Chapter 6 The Axe in the Fire
A few minutes later, a deafening explosion tore through the night. Scorching firelight split the rain.
"God, there's an explosion over there! It's on fire!"
Lights in the other building started coming on one after another. People jolted awake from sleep.
"Evacuate everyone! Has anyone called the police? There's a fire, go save them!"
A minute earlier, I had sent Grandma up to Aunt Su's place on the second floor to borrow candles.
We lived on the fifth floor. In the whole building, only the second floor still had people living there. In the last loop, I had climbed down the water pipe to the second floor. Just as Aunt Su was about to call the police, a black shadow dropped onto the balcony.
Ma Jiu landed with a knife, light on his feet. If Fei Kun seemed greedy and lecherous, then this one looked like a devil who killed for fun. That time, I dragged Aunt Su and her husband down with me.
This time, I would not make the same mistake.
At 10:03 p.m., the knocking came right on time again.
The instant the thugs smashed the door in, a surge of heat knocked them down.
The chance was here. I held my breath, sprang out from behind the sofa, and rushed out of the apartment.
In the firelight, Fei Kun spotted me.
They looked at each other. Ma Jiu charged straight into my home. Fei Kun stepped toward me, swinging the axe. In the haze of dust, the blade cut through the air and grazed my shoulder.
He missed his mark, but I missed a step too and rolled down the stairs.
Fei Kun was fast. He used his size to pin me down, yanked my hair, and hammered at me. "Still running? I'll kill you!"
My head was bleeding from the fall. In my fading awareness, I saw Fei Kun's twisted face as he raised the axe.
But I felt no fear. There was even a trace of a smile.
This time, I had finally gotten Grandma out. Dying like this did not feel like a total loss.
The axe came down. I closed my eyes and accepted it. A scream followed.
But it was not mine—
It was Grandma. At the last moment, she had turned back into the fire and thrown herself over me.
She took that axe with her own body!
Blood splashed across my face. Sirens rose outside the building. Fei Kun and Ma Jiu fled in a hurry. Across all the loops, this was the only time I had lasted long enough for the police to arrive.
It was already useless.
"Grandma, don't sleep, please, look, the police are here!"
A raw roar tore out of my throat, but the blood would not stop. It kept pouring. The axe had nearly split her frail body in two.
Grandma's lips trembled. She forced out her last breath. "Songsong, go..."
I lost her again, as I had countless times.
"Why? What did I get wrong!"
I pounded the floor in unwilling fury. Then a detail flashed into my mind.
Ma Jiu had not interrogated us this time. So why did he still know where we hid the money!
Grandma did not trust banks. She had secretly stashed a bundle of cash under the bed—compensation from my parents' car accident years ago. Eighty thousand left.
Fugitives on the run needed money. They could not walk into a bank. Our home had only the old and the weak, women and children.
We were the best choice.
The problem was, the killers had broken out of prison at five in the afternoon. How could they already know our situation?
Who... had been tipping them off?!