Chapter 8

Dominic sat on his chair, smoking a cigar as he looked over the events for tomorrow's race, seeing how many racers they're going to be and the three that were his own people.

"Hey boss."

"Yeah?" He looked up at Mark.

"Are you really going to let that girl go?"

Dominic leaned back, "I don't know, she's already seen too much. It would be meaningless to keep her alive, she could snitch on us if she wanted too."

"But we got her man, she wont dare do anythin because we'll kill her girlfriend."

Dominic then looked at Richter, "Speaking of which, Richter I never said anything about this but why did you kill her first girlfriend when you went to scare her all those years ago?"

Richter's frown slowly turned into a sinister smile, "No real reason… I just like doing things like that."

Dominic only shook his head, "Idiot. But we'll see, but the truth is I may not let her go so easily."

"Me and Harp will go back and keep watch on her house, make sure her girlfriend doesn't go anywhere."

He nodded and the two left, "Richter get the rest of the boys because after the race, we'll be getting our money from that blonde little girl."

"Oh yeah boss." He left the room to fetch the rest of them.

She opened the front door to her home and walked inside, throwing her jacket on the couch and sitting down. She was exhausted after escaping from the police and sadly there was still more to come.

She knew this was stupid of her, she knew that going through with this was just plain idiocy and she knew that this wasn't going to fix anything and yet… why did she keep going along with it?

Maybe it was because she wanted to kill Richter before leaving, he was the son of a bitch that ended Amy's life and she didn't want to leave him breathing. At the same time she was also hoping that after this they would be true to their word and let her leave but deep down in her mind she knew that it wouldn't happen, not with those kinds of people.

She laid her head back, trying to relax till she felt her phone vibrate startling her out of her comfort zone. She reached into her pocket and grabbed her phone seeing three missed calls and one message.

She smiled seeing that the calls were from Chikaru and before she could open the message she quickly switched on the television so her home wouldn't be so quiet. The news channel was on and what she saw made her heart drop, a news lady was in front of Jim's house and was talking about how they pulled a body from it. Yet the police had no leads something she wasn't even remotely surprised by.

While she kept talking, she finally looked at the message.

-"Emi, are you okay? Please message me back, I'm so worried about you, I miss you so much!"-

She began to text back, saying she was alright and that she missed her too then sent the message.

Her phone immedialty rang, she then answered, "Hey Chikaru."

-"Emi!?"- she said, -"Oh thank goodness I finally hear your voice, are you okay!?"-

"Yeah I'm fine, don't worry about it. I just have to do one race and I'm done."

-"Are you sure? How can you trust them?"- she asked.

"I don't…" She replied, "But what choice do I have."

-"You can just leave!"-

"No, I cant…" She could if she wanted too, but she didn't want too… she wanted Richter dead, but maybe she was better off leaving… she was too conflicted within her own mind to really decide.

-"Emi… please, I don't want anything to happen to you!"-

"Nothing will happen to me, I promise. I'll be back in Japan soon."

-"Call me everyday okay, at least just so I can know you're okay please."- she said.

"I promise."

-"I love you."-

"I love you too."

The two hung up, and she began to rest up for tomorrow's race and she already knew what to do so she could lose, it was a lot simpler then realized.

She could only hope that this would all be over soon.

The morning sun would rise overhead in only three hours, but it was enough time to get the race ready. All the drivers had gathered around, preparing themselves mentally or physically while most of the gang bosses placed money on the drivers.

The blonde haired girl waited patiently as she leaned against the hood of her car and after having made the necessary adjustments to it, she was guaranteed to fail. All she did was drain all the cooling liquid in her car and loosened a few tubes so her engine would overheat thus stall in the race letting her lose, the only plus to this was that she would be able to fix it easily as she brought all the spare parts and tools on her back seat.

"Good to see you here kid, thought you wouldn't show."

She looked to see Dominic with his crew behind him, those mere words angering her but she kept it hidden.

"Don't forget our little arrangement." He said as he began to walk away only to turn around, "Oh and good luck."

She clenched her fists in rage.

As he walked away he signaled Mark to his side, "Mark I need you and Harp to do something for me."

"What is it boss?"

"I want you to go to her house and kill her girlfriend."

Mark was slightly shocked by his request, "What? How come boss? I thought we were letting her walk?"

"She's seen too much but sure I'll let her walk but not without any consequence. So go do it and call me when its done and take Harp with you."

"You got it boss." Mark gestured to Harp to follow him and the two left

After a while a man came up with a microphone in his hand and began to announce that the race was about to commence and that all racers get in their car.

She exhaled slowly, slipped on her black leather gloves and took a seat then revved up the engine. She didn't know how long it was going to last like this before breaking down, she could only hope soon and wrecking her own car was painful to her considering how long it had taken her to fix it before.

"GET READY!" He raised his arms up as the cars began to rev their engines, ready for signal, "GO!" They took off, the blonde girl hesitated a little at first then pushed down on the pedal and drove her car.

She drove as fast as she could, she could already see the temperature rising on her car and it was only a matter of time now.

After a few minutes, it didn't take long for Mark and Harp to arrive at the blonde girl's home and rushed to it, kicking down the door.

Their guns drawn as they rushed inside and looked around for her girlfriend, finding nothing but an empty house.

"You think she's hiding?"

"Check upstairs, I'll check down here." Mark said as Harp walked upstairs while the other stayed down.

They checked every inch of the house but couldn't find one trace of the girl, there wasn't even any luggage or anything.

"She's not here."

"What the fuck? Did she leave?"

"No, dude we were keeping an eye of the place I didn't see shit leave this damn home."

"So she fucking left! Great. You call boss and tell him what happened." He tossed the phone at him.

"Say what!? You fucking tell him!" He tossed the phone right back at him.

"Yer such a bitch." Mark began to dial the phone, then waited for a few ringtones.

"Yeah?"

"Boss? Bad news."

"What is it?"

Mark hesitated for a moment, "The girl is gone."

"What do you mean she's gone!?"

"She's gone boss, that kid must have snuck her out somehow without us knowing."

"You incompetent jackass, what do I pay you idiots for!" He shouted at them, "Alright fine, change of plans then. Since this bitch went against me it's only fair I return the favor. Alright, meet me at the construction site, I'll send the rest of my men there and wait for me."

"You got it boss."

"After I'm through with this little problem, I'm personally dealing with you two idiots next."

"Y-yes sir."

He hung up, Harp then looked at him, "What he say?"

"We're basically fucked."

"Ah crap."

She pushed her car to the absolute limit, driving faster and harder then she'd ever done before trying to get her car to break as soon as she could. There was only one more lap to go but her car was still going, which surprised her greatly and her engine was as hot as it could go.

She could see the finish line approaching slowly, and what made matters worse was that she was in first place.

"No no no what is this bitch doing!?" Dominic looked, clenching his teeth seeing that she might win.

She kept driving and finally, she saw a small flash followed by a loud 'boom' that come from her hood and her car began to die down slowly. She gripped her steering wheel, sadness, anger, sorrow and borderline rage was overwhelming her mind as she practically destroyed her car

Her car came to a stop almost half a mile away from the finish line, the other cars came rushing past her with Dominic's main driver now on first place.

Just like that, the race was over and she had lost.

With the help of a few other racers, she managed to push her car to a safer place to fix it and the moment she opened the hood she was greeted with a large cloud of smoke followed by a loud hissing sound. After the smoke cleared away she wasted no time to repair it, luckily most of the engine was still intact and non damaged, so most of its parts were fixable.

She removed parts, installed new ones and fixed up some of the tubing which honestly didn't take too long having done so before multiple times. She filled her cooling tank with more fluid and fixed the last few parts of her car then closed the hood. At most she must have taken at least an hour to fix it up since she refused to stop till it was done.

Before she could see if it worked, another man approached her and got her attention.

"Excuse me, I was told to give this to you." He handed her a slip then walked away.

She looked at the slip of paper, "Don't forget, you owe me money." This had to have been a message from Dominic, who else could it be and it even had directions on where to go.

She sat in her car then turned the key, it brought a smile to her face to hear the engine roar beautifully once more. She shifted her car to drive and began to head on over to the place they wanted to meet, though she couldn't shake off the feeling of uneasiness.

She drove for a solid hour trying to find the place, till finally she found it. she was two blocks away but that was it. An unfinished construction site, that's where the meeting was taking place and her heart dropped… this was it, she knew it. for them to bring her here there was no doubt in her mind that they meant to harm her, but why?

Then the realization hit, this would probably be the last time she would be alive… a lump formed in her throat. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone, she scrolled through her contacts and dialed Chikaru's number.

She waited for a while till she heard the phone pick up.

-"Hello?"-

"Are you still asleep?" She asked with a smile on her face as her eyes began to water.

-"Emi!? No no I was just getting up!" Chikaru tried to hide it well but the blonde girl knew better as she giggled, -"I was so worried about you, are you okay?"- she asked.

Tears began to trail down her cheek, "Hey listen…"

-"Yes?"-

"I don't… I don't know if I'll be coming back like I promised."

-"What!? What are you talking about Emi!? Are you okay!? Are you in trouble!?"-

"No, but I'm about to be… and if I run they'll just try to find me and you… and I cant bare going through life with having to look over my shoulder."

-"Emi, please its not too late! You can still come back!"-

"Chikaru," She smiled, "I want you to know… the months I spent with you have been the greatest of my life. I've never smiled, laughed and enjoyed so much in so many years but ever since I met you I've never felt so much more alive, you've changed me in a lot of ways Chikaru and I… I can never repay what you have done for me , thank you so much for everything you gave me Chikaru."

-"Emi please! Don't take like that!"- she could hear Chikaru's voice began to crack as she cried over the phone.

"And no matter what happens today, just remember that I'll always love you… no matter what Chikaru."

-"And I love you so much Emi…"-

"Please… don't ever forget about me." she hung up, not because she wanted too but because she had too, if she were to listen to Chikaru it would only tear her heart some more and she couldn't stand so much pain like this.

She then shifted her car back to drive and drove on towards the construction site, as she entered the building she could see Dominic and all his men, all five of them waiting for her, two next to Dominic and three on the second floor.

She stepped out of her car and approached him.

"Glad to see you made it." He said.

She said nothing in return, she merely glared at him and looked around.

"Well lets not waste any time, my money. Please. After all this is the price to pay to be free." He said.

She turned back around and towards her car, she opened the trunk to grab her duffle bag of money.

"And no funny tricks kid." He warned.

She grabbed her duffle bag, but before she pulled it out she saw a knife next to it… a knife Amy had given her. she pretended to still grab her bag, flicked the blade out and stuffed it in her sleeve just in case.

She walked back to him, holding the duffle bag and threw it at his feet… all her money, gone, just like that.

Harp walked on over with another bag with all the money he had and was probably going to empty her bag into his.

Dominic walked over to her, "You know, I Want you to know that I didn't tell Richter to kill your girl. It was nothing personal. Though I wish things could've turned out better…" He said, "So this is nothing personal kid."

She didn't respond.

"So… no hard feelings." In one movement, he unflicked a knife and drove it into her abdomen and she screamed in pain.

She grabbed his hand to prevent him from pulling the blade out and causing more harm, so in one motion she dropped the knife from her sleeve to her hand, gripping it firmly and drove it into his chest as he cried out in pain.

She pulled the knife out and he gripped her arm and the two struggled with each other, till she slipped her wrist out of his hand cutting it in the process and impaled him once more in the chest, over and over and over again, she did not stop till finally she saw that he was dead.

She looked past him, seeing that his men had not fired their guns for fear of hitting their boss since he was in front of her the whole time. So she reached into his jacket and pulled out his sidearm, a semiautomatic pistol and fired it at Mark and Harp, killing them both.

In one thought she realized she had just killed three men but now she had no time to feel sorry or guilty or terrible because now, her life was on the line.

She aimed her gun at the three above while she held onto Dominic's corpse, using him as a shield, a very heavy one she struggled holding on too and her wound made it more difficult.

They fired a hail of bullets on Dominic's body, she stuck her head out and fired back at them, shooting one more in the head and hitting the other two as they went down.

She dropped Dominic's body letting it hit the floor and pulled out the knife from her abdomen, she couldn't tell how serious that wound was and hoped it wasn't fatal but she was already bleeding a lot.

But before she even had time to react, Richter rose up from behind his cover and fired his gun, hitting her in the shoulder, her leg and the side of her abdomen, she stumbled from each gunshot till she fell on the ground.

She was in unbearable agony as she squirmed on the ground, her white jacket was now stained with her blood and it had soaked down her jeans.

She whimpered in pain, but she couldn't stay down, not like this! she looked up seeing him reload and then the other man stood up, after having been hit in the shoulder.

The two took aim at her on the ground and she grabbed Dominic's gun and rolled away as they fired their guns at her. She hid behind a stack of cinder blocks as they discharged their weapons at her.

Her heart was beating so fast, she was terrified and she wasn't so sure how long she could stay like this.

They stopped to reload their weapons, she peeked out the side and saw just that. Only they had made their way down and were moving towards her. she looked around seeing a door to her right, she struggled with all her might to rise up.

"Come on Blondie, just give it up. Make this easier on yourself." He said as he approached her.

"You think you're getting away that easily after killing Dom you fucking bitch!" The other said.

She rose up, as painful as it was for her but she managed to sprint towards the door, avoiding their gunfire and hiding amongst the rooms and darkness.

"You cant hide from us blondie!" Richter yelled as the two entered the section of the building, they're multiple rooms and she could be in any one of them.

"You go that way, I'll check this side."

He looked at Richter, "Are you stupid! "

"Look, she's hurt as shit and she only has three bullets left. You'll be fine."

"How the fuck do you know that!?"

Richter was now annoyed at him, "Because Dom always loaded eight bullets in it, it was his lucky number. Now quit asking questions."

"No! how the fuck do you know she has three bullets!?"

"Didn't you count!?" He said, "She shot Mark and Harp, she shot all three of us but killed Jake! Now shut the fuck up and get moving!" He pushed him to his section as the two began to search.

She ran from room to room, finally slumping down on the wall and gasped for air. She gripped her wounds with her free hand seeing so much blood flow from them. She groaned in pain as even the mere action of lifting the gun closer to her was painful. She ejected the magazine and saw two bullets in it, then pulled back the slide on her gun slightly seeing another bullet in the chamber.

Only three shots.

She used the wall to get herself back up and finally kill them, it was either them or her and she had no intention of dying here!

He searched carefully, checking every room and made sure she wasn't in it while Richter roamed the other side of the section. He turned the corner and saw blood drops on the ground.

He smiled seeing that she left him a trail that she probably wasn't even aware she was leaving. He followed the blood down the hallway and into a room, only for the blood to stop there.

"What?" But the moment he turned around she was already in front of him with her gun raised and pulled the trigger, ending his life.

Richter turned his head as he heard the gunshot echo from the hallway Noel was at, "Hey did you get her!?" He shouted but got no response, "Noel!?"

No response.

He gritted his teeth in anger, "You fucking bitch!" He knew that she had gotten to him, he ran down the hall and towards where he had heard the gunshot.

He stopped and looked around, "You cant hide from me!" Just as he aimed his gun, bullets began to fire from an unknown directions, the bullets were hitting near him or next to him and he figured she was using Noel's gun.

He was slightly nervous not knowing where the bullets were coming from, then one bullet grazed his ear and he doubled over in pain.

"You bitch!" He fired his gun randomly in several directions, "Come on out!"

Another gunshot, only this time it hit his arm that was holding his pistol causing him to drop it and when he reached down to grab it another shot grazed the ground next to his hand to keep him from picking it up.

The moment he looked down the hall, he saw her stepping out in front of him throwing Noel's gun away and with Dominic's gun raised at him and nothing but a stare that sent chills down his spine. She pulled the trigger once, hitting him in the stomach and he reeled back, hitting his back on the wall and sliding down.

She got closer to him, her gun aimed point blank at his head and she stared directly into his eyes.

Richter spit at her, "Fuck you! You stupid fucking—"

BANG!

She put a bullet in his head, killing him for good and avenging what he had done to Amy.

She let out a sigh, she was in huge amounts of pain and she even struggled to walk back to the front to where her car was. As soon as she made it, she found an oil barrel with wood in it and she lit it on fire, tossing the guns she used in it along with the money that belonged to Dominic.

She began to walk over to her own bag of money, the money she had earned but before she could pick it up she dropped to one knee as the pain began to overwhelm her. But she managed to pick it up and practically dragged it back to her car, opened up the trunk and tossed it back in there along with her knife.

Before she got in the car she stopped mid way and turned back to Dominc's corpse and walked back to it. she had seen something before when he was talking to her, something around his neck and it looked vaguely familiar. She reached down and pulled out a small chain with a jeweled butterfly around it, something that belonged to Amy.

She gripped it and pulled it off him, and sluggishly walked back to her car but before she could make it she fell down on her knees then onto her stomach as pain finally overwhelmed her.

She flipped onto her back as she gasped for air, trying to stiffen her breath but failed as she whimpered and groaned from the agony.

She felt herself slowly losing herself, she was afraid… was this how it felt to die? Her heart began to beat slowly and her vision was fuzzy… but she didn't want to die… she didn't want to leave Chikaru like this.

She used her remaining strength and flipped onto her stomach and began to crawl towards her car, she just wanted to leave this place.

It took everything she had but she made it to her car and pulled herself up to the driver's seat and sat there, in agony. there was so much blood and some of it was Dominic's but most of it was hers and it worried her.

She pulled out her cellphone but when she looked at it, it was badly damaged and it didn't work anymore.

She groaned, then rested her head back on the headrest of her seat just trying to ease the pain but nothing worked, slowly her breath began to slow down and she closed her eyes and her head lulled to the side slowly as the last thought in her head was of the two women she loved with all her heart.

Chikaru was in her room, and as she stood up she felt a wave of sorrow and anxiety just hit her, her heart was in pain and she didn't know why. She reached up to her forehead, trying to calm down but she couldn't… did something happen to Emi!? She remembered her words about not being able to keep her promise.

-"No, no please no!"- she ran out of her room, down the dorm's hall and outside, she ran all the way down to the steps and towards the parking lot.

-"No no no no no no,"- she kept repeating, unable to wash away this fear that was in her heart because she could feel it, she felt like something had happened to Emi and it was killing her, she felt her heart at her throat and tears were already streaming down her face.

She stopped at the parking lot, looking down the road seeing the sun began to set, hoping to see her again, hoping to see her driving to her.

She pulled out her phone and called her only to be sent to voice mail, -"Please… please!"- Her hands were trembling with each passing moment as she rubbed them together, shortly she fell to her knees and she just couldn't explain this feeling but it was the worst feeling she had ever felt. She didn't even realize that she had begun crying, the pain was too much and all she wanted was to hear Emi's voice once more, to see her face once more and to feel her once more… why!? Why was life so unfair to Emi!?

She covered her face with her hands as she began to cry loudly, a feeling this strong was just too hard to ignore and it could only mean that her Emi… her Emi could be gone and what was worse is that she had no way of knowing the truth.

There was nothing but the sound of the wind making its way inside the construction site, sand blowing in the air and the smell of gunpowder in the air. The sun still casting a shine of light inside, shining on the hood of the car and through the windshield, hitting the face of the girl that sat inside it, blood had dripped down her leg and hands, and onto her boot and had made a small puddle on the ground.

The motionless form finally stirred, she looked ahead and closed the car door, ignited her car engine and drove away.

End Chapter 8