A/N: Ok...so we're nearly at the end now. Thanks to everyone has read and reviewed this story, it really means a lot to me. It's been a fabulous day for writing (cold, gloomy and wet) so here is the next chapter.............
Chapter 20: Blind injustice
Knowing Evelyn was alive meant Sands was no longer afraid. He felt the same rush of adrenaline that he always used to feel when stepping into a dangerous situation. This dulled the pain and enabled him to stand. The noises of the gun fight became much clearer. There was a man to his left with a machine gun; he was dead before he hit the ground. Sands moved fluently. El caught sight of him and his mouth fell open. The man was bleeding profusely, he could see blood all over the floor, most of it Sands'. He was probably dying and yet he was still shooting like the professional he had once been.
Evelyn could hear loud noises some of which were so loud she longed to clamp her hands over her ears to protect them from the sound. The thing was she couldn't seem to raise her arms. Her body felt heavy like someone had swapped her blood for lead while she was unconscious. Her head throbbed from where the cartel had hit her to knock her out. When she opened her eyes coloured circles began to dance on the ceiling. It was a while before they faded away and she was able to make out the dull grey paint above her. Then something whizzed past her eyes, it was fast and small; a bullet. Oh god, she was in the middle of a gunfight. She sat up sharply and bit back a cry of pain. She was sure she had broken at least one rib. Carlos had hit her himself. He had been going to kill her when the warning had gone up about intruders. She had hoped to see who they were but they had knocked her out but she could see them now. One was a man she didn't recognise. He was darting in and out of the doorway skilfully avoiding the bullets that were flying his way. His movements were accompanied by a metallic jingling which came from the buckles on his trousers. The other intruder took Evelyn's breath away. She had to bite her tongue to stop herself from calling out his name. It was Sands, her Sands. How could she have ever thought him dead?!
Sands' sunglasses were not present but Evelyn barely noticed. His face was set in an expression of pure hatred. There were spots of blood on his forehead which contrasted vividly against his white skin. He had never looked more deadly. He stood perfectly still, legs apart, gun cocked and then like a snake strikes its' prey his head turned in the direction of his victim, he took aim and fired. He did not miss. The dark clothing hid the blood pouring from him so Evelyn did not know he was hurting, nothing showed in his face. Evelyn presumed the blood on the ground was from the dead cartel members that were now littered everywhere. She was so happy to see Sands that she did not remember what had happened to him a week ago, she did not remember the injury Sands had sustained. All she cared about was that he was in front of her now, and he had come to save her when all hope should have been lost.
The cartel's numbers began to fall. At their peak there had been twenty, only seven now remained. Evelyn had manoeuvred herself into the corner. She carefully avoided breathing too deeply so the pain in her chest did not sharpen. She watched Sands, her heart swelling at the sight of him. Oh, he was very much alive and he was saving her life. One of the cartel men looked his way. Evelyn did not have time to be worried. The man's eyes glazed, Sands had put a bullet in his skull. As the man fell Sands smiled. Not the beautiful smile he gave Evelyn but the sinister smile of someone who has just killed and liked it. Evelyn was so busy watching him that she didn't notice someone approach her until it was too late.
El threw his empty gun down and grabbed another one from his belt not a moment too soon. The man in front of him was a split second away from pulling the trigger when El shot the man's kneecaps into oblivion, a neat trick he had used on General Marquez himself. The man sunk to the floor shrieking but before El could put the man out of his misery Sands had done the job for him. He looked over at the agent intending to catch his eye, but he looked away quickly feeling a little sick. Fortunately he was distracted by two cartel members who were coming at him with automatic weapons. El wasted no time. He dived out of the doorway closely followed by the two men.
Sands had run out of bullets. He had just walked over to a dead body intending to search it for a suitable gun when someone cleared their throat. Sands felt a non existent weight fall upon his shoulders. He was an expert at voice recognition by now and that voice he knew though no words had been spoken. Sands turned towards the sound slowly.
"Put your hands in the air Agent Sands," said Carlos, his voice thick from his broken nose. Sands did not move.
"I said put your hands in the air," said Carlos his voice shaking with rage. Still Sands did not move. Carlos gave a dry laugh.
"Perhaps you would be more cooperative if you could see me," he said.
"Perhaps," said Sands, "But I doubt it." Again Carlos laughed. It was the only sound coming from inside the room now.
"Do you see who I'm holding a gun to Agent Sands?"
"Funny," said Sands dryly, "Does it look like I have eyes to you?" He might have sounded brave and defiant if it wasn't for the complete and all consuming fear that had just written itself all over his face.
"That's right Sands," said Carlos, "I have your girl, I have your bitch and she's going to die right here in front of you." Everything that had protected Sands from the full horror and pain of the situation fell away from him.
"Do you know why she's going to die?"
"Because you're a fucking..." Sands began weakly.
"Because you love her that's why!" screamed Carlos his voice bounding off the walls. Evelyn whimpered as Carlos pressed his gun barrel hard against her temple.
"Don't hurt her," said Sands and he raised his hands in the air. It physically hurt him to do it but he kept them there ignoring the pain, it didn't matter any more what happened to him.
"What would you do to keep her safe Sands?" Carlos asked his playful tone back with a vengeance.
"Anything," replied Sands flatly. His voice was failing along with the rest of him. Evelyn was too terrified to notice, Carlos was too carried away to care.
"I'm going to kill her," Carlos said his voice rising excitedly, "It doesn't matter what you do. You're going to have to listen to her die Sands." Sands felt himself swaying on the spot but he had heard something to force himself to keep upright. He had heard the Mariachi's movement.
"Are you listening Sands?" Carlos asked only now becoming aware that Sands was weakening dramatically.
"Always," said Sands, "Are you?" Simultaneous guns were fired deafening everyone in the room. When the smoke cleared Evelyn saw that Carlos had been shot right through the heart. El's gun dropped to the floor. Evelyn looked from Carlos to Sands with a smile on her face but the smile died at once.
Sands stayed standing for only a few seconds after the shot before his legs gave way. Evelyn shot one more look at Carlos and saw the gun still clutched in his dead hand was smoking.
"No!" There was nothing in the world that could have stopped her from reaching Sands in that moment. He was lying with one hand pressed against his stomach where Evelyn could now see blood soaking through his shirt. His hand was already covered with it. But he hadn't been shot in the stomach; he had been shot in the chest. Evelyn could see where the bullet had entered, more blood was pouring from there and there was already a thin line running down from his mouth. It was as if everything else had disappeared. To Evelyn, in that moment, Sands was the whole world.
"Oh god," said Evelyn as she sank down beside him, "Oh god, Sands, please speak to me, please." A small smile appeared on Sands' ruined face but he did not speak. Evelyn took hold of his hand, and was alarmed to find it chillingly cold. She wrapped her arms around Sands and brought him up to a gentle sitting position. He was trembling but Evelyn knew that it was not from fear. He was trembling from the effort of staying alive.
"It's going to be alright," said Evelyn her voice high and barely controlled.
"I don't think...," began Sands.
"Sssh," said Evelyn as she rocked him very gently and tried to contain a powerful rush of emotion. She couldn't let him tell her what she already knew, she would break.
"Fuck you," said Sands very softly, "I rescue you and you tell me to shut up." Evelyn's throat was too tight for laughter.
"We need to get out of here," she said and she tried to help Sands up.
"Nonono," he said quickly his breath coming in short gasps, "God no." Evelyn ceased at once. Sands gave her a quick smile, she was worried that she had hurt him and he wanted to tell her that was not the case. Evelyn clung to him, if she had laid her head down her body would have covered the hole Carlos' last bullet had made. Sands' dark clothes continued to hide the damage but they were soaked with blood, more blood than anyone should lose at one time, more blood than Evelyn had ever seen on a person still living.
Long moments passed, Evelyn could not bring herself to speak, far worse than silence was the thought of saying goodbye. She just held onto Sands and listened to his pained breathing hoping and praying that something would happen, something to make it all right again. That was when Sands spoke. His voice was the same as ever but it was punctuated with frequent pauses caused by sharp spasms of pain some of which were in rhythm with his breathing.
"Did El smoke the fucker?" he asked. Evelyn looked round and noticed the Mariachi for the first time since Sands had fallen. He was bending down checking Carlos' pulse. He straightened up, blood on his fingers. He nodded once.
"Yes," said Evelyn, "He's dead." Sands smiled slightly.
"Good," he said and for a terrifying instant Evelyn thought that would be it, the last thing she ever heard Sands say. He grimaced as fire shot through him but Evelyn was not about to let him leave.
"It's going to be alright Sands," she said trying to inject her high, shaky voice with confidence, "We're going to get you out of here and everything's going to be alright."
"Not so sure about that," said Sands calmly. He felt as if the world was draining away like when a basin full of water has the plug pulled out. Everything was spiralling towards oblivion but it was happening slowly so it felt like the seconds had been bewitched to play out in slow motion. Evelyn's throat had closed so she could not say anything for a moment.
"Please tell me you're going to be alright," she said at last and the first of her tears fell large and warm. She had never been more frightened in her whole life. Why had she been scared of her own death?
Sands could feel his own blood soaking his hand, he could feel the lightening bolts shooting through him from the bullet wound, it was too much and he knew it. The gun shot wound had sealed his fate, and he couldn't lie to her.
"It wasn't your fault," he said, "I put in danger and I got you out, so it wasn't your fault, right?" Evelyn was nodding, tears falling from her face.
"I'm blind Evelyn, you might want to give me some sort of audio answer."
"Ok," said Evelyn although it sounded more like a hiccup.
"I was going to tell you when we got home," said Sands and there was more than a hint of regret in his voice, "But you drove her away, Ajedrez, no more nightmares."
"What?" asked Evelyn bewildered, "How do you know?"
"I just do," said Sands. His voice was failing again. "I love you Evelyn." Only in her dreams had Evelyn ever heard those words from Sands, she had never expected he would actually say them.
"I love you too," she said her voice little more than a squeak now. Sands smiled and then shuddered. He felt Evelyn's grip around him tighten. She seemed to be hoping she could hold him so tight that nothing would be able to take him away but it was not to be. There were no more words. His life was slipping away from her like grains of sand through her fingers and there was nothing she could do. Evelyn felt Sands' wounded chest continue to rise and fall before he fell limp in her arms.
"No. Sands?" she said as she laid him down on the cold floor. His head fell to one side, his lips slightly open as if in the process of breathing but no air inflated his lungs.
"Sands? Please Sands" Evelyn said again and she pressed her lips to his transferring her air to him. But nothing she could do could bring Sands back.
El watched as Evelyn gathered Sands back into her arms and rocked back and forth her sobs restrained and silent. He knew she was holding back, it wouldn't be long. The terrible truth hit Evelyn like a dead weight. He was dead. Sands was dead. She screamed and collapsed on top of Sands her sobs erupted from her. They were so wretched and so full of pain that they reduced the great El Mariachi to tears. It was as if her heart was being torn in two to remain that way forever. She had only ever loved one man and she held that man in her arms, his blood drying upon wounds that would never heal.
El suddenly heard a noise that was different to Evelyn's grief. His insides froze. Footsteps. Whoever it was would have no trouble locating them, they could just follow Evelyn's cries of anguish. He wouldn't let anything happen to her. He pulled his gun and waited as the footsteps got closer. Someone stepped into the doorway. El squeezed the trigger but pulled his gun away just in time.
"Senor Mariachi," said Nino as he appeared his eyes wide and fearful, "I brought ambulance people." El could have kissed the boy. He moved to block Nino's view of the room and hurried him away to get the medical crews hoping that the boy's efforts had not been in vain.
A/N: I'm really sorry :( ....(don't hate me)....one more chapter to go...
(Sylvia: Thank you for reviewing as always. I promise I wasn't offended by any of your comments. I appreciate constructive critiscm, in fact, I'm surprised more people did not point out similar weaknesses. Your first question was regarding El. My answer is that the cartel only knew there was an intruder, they didn't know there were two people, and once they found Sands (or rather he found them) they got distracted and believed he was the one causing all the trouble. You're right, they probably would have searched for El but El is hiding anyway...does that sound a little more feasible? If not I'm sorry, I tend to get caught up in the story and forget about a little thing called being realistic. Your second thing was Sands reaction to Carlos' mockery. Sands wanted to buy time and if that meant sacrificing himself on the alter of dignity (ten things I hate about you quote there) then he was prepared to do it because in his current condition he would be unable to fight at all. But yeah, it isn't typical tough guy Sands...sorry. I think they were the two things. And please mention stuff like that again if it bothers you...I can't promise to change it but I'll take it all into consideration. I hope you manage to register and I can be fairly sure you're not stupid so don't even think it for one second. And as for quick updates...it's a pleasure. ;) ).