The Red X Chronicles (Book 1): Emergent

by Sullivan, Robert Patrick

  John looked down at the gun in his hand. My heart was beating out of my chest. I could barely breathe. I watched John he was struggling to pull the gun up, but slowly he did. John pointed it right at my face. “I’m sorry Mark…” I heard the sound of a gunshot bounce loudly off the walls of the tunnel.

  Chapter 22

  “Son of a bitch!” Harry screamed out falling to the floor clutching his arm. Everybody turned to where the sound of the shot came from, but we couldn’t see anything past where the lights cut off. Harry scrambled to his feet and began running. “Don’t just stand there! Shoot the fucker!”

  The men barely had a second before shots started raining down on them as well. The first one got three rounds in the chest and collapsed. “Get to cover!” One of the remaining men called out. They rushed behind the makeshift train car and began returning fire.

  Harry had pulled out his own pistol and looked around to see where the shots were coming from, but other than a brief flash every time a shot came their way they couldn’t make anything out. And from what I could tell, the person shooting at them was moving each time so they couldn’t pinpoint his location. I looked over just in time catch a glimpse of Harry’s face behind the train car, he was grinning. “Draw him out! Shoot his friends!” The men took a second to register his words, which might have been our only saving grace.

  “Get out of the light!” I yelled and sprinted as fast as I could to the cover of darkness. I couldn’t really tell at the time, but from what I could see we all managed to escape before the shots started raining down on us.

  More gunfire came toward Harry and his men, with another one catching a bullet in the shoulder. “We’re sitting ducks like this!” Harry grabbed one of his men and started pulling him along with him. “If you want to play hide and go fucking seek then so be it! Come on!” He led his men into the shadows.

  I tried to suppress my breathing so they couldn’t hear me. I could hear their steps in the tunnel. I knew they were coming right for me, so I turned to move away, but my foot caught the track and I fell to the ground. I tried to catch myself, but I knew I still made too much noise. I thought they had to hear me.

  But then I heard one of them whisper. “Did you hear something?” It didn’t take me long to catch on to what was happening, their ears were still ringing from shooting their guns, which gave me an advantage.

  I got to my feet and snuck around the side of them. When I realized I had made my way behind them I gripped my machete hard. This was the best chance I had to fight them and I knew I had to take it, but I couldn’t see them. I snuck around trying to figure out exactly where they were when finally I could see their silhouettes appear when they came between me and the area that was lit up. It was my chance.

  They were all just as blind as I was, so I knew they wouldn’t see me coming. I took a deep breath and tensed up. This would be the first time… the first time that I killed a person. My heart was racing, but I knew that if I hesitated I might not get another chance. I stepped forward and swung my blade at his neck. I felt it sink into his flesh, but it stopped near the halfway point, not enough to consider him decapitated, but certainly enough to kill him. He let out a sound that was somewhere between a gurgle and a scream. That’s when I heard the rest of the men turning around. I pulled on the handle, but the blade was stuck, I gave it up to dive out of the way. Just in time too, as they didn’t hesitate to open fire, even on their own man. Then the other shooter sent more shots their way. He hit one of them, I couldn’t really tell where, but I heard him hit the floor.

  I thought for a second that I did all I could. I was without a weapon, I killed one of them, and they would definitely hear me if I tried to fight one of them with my bare hands. All I had left to do was stand back, hope and watch, no one would blame me… But I wasn’t about to go down without trying. I had to think about it, but I realized I still did have one weapon at my disposal, my mind. I reached down and felt along the ground, but it was smooth concrete, there was nothing to find. That’s when it hit me, my shoes, I still had those. I pulled one off my foot and took it in my hand. It felt kind of dumb, but I threw it just on the far side of the men. It hit the ground with a loud smacking noise which immediately got their attention.

  Sure enough, they opened fire on the shoe, which was just what I was hoping for as once again it drew the fire of the other shooter. They got hit hard this time. Two more men fell to the ground. One of them was still breathing, but the others moved on. So I did it again, another shoe, another man down.

  There were only two of them left, and I was out of things to throw. I couldn’t think of anything else to do, anything but what was probably the stupidest thing I have ever done in my entire life. I got between them and the light again. I drew in a long breath and yelled. “They’re over here!” I dove to the ground just in time to see them turn around to face where I was. Then I saw another figure fire his gun from the side while running, he tackled one of them to the ground. They were struggling when the shots came. The one that was standing was hit enough times to do the job. Then I could hear the other two fighting. A few rounds went off from their guns, and finally, they went quiet. The figure who had tackled the other one brought himself to his feet, but was obviously winded. I could tell it wasn’t one of Harry’s men from the silhouette.

  “I think that’s all of them!” I cried out with joy in my voice.

  “Good!” Dennis yelled from the darkness across from the lights.

  “Are you sure?” The figure who had fought the man on the ground was John.

  “Pretty sure, well…”

  “Well what?” he asked me.

  “One of them was shot, but was still breathing.”

  “Still breathing means still dangerous, let’s find him.”

  “He was over here.” I led John to the area where the man was shot. “He went this way.”

  John was whispering now. “How can you tell?”

  “I had to throw my shoes so I could get their attention, and well… I can feel his blood on my feet. He didn’t get back up, he’s dragging himself across the ground.” I padded the ground with my feet to get the trail. It led into the light. The train car was attached to one of those trucks which converts from normal tires to track wheels, and the blood was leading right to the driver’s seat. When we came around the corner we could see him. Harry was pulling himself with one arm, trying to get away.

  “Freeze you piece of shit!” John said pulling his gun on him. He was clutching his chest with his other hand. John walked right up behind him, and Harry rolled over as fast as he could with his gun in his hand, but John just kicked it hard enough to send it flying. That’s when I got to see just how bad Harry had been shot up. There was the bullet in his arm, one in his thigh, another near his hip, and one more near the outside of his ribcage. He was a mess.

  “Alright John… You got me.” Harry was having a hard time speaking through the pain. John didn’t say a word, he just pulled his gun up to Harry’s face.

  “Y-you wouldn’t! John! You can’t do this.” He winced in pain before continuing. “You’re a cop, come on, you know that’s not the right thing to do.” John kept quiet. “John! Johnny Boy! Look it was all business, it wasn’t anything personal! You can go! It’s over, I’ll even give you all the evidence I have against you! Come on!” I could see the panic turning his face pale. “You can’t do this John! You can’t! You’re better than this!”

  “No, I’m not…” John said before letting loose one single round, right into Harry’s left eye.

  Chapter 23

  The rest of the group walked out of the shadows to meet in the center. We formed a small circle. “I can’t believe we got all of them.” I said exasperated.

  Dennis was scowling as he looked over the group. “Is everyone ok?” He asked giving particular attention to Will.

  John was the first to reply. “I caught a bullet in the chest.” He scratched the area which had been hit and was wincing in pain. “My
vest stopped it, but the fucker must have been using a hand cannon. It hurts like a bitch!”

  Will was hesitant to answer and for good reason, the entire group was mad. “I guess we should go then.”

  Fury welled up in Dennis’ eyes. “You’re not going anywhere with us.” I wasn’t about to blame Dennis for his anger, I felt pretty much the same way.

  “Come on man!” Will had gotten defensive. “I was just doing what I had to. It’s not like I wanted to do it!”

  “Bullshit!” Dennis yelled back to him.

  “Dennis has a point, there’s no way we can trust you.” John added with nearly as much malice in his voice as Dennis.

  “Like you have the high ground to give me shit!” Will screamed back at John. “Last time I checked I’ve never killed someone who trusted me!”

  John was furious. “It’s not that simple! I never planned that shit!”

  Dennis was doing all he could to hold back his rage. “As much as I hate to admit it he’s right, you’re no better than he is John.”

  “It’s not like-“ John said but was cut off by Dennis.

  “Don’t you fucking dare defend that shit! If I had been a moment later you would have shot Mark in the face!”

  “Guys we all need to just calm down.” Elizabeth tried to defuse the situation.

  Will tried to go with Elizabeth’s suggestion. “Yeah, we can deal with this later. Once we’re out of this tunnel, we can all go our separate ways. Dennis can take his daughter, John can go with Mark, and Liz and I will go our own way.”

  Elizabeth couldn’t even keep it together. “You’ve got to be fucking shitting me Will! There’s no way on earth I’m going with you after the shit you pulled!”

  “Don’t be like that. I was trying to save you!” Will shouted.

  “Oh bullshit!” Elizabeth screamed. “Once again you were only thinking of yourself!”

  Will’s face faded from anger to panic. “I honestly didn’t think Dennis could pull it off, what other options did I have?” Elizabeth fell quiet, after hearing his words she couldn’t quite argue with his logic, but at the same time, I could tell she knew it wasn’t the right thing to do.

  “You can’t trust him Elizabeth.” Dennis said, gripping his weapon tightly.

  “I know that…” She added.

  “No, I mean you can never trust him again.” Dennis continued. “Even if we go separate ways after this. He’s already tried to kill just to be with you. Do you honestly think he’ll ever leave you alone?”

  “Don’t go dragging our personal life into this!” Will yelled back at him.

  “I ought to just kill him now.” Dennis stared right into Will’s eyes for a moment. Slowly growing angrier by the second. He raised his rifle to fire, but Elizabeth grabbed it sending the shot somewhere into the ceiling.

  “Come here!” Will shouted during the struggle.

  “Let go!” Dennis hissed struggling with Elizabeth.

  “You can’t just kill him!” She yelled still trying to stop him.

  Another gunshot echoed through the tunnel, but this time it wasn’t from Dennis. When we looked over Will was crouching down, holding Jill hostage with a stainless steel revolver glinting in the dim light. He was holding it straight at her head. She was crying, but too afraid to move.

  “Everybody shut the fuck up!” Will snapped. “Drop your gun!”

  Dennis was only barely able to keep himself in control. “Fuck!” He said throwing it to the ground.

  “You too John! And don’t you dare fucking try anything!” Will waited for him to comply.

  John shook his head. “Shit…” He said under his breath. “Ok, I’m putting it down.” He slowly pulled it out of its holster and set it on the ground.

  “Good, now kick them over here!” Will said and they did as he said.

  “Where did you get that gun?” I asked him.

  “I found it in the first house we stayed in after the mall.” He said back a little too pleased with himself.

  “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Dennis asked.

  “We’re getting out of here. You just stay right there.” Will was smiling at this point. He must have been enjoying the feeling of power.

  “You’re not taking my daughter!” Dennis yelled. He was sizing up Will the best he could. I knew he was looking for an opening but just couldn’t find one.

  “Not so loud! You wouldn’t want to startle me and have the gun go off now would you?” Will tapped on the handle of the gun with his pinky finger. “Elizabeth, go start the truck, we’re leaving.”

  There was so much disgust in her voice it was hard to make it out when she said. “You bastard.” She walked over to the driver’s side of the truck to do as she was told.

  I knew this wasn’t going to go well unless someone did something. As things were, if we rushed him he would either pull the trigger or shoot whoever made the first move, either way was bad. But then I remembered something…

  “Will,” I said getting his attention. “You are the stupidest, butt fucking ugliest, piece of shit I have ever seen! I’m surprised you even know how to work a gun, or did it take you a week to figure out how to pull the trigger? I guess that’s how long it takes when you’ve got shit for brains!”

  Will looked shocked for a second. I was worried until his face turned into the smile of a mad man when he spoke. “Oh, I’ve wanted to kill you since the moment we met.”

  See, you could poke fun at him all you wanted, and he would never do anything but argue, although if you insulted him directly, that’s when he got aggressive, just like I was hoping. He pulled the gun from Jill’s head and began trying to point it at me.

  I ran to the side trying to keep him from being able to get a shot off, and it bought the chance we needed. John lunged at him from the side and took them both to the ground. Jill fell too but managed to scurry off. A few shots were fired during their struggle when John yelled “Fuck!”

  John rolled off him to the side just in time for Dennis to rip the gun straight out of Will’s hand. He didn’t even try to use it, instead he tossed it somewhere into the darkness. He grabbed Will by the collar of his shirt and punched him hard. Then he hit him again, and again. Will reached up with his hand and drove his thumb into Dennis’s eye. Blood gushed out as Dennis screamed in pain. He grabbed Will’s hand wrenching it from his face and breaking several of his fingers.

  Will kicked Dennis off of him and clamored to his feet, but Dennis was right on top of him again, grabbing him by the arm then punching the back of his elbow, which caused it to bend backwards with a disturbing snapping sound. Will howled in pain. Dennis kicked him right in the hip causing Will to tumbled to the floor.

  “You hold my daughter at gun point?” Dennis shrieked at the top of his lungs. “You fucking bastard!”

  Will was trying to scramble back away from him, but Dennis grabbed his foot and yanked him back toward him. He locked his foot in his arm and twisted it till he shattered his ankle, causing the foot to fall limp.

  Will was barely able to spit out the word “Please,” before Dennis kicked him in the jaw. Blood, teeth, and a chunk of Will’s tongue came gushing from his mouth. He clasped over it with his hand that had broken fingers. Dennis kicked him in the side, which caused him to roll over onto the train tracks. Then Dennis curb stomped Will’s face right into the steel beam.

  Dennis was slurring obscenities and hatred while he continued to stomp down on Will’s head over and over again. It wasn’t until there was nothing left but little chunks of skull and a puddle of blood that Dennis finally stumbled backward. He grasped at the hole where his eye once was and allowed himself to collapse.

  When it was obvious that it was over I approached him. “Are you ok? Your eye is bleeding a lot.”

  He didn’t even acknowledge the question, his concern was elsewhere. “Is Jill ok?” He asked me. There was no longer rage in his voice, it was more like all of the emotion had drained from his body.

 
“I’ll find out. Jill?” I called out to her in the tunnel. We had never really spoken to each other much, so I wasn’t surprised that she didn’t respond. “Elizabeth?” I looked over, she was holding her hand over her mouth and crying while looking at the ghastly scene. I walked over and put my hand on her shoulder. “Elizabeth, help me find Jill, we need to make sure she’s alright.” She struggled to nod but managed to somewhat compose herself so she could start looking for her too. It took a few minutes to coax her out of hiding, but when we finally did she was obviously shaken by the events which she had just witnessed.

  “Dennis, she’s fine, we’re getting her in the truck. You should get in there too.” I said to him. It didn’t elicit any actual words from him but he got to his feet and climbed in the passenger’s seat.

  “Elizabeth can you drive this thing?” I asked.

  “It shouldn’t be that hard, I’ll give it a shot.” She made her way to the driver’s side and got in.

  John had walked over to the bed of the truck, which was half full of mounted tool boxes, and was sitting down looking over his arm. “Shit… This is bad…” He said to himself.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  “That fucker managed to shoot me in the arm. It just winged the inside, but… I’m bleeding a lot…” I looked down to see the puddle he had made beneath where he was sitting, and I knew he was right to be alarmed. “It must have just barely nicked an artery… I need help, and fast.”

  Chapter 24

  Elizabeth had figured out how to operate the truck, apparently it wasn’t all that complicated, so we were rolling down the tunnel in no time.

  John was in the back seat with me, he had removed his over-shirt and was looking at his left arm where he had been shot. “It doesn’t matter how much pressure I put on it, it’s still bleeding.”

  He was starting to grow a little pale, I couldn’t tell if it was from worry or blood loss but it wasn’t good. “What should we do?” I asked.