“Alright, this is getting boring now.” Donna commented, before loudly shouting out, “Euan! Visitors!”
As Donna’s voice echoed out, everyone else fell silent and looked around the streets in befuddlement.
“Donna? Is that you?” A voice shouted down, peering over the rooftop of the warehouse.
Instantly, everybody looked up.
“These ‘lovely’ people want to have a little chat!” Donna yelled up. “Mind if we come on up there?”
Euan debated in his mind for several moments, stroking his chin as he did so. “Alright!” He finally called back down as he disappeared from view again.
“Well,” Kieran began, “This should be interesting, to say the least.”
After the group had ascended to the warehouse rooftop with their hostages still at gunpoint, the atmosphere was quickly rather tense.
On one side, Rubin and Nikola had Nolan and Donna apprehended with pistols, whilst Valorie was aiming across the rooftop with Nolan’s rifle towards Euan’s henchmen. Kieran was standing face-to-face with Euan himself in the centre of this makeshift battlefield.
On the other side, Johnno and another bandit were stood several metres away from Euan whilst aiming M1 carbines towards their new foes.
“Do you like our carbines?” Euan taunted Kieran, so close to him that he could smell what he had eaten for breakfast that morning. “We looted a royal armoury and took those beautiful bolt-action weapons of war for ourselves.” It was clear that he was quite the firearms fanatic.
“I don’t give a shit about your guns,” Kieran brushed his opponent’s taunting off, “I want to know what the fuck you lot are planning.”
Euan looked at him condescendingly, “We’re planning to take all your shit and then kick you out of our territory.”
Kieran squinted at him suspiciously, “And what about the people in the safe zone?”
Euan chortled, “We’ve no conflict with them. Just as those walls are their territory, these streets – Kyle’s streets – are ours.” He revealed why the safe zone had not been attacked or occupied hitherto now.
“Then what was it your little underdogs here were talking about earlier?” Kieran nodded back to Nolan and Donna, “About your little plan?”
Euan sighed, “Well, to tell you the truth, we weren’t going to lay a finger on your group until you killed poor little Benji the other day.” Although he had counted on Benji being killed, Euan still played along as though his comrade’s death was not his responsibility.
“Look, for the last time,” Kieran stated, “We don’t know what group you’re talking about—We’ve already said this much to your comrades too!”
“All the same,” Euan fobbed him off, “Whether or not you were apart of that little group,” he was very much aware that they weren’t, “We need to make the score even for Benji’s death… That means we now, in fact, do have a reason to attack the safe zone.” Euan had been searching for a reason to attack the place for a long time, though could never bring himself to have territorial control as his justification for doing such a thing.
Kieran tried to warn Euan off of acting on his plan with a stern look.
Then, Euran declared, “In Kyle’s honour, we shall take the safe zone and make it a part of his—”
Kieran burst out with laughter right in Euan’s face.
Though Euan’s expression indicated that he was quite far from amused.
“Kyle this! Kyle that! What is he? Your fucking martyr?” Kieran questioned as he continued to laugh hysterically.
“Yes.” Euan bluntly confirmed. “Kyle taught us not to live in fear of others. Kyle taught us to be the others that people were afraid of. And now, here we are, in full control of the streets which straggling survivors like you dare not to step foot in.”
Kieran’s laughter faded away as a morose look came over his face.
With a disturbed look on his face, Rubin was distracted by Euan’s speech about martyrdom. As such, he had failed to notice that Nolan, who was still in his grip and at gunpoint, was slowly slipping a penknife out from under his sleeve…
… “Why would you live in fear,” Euan posed a question to Kieran, “When you could be that same fear?” He was effectively repeating what he had said earlier.
“Because you’re not something to fear.” Kieran bluntly affirmed. “You’re just a bunch of fucking idiots who are praising some dead guy that got thrown into a sewer years ago!” He taunted Euan based off of what he had learned about The Bandits from Cora’s stories.
But then, Euan’s ears pricked up, as did those of his henchmen.
Noticing this sudden pique of interest, Nikola and Rubin became uneasy, looking to each other out of their peripheral vision with concern.
Nolan now had a firm grip on the penknife that was tucked into his sleeve cuff; something which Rubin was still completely unaware of. He was ready to flip it open at any given moment.
“How do you know about how Kyle died?” Euan questioned Kieran, taking a step back from him as he did so.
“Does it matter?” Kieran rebutted, not understanding the sudden increase in tension.
Euan looked back at Johnno with perplexed eyes, then turned back to face Kieran, “How do you know what happened to him?” He reiterated the question.
“Does. It. Matter?” Kieran, in kind, reiterated his response.
Euan clenched his fists as his face turned sour, “You have one more chance to answer.”
Kieran laughed him off once more, “I think you’ll find that we’re the ones in control here.” His gullibility could not have been any more ironic.
“We’ll see about that,” Euan forebodingly declared, “GRAH!” He punched straight up at Kieran’s jaw, causing him to lose balance.
In the same moment, Nolan flipped open his penknife and ducked out of Rubin’s loosening grip before stabbing him in his right hip.
“AGH!” Rubin winced out in agony as he felt the blade cut into the highest point of his femur.
“Rubin!” Nikola cried out as she threw Donna to the ground and wildly fired two shots at Nolan; both of which missed him, though one of them had accidentally hit the unnamed bandit in the shoulder and sent him tumbling backwards off of the roof.
Before another shot could be fired, Donna kicked at Nikola’s shin, causing her to fall over.
“Let go of her you bitch!” Valorie reached down as she attempted to lift Donna off of Nikola by her shoulders.
Seeing this commotion between the three women, Nolan retracted his penknife from Rubin’s hip, leaving him to drop down on his knees, and called out to his friend, “Donna! Catch!” Nolan caught her attention as he slid his penknife along the rooftop and into her reach.
Grabbing the penknife firmly, Donna twisted around and stabbed Valorie in the shoulder.
“Ow! Fuck!” Valorie squealed out in pain as she pulled the knife out of her arm.
Before it could be used, however, Donna had pulled Valorie onto the ground with her. Using all her might, she kept Nikola and Valorie both firmly down beneath her.
Now, the tables had completely turned: Euan was mercilessly beating Kieran to a pulp as he kept him pinned down, Johnno had run over to Donna to assist her with the defeated Nikola and Valorie, and Nolan had reclaimed his rifle which he now used to keep the injured Rubin on his knees and at gunpoint.
* * *
With bleeding knuckles, Euan asked Kieran his question one more time, throwing another punch with each word, “How. Do. You. Know. About. Kyle?”
Kieran was on the verge of passing out, too buffeted to form any sort of incomprehensible answer through his broken and bloody teeth.
“Leave him alone you motherfucker!” Valorie yelled out, still being held firmly against the rooftop by Johnno with his M1 carbine.
“Don’t you dare!” Euan backed off of Kieran and now turned to face Valorie with eyes of pure anger, “Who the hell do you think you are bossing me about in my own territory?”
; Valorie spat towards him, “Go fuck yourself! You and your stupid god Kyle!” She could not care less about what would happen to her anymore, therefore, disclosed every single thought that came into her mind.
Euan’s aggressive smile softened eerily into a conniving grin, “That was a big mistake on your part, love… You see, I’m a real sucker for killing somebody with a good reason to.” He nodded to Johnno, prompting him to hand over his rifle, which he did so.
“Don’t!” Rubin had realised what Euan was planning to do, and was desperate to intervene, “Just leave her alone! Please! Kill me instead!”
“Shut him up!” Euan aggressively ordered Nolan.
Then, with the butt of his rifle, Nolan cracked Rubin over his head, as Nikola watched on in a silent yet aggressive dismay.
“Now then,” Euan retraced his aim upon Valorie as he forced her up and guided her to the very edge of the roof top, “You ever been skydiving?”
Valorie still did not answer. Instead, she looked out across the sky in acceptance of her fate.
“Let me tell you,” Euan taunted as he raised the rifle to her head, “It feels a little like this—”
‘GRAHHHH!’
Kieran bellowed out as, with all his remaining strength, he scrambled to his feet and charged towards Euan.
Due to how large the carbine was, Euan was not able to turn around and face his oncoming attacker in a sufficient amount of time.
Within moments of his war cry, Kieran had shoulder-barged Euan from a diagonal angle, causing him to quickly lose balance and stumble backwards.
“Fuck! Fuck!” Euan swore loudly as he tumbled backwards off of the rooftop, screaming as he plummeted down to the ground far, far below.
Now, Valorie was the one with the conniving smirk. Upon hearing Euan’s back break, and his screaming abruptly stop, against the ground, she ran over towards Donna and struggled with her to take her revolver.
“Bitch!” Donna clenched her teeth as she continued to fight with Valorie for possession of the handgun.
Letting his guard down, Nolan took his gun off of Rubin and now aimed it towards the bloody and worn-out Kieran.
But Rubin was not going to let his new friend die on this day. In an act of vengeance, and thinking in the spur of the moment, he bit down hard on Nolan’s shin.
“Argh!” Nolan winced out in pain, causing him to instinctively drop the rifle.
With Nikola’s assistance, Valorie had finally snatched the gun from Donna and now had her on her knees.
“Drop it!” Johnno ordered Valorie. “You’ve got three seconds, and then I’ll-–”
“Fuck you!” Rubin yelled at Johnno in the same moment that he shot him with Nolan’s M1 carbine.
As Johnno clenched the fresh bullet wound in his chest, Rubin shot him again. This time, the force of the bullet had sent him off of the roof as well; Johnno had just met the same demise as his de-facto leader.
Rubin was left in shock, for although he had just saved his friends, he had not killed another man in a long time, nor was he hoping that he’d ever have to do such a thing again.
With no eyes on him, Nolan proclaimed, “Fuck this!” Sprinting as fast as he could, he made a break for the open hatch and retreated down into the warehouse beneath.
“Hey!” As Nikola went to give chase, Valorie held her back, “Let him go… Let’s stay better than them.” She justified her ethics.
Although Nikola groaned at letting her enemy go, she knew that Valorie was in the right, and thus complied.
“Now then,” Valorie bent down and looked Donna dead in the eyes, “You’re coming back to the safe zone with us, and then—Well, then you’re gonna tell us everything about your group.” She revealed to her nemesis.
Chapter 16: Spoken Secrets
In the operating theatre, Alek had finally woken up. Much to his delight, the first thing he noticed through his blurred vision was Emile sitting at his bedside. “Hey…” He addressed his fiancé pleasantly.
But Emile’s expression could not be anything further to the contrary; he had a large, glum, and disappointed frown on his face.
To help unblur his vision, Alek rubbed his eyes intently and then squinted several times. Now, he could see just how displeased Emile looked.
“The bullet’s out. Just take your antibiotics and you’ll be fine. That’s what Erica said, anyway.” Emile apathetically informed him.
Alek coughed dryly, “What’s—What’s wrong?” He was slurring his words as he recovered from the surgery and was also slightly caught off the guard by the large medical patch that had been placed over his shoulder where the wound was.
“Who shot you, Alek?” Emile had waited long enough for his answers and was not going to wait any longer.
Alek reached for the cup of water next to his bed and gulped the whole thing, completely ignoring Emile’s question.
“Why won’t you tell me?” Emile insisted. “Are you… Hiding something from me?” He became worried, fearful that perhaps Alek had somehow found out about ‘the secret.’
Alek continued to blank him.
“Alek, please. I’m here for you, whatever it is.” He took his fiancé’s hand and gripped it tightly, “Please Alek, talk to me baby.”
Alek shook his head dismissively, “It doesn’t matter. It was just some randomer who was deluded after the plane crash.”
Emile did not believe this for one single second, “Alright… Now let’s have the truth, please.”
Alek sighed, “Look, Emile, I just need you to trust me on this, it doesn’t matter.”
But until Emile knew for certain whether or not Alek was aware of his secret, he had to press him for answers, “If you don’t tell me who shot you, Alek, I swear I will tie up and torture every single person here.”
Although Alek knew Emile was neither physically nor mentally capable of doing such a thing, he could appreciate how much such a gesture reflected the love that he had for him.
‘Knock-knock-knock!’
Much to both men’s surprise, they had a visitor in the operating theatre.
“Come in!” Alek called out, trying to slyly avoid Emile’s questioning of him.
The door opened, and into the theatre came Marianne.
“Marianne!” Alek was joyful to see the woman who had removed the bullet from him the first time that he was shot.
“I heard about what happened!” Marianne professed in shock, “My goodness, are you alright, Alek?”
“I’m fine.” He confirmed with a bright smile.
“The bullet’s already been taken out,” Emile informed her, “Looks like you were a little late to the party this time.” He bantered.
Marianne laughed in kind, then joined Emile at Alek’s bedside.
Noticing the concerned expression on her face, Alek felt obliged to ask Marianne, “Is everything alright?”
“With me? Everything’s fine, yes.” She answered casually. “Alek, it’s you that I’m worried about—Who the hell shot you?”
Emile turned back to Alek and raised an eyebrow at him, seconding Marianne’s question.
Alek sighed, “As I’ve already said to my beloved here, it was just a deluded passenger after the crash.”
Marianne was baffled by this answer, “So you had that bullet in your shoulder for four days?”
Again, Emile raised an eyebrow at Alek, agreeing with Marianne’s call.
“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. The bullet didn’t hit anything crucial, that’s why I was fine up until earlier today.” Alek proclaimed with confidence.
“Even so,” Marianne stroked her chin in curiosity, “It’s not as if we were flying with a bunch of strangers… Everybody on that plane knew each other. So, which one of your friends is in an unfit state of mind that poses a danger to the rest of us?” When she phrased the question like this, it had put Alek in an awkward position.
“Hold on,” Emile read Alek’s expression, “I know that look… Are you—Protecting someone?”<
br />
Alek neither confirmed nor denied this.
“Unbelievable!” Emile threw his hands up in disbelief, “Somebody tried to kill you and you’re—”
“It wasn’t like that! She didn’t mean to hurt me!” Alek refuted, though in doing so, he had given the game away.
“…She?” Emile’s heart began racing with fear, beginning to believe that Adela may have had something to do with this, and thus, exposed their secret.
“Alek?” Marianne further prompted an answer.
Now, there was no doubt in Emile’s mind that Alek somehow knew the truth about Adela. An unconquerable trembling came across him as he made this realisation.
“Alek!” Marianne pushed him once more.
“Tia!” He blurted out amidst all the pressure.
“…What?” Emile was not expecting this answer in the slightest, and the connotations of this now made him even more afraid.
“The plane crashed, she was deluded—She was having flashbacks to her and Adela’s parents deaths…” Alek explained with a guilty lump in his throat, feeling it was beyond his jurisdiction to expunge such information, “She wasn’t even a preteen when they died. She had to watch on helplessly as they were murdered—And during her episode after the crash, she was completely disoriented.”
“How does that equate to her trying to kill you?!” Emile was furious.
“You can’t control yourself when you’re in a flashback, Emile!” Alek defended his assailant, “In her mind, she saw only the gun and the people who killed her parents. If you could back and save your parents, you’d do anything, wouldn’t you?”
Marianne nodded understandingly, “That girl loves you, Alek.” She caressed Alek’s hand sympathetically, “If you want this kept a secret, I’ll forget that you ever said anything.”
“Thanks Marianne.” Alek nodded to her appreciatively; for he had no ill-will towards his goddaughter, and therefore, neither should anybody else.
But Emile was not as understanding, however, “She’s dangerous, Alek. Who’s to say she won’t have another flashback and shoot someone else? Or worse?”
Human Nature (Book 4): Human Nature IV Page 15