33. The Battle for Survival
Chapter thirty-three
The Battle for Survival
Emily
In the bathroom, shattered mirrors caught the dim, flickering lights, casting eerie shadows through the dust-filled room.
Broken pipes jutted out from the walls, spewing water everywhere and turning the floor into a slippery mess.
But there, at the end of all this chaos, were these big windows, already cracked wide open. Despite everything, they looked like our ticket out of this nightmare.
Okay. Thank God.
It also appeared others had already discovered this unlikely escape route because the edges of the windows were jagged, glass shards littering the sill and the floor beneath.
It was clear that the windows hadn’t been gently opened. They had been forcefully broken. Plus, there were signs of struggle and haste—a discarded shoe, a torn piece of fabric caught on a shard of glass, and smudges of dirt or soot on the sill that spoke of hurried exits.
Max, you better had run out this window.
“Aright.” Kaz let go of my hand.
The realization that we might actually escape, that we could survive this nightmare, lent a new speed to my steps.
Kaz wasted no time, moving towards the windows. “Once we are out, we keep moving. No stopping, no looking back.”
“Okay.”
But then, a sudden movement from my peripheral vision made me whip my head to the side, an instinctive reaction which saved me as a bullet whizzed past where my head had just been.
“Ah!” I twisted fully around to face the shooter and squeezed the trigger.
The recoil shuddered through my arm, but it didn’t faze me as the masked man crumpled to the ground.
“Goddamn it!” Kaz growled, pointed, and got to my side. “I figured they heard that.”
“Hopefully, not anymore—”
Instantly, five more black masked men entered.
Well damn. . .
Kaz and I exchanged glances and without needing any words, fired shots.
Immediately, the bathroom transformed into an arena of violence.
There was a deadly rhythm to our spray of bullets.
I loaded while Kaz shot.
Once done, I shot as he reloaded.
Five more men came in, getting bullets in their eyes and chests, necks, and legs. They fell one by one, their bodies shaking and then crumpling to the tile floor.
Fuck you and you and you and you.
Blood sprayed.
Tiled splintered.
More glass shattered.
But even as our attackers fell, more poured in.
Come on. Give us a fucking break!
A seemingly endless stream of vengeance and violence continued.
We shot before they could even pull a trigger.
I didn’t think I was hit, but with the heightened adrenaline surging through my body, I wouldn’t know until later.
And we kept our rhythm.
When I was out, he kept those shots firing, and I loaded.
Once done, he did the same.
And more came in.
And all of them died.
But then, Kaz’s Glock clicked empty.
Shit.
I shot the last guy in the head and checked for a clip to hand him.
Nothing was there.
I shivered and still aimed my gun, even though it was empty. “I’m out too.”
Before Kaz could say anything, five more men stepped in, taking in all of their dead foes on the ground. Shock and rage blazed in their eyes.
Fuck this.
Kaz pointed the empty gun at them. “Go through the window, mysh . Now.”
“I’m not leaving you.”
“Goddman it.”
A guy aimed his gun.
Kaz threw the Glock at his head. The weapon slammed into his head. In one swift movement, Kaz grabbed a shard of broken glass from the windowsill.
One man screamed and shot my way.
“Fuck you!” I darted out of the bullet’s path, charged for his legs, and slammed my empty gun into his knee.
He fell.
I struck his temple hard.
The man crashed to the ground.
A second man rushed for me.
Kaz lunged his glass at the guy’s neck and sliced through flesh. The crunch of bone against glass echoed in the room and the man fell onto the heap on the floor.
No more time to think or even check on Kaz, I jabbed one guy in the abdomen before he could pull his Glock’s trigger.
In the blink of an eye, I smashed my forehead into his nose.
OUCH!
But, it was worse for him, the bastard reeled back, uttering a cry of shock and pain, hands reaching for his face.
Capitalizing on the momentary distraction, I kicked him hard in the shinbone while grabbing his wrist and forcing it upwards until I heard the sharp snap of bone breaking.
Die, bitch.
His gun slipped from his fingers and skidded across the ground to somewhere behind me.
“Kaz, gun on the floor!” I advanced on my guy.
The man’s fist flew towards me, connecting with my jaw and sending me sprawling backward.
Oh God!
White-hot pain shot through my teeth and head. I could taste blood but ignored it, staggering back up onto my feet.
Shots rang.
I checked over my shoulder.
Kaz had picked up the Glock and took out the man in front of him.
I turned back to my man.
A wild, predatory grin spread on his face. He pulled another gun out of his side holster and said something in Spanish.
Then, a bullet pierced his forehead.
I knew without checking that Kaz let out the shot.
Thank you, baby.
The man’s eyes widened in shock as blood sprayed and he fell to the floor.
I pried the gun from his dead fingers.
Okay. Who’s next?
Two new men with white masks rushed at me, one from either side.
Where the hell did they come from?
“More guys!” I pivoted on my heel and rammed my elbow into one man’s midsection, then spun around and shot the other guy.
White-hot pain flared up my arm, but I was already moving onto another guy, each precious second ticking by as if in slow motion.
A bullet whizzed past my ear and lodged itself into the wall behind me.
Then, a shot rang, and a body fell to the floor.
“ Mysh !”
I turned around.
Kaz slung another gun at me.
I caught it. Now both hands held guns. I kept them raised in front of me.
I didn’t see any more people. However, with the way things were going tonight I was sure the fighting wasn’t over.
Kaz hurried to me. “Climb out that fucking window—”
“And then how are you getting out—”
“I will try, but in the end, one of us has to get away—”
“Fuck you with the one of us shit.”
Four new men rushed in, stepping over dead men and aiming our way.
Together, we fired at them, got to the center of the bathroom, and put our backs against each other.
Kaz’s voice grew shaky. “Do not get shot!”
“Never that!” I aimed and pulled the trigger.
The first bullet buried itself in my man’s right arm.
He shot my way, almost getting me in the neck.
Kaz’s back left me.
Scared, I screamed, “Kaz?!”
He shot at someone. “I am fine.”
Thank God.
Satisfied, I was shooting again and so were they.
Bullets whizzed past us, embedding themselves into the cracked tile wall.
Chips of porcelain flew like deadly confetti.
I fired again and again, each shot bringing down another opponent.
Behind me, Kaz was performing his own violent ballet. I could feel every powerful recoil of his weapon and hear the grunts that escaped with each exertion.
With my men down, I glanced over my shoulder.
Kaz’s once crisp black suit was now splattered in a grotesque palette of red and grey matter.
Rage bubbled up inside me, a hot poison that ignited my nerves.
No fucking more men!
I turned back, baring my teeth like a cornered animal. My vision blurred with unshed tears, but I shook it off.
Six men entered with these green ghoulish masks leering as if they were assured victory.
MOTHERFUCKER!
I fired at the one in front.
It was a swift shot to the gut. He fell, doubling over in pain.
I tried to shoot at the second.
Both guns clicked.
Not this again!
The bathroom became a blur of motion as I engaged the attackers.
Kaz must have had the same situation.
He passed me like a force of nature, his movements a brutal ballet of violence. He slammed one attacker’s head into a mirror, shattering it into a spider web of cracks, then used the jagged edge to fend off another.
I need something.
I frantically looked around as a man aimed at me.
Come on.
I grabbed a heavy, broken piece of pipe from the floor, swinging it with all my might.
Please. Please. Please.
The end of the pipe connected with a sickening thud against his skull.
Kaz got to my side. “Stay close, mysh!”
“O-okay.”
Side by side, we moved in sync.
Kaz and I.
A deadly duo fighting against overwhelming odds.
So, fucking fast.
Seconds by seconds.
Each time a hand reached for us, we countered with ferocity born of desperation. I snatched a gun from a fallen enemy, firing it into the group, the recoil jarring but effective as another body dropped to the floor.
The fight was brutal and unrelenting. We used everything at our disposal, turning the bathroom fixtures into weapons, the environment itself an ally in our battle for survival.
The air was thick with the sounds of grunts, the shattering of porcelain, and the wet, gruesome noise of bodies hitting the floor.
Kaz turned another shard of the broken mirror into a makeshift knife, plunging it into the gut of an attacker lunging at us.
The man’s eyes widened as a gurgling sound slipped from his lips before he crumbled to the floor.
Kaz roared, “You all will die!”
Adrenaline pulsed through my veins like wildfire and time blurred.
I swung the pipe in a wide arc, catching another off guard. His teeth clattered onto the tile floor, bouncing like dice in a grim game of chance.
Suddenly from behind us came a loud crash.
Tisha’s voice filled the air. “Kazimir! Emily! Hit the ground!”
A loud crash echoed through the bathroom, momentarily pausing the chaos.
Everyone turned that way.
From the cracked and gaping window, Tisha and Lemon leaned in, gripping automatic weapons in their hand.
Kaz grabbed me, pulling us both to the wet, glass-shattered ground, covered with dead bodies.
Thank God! Somebody came.
Tisha and Lemon unleashed a torrent of bullets towards our assailants.
“Come on, mysh .” Kaz and I began to crawl towards the window, our movements hurried yet hindered by the treacherous terrain.
Bullets zipped overhead.
Sharp, jagged edges of broken glass cut into my hands and knees.
Kaz was the first to reach the window. He used his body to shield mine as he helped me to stand up.
More men must have kept coming in because Tisha and Lemon continued to cover us, shooting with no mercy.
“I have you.” Kaz boosted me up towards the opening, his hands steady despite the craziness we just went through.
Fast, I climbed through the window.
Cold night air hit me like a shock.
I turned back to help Kaz.
Our hands clasped tightly as he made his way through the jagged opening.
Thank you, Jesus. Thank you.
“We thought we lost you.” Lemon pointed to the back of the alley where a car sat.
But there was no time for lengthy reunions or heartfelt thanks.
I squinted.
At the end of the alley, Kaz’s men around the car were shooting at people I couldn’t see.
Once Kaz got in the alley along with us, we rushed forward.
I sneered. “They’re fucking fighting us outside too?!”
Tisha kept his gun ahead of us. “The Cartel sent hundreds of men for us tonight.”
Kaz tore off his ripped, bloodied jacket and slung it on the ground as if ready to fight more people. “And Valentina? Is she okay?”
“Y-yes.” Tisha didn’t look his way. “But. . .she is badly injured and on the way to the hospital.”
Lemon turned to me, and her bottom lip quivered. “They shot Max, Emily. He’s on the way to the hospital too.”
My world spun as my eyes watered. “W-what?”
My legs wobbled stopping me from walking in a straight line.
Kaz whipped his arm around my waist to help me keep my balance.
I glared at Lemon. “W-where did they shoot him?”
Lemon’s face tinted red. “Several times in his chest.”
“No. No. No.”