"Alright fine I've decided." The goblin announced.
"Well?!" I snapped impatiently. He stopped stroking his beard and shook his cane at me and Hellboy.
"The answer is no." He said, smiling wickedly.
"WHAT?!" Hellboy and I snapped. Hellboy took a step towards the goblin and raised his gun.
Before he could fire and before I could move to stop him, the sharp, piercing sound of shattering glass resonated through the entire tent. We all looked up at the ceiling, confused and cautious. "That's impossible." The old goblin whispered in astonishment. Once the words had left his mouth the ceiling started to rain glass. Hellboy grabbed me and shielded my body with his own. As the glass continued to rain down we caught sight of a body crashing down in the wooden stands. A second later another landed closer to the center of the room.
Hellboy and I recognized the smaller form in the center of the ring as Liz and before I could move Hellboy was already sprinting towards her. I decided to check the other body in the stands. After climbing through the splintered wood I found Abe looking like fried sushi.
"Abe?!" I shouted, praying he was still alive. He gasped and reached for my shoulder. I spotted serious burns on his arm. I helped him sit up with some difficulty and found similar burns on his back. "Not good." I whispered. I was helping him to his feet and down to the ground when I spotted the old goblin still staring at the ceiling.
"What are you looking at?" I shouted to him angrily. He turned his gaze towards me and then back up at the ceiling. "She…she shattered all of the glass." He stuttered as he stared in awe. "So?" I asked, finally getting to the bottom of the stands with Abe.
The goblin opened his mouth to say something and then shut it. His eyes widened as he lifted a finger to point at the ceiling where small pieces of glass were still raining down. I glanced up and caught sight of what he was staring at. Several more bodies crashed to the floor close to where Liz had landed. Most were barbecued to a crisp but some seemed to have survived the roast.
"Hellboy!"
He looked up when I called him. I lowered Abe to the ground and pulled my gun from my belt as one of the bodies crawled to its feet. I steadied myself to fire but Hellboy beat me to it, blowing three holes through the body before I could even aim. He took down two more as they were trying to stand and then turned his attention to Liz so that he could carry her out of the center of the fight. He carried her over to Abe while I slowly made my way towards the pile of burned bodies.
There seemed to be only five more creatures left able to move and it was much more difficult to take them out when I didn't have a gun as large as Hellboy's Samaritan. After firing an entire round into one of them before it collapsed, I decided that today wasn't a day to be patient.
"Damn it!" I screamed, running towards the nearest zombie. One shot to the head had him reeling backwards for a minute. That was all the time I needed to get a hand around the things neck and shock it with enough energy to light all of Manhattan. It withered beneath my grasp and then dropped after I released it.
"Rai!" I looked up and found Hellboy staring at me with wide eyes. "Don't even think about doing something risky like that again!" He ordered after he set Liz's unconscious body next to Abe's.
I nodded at him and nearly had a heart attack when he fired his gun in my direction. The bullet flew past me and connected with a thick block of zombie flesh only a few feet behind me. I turned and watched the monster crumble. Hellboy shot down another right before my eyes and then lowered his gun.
That was only four bodies but maybe I had counted wrong before. I glanced around the room and didn't spot anything moving. I did, however, spot the goblin cowering behind the opposite set of stands. I wandered towards him with some serious questions. Before I could say anything he waved his cane at me. "Stop them! Hurry!" He was shaking with fear. I shook my head at him. "You are fine. We took care of it." I breathed out. He didn't look reassured but I felt better. It was over, we would all be ok.
I sighed and tried to calm my heart rate which had increased rapidly, leaving me panting like a dog. I rested my hands on my knees and whipped my forehead with my arm. "You caused quite a mess." I said accusingly. The little man didn't even acknowledge me. He was still shaking and he pointed a finger past me.
"One more, one more! I whipped my head around to see what he was so afraid of. I hadn't counted wrong. The fifth body had been slowly crawling along the floor to the others. "You smart little bastard." I whispered as I watched it. It would have been easy to stop it if I hadn't already used all my bullets. "Crap!" I breathed. "HERE!" The old man swung his cane like a baseball bat and something big flew towards me. I caught something heavy and familiar. I hadn't fired a rifle like this in years! Where the hell had it come from?! I glanced down at the goblin in complete shock and confusion before he hit me in the back of my leg with his cane.
My attention went back to the zombie. I watched the reanimated body rise to its hands and knees and finally, to its feet.
"Hellboy!"
I wanted to alert him of the danger before firing at the zombie. The rapid fire of the rifle sent a barrage of bullets heading towards the monster. The whole scene just froze as I watched the being fall to the ground. It hadn't absorbed all of the projectiles. There was no resistance, nothing to stop the remaining bullets as they sailed past the corps.
I screamed another warning but it was already too late. All that was left for me to do was pray.
...
His back tensed and the large brown overcoat started to soak with red. Ignoring the fact that the zombie might still be alive, I made a sprint for the bigger agent. He was in the slow process of turning around when I reached him. He saw me and made to step towards me, stumbling, before he went down on one knee.
"Hellboy!" My voice cracking as I caught him. He slumped forward and I struggled to support his weight. Tears formed and slid down my face.
I felt the liquid on my hands. Had blood always felt this thick? Had the color always been so bright? I couldn't move as I stared down at the blood on one of my hands. My joints locked, my mind shut down. All I could think of in this instant was 'no'.
"You don't seem to be very good at protecting your friends." I lifted my head hesitantly and stared into the orange eyes of the old goblin. I couldn't give a vicious reply.
"Help me." I whispered softly as my body started to shake with fear. The goblin cocked his head to the side.
"What was that?" He asked, honestly wondering what I had said.
"HELP ME!" I cried. Sobs racked my body and I pressed Hellboy's body to me, burying my face in his blood soaked shirt.
I felt a hand touch my cheek and l lifted my chin to find Hellboy staring at me with dilated yellow eyes. He was barely conscious at the moment.
"Don't die, please. Please Hellboy, don't die." I begged. He left his red hand on my face and tried to smile. The light in his eyes was fading but he was fighting it. "Somebody please help me!" I screamed, hoping another agent might hear me outside.
"They moved to the other side of the circus when they noticed none of you were in here earlier." The goblin said, still oblivious to the fact that my family was dying in my arms. I turned to look at him. Whatever look I gave him apparently scared him senseless because he offered to go get the other agents and then scampered out of the tent.
I felt the hand slid from my cheek as Hellboy started to lose strength.
"Hellboy!?"
"Stop crying. You're embarrassing me." Hellboy whispered, blood leaking from his mouth. There were at least three high caliber bullets in his back. How long would he last?
"It's my fault. I shot you. I can't believe I even fired the gun when you were there. What was I thinking?!" I shuddered and continued to cry. I couldn't lose him. "I need you. Please don't die." I cried. Hellboy's chest vibrated as if he were trying to laugh.
"Calm down." He said softly. He lifted his hand one more time to wipe a tear from my cheek. "I don't hate you kid." He whispered.
"Wh-what?" I asked completely confused.
"I said: I don't hate you." He repeated. I shook my head furiously.
"Shut up." I muttered.
"Sparky…"
"No… you should hate me. Everything could be so much easier if you would just hate me." He looked at me sadly and shook his head.
"Why didn't you just let the kraken finish me off? Why didn't you let the wolves eat me or leave me in that damn tunnel to drown?" Hellboy flinched but said nothing. My temper flared as I stared down at the bullet wound.
"What about that first mission? Why didn't you let that tiger tear me to pieces? At least then none of this would have ever happened!" My voice rose as the painful guilt became worse.
When Hellboy didn't answer I forced myself to look at his face. He was still alive but he'd lost consciousness.
"Hellboy?! Hellboy! Wake up! Please, wake up!" I tried to shake him awake but it didn't work.
"Somebody help!" I screamed, praying someone would hear me. I pressed my forehead to his and closed my eyes. I couldn't say goodbye like this.
"Rai?!" My head snapped up and I whipped it around when I heard Clay's voice.
"Where are you?!" He shouted.
"In here!" I was already crying but even more tears formed when, to my relief, Clay found his way into the tent and brought a help with him.
When Clay made it to my side he knelt by me and I saw his eyes widen in fear as he spotted all of the blood pooling around us. "Are you hurt?" He asked quickly, placing a hand on my shoulder in comfort. I shook my head, pressing Hellboy's unconscious form closer to me.
Clay and several others removed Hellboy from my grasp with some effort.
Clay held me back as medics looked at Hellboy, Liz, and Abe. I watched as the whole scene became a blur of black and white suits. Finally I couldn't take it and I buried my face in my red hands. Clay held onto me as I cried. He pulled me closer when Hellboy was carried away and let me bury my blood soaked face into his chest.
It wasn't just Hellboy who was in danger. Abe's burns were serious and he had landed painfully on the wooden stands. Liz's condition was unknown at the moment but the worst she may have suffered could be a few broken bones from the fall.
All three of them were carried away within minutes of the arrival of the rest of the agents.
I don't remember getting into a car or driving back. I remembered seeing the goblin in handcuffs, waving his colorful wooden cane at me in a friendly manner. I remember Clay's voice but what he was saying was unclear. The night was empty in my mind, almost completely nonexistent.
It wasn't until I was walking through the silver halls of the bureau that the truth of the situation hit me full force.
The floor seemed to echo as my knees hit its smooth surface. I didn't try to stop the fall with my hands, mostly because I couldn't think fast enough to move them. My face hit the ground and I heard the agents around me scramble to try and figure out what happened to me. I let my eyes slide shut and wished that this would all be gone when I woke up.