Chapter 60
EVERYTHING’S RED
Present day
“Return fire,” someone shouted — Clif, Jasper, I couldn’t tell—voices swallowed each other.
My hand shook as I aimed my pistol at Dustin.
Sheetrock erupted from the side wall, throwing out a dust that choked the air, shielding him as he retreated.
Move, stupid girl. I rolled under the neighboring pew, groaning as blood soaked through the bandage.
Melody, who had been all composed and cocky, was coated in white powder as she fired low, her aim ugly but dangerous. She hit a man in the knee, and he cursed, toppling into a pew that collapsed with his weight.
The police presence complicated things. A pair of officers ducked into a pew; their bullets didn’t discriminate. I realized, with a cold, icy twist, that some of those cops weren’t there to shut us down — they were there to hunt.
Bullets kicked plaster dust into the air, and some officer shouted, “Get down now!” It was too late to make a plea.
A blue uniform at the doorway fell; blood bloomed across his chest like a grotesque rosary.
The man who took the shot wasn’t one of ours, and he wasn’t Shaw’s.
He was in plain clothes at the back, crouched, rifle smoking as he fueled the chaos.
Ricochet shattered a candleholder, and wax hissed down like rain. Cole screamed something—my name? An order?—then ducked behind a column as a slug penetrated the wood where he’d been standing a breath before.
The altar was chaos — an altar boy I’d seen earlier lay there, groaning, his cheek split open, eyes wide and wet.
A nun screamed and then was silent. The heavy smell of dust and incense and sweat was replaced by the metallic tang of adrenaline.
I fired blindly over the pew, dropping and moving — my knees scraping against shattered tile.
Another shot vibrated in my ear, too close, and I ducked as plaster exploded above my head; it snowed down, choking me.
A figure lunged out from behind the altar, and I pivoted. I grimaced, pausing to check the boy’s pulse — none. With his eyes now closed, I moved.
“Melody!” Shaw barked, and the redhead slid across the floor to his side.
Two shots rang over her shoulder in reply.
Shaw fired back like a possessed man — controlled, vicious and when he moved, it was the confidence of someone who had done this before.
He was the opposite of the smug smile he’d worn minutes before, a hard animal now.
The world was chaos, screaming steel and flashing muzzles. The spent magazine dropped from my gun as I pulled another from my boot. Shaw and I locked gazes for half a second. He nodded before he shoved Melody out a side door, laying cover fire.
My breath caught in my throat as blue and red sirens broke through the dwindling chaos. Backup arrived.
My legs wobbled, like they weren’t my own. Cole shoved me behind the front pew. “Stay low, be quiet.” His voice low in my ear. He disappeared towards the organ. Jasper’s body replaced his at my side as the last blue uniform retreated out the front doors.
“Your surrounded! Come out with your hands up and we won’t shoot,” the police shouted from outside.
“To hell with that, I am not going to jail again, I don’t care what the fuck strings Midas pulls,” Cliff commented from the other side of Jasper.
He was bleeding from the side of his head, which was coated in dust. Another body beside his, a bandage strapped to his leg — it was one of the dimwits I couldn’t remember his name.
“Bro, it’s not that bad the men have holes just as nice as the women.” the Dimwit said.
“Shut up,” Jasper ground out.
“Where the hell is Cole?” Wood creaked and shots rang out as gunfire exchanged again. Pillars crumbled off in pieces with the impact. I was counting bullets as they whizzed past me. Twelve, eleven, ten…
“I swear to fucking god if that man does not show up in the next twenty seconds I will kill him myself,” I grunted as I ducked behind the pew again. The police officers slowed their firing and stopped, the dust too thick for them to see clearly.
“Summer, it doesn’t have to be like this!” Dustin shouted from across the way.
“Fuck you!” I yelled back.
“Just come out we can talk about this, do you really want to go to jail?” Dustin’s voice the negotiator in this situation. I almost laughed too loudly; jail was nothing compared to the loss I had suffered.
“I won’t let them keep her, you’ll have to drag me out by my cold dead pussy.” I enunciated as I threw a grenade in the general vicinity. It was a weak throw, a distraction so that we could make our exit. Cole had brought reinforcements.
“Move your asses or so help me I will kill every single one of you useless piece of shits,” I barked as the ringing died down around us.
“That wasn’t nice Summer, you have what eight bullet’s left?” Dustin goaded.
“Nine, you mother fucker, eight if I put one in your pretty little temple,” I sassed.
“We can help you find her, all you have to do is turn yourself in,” he negotiated.
moved,I shot around just barely nicking his ear, and all hell broke loose. The men moved and Cole was within arm’s reach.
Seven, the shot left the barrel as I turned to run.
Six, a bloodcurdling scream ripped through me as a bullet entered and exited my right leg.
I tripped over myself, pushing to keep going.
Don’t die yet. Not fucking yet. I stumbled behind a pillar.
Cole forced behind another as the footsteps of the SWAT team closed in.
The men laid down cover fire as I held back tears.
I ripped my t-shirt, tying it around my leg as the pain seeped around.
I needed to move or I would be dead. I turned, firing blindly into the masses, hoping that my bullet landed with a thunk, no longer as accurate or caring so long as I made it out of there alive. Five.
Move. Move or you're dead, Summer. Just do it. I chanted in my head like it was the last fucking thing I would do. I whipped around, firing the remaining bullets into the dusty coverage, making a beeline for Cole and the open door. It was so close.. I could taste the freedom. Cole.
I felt the wind knocked out of me as the bullet sank into my shoulder. My eyes widened in terror as my outstretched hand barely shy of Cole’s. His roar of pain was mirrored in my foggy mind. My body slammed sideways as I made impact with the ground.
Dustin stood just feet away, the barrel’s heat not even dissipated.
His features pinched in sadness for what seemed like an eternity, but I knew to only be a few seconds.
Cole’s pistol fired recklessly towards Dustin as he dodged and ducked for cover.
The longer I stared at the blood leaking out, the more I tried to laugh . .. red. My favorite color.