Hello darlings :) I'm hoping if I'm sickly sweet to you in the authors note that you'll forgive how dark and twisted this chapter is...I've written the second part, (It was actually all one chapter but I thought nearly 10,000 for one chapter is a little too much even for me!) so it is coming...tomorrow night. Because this ends on a serious note and even I'm not evil enough to leave it hanging there. But I am evil, as you'll soon find out. Really evil. Like, I may have to see a shrink one day...
Thank you as always for your constant and amazing reviews, you have no idea how much they mean. A big thank you to KirstyLouxx who made an account JUST to leave little old me a review which is beyond flattering so thank you all. Now just...don't hate me. :/
Allie ran as fast as she could up the stairs, cursing herself as she fought to keep up with Pete she grabbed onto the chipped wooden banister, wincing when a series of splinters made themselves known in her palm. Her pace was so quick that she tripped at the top of the stair, propelling herself forward and grabbing onto Pete's arm, frowning when she noticed he had stopped dead.
He caught her but didn't look at her, staring directly ahead, his hands shaking as they wrapped around her waist and pulled her up just before she hit the floor, he kept his hand locked in hers as he did so, the tiniest comfort but she would take it. Following his gaze, Allie felt her stomach churn. Eddie Hatcher sat before them, his trainers and jeans doused in blood, flecks of it marring his beige sports jacket and even his face. At his feet lay a crowbar and a scrap of red material, its black ladybird buttons making it so out of place amidst the carnage. She knew that jacket.
Her throat contracted and she tasted bile, but didn't let her body take control, instead she stood up straight, staring at the young man before her, waiting for him to speak, to kill them, to cry, to laugh. But he did nothing. They stood there for what seemed like an eternity, the only noises coming from outside as the river lapped at the banks and Natalie Dunham wept uncontrollably. The one thing Allie Dunham couldn't hear was her daughter.
"Danny never was one for keeping secrets," Eddie spoke slowly and with a faint laugh that made Allie's stomach twist painfully. Her eyes darted about the room, searching for any sign of Poppy but there was nothing. Only her coat. Her tiny little coat covered in blood. A small sob escaped her lips and she felt Pete's grip tighten painfully on her hand and she knew in that second that he too had spotted it.
"You know I 'ad such high hopes for that little shit," he shook his head and tutted, looking up at them with a sickening grin. "Seems you can't trust anyone these days, can you?"
Allie didn't see Pete move so much as she felt him, a sharp burst of cold air hit her as he launched himself forward and grabbed the young man by the neck, slamming his body into the floor with such force that she gasped, waiting for the beaten floorboards to open and swallow them.
Pete pushed himself up just enough to look down into Eddie's face and then ploughed his fist down against his throat, not wanting to knock him out, not while they still needed to find Poppy. Eddie shouted out in pain, biting down on his lip as he did so and splitting it open, staring up at Pete Dunham and seeing the madness, the utter darkness in his eyes as he stood and raised his foot, bringing it down hard on his stomach. The pain was excruciating but he didn't let it show, he needed to keep control there, no matter what. He wasn't done, not until that bitch and her daughter were floating in the river with Daniel.
"Where the fuck is she?" Pete screamed, reaching down and pulling Eddie up by his collar, perching him back on the box he had been sitting on and catching his head between his hands, his thumbs pushing hard on his temples as he met his eyes dangerously. "So help me God, Hatcher, I will fucking flay your skin off and keep you conscious enough to feel every fucking second if you don't start talking,"
"Maybe you don't want me to talk," Eddie told him, his head lolling to one side as he smirked. "I don't think you wanna know what I have to say,"
"Poppy!" Allie screamed, running her hands through her hair as she looked around the room, trying to find a door, a cupboard, a loose floorboard, anywhere she could be. "Baby, can you hear me?"
"She won't hear you," he laughed darkly. "Not where she is,"
Pete grabbed hold of some of Eddie's hair and slammed his head back against the wall, hearing a definite crack but not particularly caring whether it came from his head or the bricks.
"If you've hurt her," he growled. "You have no idea what I'll do to you, you stupid little cunt,"
"You think you scare me, Dunham?" he spat. "Look at the state of you, shaking, screaming. And you think you're in control?"
Reaching down, he kept Pete's eyes trained on his, smirking as his fingers wrapped around the gun in his belt and pulled it free, moving smoothly and quickly so as not to alert the man in front of him.
"You have no idea what I'm capable of,"
The shot rang out, echoing around the dilapidated building and causing the windows to shake and crack, already loose and barely clinging to the brick work around them. Allie screamed as she felt the bullet shoot past her, burying itself in the wall next to her. Shaking, she turned to face her husband who was looking back at her, his eyes scanning her body to make sure she was ok, his face pale and worried. She nodded to him lightly, letting him know she was ok.
Her eyes went back to Hatcher, who despite the blood pouring from his lips and the bruises already forming on his face was stood, pointing the gun at Pete with frightening control. His eyes darted between the two of them but the gun stayed trained on Pete, the barrel pushing against his chest, forcing him to take a step backward.
"You weren't there when Dylan died," he spoke quietly. "I was. I saw your brother and his fuckwit friends murder him. Murder a fucking kid! See, you...you just heard the stories, Dunham. The old Hatcher family fable about how Tommy and Sarah lost their son and oh ain't it sad. You didn't see his brains getting smeared on the pavement, you didn't see Tommy trying to put his sons head back together, you didn't see me growing up without the family I'd always wanted. Because my old man...he didn't give a shit. Met the bloke once and then poof, off he fucking trots and I'm left with my whore of a mother, fucking everything in sight just to put chips on the table."
He watched the older man's face, seeing his face harden, his eyes not once drifting down to the gun which was still pointed at him, though Eddie did note with glee that he had taken a good few steps back.
"So I spent every minute with Tommy, now he was a dad. Took me under his wing and showed me how to fight, how to play footie, my first pint, my first match, my first meet, it was all with him," he laughed. "Top bloke, he was." His eyes hardened and he shook the gun at Pete, taking a step closer to him. "And then you had to fuck it all up! You and your stupid fucking brother. Both of you should 'ave died that day! If I'd 'ave been there, you would have. But no, you get back on your feet, shack up with some pretty little slut and pop out a few kids..." he laughed and threw his hands in the air. "It always works out for little Petey Dunham, doesn't it?"
"She's a child," Allie spoke, surprised at how firm her voice was, how calm. "She has nothing to do with this bullshit!"
"She has everything to do with it!" Eddie screamed, turning on her, bringing the gun up to her face; he saw Pete tense and move to launch himself forward and so turned it back to him, shaking his head. "You want to play the hero, Petey?"
Pete watched as he took a step sideways, closer to Allie but his eyes never leaving Pete's as he smirked.
"Come here," he barked at her. "Slowly."
Allie ignored him for a moment, her eyes still desperately scanning the room, determined that any minute now Poppy would call out to her. The silence closed in on her, making her want to fall to the floor and never get up. A cold wind blew gently around the room, whistling quietly against the broken glass and weather beaten wood.
"I say fucking move," Eddie screamed at her, causing her to jump as he clicked the pistol, loading another bullet into the chamber as he pointed it directly at Pete. "I'll kill him right fucking here and now if you don't get over here in the next few seconds,"
Staring at Pete desperately, Allie bit her lip to keep the sob down in her throat that was trying its upmost to escape. Instead walking calmly over to the man who had taken her daughter, retching openly at the smell of blood on him, the flecks of not just blood but flesh coating his jacket as suddenly his arm shot out when she was close enough and pulled her to him, pushing the gun against her temple.
She knew she should panic, maybe even scream but she couldn't.
"The Major," Eddie grinned at Pete, his breathing harsh and uneven as he watched the man before him take a step forward, his eyes dark and dangerous. "Always the big hero, aren't we, Dunham?"
Pete stared at his wife, the first and only girl he had ever loved, he watched the fear and desperation in her eyes, pleading with him. He hated himself so violently in that moment, knowing that she was here because of him, his daughter was here because of him.
"Every hero has a weakness, don't they?" the young man's shuddering voice brought him back from the brink of insanity. "And here's yours."
Pulling Allie's hair back with his free hand, he ran a finger down her neck and she gritted her teeth, determined not to move, not to let so much as her breathing change, not wanting him to know he was getting to her, although she couldn't say the same for Pete who looked as though he might lose his mind at any moment.
"Do you have any idea how many times I followed you home?" he murmured to her, his eyes still trained on Pete. "How easily I could have gotten to you? And sweetheart...the things I would've done, you would've been praying I killed you,"
With a roar, Pete shot forward, stopping only when Eddie yanked Allie's hair back causing her to cry out in pain, the barrel of the gun now under her chin.
"Try it," Eddie snarled. "Try it, go on Dunham because at this point I'm just looking for a fucking excuse. I'll blow her pretty little head clean off and feed you the pieces,"
"You're a sick, twisted little shit," Allie cried, tired of keeping quiet. If she was going down, she was going down fighting.
"Oi, oi," He laughed, winking at Pete. "Right little mouth on 'er, hasn't she? Although I'm sure you know that already," he smirked crudely. "I can just imagine the damage these lips can do," he ran his thumb over her full, peach coloured lips.
"Touch her again and I'll break bones you didn't know you had," Pete told him, his voice scarily calm. "You want me, you fucking got me, Hatcher. I'll stay, do whatever you want." he pointed at him, his hand steady. "But you tell me where my daughter is and you let them both go. And I mean now."
"Or what?" he laughed. "You still don't get it, do you Petey? This is it, this is endgame. You don't get to walk out of this one with a broken leg or a few cuts and bruises,"
Shoving Allie down to the floor, he stamped on her ankle hard and Pete felt his stomach churn as an all too recognisable cracking sound filled the air, ricocheting off the walls and blending in with her scream, a sickening symphony of all his nightmares.
"Allie!" he shouted, diving down to her, surprised when Eddie didn't stop him this time. He pushed her hair back from her face, wet with her tears and looked into her eyes, a keening sound coming from his chest as he watched his wife writhe in pain.
"Why is he doing this?" she sobbed quietly, her eyes meeting his, so like their daughters but for the emerald hue that he almost broke then and there. "I want to go home. I want my baby and I want to go home,"
Pete didn't know what to tell her, he wasn't sure how to tell her that part of him didn't think they'd be going home. Part of him didn't know if Poppy was...
He stopped the thought in its tracks, too afraid of what would happen if he let himself think that. Instead he pressed his lips against her forehead and leaned his own against hers, meeting her eyes and trying to tell her silently that he loved her. He loved her more than he had ever thought he was capable of loving anyone or anything. He couldn't say the words out loud because that would be admitting defeat, admitting he knew this was it. And he couldn't do that to her.
Suddenly, Allie was ripped away from him, screaming as Eddie pulled her by her hair towards the back wall, her crumpled foot dragging beside her, bent at the most impossible angle. Eddie propped her there, tidying her hair back, even licking his finger and using it to wipe some dirt from her usually breath taking features.
"So here's what I'll do," he stood up straight and looked Pete Dunham in the eye, the irony not lost on him that the feared Major of the GSE was laying on the floor, crying, desperate and terrified. "Because I'm a nice bloke, I'll let you choose,"
He pulled the cartridge from the gun and emptied it but for one bullet which he twirled in his fingers before placing it gently back in and loading it.
"One bullet, Dunham," Eddie shrugged, pointing it directly at Allie's temple. "I'll make it quick, I'll give you that one for free but the choice is still yours. Mary Poppins here or your daughter. One of them is going home in a body bag, Petey. The best option I can give you is deciding which,"
Pete stared at him for the longest moment, torn between screaming and crying; he knew if he was quick enough that he could knock the little fuck to the ground and happily beat him to death. Gulping, he noted the gun pressed firmly against his wife's head and shuddered. He wasn't sure he trusted himself that much.
"Where's my daughter?" he croaked out, his voice raspy. "You bring her 'ere and then we'll talk,"
"Pete!" Allie shouted at him, tears flowing freely down her face. "No!"
"Now," he ordered, ignoring her.
Eddie stared at him for a moment and then sighed, scratching the back of his head which was growing itchy with dried blood; the one punch Daniel had managed to throw at him had caused his head to snap back and crack against one of the metal posts lining the walls.
"Not as stupid as your fucking ugly mug makes you look, are you Dunham?" he laughed and crouched down next to Allie, pulling her chin around so she was facing him. "See he knows if I go looking for little Popeye that he can get you out of here and then what, Dunham? Wait for me with all your friends? Give me a fucking break. Even I know a bargaining chip when I see one so trust me, the result of a condom splitting ain't enough to make me leave this room."
Rubbing his chin, he regarded the blonde man and hissed in a breath of the cold air.
"Tell you what," he crossed the room, the gun still trained on Allie. "I'll bring her in, just to keep you happy. But if you make one move, I'll blow her fucking brains out, alright?"
Neither Pete nor Allie moved as Eddie vanished quickly behind what appeared to be a door hanging off of its hinges, the iron groaning loudly as he pushed it open further, walking backwards into the room, dragging something with him.
Pete watched as his daughter's body came into view and felt every drop of oxygen leave his body; his arms gave out on him and he fell onto his chest, staring in horror as Poppy Dunham, the tiny thing he had brought into this world lay just a few feet from him; her blonde wavy hair was wet and matted to her face with blood, a small but deep looking gash above her left eyebrow, a sore looking graze down her nose. Her clothes were wet and her lips a sickly shade of blue. Her eyes were closed, her breathing shallow and uneven but it was there.
She was alive.
It was Allie's blood curdling scream that pulled him back to reality, he watched horrified as she crawled over to their daughter, her damaged leg catching on the uneven floorboards, her fingernails breaking, splitting and bleeding as she dragged herself as fast as she could.
"What the fuck have you done?" she screamed, ignoring the nonplussed look Eddie sent her way. Reaching the small body, she sat up, ignoring the searing pain in her ankle as she did so, bringing her daughter into her arms and cradling her against her chest.
"Baby, wake up," she smoothed her hair back and touched her small blue lips, relief surging through her however briefly when she felt her warm breath against her fingertips. "Poppy, baby come on, open your eyes. Its mummy, I'm here, come on..."
"Pete!"
Eddie Hatcher glanced up staring at the collective GSE gathered in the doorway and laughed at the state of them, their faces grey and pale as they stared at the scene before them, the blood and gore, the screams of utter despair. Everything his life had been for the past few years and now it was theirs.
"Well, well, well," he smirked. "If I'd 'ave known it was going to be a party, I'd 'ave put on my finest," he gestured to his bloodied clothing and shrugged. "My apologies, ladies,"
"You stupid fucking cunt!" Bovver launched himself forward, his fists clenched, his eyes wild.
"Careful there now, sweetheart," Eddie lifted the gun and pointed it back at Allie who was too focused on Poppy to even notice. "We've all been on our best behaviour so far so don't you go spoiling things. And if we could keep noise to a minimum because you see Pete here has a little decision to make,"
He looked pointedly at the man in question, revelling in the grief on his face.
"And time ain't 'alf ticking away,"
Pete didn't meet his eyes, instead focused on his wife, his daughter. His girls laying on the cold, wet floor hurt and crying. All because of him. He watched as Allie kissed Poppy's head, shaking her lightly and trying to rouse her and sobbing harder when she got no response.
"I asked you a question," Eddie told him. "Now answer it, before I put a bullet through them both,"
"I said fucking take me!" Pete screamed at him. "Do whatever the fuck you want but you let them go,"
Eddie threw his head back and growled, walking over and leaning down to his level, raising the gun and slamming it so hard into the side of his head that his vision blurred, small white glowing embers dancing in front of his eyes as he tried to regain his focus.
"Stop!" Allie screamed. "Leave him alone!"
"That isn't an option," he shouted, pulling the gun back and hitting him again. "You've lucked out so far, Pete. And I'm going to finish what Tommy started, only I'm not going to let you walk away but I ain't going to kill you either. I'm going to make sure you live the rest of your sad pathetic life with blood on your hands."
The room descended into silence for a brief moment, broken only by the distant sound of sirens. Eddie's head snapped up and he looked at the group of men in the doorway with genuine shock on his face, surprising them when he started laughing.
"You're fucking kidding?" he laughed louder. "You called the old bill?"
Lacing his hands together behind his head, he kicked one of the wooden columns that was barely standing as hard as he could, certain he had broken a few toes in the process but not altogether bothered.
"Well thank you boys," he put a hand over his heart. "Because you just made this decision a whole lot fucking easier,"
Clicking the trigger back, he aimed the gun at Pete, letting it rest against his forehead and smirking.
"Guess beggars can't be choosers, eh Dunham?" he shook his head, his finger pressing on the trigger, waiting for the explosion.
"Just like your fucking Uncle,"
The voice stopped him and Eddie turned, staring at Allie Dunham as she clambered to her feel, yelping when her left ankle still misshapen took the weight of her body.
"What did you say?" he hissed at her.
"Look at the state of you," she laughed at him. "A little boy with a big gun and you think I'm scared of you? You went after a child, a little girl to get to someone who put the nail in the coffin that was your pathetic excuse for a family and you want me to what? Sit here trembling? You're a fucking joke,"
Eddie turned and started towards her, his eyes black.
"You're weak, do you know that?" she shook her head. "Just like your stupid bitch of an auntie when she was so desperate to get away from you that she had to blow her brains out all over the walls,"
"Shut up!" Eddie screamed at her, slapping her hard across the face and knocking her to the floor. "Stupid fucking bitch!"
"They all left you, Eddie," Allie told him, ignoring the sting of her newly split lip. "Your own father, then Tommy, then your aunt, even your firm. All of them hated you so much, that one of them would rather die than be around you. Whereas Pete has family, friends, people who would do anything for him. And what've you got?" she looked around the room and shrugged. "School boy scare tactics and chip on your shoulder for company. You're lower than low. The only favour you can do yourself now is to shove that gun in your stupid little mouth and pull the trigger."
Grinning up at him, she saw the tears in his eyes and felt her chest tighten, knowing what was coming. She had lived her life, she had married the man she loved, had two gorgeous babies and she would miss it. God, she would miss it. But they would go on. There was no life without Pete, without their daughter. So that only left her. And she was happy to go if it meant that they would be able to go on.
"Or go for under the chin," she pressed her fingers to her own jaw to show him. "That's what your auntie did and we both know it worked a treat. I saw the look in her eyes before she did it, before she splattered her skull all over my room," Allie stared at him with a hardness she didn't know she had in her. "She looked happy, relieved. Because even blowing her head off, having her skull shatter and her brains pouring down the walls was a better alternative to living one more day with you,"
Eddie stared at her for the longest moment, his eyes welling over with tears. Lifting the gun to his own head, his hand shaking, he pulled back the chamber and no one spoke, moved or even breathed as the heavy click of the bullet finding its place made itself known.
"Times up," he whispered.
And with that, he held his arm out, his eyes still on the young woman before him, revelling in the horror that swept across her face, her scream, her desperate last ditch attempt to stand and throw herself at him failing as he pulled the trigger in the direction of Poppy Dunham.
I told you...
Please review. Verbal abuse is welcome/expected...although maybe hold out until the second part before you completely run me out of town.. ;)