Chapter 33 Dare
THIRTY-THREE
DARE
Isaw them. They were just blurs in the distance, but I could see them. So I ran. I kept running despite the pain throbbing in my arm. Despite the blood that had dried all down my sleeve, and how dizzy it made me every time I looked at it.
I had to get to him.
A shot echoed up ahead and I ducked to avoid it, but it must have hit somewhere away from me because I didn't see anything around me burst.
I kept going, trying to close the distance. My arm was sore and my chest heavy, but I couldn't stop now. I was close— and there was no telling what Victor might do to Zach.
If I hadn't chased them down like a maniac, none of this would have happened.
I didn't know how safe Zach would be with that monster, but it would be safer than being stranded in the middle of nowhere with no options.
I'd made everything worse, but I'd be damned if I didn't see it through.
If I didn't try to rescue the love of my life.
Because that was what he was. The love of my life. Or he had the potential to be, if I didn't screw it up and if fate smiled on us.
To think I'd wasted so much time, so much fucking time, afraid of getting hurt again when I could have been with him from the start. We could have had something beautiful. Something unbreakable. Something everlasting.
I've been so stupid! So fucking—
Something grazed past my ear, and I focused ahead on Victor. He was a few yards up ahead, his gun aimed at me.
I ducked behind a tree and came out the other side, firing at him. I didn't stop running as I did. I was too close to start hiding again, it was time to take that asshole down.
He tried to shoot me again, so I took cover behind another tree and came out the other end. When it happened again though, I popped back out from the same side, taking him by surprise, and fired at him.
My bullet ripped through the top of his shoulder, and he hissed but he didn't back down. He didn't yell in pain or take cover.
I was only twenty feet or so away from him and more determined than ever to put a bullet through that asshole's head. But he was just as persistent. He didn't let up. He fired at me and I ducked behind another tree. I was slowly making my way closer to him, making Victor an easier target.
And then, everything froze.
I blinked. All I could see was a bright light, and all I could feel was pain. I blinked again.
What the hell had happened? Was I dead? Had that bastard got me?
I focused on my breathing and relaxed my shoulders, then everything cleared and I could see again. I could see the gray sky up above, the tree branches interlocking with one another, blocking the rain with their foliage.
I sat up slowly. I was covered in sludge. When I tried to get up and slipped back on my ass, I realized what had happened. I'd slipped. I'd gone and fucking slipped. Again.
"Shit!" I groaned and pushed myself off the ground.
I oriented myself and started running again, though I could feel my speed had drastically decreased. I knew I was going the right way though. I could see the tracks they'd left behind that hadn't been washed by the rain yet. He was close. Zach was close. I could feel it deep—
Smash!
Something crashed into my face, and I found myself back on my ass, on the ground.
Victor emerged from behind the tree, all smug and proud that he'd elbowed me but if he thought this was over, he was more stupid then I realized.
I raised my arm to shoot at him, but my hand was empty.
Panic flared within me as Victor did exactly what I had intended to do, and I found myself looking at the barrel of his gun.
"Give it up, old man. This is over. It's all over, you hear me," Victor shouted and pulled Zach from behind the tree they'd hidden behind, as if he wanted to show him off.
I didn't know how I looked but Zach looked worse for wear. He was dirty all over, bruised, with puffy red eyes and unkempt hair full of twigs. He still looked beautiful though. To me, he'd always look beautiful.
Victor said something, whether it was to Zach or me, I didn't know. I was too busy gazing into Zach's eyes to listen to the deranged man standing over me.
If I was going to die, I wanted to at least have a perfect view before I closed my eyes for good. I didn't want to be looking at Victor or the barrel end of his gun.
Yeah, that was a good way to go. Staring at Zach. At the love of my life. There were worse ways to go. Trying to save the man I loved wasn't one of them. I'd tried. I'd failed, but at least I'd tried. I just hoped after he killed me, Victor wouldn't feel like he needed to hurt Zach further.
"Please don't kill him," Zach cried.
My heart thumped in my chest at the agony in his voice. I wanted to put my hands on him, to wrap him in my arms and soothe him. I wanted to do so many things, to be so many things for him, but now it would never happen.
Victor's hand tensed and I narrowed my eyes, waiting for the end. For the darkness to come for me and sweep me away.
But before that could happen, Zach wrenched his elbow back onto Victor's lower chest, and he yelped in surprise. His hand loosened on the gun. It was only for a split second, but that was all I needed to push myself up and jump on him.
I grabbed his wrist and yanked it up, pointing his gun to the sky. A bang thundered across the woods and my hands trembled from the after-effect of the bullet that would have gone into me if I hadn’t acted.
I tugged on him with all my might, trying to break the weapon out of his grasp but my arm flared from the strain I was putting on it.
I ground my teeth and pushed harder, bringing my knee up to meet Victor's groin. He yelped again, but the fucker didn't let go.
I growled and put all my weight on him until he fell to the ground. His gun flew out of his hand, but I didn't get a chance to grab it because we slid down a short incline. When we stopped, he was on top of me.
I threw a punch at him, but it didn't land and he retaliated by punching me in the head.
Pain ruptured at my temple. I put my hands up in front of me in an effort to stop the next attack, but he buried his fist into my stomach instead. On instinct I reached for my belly, leaving my head wide open. Victor took advantage and whacked me with a stone on my forehead.
As I felt blood trickle down my hairline he raised his arms over his head once again, rock between his hands and murder in his eyes.
The woods around me started spinning and I said my final prayers.
I wasn't even religious. I didn't particularly believe in a god or care if they existed or not, but if there was a higher power, I hoped they were listening to me in my final moment.
Please don't let Zach get hurt. He doesn't deserve this.
And please, make it quick. I don't want to suffer.
Victor started to bring his wrath down on me and I grimaced, waiting for that one last ounce of pain before the sweet release of death.
It never came.
There was a bang and as I opened my eyes wide to try and figure out why, Victor's head split open, blood spattering to the side before he followed its trajectory and collapsed like a heap of bones beside me.
I stared at him, at his big brown eyes that had life in them only moments ago but now were cold, dead in a matter of seconds, and I froze. I froze for what seemed like hours.
The blood mixed in with the brown mud and as I turned up to look at the sky, the rain stopped as if someone had turned a switch. The gray clouds parted and a weak sunlight bathed us in warmth.
"Are you okay?" Zach’s voice was a melody to my ears, and I blinked back to reality.
Zach knelt down beside me, dropped the gun he'd been holding and put his hands on my face.
"Dare, can you hear me? Did he hurt you? Are you okay?" he shouted, pushing my eyelids open with his thumbs.
"I am now," I croaked and he let out a big breath.
"Oh God, Dare. You big, silly man. Are you okay?"
I nodded, but that seemed to kickstart the pain all over my body and I groaned.
"What? What is it?" he asked, patting my body.
He stopped after a few seconds and stared at me.
"I love you," I told him.
"What?" he asked.
I opened my mouth but only a cough came out.
"Are you okay?" He towered over me and searched my eyes for answers when I didn't really have any.
"I am and I love you. I wanted...I wanted to say it before it was too late." I raised my hand and cupped his face, caressed his skin.
"Too late? Why is it too late?" he cried.
Instead of answering him, I pulled him down to me, down to my lips.
It was good to hold him again. To be in his orbit once more. To know he'd be okay. We both would be. Because Victor was dead. There may still be evil out there, but the world had one less monster in it.
And Zach was safe. He had survived. He could live without fear. He could be anything he wanted to be.
Hopefully he wanted to be mine, among other things.