Part 15- I Need Something Stronger by Unkle
"Mom!" I screamed as I started to run down the hall, but I lost my footing as something slammed into me from behind. I heard a big whooshing sound as the wind was knocked out of me.
A gloved hand grabbed my shoulder and I was turned around onto my back. I saw the man named Heco hovering over me. He straddled my waist and I brought my hands up, covering my face as his fist swung down towards my head. He hit me hard just blow my right shoulder, but I managed to roll my body with the swing of his punch, lessening the impact. I brought the same arm he had hit upward and slammed my elbow into his cheek. His head jarred back and I brought my knee up, hitting him in the crotch and rolling him off of me. He landed on his side and I scrambled up, trying to make it to the kitchen to help my mother.
"Fucking bitch!" I heard him yell behind me and his hand caught my right ankle, yanking it back. I fell, catching myself with my hands and brought the leg up towards my body against his hold. I waited for him to pull back, allowing him to use his strength as I doubled it with my own and smashed my foot into his face. I heard an ugly crunching noise and didn't bother to see if there was any blood as he instantly let my ankle go, yelling and cursing in Spanish as I struggled forward to the kitchen doorway.
"Let her go!" I screamed upon seeing my mother fighting furiously against one of Billy's thugs. I ran forward to help her, but a second man popped out, surprising me and I dropped to the floor immediately as he swung out with the butt of a shotgun. This startled him and I slid slightly across the hardwood floor in his direction, bringing my legs around and under his before he could react. He fell to the floor in front of me. I kicked my foot out, catching him under the jaw when he quickly sat up and he fell back again, letting a shot ring out from his shotgun that shattered the window in our backdoor.
"Ramona!" I heard my mom scream and I jumped up to see her stilled in her captor's arms, a gun pressed to her temple. Her green eyes were wide and frightened. She looked completely helpless.
"I said let her go!" I screamed again, my voice more frantic than before. I wanted to rush over and pull her away from him, but I knew I couldn't. He had the gun and it was pointed at her, not at me. I'd rather him shoot me a million times before even holding that gun in her general direction. He gave me an evil smile, his teeth a brilliant white against his dark skin; it disappeared quickly.
"You're the one who brought this mess upon your family. Deal with the consequences," he said before throwing her to the ground, lowering his gun towards her.
"NO!" I charged towards him. I heard a shot ring out as I simultaneously slammed into him, sending us flying into the kitchen table. Lying among tipped furniture, I saw the man's gun resting slightly out of his reach. I scrambled over him and towards it, only to have him catch me by my right arm. I swung my left fist out and felt it impact with his skull. His grip remained strong on my arm, but he also let his attention fall from his discarded gun to me. I punched him a second time, hitting his throat which caused him to gasp and clutch his neck. Finally released, I turned my upper body to reach for the gun again. My hand closed around the handle as a boot crashed down onto my wrist. I loosened my grip involuntarily and yelled out.
I looked up to see Billy Darley, a stone cold expression across his face. He held my father by the throat who was covered in blood and beaten. His half-open eyes looked down at me with a horrified expression. Billy dropped him down next to me and he coughed violently once he hit the floor. His eyes were filled with tears, and he squeezed them shut as he turned his head towards my mother who lay still beyond my line of sight. Billy took his boot off my wrist and kicked the gun out of my reach.
"It's time this shit ended," his voice was gruff and he grabbed me by the nape of my neck, bringing my face up to his. His flipped open a lighter, the flame illuminating his face and emphasizing scars I hadn't noticed before scattered across it. His nose and mouth twitched.
"Leave my family alone! They have nothing to do with this!" I pleaded.
"I warned you. You knew the consequences, and now you're gonna pay."
"No!" I screamed and he pulled me to his chest, turning me around in his arms as he dragged me to the far side of the kitchen. I thrashed against him, trying to bring my arms up against his, but he fought mine down just as hard. The gang was crowded in the room, circled around me and my family. Each stared at me with sneering expressions while the guns in their hands pointed to the floor below them where my parents lay.
My dad reached for my mother, grabbing her hand and I saw her lift her head and turn towards my dad. She hadn't been shot, just stunned. I could see that now, and she looked at my dad, scanning his face with alarm. She turned her teary eyes up to me.
"Mona…" I heard my dad whisper. My eyes sweep to the right and found his broken body lying on the floor. He could barely lift his head, but he held it in the air and it bobbed unsteadily. His eyes looked into mine with anguish. I heard a soft whimper and looked back to my mother; her chin was trembling.
I felt my face scrunch up as tears began to fall. I kept struggling against Billy, but I felt so weak with fear. I was being careless in my fury, livid to the point that I was fighting in vain. I couldn't save my family this way. He flexed his arms, crushing my body against his chest and knocked the breath out of me. He wrapped his right arm around my throat while his left hand continued to restrain my arms by the wrists.
"Why don't you tell mommy and daddy what you've been up to, huh?" Billy spoke slowly in my ear, but loud enough that his deep voice filled the room.
I didn't say anything. I couldn't. If I opened my mouth, nothing but screams of pure rage and agony would come out. I didn't dare take my eyes away from my parents, filling my mind with nothing but their faces; imagining us somewhere else, anywhere, but here at this moment.
"Better yet, how about you tell them how we all came to know one another. How you started this mess," Billy stopped and brought his head around so that he could look me in the face. His right hand stroked back some curls against my cheek that were in his way. I felt him take a breath, "I think you owe it to them, don't you?"
I felt the pinch of forming tears in my eyes, and they coursed down my cheeks as my lips quivered. I shook my head, dropping it onto Billy's forearm; unable to keep looking down at them. I felt Billy's cheek press against mine, his beard and mustache scratchy against my skin. His lips started moving, "Aw, don't tell me you feel ashamed."
He released my wrists, bringing his hand in front of me. He held a lighter and he flipped it open, igniting the flame. It danced dangerously close to my face, but he brought it closer still. I could feel the energy radiating off of it, the heat hitting my face.
"Blow out the flame," he whispered.
"What?" my voice faltered. The flame flickered, almost disappearing, but regained its spark.
"Think of this flame as a symbol of their life," he gestured to my parents in front of us. "One breath it all it takes for their death. It only seemed appropriate that you'd have the honor."
I guess it would make sense. I had allowed this to happen in the first place, not moving fast enough, and not protecting them well enough; not protecting Delia… It had all come to this because of me and my stupid obsession with what I thought was justice. Now Billy was ridiculing me, forcing me to give permission for these men to murder my family.
I watched the flame burning brightly in the dark room, casting shadows. It shivered as a cool draft blew around us. A red blinking caught my eye and I realized we were standing by my backdoor, the broken pane emitting the chilly night air entrance. The red light was coming from our security system. If only I could turn on the alarm, maybe it would scare them off and my parents could get out of this in one piece. I just need to distract Billy somehow, someway.
My eyes circled around, taking in each cold glare of the men filling it. My eyes stopped on Heco. His nose looked horrible, blood clinging to his lips and chin where it had flowed out of it. He looked furious, and the gun he gripped involuntarily leaped up when my eyes landed on him. He quickly brought it back down and aimed it at my mother's head. I suddenly got an idea, and prayed to God that it worked. Whatever it was that I was going to entice in Heco, I hoped it was enough to distract everyone while I attempted to save my parents' lives.
I locked my eyes with his, narrowing my eyebrows and allowing a scowl to spread across my features. I turned my head against Billy's, trying to avoid the flame as much as possible.
"I wonder what it must feel like," I started. I could see the flame swaying with each word I spoke, but as far as I could tell, I wasn't in any danger of putting it out. I kept my eyes on Heco and continued, "Being a man as big as you. It must be sad at times, looking so tough with your tattoos and bad boy attitude… knowing you can't protect yourself against a girl."
"Fuck you! I could blow your fuckin' brains out right now!" He screamed, stepping forward and over my mother. He came swiftly towards me and Billy, his gun pointed at my head.
Good, I though, just the reaction I wanted.
Billy flipped the lighter shut and reached behind him, bringing out a gun. He pointed it towards Heco, speaking slowly, "Calm the fuck down."
Heco stood right in front of me now, the muzzle of his gun pressed against my forehead. His nostrils flared as his breathing grew ragged, his nose whistling; a vein pulsed against his temple.
"Billy. Heco," I heard a voice to my left, but didn't bother to look who it was. "Look at you two. This is ridiculous. Let's just kill the fuckers and get out of here."
"Shut up, Baggy. Heco, back the fuck up, now," Billy warned, emphasizing with a thrust with his gun. I looked to see everyone was watching them. They grew timid; looking around at each other like the one of them might have the answer to know what to do. I slowly started to reach my left hand back, hoping that Heco would keep defying Billy and his gun.
"I'm not taking any more orders from you, Billy. I'm fucking sick of your and Bones' shit, acting like you both fuckin' own all of us."
"Heco, what the fuck are you doing man!" It was a new voice, and it shook slightly.
"This is fuckin' insane," I heard someone else say. They were dropping their defenses, turning against one another. My hand continued to reach behind me, feeling for the keypad.
"You sure you wanna go that way?" Billy asked.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the man named Bodie rush up next to Heco, getting in his face. My hand dropped slightly, but he didn't even seem to notice me. I started towards the system again, fingers grazing the bottom of it.
"Don't you fuckin' do it, dog. Don't you play it that way. You know damn well as the rest of us that we'd be nowhere without Billy. Don't you turn your back against us now," Bodie tried to convince Heco.
Don't listen to him, Heco. He doesn't know what he's talking about. Go on. Keep on point your gun at me. It might merit more than you expect, I encouraged silently. I trailed my fingers up the keypad, trying to remember which button sounded the alarm.
"Maybe if the asshole didn't spend so much time shooting up, he'd know what the hell he was doin' right now," I heard another voice which was followed by an exasperated sigh.
"Maybe if he did his damn job every once in a while instead of getting high, he'd feel more respected," someone else joined in.
"Will everyone just shut the fuck up already! We didn't come here for a fuckin' team evaluation!" Bodie yelled.
Heco hesitated and then started to lower his gun. His arm dropped until the barrel rested against my chest.
"At least let me do it," he asked Billy.
"That's not how I wanted to do things, Heco."
"Don't take my chance away, Billy. Don't treat me like that, man. She's mine."
"Heco, in case you forgot to realize, I'm runnin' this show. I know you were lookin' forward to this, but I'm callin' the shots and sayin' who does what, how and when. You had your chance with her, now back the fuck up."
Heco's eyes twitched and his lips formed a tight line. He took a step back, "And it's time I finished what I started."
My finger had just rested on what I thought the alarm might be when I was suddenly shoved to the left. I rammed into the counter as gunfire started to ring out. Shouting ensued and I heard scrambling. I turned my head to see Billy struggling with Heco; Heco trying to bring his gun to face me and Billy fighting against him. The other guys tried to pull them off one another, and Heco's gun flew out of his hand, skidding across the floor.
My parents scrambled out of the way, trying to head for the door, but two of the men went after them. They grabbed onto them, bringing them back into the kitchen despite their struggling and screaming.
"We need to get this fuckin' done and over with!" one of them shouted.
I looked to see that they had Heco subdued, Bodie and Joe holding him back. Billy readjusted himself before looking over at the two men who held my parents and then over at me. He started towards me and I twirled around, slamming my fingers onto the keypad. An incessant blare resonated throughout the house. I turned to see Billy's chest right in front of me. I looked up, meeting his eyes with a defiant glare. I knew the police would be here a lot sooner than they wanted.
"Shit! The fucking alarm!" I heard someone yell.
"We have to get out of here!" Someone else said as the phone started to ring.
"Not until we finish this!" Billy roared. He grabbed me by the hair, walking me towards my parents. The two men dropped them to the floor. I saw my father's body cover Heco's gun.
I started struggling against Billy, trying to buy time. I brought my elbow around, ramming it into the side of his face. He grunted before throwing me to the ground. He brought his gun up, aiming at my mother. I jumped up and charged at him, slamming into his side which sent us flailing sideways. His shot echoed in the small kitchen as I landed on top of him. I dug my nails into his face.
"Take care of them!" I heard someone else yell.
"Mona!" I heard my mother scream and before I could lift my head I heard several shots ring out. I was suddenly flipped onto my back and I fought frantically against Billy who was now on top of me. The butt of his gun slammed against my head. My vision swam and I could faintly hear the police sirens in the distance.
"We gotta go, dog! The police!" Bodie hovered over Billy who looked down at me with hate filled eyes. Bodie started pulling Billy up to his feet. He aimed his gun at me and before he could pull the trigger, I rolled to the side, the bullet splintering the hardwood floor that had been beneath me. The sirens stopped in front of my house.
I looked back to see Billy's boot crashing into my side with a sickening crunch. I grunted as I felt my breath vanish and a warm pain shot through my abdomen. My head started spinning again.
"Fucking run!" was the last thing I heard.