by Joe Pascente
That’s where they are. Deep breaths, you can do this.
The handgun that Jacobi gave her in the car was halfway tucked into her pants behind her back. It was loaded and Angela felt pretty confident about using it if the situation called for it. She didn’t want to shoot anyone, but if it was William’s life at stake, she hoped she would have the courage to pull the trigger first.
The ground underneath her flats crunched with each step, until the rocky road became a paved path. She passed numerous vacant cages and timeworn animals signs with graffiti spray-painted all over them. With each step, Angela made her way closer to the lit up area of the Old Zoo. She could hear faint music coming from there and it sounded like an ice cream truck’s song. Angela made her way closer and figured she was headed to the merry-go-round, and once she saw it lit up and spinning in slow circles, her heart sank. She saw William tied to one of the posts attached to a wooden horse on the merry-go-round.
His black messy hair was matted down on the side of his head from a portion of dried blood. He was awake, but there was duct tape over his mouth, so he couldn’t call out to Angela. The music was light and child like, but it sounded creepy to her in this particular situation. The lights from the ride created shadows over her face and around the zoo cages. The bars from the cages cast their shadows on Angela’s face and she suddenly felt trapped; ironically, like a caged animal.
Angela felt as if she were walking in a dream. None of this seemed like it was actually happening, but when she saw William tied to the ride, she took a deep breath and ran over to him. Hopping on the moving merry-go-round, Angela made her way to William and ripped off the piece of tape from his mouth.
“Are you okay?” Angela asked, putting her arms around her friend and colleague
“I’m fine, but you shouldn’t have come for me. These men are going to kill you, Angela. Run! Just get out of here!” William shouted. But it was too late.
“You can’t leave now,” Rocky said, popping out from the other side of the merry-go-round. “Not when we’re about to have so much fun!”
II. Lion’s Den
Rocky had a big smile on his face, standing just a few yards from Angela and her boss. The blood spot on his bandage was growing slightly by the minute, soaking through the wrap around his chest. The more pills Rocky ingested, the better he felt and right now, he felt like an untouchable god. Some of the stitches had ripped and this was causing the blood to soak through.
Spinning the Sais in his hands swiftly and with ease, Rocky felt quite confident having these two at his mercy.
“I’m here. You can do what you want with me, but let him go.” Angela pleaded in a stern tone.
Watching Rocky spin his Sais, she knew she should be intimidated, but all she felt was her rage for this man. Angela had enough of these unjustly attacks on her life today. She was done being these assassin’s target for reasons unknown to her and if these were the last minutes of her life, she wasn’t going to take any shit from this guy.
“What’s the hurry? Dr. Rayne came all this way to see you and you already want him to leave? That’s not very nice of you, Dr. Haven.”
Rocky was playing with his food right now. He wanted to drag this moment out and make Dr. Haven recognize she had no power in this situation. Angela was barely paying attention to Rocky at this point, as she was tugging on the ropes that tied William’s wrists to the post. Of course, Rocky didn’t let her get too far in this act of desperation, running over to her and shoving Angela off the merry-go-round.
Landing on her hands and knees, Angela scrapped her palms on the pavement and fell over to her side. Rocky began to laugh and jumped off the merry-go-round before it turned away from Angela. His laughing enraged Angela even more and she knew she had this awful man right where she wanted him. She reached behind her back pulling the handgun out from the back of her pants, and pointed the barrel straight at Rocky’s head.
“That hurt, motherfucker…” Angela said, glaring in Rocky’s general direction.
Rocky panicked for a slight second, hoping Dr. Haven wouldn’t have the guts to pull the trigger. He held his Sais above his head and backed up a few steps.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you, Dr. Haven.”
“Why shouldn’t I kill you? You and your cohorts have really pissed me off today.”
“If you shoot me, you’ll get a bullet in your head from one of my…what’d you call him? A cohort?” Rocky asked. “You didn’t think I came here alone, did you?”
“I still ask you, why shouldn’t I pull the damn trigger? You’re planning on killing me regardless, right? Why shouldn’t I take you out with me?”
“If you behave yourself and surrender to us, we’ll let Dr. Rayne go. If you shoot me, you die and so does he.” Rocky said this, hoping Duke would come out guns a-blazing, but he was silent on his side of the earpiece.
Angela’s forehead was dripping beads of sweat down her temples and her palms were drenched; she didn’t know what to do, or what to believe. She figured this man was speaking the truth about not being alone, but she didn’t believe they would let William go if she surrendered herself. Rocky was inching his way closer to Angela step by step, as the merry-go-round kept spinning beside them. William was trying his best to escape the ropes he was tied to the post with, but he wasn’t getting really far.
“Don’t come any closer, or I’ll shoot you!” Angela screamed. They were just a few paces away from one another. Angela’s hands were slightly quivering holding onto the gun. She had never shot a gun before, let anyone a person.
“I tell you what, how about we put our weapons down at the same time, and have ourselves a chat. Maybe we can work something out, together? What do you say?” Rocky asked, knowing all too well he had no intention of putting his weapons down.
His only goal was to get the gun out of Angela’s hands, but she didn’t fall for his false words. She kept her arms outward and continued to hold the gun arms length away from her, pointed right at Rocky’s chest.
“Leave now, and don’t come for us again. That’s the only option on the table for you. Do not test me. I’m at my wits end with you people.” Angela pleaded once more, hoping this man would come to his senses.
“Okay, I’ll leave. But, you should know one thing first. I couldn’t possibly leave without seeing the look on your face when I tell you,” Rocky paused and leaned in closer to whisper. “We also have Jeremy, your ex-fiancé.”
“What? No. You’re lying.” Angela shook her head furiously.
She would not give in to these lies.
But how does he know about Jeremy? What if they do—?
She didn’t have the time to aim accordingly when Rocky came at her with a leaping sidekick. Rocky’s foot hit the gun right as Angela pulled the trigger, firing off a shot that went flying right by Rocky’s earlobe, missing him entirely. The force behind his sidekick knocked the gun right out of her hands and onto the pavement too far out of reach.
Rocky’s next maneuver was falling to his knees and striking down upon Angela’s foot with one of the Sais in his right hand, stabbing her in the middle of her left foot. The pain was intolerable and Angela’s scream echoed throughout the empty zoo. Rocky stood straight up and held Angela up by the throat. The Sai was still stuck in her foot and she wanted nothing more than to remove it, but she was being choked by Rocky and couldn’t breathe.
This is it.
There were no images or flashes of her life flying by her eyes as Rocky was squeezing the life out of her airway. There was only a sudden sense of panic and helplessness that Angela had never experienced before. She didn’t want to die, but here she was with a Sai stabbed into her foot and her throat being strangled by this killer. She reached for his face trying to scratch him with all the energy she had, but she was drained and the merry-go-round music started to slow down and become distorted. The lights began to dim slowly and Angela t
hought this was the end.
She looked into Rocky’s manic eyes and saw his grin get wider. He let go of her throat, and threw her on the ground again. Angela hit the ground hard, struggling to catch her breath. There was a red imprint of Rocky’s hand around her throat from squeezing it so hard.
“You brought a gun to a knife fight, and you still lost,” Rocky laughed hysterically. “Well, technically, it’s a Sais fight, but that’s still funny as hell.”
Angela tried to regain her composure lying on the ground, but she was still coughing and gasping for breath. She managed to get on her hand and knees, thinking maybe she could crawl to the gun that was just a few yards away. She didn’t have a chance to move even an inch before Rocky was right beside her. He grabbed her by the hair and pulled her head up. Reaching down, he grabbed the Sai and pulled it out of Angela’s foot, resulting in another loud scream from Angela.
Putting the pointed edge of the bloodstained Sai next to her jugular, Rocky said, “Listen, I know that’s painful. I don’t blame you for screaming, but you really need to pay attention to what happens next.”
Still holding her up by her hair, Rocky leaned down to her ear and whispered, “I know you weren’t the asshole who shot me, but you are still the cause of all of this. So you get to watch your friend die.”
Angela could feel a light breeze blow past her face as she heard Rocky grunt above her. She had her eyes closed, but she opened them when she felt Rocky’s stance change above her. She never saw the Sai flinging through the air, but she saw where it ended up: directly into William’s back. It was a direct hit, causing William to slide down the post and wince, muttering inaudible words. Angela cried out, but the damage had been done and when the merry-go-round came back around, William’s body was lying against the wooden horse. He was dead.
“You animal…how could you?” Angela asked, sobbing into her hands.
Rocky let go of her hair and circled around her holding the Sai up to her head. He watched the blood begin to drip out of Angela’s shoe with a sharp sense of smugness. He knew nothing was going to get in the way of his kill. After all, he was an ‘Inevitable.’ He was apart of the team that always accomplished their mission, not matter the cost. There was no one who could stop him now.
“If you’re going to do it, just get it over with already!” Angela yelled, staring at Rocky.
If this was it, then she wanted him to look her in the eye as he killed her. She was sick of his tormenting games. She watched the merry-go-round turn, trying to focus on the music, feeling that familiar feeling of tears streaming down her face. She thought about Jacobi.
I wish you were with me right now. I just want to look into your eyes once more.
BANG!
Angela felt a mist of water splatter on her face. She slowly reached up and touched her cheek and looked at her fingers, which were now covered in blood, not water. For a split second, she thought Rocky had stabbed her with his Sais and she was couldn’t feel the wound because she was in shock. But then she realized it wasn’t her blood that sprayed her face; it was Rocky’s.
He had been shot in the pelvis. As a scientist with a medical background, Angela knew some fun facts about the body. For instance, she knew there was a cluster of nerves in the pelvis that made this area of the body one of the most painful places to be shot. Rocky hit the ground hard, screaming out in pain. The blood was leaking out of his pelvic region at a steady rate. Wiping the remaining blood splatter off her face with the sleeves of her blouse, Angela backed away from Rocky as he dropped the Sais to the ground. She could see in his face how much pain he was in, and she felt no sense of sorrow. In fact, she was glad he got what was coming to him.
Having no idea who shot him, Angela was scared the shooter had missed her by accident and shot Rocky instead. She didn’t want to stick around to find out who had inadvertently saved her life, so she managed to get on her feet and limp to the merry-go-round. Her left foot was throbbing and her shoe was filled with blood, but she pushed herself to the edge of the ride, and hopped on. The merry-go-round spun around halfway before Angela hopped off landing on her good foot. If the shooter missed her and hit Rocky instead, she would now be shielded from another shot. She hid there for a moment, as she heard Rocky yell out for her.
This was her chance to get away. Without taking a look back behind her, she hobbled to the walkway directly in front of her that led to another path through the trees. This was the area hikers came to in the Old Zoo for a nice nature hike—a path that wasn’t suited for someone that was just stabbed in the foot. But Angela continued on, knowing her life was on the line in this abandoned zoo. She grabbed her phone out of her pocket and dialed Jacobi immediately. He picked up at the first ring, letting Angela have it for deserting him.
“Can we discuss this when I’m not fighting for my life, please?” she asked, quickly telling him where she was.
He told her if she was in a condition to drive, to meet him back at Mr. Hornsby’s home. He’d be there waiting for her. It took her quite a bit of time to get back to her car, since she was limping because of her foot, and also quite paranoid about being shot by an unknown shooter. She made it back, and quickly pulled away from the Old Zoo, never once looking back in the rearview mirror.
While Angela was staggering back to her car, Rocky was using his arm strength to pull himself to the nearest cage. He needed to sit himself up and try to stop the bleeding from the gunshot. The chest wound had split open again, so he was bleeding from both places. From a distance, he could hear someone’s footsteps approaching. His head was turned away from this person, and he was in too much pain to turn his body to see who it was. He was just a few feet away from an old lion’s cage when he saw the shadow of the person that must’ve shot him.
Rocky grabbed the bars to the cage and lifted his body up in a sitting position so he was now leaning against cage. He lifted his head up and saw his shooter. Standing with a sniper rifle over his right shoulder, was the man he hadn’t seen since earlier in the day. The man that caused this disastrous day to occur: none other than, Ace.
“I’m not sorry for shooting you, Rocky. You killed Dr. Haven’s boss. Not that I care about taking an innocent life, as I’ve been guilty of it as well. But, then you were going to kill her. And I couldn’t have that. I’m also not sorry because, well, you’re a dick.”
“Takes one to know one…” Rocky said, trying to stop the bleeding by putting pressure on his pelvic wound.
“I guess it does.”
“Are you just going to let me bleed out?” Rocky asked, hoping Duke would answer him on the earpiece.
But he didn’t say a word. And Ace thought Rocky was directing this question to him.
“No, even though you’re a rat bastard, you shouldn’t have to suffer anymore.”
“Help me, do something!” Rocky begged.
All he wanted was Duke to step up and call an ambulance or even shoot Ace in the head with his revolver. But Duke was hidden in the shadows, listening from afar, while watching the whole scenario go down through his binoculars. He knew Rocky was of no use to him at this point, and wanted to see what Ace’s next move would be.
“I can only do one thing for you, man.” Ace said, pointing the rifle down aiming it at Rocky’s forehead.
Assassins have a code they live by. One of the codes is take a fellow assassin out if they’re suffering a terrible death. Ace could’ve let Rocky bleed out, but he was considerate enough to shoot him in the head and end his suffering. Ace walked away from Rocky’s dead body and off into the night.
When Jacobi had pushed Ace into the caved in floor, he was hurt and hit his head on the basement floor, knocking him out temporarily. He woke to a buzzing in his ear, and realized the communication device in his ear had switched back on. The fall caused the hardware to switch back to the frequency the rest of the team was on, so Ace heard the plan from Duke and Rocky. T
hat’s how he knew to come to the Old Zoo and take him out. Ace had a feeling Duke was around, but he knew he’d be too much of a coward to show his face and fight him. So he began to walk back to the motorcycle he stole (from the same neighbor’s house that Jacobi had stolen a car from), and drove away from the Old Zoo.
Duke watched Ace walk away into the darkness and didn’t hesitate pulling his phone out. He dialed Bows, since Boulder was most likely still resting from his injuries. A glimmer of the future popped into Duke’s mind and he saw the light at the end of the tunnel. Phase two was just a means to an end to get to the grand finale.
“Bows, I have some bad news to report. I think you should sit down for this…”
III. Bite the Head Off
Jeremy’s home was quite a mess. It wasn’t because he was a slob; he was just a busy man, working as a pilot and having a family of his own. His wife, Jessica, was eight months pregnant, so she wasn’t doing much cleaning these days either. They had just been thrown a surprise baby shower by Jessica’s sister, which also contributed to their cluttered home.
Jessica’s sister, Carly, was still around the house, helping the happy couple clean up after the guests had all left. The party had gone on a bit late, and Jessica was yawning. She wasn’t used to being up past 11 p.m. these days. But she was a trooper, and appreciated the party. Jeremy was already putting together the crib because he was in such a good productive mood. This shower gave him all the fuzzy happy feelings and he couldn’t wait to be a father.
The doorbell rang, and Jessica asked Carly to see who it was, thinking it was one of the guests that must have forgotten their purse, or something. While washing the remaining dishes in the sink, Jessica spotted a chocolate cupcake one of her friends had made for the party. There were animal crackers on each one, as her friend knew the jungle theme of her unborn baby’s room. Jessica grabbed an animal cracker off the cupcake and bit the head off (as she always did as a kid) and chuckled to herself. That’s when she heard her sister scream by the front door.