Ch. 7 One year later

He had let Lillith stay at his house, sleeping on the couch in his living room, because he had no other place. Zeke didn't even own a bed; he just slept on a cot in his bedroom. He had given her a key to his door, and Lillith helped him out by getting a job at the local Deli, and had sometimes tried to cook. Rose had completely shut herself away, according to Lillith, so Zeke hadn't talked with her or seen the other girl. Lillith didn't always stay at his house. She often went to Joey's, sometimes not returning to his place for weeks on end.

Zeke had kept track of the days, waiting for that one day where Bakura and the mysterious business man would meet up again. That day finally came, and Zeke donned his sunglasses and coat once again. He was forced to wear sunglasses every time he would answer the door, go outside, or anywhere out of his home because of the giant cut on his eye. Just in case, he slipped a large pistol into an inside pocket on his jacket.

After that few minutes walk, Zeke arrived back at the Sushi restaurant, scanning the place before they landed on the same table that he had seen the same person one year ago. The man wore the same suit, same hair perfectly combed and neat, wearing gloves, and sipped a single glass of wine with the bottle sitting inside a chiller. Bakura wasn't yet to be seen, so Zeke grabbed a seat at the table closest to the man in the suit, which happened to be behind him. Zeke listened as he could hear Bakura's footsteps approach closer.

"You haven't changed at all," Bakura's growling voice said as he took his seat.

"Neither have you, being late again," the man replied. "We are here to discuss how we have come up with a way to make your job easier."

"It took you a year to solve this?"

"No you idiot," the man said. "The purpose of waiting a year is waiting for their guard to be down, wait for them to make the first mistake. Last I was told, she had just begun walking to the Wheeler residence. Three men are on their way to kill her as we speak."

Zeke didn't see it, but he was sure Bakura was giving a broad grin. Without even thinking, Zeke stood up and walked out quickly, making sure not to catch the eye of either Bakura or the other guy. When he was a safe distance, he burst out in a run towards Joey's house. Soon he found their small house and ran at the door, pounding on the wood until he got an answer.

"Okay, okay, what?" A tall blonde boy answered the door.

"Is Lillith here?' he asked, panting.

"No, she just left as second a…" A loud screech of wheels drowned out the rest of his sentence. Zeke looked behind him as three men pulled up in a convertible carrying large automatic rifles in their hands.

Zeke tackled Joey to the floor as a burst of gunfire ripped through the house. The bullets zipped by, making holes in the walls and causing hundreds of things inside the house to explode. Joey ran behind his couch as Zeke stayed lying against the carpet. He reached in for his pistol, a large and expensive desert eagle, and turned off the safety. He crawled behind the couch Joey was cowering behind.

Everything was suddenly silent as the bullets stopped. Zeke gripped his pistol tightly, and took a careful glance out of the shattered glass window. All three hitmen were wearing black cotton pants and leather jackets. Zeke thought they looked like brothers, all with dark-brown hair that was dry and gruff.

"Get to the back of the house, stay as low as you can," he said to Joey.

"All right…" Joey answered in a squeaky voice. Zeke watched him crawl away, and saw Yugi trailing behind him. The boy paused to look at him, and looked like he was going to say something.

"GO!" Zeke mouthed before he could utter a sound. Yugi shut his mouth and nodded, crawling after Joey. Zeke waited until he could hear heavy boots fall onto the glass shards on the floor. He jumped up from behind the couch, and shot at a man who stood at the door. It hit his chest , forcing him on his back off his feet, choking and gasping on his own blood as his lungs were filled from internal bleeding. Zeke ran outside, and found that the other two had disappeared. This was wrong. He looked around frantically to see two shapes running down the street.

He cursed at himself and tore after them. He was getting closer and closer until he realized that they had stopped moving, apparently they had lost their quarry. Zeke took aim and the one on his left fell as the bullet passed through the spinal chord. The man's friend turned around, sending a spray of bullets in Zeke's direction as the boy ran faster towards him.

Zeke suddenly felt an excruciating pain in his right arm as a bullet ripped through his bicep. He watched the man run away, abandoning his partner. Zeke slowed down to a steady pace as he replaced his pistol back inside his pocket. Clutching his injured arm, Zeke walked up to the fallen assailant that he had shot before.

"Who are you?" Zeke asked. The man was panting on the sidewalk, paralyzed.

"I ain't telling you shi…"

Zeke kicked the man hard in the side, making him scream out in pain, yelling curses at Zeke for hitting him while he was on the floor. There was sirens in the distance.

"Who are you?" Zeke asked him calmly.

"I told you, I ain't telling you…"

Zeke kicked him harder. After waiting for the man to stop screaming, he asked him the same question once again.

"I'm a hitman, hired by people. Is that what you want?" he said quickly.

"Who hired you?"

"I don't know…" Zeke raised his foot. "Some corporation guy! That's all I know, I swear! Mike knew who, but you shot him too you bastard."

"Good. Now tell me, what do you know about your target?"

"All I know is what she looks like. Nothing else. They said you might be in the way, but we kind of doubted you would show up."

Zeke walked away, leaving the man to either rot or get arrested by the loud sirens. Still clutching his arm, Zeke looked around for any signs of where Lillith had gone. She had probably hid herself away somewhere…

His eye caught the sight of small red puddles leaving a trail into a side alley. Damn… He followed it until the blood stopped in front of a fire-escape ladder.

"Ah shit…" This was going to be hard to climb with an injured arm. After a struggle on the ladder, he slowly ascended each step. He had to use one arm, and after a couple minutes of difficulty, made it to the roof.

Sitting in the corner, her leg bleeding profusely was…