rummaged through his car. Even though he was hurt he still offered me a hand up. "What are you doing here anyway." Despite the sharp words he looked genuinely concerned.
I accepted his hand and pulled myself to my feet, taking a second to steady before answering. "Uh, tell you later, I'm having trouble thinking," I paused a moment, trying to think because it was true that it wasn't working very well. "I have to find my guns," I murmured, pulling away from the cop.
"Guns?" Now he was suspicious.
I nodded. "Yeah," I answered, "but I'm not a bad guy, I just don't come to this neighborhood unarmed. I value my life a little." Rummaging around in the piles of bricks and trash I found the gun for my leg holster. Carefully I put it back at my ankle as looked for the browning. It was somewhere near the entrance, which is where it was knocked out of my hands.
"Is this one of them?" asked the first cop, kicking it out from a shadow.
I smiled at him thankfully. "Mucho gracious." I bent and picked up the gun, needing to use my hand for support as I got to my feet.
"Why are you out here?" said the second cop, he was sticking with the suspicious theory.
I truly intended on answering, but between fully getting to my feet and turning to face the cop something hit me. My vision seemed to blur and all those times I got knocked into hard objects caught up with me. I blacked out.
So... what do you think? again, thanks for the reviews, and I'm fully agreeing with mooncancer on the last one, but I do like the way the stories ending up. This one was a bit longer than the last, which was slightly what I was going for. *shrugs*
~Rave