"Ray, go see if the kid blew his brains out."
Warrick moved to attack Eric, but Tony held him back with ease. "If anything happened to him..."
"Hey, it's not my fault if he killed himself."
"You buried him!" Warrick yelled. He was pretty amazed that Eric didn't seem to care too much about this. He wasn't surprised at Jeremy though. He had closed his eyes and covered his face in his hands, fearing the worst for his little brother.
Ray hurried over to the spot and quickly dug up a few shovel fulls of dirt before reaching down and hauling the cover up. It took a couple tries because there was still a lot of dirt on it, but he finally got it up. He didn't even have time to be confused.
Another gunshot rang out, and Ray stood rigid for a second before slowly falling backwards onto the ground and laying still.
Eric didn't hesistate at all. He crossed the five feet between him and the hole in a second and was soon standing over it. There was yet another gunshot, but Eric didn't even flinch as the bullet whizzed past his arm and hit the house behind him. He kicked his foot out, knocking the gun out of Nick's shaking hand. The blood loss and wound on his hand had made it hard for him to hold the gun up and fire, but he had managed. He had also managed to piss Eric off to a whole new degree.
He picked the gun up off of the ground and pointed it into the hole. "You are proving to be way too much of a hassle Nick." He said before pulling the trigger. His intent hadn't been to kill Nick though. He knew enough about where to shoot someone if you wanted the process to be slow and painful for them to die, or just painful. The bullet hit Nick in the right shoulder, casuing Nick to yell out in pain.
"Shut up and get out before I kill you."
Nick heeded the warning and slowly dragged himself out of the box, leaving behind shallow pools of blood that covered the entire bottom of the plexiglass. Once he got over the joy of seeing he was still alive, Warrick noticed Nick was shaking slightly. Probably more from being back in that hellish situation then anything else. Nick stood in between Eric's gun and where Warrick and Jeremy were sitting with Tony behind them. He put himself there for a reason.
"I must admit, that was pretty clever."
"Thank you." Nick said. Somehow, his voice still held confidence and was steady as ever.
"But it didn't accomplish much. It only pissed me off more."
"I didn't think that was possible." Nick said. He was trying to apply pressure to his bleeding shoulder, but the damage done to both of his hands weren't allowing him to do so.
"Oh it is, and you did it. Congratulations, you're a dead man."
Jeremy picked this opportunity to try and do something right. "You can't kill him because you need that package."
"On the contrary." Eric said with a smile. "I don't need the package. True, Nick is the only one who knows where it is. But then it doesn't matter if he's dead or not, because no one will be able to find it. If no one can find it, they won't be able to use it against me."
Nick sighed in mock-defeat. "Yeah...I guess all the cops will have on you then is murder."
Eric raised the gun again at pointed it right at Nick's heart. "I have so had it with you kid."
"This isn't easy for you, is it?" Nick asked.
Eric shook his head. "What are you talking about?'
"You said yourself I was like a son to you, and that means a lot seeing as how you never had any kids. You've called me 'kid' at least twice tonight. Almost everyday you would tell me how you couldn't wait for me to take over for you because I would be even better at it then you were. And then when I got out, you almost killed me then, but couldn't. So what makes you think you can now?"
Eric stared at Nick for a few seconds before coming up with a suitable answer. "You were only better because I taught you everything I know. I made you what you were."
"And it pisses you off that I never really wanted anything to do with how you lived your life. I only worked for you to help Jeremy, and you know that. You hate me just as much as you like me."
"Don't flatter yourslef Nick."
Nick nodded. "Yeah, I shouldn't go as far as to say you like me. You don't care about anyone but yourself. But I'm not too worried, you never had much of a shot. You'd probably miss me."
Eric snorted. "Did you forget the grazing of your shoulder, and the bullet that's in the other one?"
"My point exactly."
"No, my point. I can put a bullet anywhere I need to. Including right in your heart."
"Come on then, do it. I won't even move."
Eric hesistated for the first time all night. Truth was, he really did like Nick. He was like a son to him, but a son that had betrayed the family and left. A son that had truly disappointed and pissed him off, but a son nonetheless.
"I have a better idea. Why don't I kill your brother and best friend in front of you, then kill you?"
Nick shook his head. "Or, you can stop stalling and just kill me." When Eric didn't respond, Nick turned around and looked at Warrick. Something in his eyes told Warrick that crazy as it sounded, Nick knew what he was doing and that everything was going to be okay. Warrick hoped Nick's eyes were giving away as much now as they always had.
"You should have stuck with it Nick. You would have been great."
Eric pulled the trigger a fraction of a second before Nick's legs gave out and he started to fall to his knees. Nick felt the bullet tear through part of his right ear and go sailing past as his knees hit the ground. He slowly forced himself to stand back up and smiled slightly at Eric.
"Sorry man, I wasn't expecting that to happen. Move in, make it a little easier."
Eric practically ran up to Nick and thrusted the gun against Nick's forehead. "You little fucker! I regret teaching you anything, you never put it to good enough use. You were a waste of my time."
"Then pull the trigger." Nick said with a smile. Eric did, but was surprised by the sound of an empty click. He frowned and pulled again, only to be met with the same sound. Nick, on the other hand, had apparently expected it.
Nick's smile widened. "Guess you taught me more than you thought." He said before punching Eric in the face. The blow sent the other man stumbling backwards. He hadn't seem it coming, and was surprised at how hard Nick was able to hit him considering all the physical damage that he's been through so far.
Eric held up a hand to stop Tony from intervening. "It's okay, I can take him." He said. He wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand. "That was a mistake."
"You made a bigger one when you put a gun to my head and threatened my best friend and brother. If you wanna kill me, then give it your best shot."
Eric shrugged slightly. "What are you trying to do? Prove to everyone you're better than me?"
Nick shook his head. "No, I don't have to prove anything. But I think you want to. So let's go."
To be honest, the best way to describe it was like a scene from a movie. Where the good guy and the bad guy fight at the end, fist to fist, and everyone just watches. Every single person in the backyard knew it wasn't a fair fight because Nick had been hung upside down, almost drowned, nailed to a wall, put in a box, and shot. Even though Eric was at least 10 years older than Nick, he was in good physical shape, especially compared to Nick at the current time.
Depite all that had happened to him, Nick was still holding his own. Every punch Eric threw, he either ducked or blocked it. He got more shots in than Eric did. But then he started to get tired, all the blood he lost started going against him. He did more to avoid Eric's fists then to use his own. When his vision started to blur and he couldn't see straight, Eric took full advantage of it. He punched Nick in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. Nick doubled over, flinching everytime Eric punched him in his already battered ribs. Nick straightened back up and punched Eric in the face and chest a couple of times. It was clear just by watching them this one time that they were both good fighters.
Then everything started spinning, and Nick was having a hard time standing up. Eric caught him with a right hook in the jaw, making Nick turn slightly towards the house they were almost right next to. He then grabbed Nick by the neck and pushed him the last couple steps before he threw him through the window on the side of the house. Nick's head shattered the glass. He went through all the way up to his shoulders before stopping and falling back and away from the house. He landed on his back with his eyes closed. Shards of glass were stuck in the deep cuts on his face, neck and shoulders.
Eric took a few steps towards Nick, the whole time thinking he was going to win. Until, without even opening his eyes, Nick kicked out as hard as he could. His foot connected with Eric's shin, snapping the fragile bone in half. Eric screamed out in pain and shifted all of his weight onto his left foot.
He should have fallen to the ground instead.
Nick stood up as quickly as he could. He swayed on his feet a little, but that didn't stop him from punching Eric in the nose so hard he felt the cartilage shatter on impact. Eric's eyes closed as he fell back onto the ground and lay still.
Warrick got up and ran over to Nick just in time to catch him as he fell to the side. He slowly lowered Nick to the ground, but didn't let him lay down for fear that he would fall asleep and never wake up. Neither one of them flinched or turned around when they heard a gunshot followed by a loud thud. Nick's eyes were shadowed and tired, and he was having a hard time keeping them open. He spit blood from his mouth a few times. Warrick checked to make sure Nick's jugular hadn't been lacerated and that all the other cuts weren't extremely serious. He was definitely going to have a headache after that one though. To keep Nick steady, he gently put his hands firmly on Nick's shoulders and rested his elbows in Nick's knees, minding all of the cuts and bullet wounds.
"Stay with me man." He said softly. "You're gonna be fine."
"The ambulance and cops are on their way." Jeremy called from off to Warrick's right. He just nodded his response, keeping his eyes on Nick.
Nick raised his shaky arms and put his hands on Warricks forearms, gripping them as tightly as he could. "I'm sorry I got you into this."
Warrick shook his head. "Don't be sorry for anything. Just worry about getting outta this, okay? Don't think about anything else, just relax. You're gonna be okay."
Nick nodded slowly. He focused on Warrick's green eyes as best as he could. "My head's killing me." He said.
Warrick couldn't help but smile. "Well you did get put through a window bro."
Nick laughed slightly. "Yeah, I know. Fucking windows." He took deeps breaths to help keep his focus away from the excrutiating pain. When he couldn't see Warrick anymore and his vision was clouded by black, he started to panic a little. "I can't see anything..." He said, His voice fading to almost a whisper.
Warrick squeezed his shoulders without causing anymore pain. "You don't need to see anything. Just listen to me. Listen to my voice. You're gonna be fine. Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you anymore. You're gonna be okay."
Nick nodded slightly and closed his eyes. He let his head hand slightly as he listened to everything Warricck was saying to keep him calm. Before he knew it, he was being strapped into a stretcher and loaded onto the back of the ambulance with Warrick right next to him, as always.
Jeremy watched his little brother be put in the back of the ambulance and rushed away. He hated himself for not going over to Nick and trying to help him, to see if he was okay. He just stood there and watched Warrick do his job. He wasn't mad at Warrick, just at himself. He was supposed to be Nick's big brother, but had never done a good job at that. Ever.
Jeremy gave the police the best statement he could before Nick's boss drove him to Desert Palms hospital. If something happened and Nick didn't make it out of this, he would never forgive himself. Even if Nick ended up perfectly okay, he probably still wasn't going to.