Chapter Thirteen
Ihated leaving Ry without backup like that, but we had to get as far away from that fucking jammer as possible, and get help asap.
This was turning to hell fast. It was one thing to have a bunch of fuckers tripping and off their faces, but they were getting hurt.
If Stitch hadn’t been anywhere near us, who knew what would have happened when the prick jumped off a building?
Cammy was in labour, for fuck’s sake, and there wasn’t a sober doctor around to help her with that.
Ry had been shot, Ice and Grease were apparently both out cold with concussions and shit. And those were just the ones I knew about. There had been too many gunshots so far, and anyone could have been hit.
“Is this really the fastest you can move?” Tori hissed at me, as she ran past me, and I fought the urge to drag her back.
Just because we were off the compound, didn’t mean there weren’t further risks out here.
I lifted my phone, watching for bars to appear, because the second I could get a call out, we were done running.
“Anything?” She asked, slowing to match my pace, because it wasn’t a fucking race, right? She wasn’t the one trying to look at a phone screen as she ran.
“Not yet. How far does that fucking thing reach? We should be out of range, right?”
She cast her eyes around us, hands landing on her hips. “I mean, unless they have further shit rigged up out here. Maybe we should looked for a back entrance to use.” She caught my smirk and slapped my arm.
“Head out of the gutter, Torch. This is literally life and death.”
“You think I don’t know that? Whoa… one bar, keep moving. As soon as I get two, I’ll dial that mafia prick first.”
She froze beside me, just as I realised I’d put my foot right in my fucking mouth.
“Shit, sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.”
“You didn’t mean to call my father a prick? I mean, that’s charming, Torch. You’re about to ask that ‘prick’ for help.”
Fuck me. Could this night stop getting worse, please?
“I swear, it was just a slip. I call everyone a prick, you know that. Wait, okay, two bars.”
She snatched my phone and made the call herself, her eyes glaring into mine.
“It’s Tori. Get my father on the phone, dammit. I don’t care who I’m speaking to. You’re not him.”
Jesus. At least she was tearing some other fucker a new asshole now, instead of me.
“Yes, yes, I’m okay, but look we need help here… you do?... Oh, I didn’t know that…” What the fuck were they saying?
“I see. No, I didn’t see it, but it’s been crazy. We’ve got a woman in labour amongst all this too. You are? Oh thank god.”
She ended the call and passed the phone back. “The mafia prick is saving your ass. You’re welcome.” She turned and kept walking down the road, instead of back to the compound, so I followed her, having to run a few paces to catch her up.
“I said I was sorry, Tor. It’s been a fucking crazy night, and I’m sorry if I said one wrong fucking word in the heat of the moment.”
She paused further down the road, where the trees opened out, and there was an open field beside us.
“Tori?”
“I know. It’s just… everyone goes on like he’s just some asshole, but he’s a really fucking benevolent one, saving your asses time and time again. It might be time to get your heads out of them, don’t you think?”
I lifted my hands, warding off any further fucking word vomit, because she was right. I was being a twat, and I couldn’t deny that he’d had our backs.
“I said I’m sorry, Tori, and I’ll say it again.
I’m the kinda guy who says the first thing that comes to him, and sometimes it’s not appropriate.
I get it. I do appreciate what he does for us.
You wanna explain why we’re stopping here instead of going back, or do I need to be chewed some more assholes first? ”
She pointed upwards, even as she glared at me some more.
“They’re a few minutes out by helicopter. See, ‘that prick’ got a distress call when the phones were cut, and he already had people mobilised since he couldn’t reach Grease or me, or anyone. ‘That prick’ has a doctor on board, just in case. ‘That-”
“Jesus fuck, woman. I get it. Can you wind it in? My woman, and your man, and everyone we care about, is back there in hell right now. Can you just let us save them first?”
She flipped me off, and turned to watch the sky for our salvation, and I had a feeling I’d be hearing about this again, probably from Ryder too, but if it meant they’d all be alive, I could take it.
Roadkill (Intruder 1)
Iregretted taking him out, but if he wasn’t with me, then he was against me, and that wasn’t what I needed right now.
The fire was nicely taking hold, although I was pissed that I couldn’t throw the petrol even further into the building, because it’d take time to spread.
Still the place was windowless, wasn’t it, so one way in, and one way out. I didn’t say it was built by geniuses.
Now the bunch of fuckers my compadre had managed to subdue were kicking off big time, yelling and screaming at me through their gags, and trying to get up and challenge me, but that wasn’t easy when their hands were cuffed behind them, and they were kneeling in gravel and beer.
They were just scrambling around in the mess, and that meant they weren’t exactly a threat to me.
I smirked at them. “You all die tonight, cunts. I’m just… while your prick of a Pres, and the Phoenix VP, die with their old ladies, I’ll pick off the rest of you. See, I’m not alone here, and you guys have no chance against us.”
It was fun watching them flounder, but I had work to do, and the more noise we made here, and the more attention we drew, and that smoke was going to be a dead giveaway, the sooner the cops would show up. I wanted them to get here, and realise they’d need a bigger van for all the fucking bodies.
“Can’t stay, gents, gotta go kill all your brothers now, and their little bitches. Might even leave you alive to suffer. See? I’m a giver.”
I made my way to the four fuckers I could see sneaking toward the fire. Nobody was going to put out my fucking fire, and save those assholes.
Stitch
Camille was in pain, and I couldn’t do a fucking thing for her. I was kneeling beside her, gripping her hands, and trying to get her to breathe with me, like the classes said, but she was too anxious, and it wasn’t like she didn’t have good reason to be.
“This can’t be happening,” she hissed through her teeth, as another contraction hit her, and I felt every inch of her tensing up with the pain.
“Breathe through it, baby. Remember, tensing up makes the pain worse.”
“I’ll give you some fucking pain in a minute,” she snapped, putting a proud smile on my face, because there’s my fucking savage lady.
Even in the face of all the shit going on around us, she was still so fucking strong.
This was why she was perfect for me, because sometimes it’s the strong partner in life that keeps us fighting. She’d always been that for me.
“Is Lissa okay?” I heard Sophie talking to Micro, but I was doing my best to ignore them, until Lissa suddenly gasped about pretty flames, and ran from the room, with them behind her.
“I fucking hope she’s seeing things still,” I said to Camille, just as Micro yelled ‘fuck’, and Sophie started screaming for help.
Camille took a deep breath, as the pain seemed to ease for the moment, and met my eyes.
“The fucking building’s on fire, isn’t it?” Jesus Christ. I looked to the doorway to see Micro standing there, with pure horror on his face, then I turned back to Camille, forcing a smile.
“Of course not, baby. I’m just gonna go check we can get you to safety, so our baby isn’t born in this shithole. Keep breathing deep for me.”
I was halfway to the doorway when Camille called my name, and I turned to see panic on her face.
“You’re a shit liar, but I love you for trying.” I nodded at her, because what the fuck could I say? My old lady was in the midst of having my fucking baby, and holy shit, the entire doorway, and the entrance to the hall, were engulfed in flames.
“Fuck. Micro, tell me there’s some kind of fire safety shit here. Sprinklers, extinguishers, something.”
He swallowed hard, reaching out to pull Lissa back from the flames, pushing her into Sophie’s arms.
“We have extinguishers, yeah.”
I didn’t like that look on his face, because that should be a good thing, shouldn’t it?
“Out with it, man. Tell me they’re not in another fucking building or something.”
He grimaced, pointing at the roaring wall of flames crossing the hallway. “They might as well be. They’re in the main room…”
“Through the fucking fire?”
He froze suddenly, turning to look behind me.
“Hang on. Lemme check my office. Grease was on about us increasing safety shit, so he was gonna put one in there. Check his office too.” He ran off to his office, which he had to unlock with a key, which made me groan, because if we’d had that, the ladies would have been safely locked in there, instead of behind a broken fucking door.
I ran back into the office to check for fire extinguishers, finding Sophie and Lissa back in there with Camille, each holding one of her hands.
“Lissa’s back with us?”
Camille watched me search the office grimly. “No. But we told her she’ll see more fairies if she holds on to me.”
“Good call. She was trying to get into the… uh… out of the… uh…”
“Fire,” she finished flatly, “I know, Stitch. The smoke is reaching us now.”
Fuck. Smoke. That’d kill us before the fucking fire had a chance to.
“Micro, where’s that fucking extinguisher?
!” He appeared in the doorway holding a single fucking canister, trying to read the instructions before I snatched it from him, and released the hose, activating the spray, and praying it’d at least cut us a path through to get more help.
The fact that he had to take over, because my fucking arm was all but useless, was just something I’d have to bear.
Harley
Icouldn’t find my horse. One minute, she was right beside me, and then she was just gone.
“Harley!” I called out for her, pushing my way through too many people who might be scaring my poor girl, but she was nowhere to be found. How could she just have disappeared? She was my everything, dammit.
I grabbed the nearest guy and spun him around.
“Where’s Harley?” I demanded, but he just started to laugh. Why was it so funny? I drew back my fist, ready to punch him if he didn’t help me out.
“Harley, what’s your beef, man? You wanna get a beer?” I punched him, and almost tripped over his ass as he hit the ground, laughing again as I called out to my girl.
“Harley? Harley, get back here!”
“He’s calling for himself! What a prick!”
I kicked the fucker, and ran straight into trouble. Trouble was a guy dressed in black, who aimed a gun right at my head. Fuck.
“Stop right there, Harley.” What? I spun to look for my beloved horse, but she wasn’t there. Where was she?!
“I said, fucking stop!”
“Where is she?” I demanded, moving closer, even though that gun was almost right in my face now.
“The fuck? Where’s who? I said, stop, dammit. I’ll shoot you in the fucking face!”
I tried to knock the gun from his hand, and tripped over my feet, or maybe someone else’s, who knows? I landed on my back, and the asshole straddled me, pressing the gun to my cheek.
“You’re a traitor, man. You betrayed your colours. You bent over and took it up the ass from these Phoenix fuckers. I’m about to put a bullet in your fucking eye socket.”
I reached for the gun as he moved it over my eye, gripping it with both hands, as I stared down the barrel, knowing death was seconds away.
“Just tell me, please.”
The fucker hesitated, finally chuckling to himself.
“Fine. I’ll indulge you. What do you want to know? Why I’m doing this?”
“No. Where is she? Please, I have to know. Did you hurt her?”
He glanced behind him at the roaring flames I’d noticed, but not really taken interest in, because she wouldn’t be in there, would she? Fuck, I’d run through fire for her if I had to.
“She’s in there?”
His eyes fixed on mine again. Everything about him was familiar, but the buzzing in my ears, or maybe the roaring of the fire, was making it hard to place his voice.
“Which she? You’re gonna have to narrow it down for me. There are three women in there. Well, four, I guess, if the baby’s a girl.”
His words made no sense, but I shook my head, still holding onto that fucking gun that would take my life soon, and I wouldn’t even see my girl again. I just wanted to see her again, just to know she was safe!
“Harley.”
His head tilted.
“Huh?”
“Where’s Harley?” He drew the gun away from my face, scratching at his temple with the barrel, even though that seemed pretty dumb to me. How embarrassing would it be, if he shot himself doing that?
“What the fuck are you talking about? You’re Harley, dipshit.”
Ugh. They were all the same. It was like they thought I didn’t know my own fucking name!
“Not me Harley, her Harley. Where is my fucking Harley?”
“The fuck?” He looked away from me, and I figured, since he wasn’t helping me, why not get rid of him and go back to my search? I grabbed the knife from my sleeve scabbard, and jammed it right into his side, just as I recognised him at last.