Chapter 13
I was waiting on him. Thirty minutes had past & he still wasn't back.
"Stay here for awhile," he had told me.
I had asked why & he pointed out that I wasn't being careful & that got me shot. I supposed he was right. I had been overconfident with the automatic in my hands. I felt like I had power with it.
I told him it wasn't anything serious, but he said that I would just slow him down. Then he left. He didn't tell me what to do if he didn't come back. I didn't know if he was overconfident & knew that he was coming back, if he wanted me to leave & not wait on him if time past, or if he wasn't coming back at all.
So I stood, waiting. He left me on a corner. There were hallways going north, south, east, & west. And it was dark. Donovan had cut the power so it would be harder to see. But our eyes had adjusted to the light & we could see just barely enough to fire at a threat.
When we first arrived at DOATEC, there wasn't a soul in the streets & it seemed the same in the building. Bayman was cautious going in. He had thought that there was a bomb implanted inside or something. When we were in the lobby, there wasn't anybody inside it seemed. The heels of our shoes, clicking on the tiles was the only noise throughout the lobby. It bounced off the walls & it went up to the glass ceiling about ten stories. And as soon as we had stopped, it stopped. It was too quiet . . . Surely Donovan wouldn't let us go into an empty building. That was when Bayman had readied his automatic. After a few seconds, I had watched him shift his eyes up to the next floor. Someone was hiding there on the balcony. Then he had looked to the other side then another side. There were people all around us.
"Run," he had told me & I did.
The stairway was the closest & safest. As soon as I had hit the first step, there were gunshots behind me. I tried not to look, but I had to. When I did, Bayman had shoved me up the stairs, telling me to go. When it came to turn, there was someone at the top of the stairs. I fired, getting a couple of shots in & the man tumbled down the steps. I had jumped over him & kept going.
I clutched my thigh where I had been shot. It was bleeding ever since. I didn't bother tying it up. I was too busy worrying about Bayman. He could be dead for all I knew. I shuddered at the thought. It would be horrible if he died. I needed him to get through the whole mess.
Did he not care that I would be worried about him?
I peeked around the corners to see if anybody was coming. Someone should have been. The hallways were silent for too long. I was getting weak from standing up. I dropped the two pistols & slumped to the floor. I had dropped the automatic when I fell from running. Bayman didn't let me go back for it.
Sweat was trickling down my face. My hair was wet & dangling around my eyes. My leather stuck to my skin. I pulled it & let go & it slapped my skin. It was so hot & I was so tired. My head was still throbbing from the gunshots that I had heard for about ten minutes straight. I was getting light-headed & I didn't know why. It was unusual for me to become light-headed from all the shit I had taken.
My hands throbbed as well, probably from clutching the handles of the pistols so tightly. I lifted my hands up, making fists then releasing, over & over again. I noticed a shade of red on one of my hands. It was from the blood on my thigh. I looked down at the wound. It was dripping all over the floor now.
Suddenly there was a noise to my left down the hall. I popped my head up & looked that way.
Is someone coming? . . . Or is Bayman coming back?
Whichever it was, I slowly stood. I heard the noise again. I bent over & grabbed the pistols, slowly. I only had a few bullets left in them, but it should have been enough. I didn't know how close the person was or if they knew I was here, but they were close. The noise sounded again & again. Someone was dragging their feet my way.
"Bayman?" I shouldn't have said anything, because the noise stopped instantly.
I tried my best to see in the darkness. After staring for a few seconds, something flew at my face. I ducked then sidestepped to see who it was. It was a man wrapped in some kind of dark-colored outfit. It was somewhat similar to Silver Hands' outfit only it didn't have a hood allowing me to see the man's face clearly.
He had tried to stab me with a sword. It was long & it got wider at the tip. He held it up in a defensive position. I studied his face the best I could in the darkness. He sort of looked like her as well only his face was more slender & he was surely smaller in size, but the same height. Probably the same age. He had freckles just like her. I could see his green eyes clearly in the darkness as if they glowed. He was definitely part of Silver Hands' family.
"Who are you?" I asked him, "Are you related to Silver Hands'? What're you doing here?"
"You killed my sister," he said back, his voice was low.
"I what? No, I didn't. I was assigned to, but I never did."
"Don't lie to me I saw her body!"
So she's dead . . .
"She has family . . . & they'll come for her if they find her in distress," Bayman had said earlier.
Donovan is putting her family against us.
"Donovan assigned me to kill her, but I didn't!" I shouted back at him.
Before I could say anything else, he swung at me. I ducked & ran past him to the other hallway, nearly slipping from my hurt leg. I could hear him following me. I turned around & fired the pistols at him. He blocked it with the sword. I fired till they were suddenly out of bullets.
Damn it!
I threw them at him & kept running, more like limping actually. The wound was keeping me from getting far. I reached the end of the hallway, which was the lobby. I looked over down at it from the balcony. I was probably five stories high.
Where should I go? I can't fight him with a wounded leg.
I looked back. He was right behind me. I turned & ran along the balcony, trying hard not to pay the pain any mind.
I have to get a shot in! I still have my Silencer!
I turned around to see the man following me swing vertically at me. I sidestepped, but then he quickly swung horizontally & I got on the floor. I shouldn't have, because it would take awhile for me to get back up. Sure enough, he went in for a stab. I pushed myself to roll backwards & as soon as I was on my back again, he was in the air ready to pounce on me & thrust the sword into me. As fast as I could, I pulled the Silencer out from the strap at my waist & fired three rounds. As soon as I fired the last one he was already on top of me. His head landed right on my chest, knocking the breath out of me. The gun was being crushed under his weight & so was my arm. I pulled it out, then my other arm. He was small, but heavy. I grabbed his shoulder & tried to push him off of me. As soon as he was off to the side & I was standing up, I looked down at him. He was still breathing, just barely. I stared back at him & he stared back at me. I knew he was angry. I supposedly killed his sister & now he was going to die by my hands.
I looked up to see a shadow looking down at me. I recognized the hat. It was him.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
I had the hand holding the pistol on the wall & my other hand clasping my wound on my thigh. I was slowly walking back down the hallway where Bayman disappeared. I took my time, because I was tired, my leg hurt, & I was thinking of ways to kill Donovan as soon as we find him. Shoot him through the head, throw him out the window, or beat him to death before I shoot him. He deserved it for putting me through hell. Nearly five stories of torture: running, firing, falling, sweating, dodging. I didn't think Donovan had this many people behind him, but I suppose some of them were Silver Hand's family & some were from deals he made . . . recently.
I stopped as soon as my hand came to a corner. I was looking at the floor when I felt his hand on mine. I looked up to see him there. He was still alive after all.
"Thought you went off to commit suicide," I said, smirking.
"Thought you wouldn't listen," he said back.
He was bent over looking at me. I looked back at him & noticed he didn't have any weapons at all.
Is he crazy enough to walk around like that?
I asked him, "Where's your . . .?"
"I lost them," he answered me.
I was about to ask him how, but decided not to. It wasn't like he would give me the full story, right?
"Donovan's on the top floor," he said as he turned his back on me, "He's waiting. We should go."
He started up the stairs in front of us. I was about to ask him how he plans on defending himself, but realized I would be asking too many questions. So I told him I wasn't going to defend him instead.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
I stayed close behind Bayman. We were on the stairs to the tenth floor. It was too strange that we hadn't seen anyone for a few stories. Donovan was planning something. I started to doubt he was even in the building. He probably wanted us to go through hell until we find out he wasn't there at all. But then again, it would seem not like him to back out of a fight such as this one.
Bayman stopped when we reached the ninth floor. I bumped into him, asking what was wrong. When he didn't answer, I looked under his shoulder to see the long hallway leading to Donovan's door.
So this is it. This is where it ends. I'll walk through those doors, you'll be there, you'll say a few words about your admiration of me, our past, & why you're forced to kill me & I'll say nothing at all, then you'll challenge me.
Bayman started off towards the door. I followed after him.