Our faces must’ve shown our shock. Of course, he would be watching us. It wouldn’t have been fun if he had to wait out here for us to get here. He would have missed most of his game. There must have been cameras throughout the stairwell. He knew where we came in. He’s been playing with us this entire time.
My head started to throb as my anger took hold of me. This sick bastard! It wasn’t enough that he attacked us a year ago and kidnapped our friend. It wasn’t enough that he was able to brainwash her and then get her pregnant with his Bandit spawn. It definitely wasn’t enough to take control of the biggest city in Kansas. No, he needed to torture everyone that comes in his path. My finger itches with the need to put a bullet in his head.
“Imagine my surprise when I see that you almost convinced my beloved to help you escape.” He grabs Sam by her chin and turns her face so that he can look into her eyes. “To think that she was going to betray me after everything I’ve done for her.” His features start to harden, showing the monster under the mask. “I was pleasantly surprised when you decided to not save her when I made it seem like her life was in peril. She really means nothing to you, doesn’t she?”
No one answered him, but it didn’t seem like he was really expecting an answer from us. He continued with his monologue, seeming to gain some kind of steam from whatever he was seeing in Sam’s eyes.
“After I thought about it, why would you come to her rescue? She’s disloyal, a traitor of the worst kind. You guys befriended her and loved her as if you knew her your entire life. You gave her friendship. And how does she repay you? She beds the same person that attacked you. She’s weak,” he sneers. “Weak and pathetic. If it wasn’t for you carrying my child, I’d kill you right now.”
Derrick’s shoulders are rising and falling as he breathes and try to calm himself down. Even Brian is starting to get worked up from all that Alex is saying. “You’re nothing without me. And now you can sit here and watch your friends die.”
“You’re wrong,” Sam says, speaking out against him for the first time. “I’m everything without you.”
Alex throws his head back in laughter, seeming to find Sam’s declaration to be a joke. His laughter ended as soon as it started. The look on his face had the hairs on the back of my neck standing up. Before any of us could react, he slapped Sam so hard she fell to her knees. Derrick tried to lunge forward but I grabbed him before he could do something stupid. Sprinting over there would do nothing but get us killed.
“You’re all pathetic! Trying to leave this world when you can be kings and queens! You’re trying to go to another planet with the same fools who were in charge with killing this one! The politicians and businessmen! Why go there when the same race will be in charge and all the rest will be at the bottom? They took everyone who mattered and left! And now you’re scrambling to get on the last ship, and for what?! In this new world, every man has the chance to be on top!”
“At what cost?” I call out, stopping him mid rant. “We’re going to another world because we have hope that things will be different. If we don’t learn from our past, it will just repeat itself. You have no idea how things work over there. They probably had to start from scratch with everyone being equal! I’d rather take my chances over there than to be with bloodthirsty murderers every day!”
“But you are a bloodthirsty murderer,” he sneers. “You think they would want you in their new pristine world? Someone who would stab a man in the neck with a screwdriver and bathe in his blood? Or the way you continuously stabbed one of my men in his heart. You and I are more alike than you want to admit. The only difference is that I don’t try to lie to myself. I embrace all that I am, every dark thought that races through my head, I nurture it. I give it life, and in turn, it gives me strength.”
He’s mad. Truly and honestly insane. But I can’t ignore the truth in some of his words. I am a murderer. But I’ll protect myself until there’s no need to fight anymore.
“I’m over this game. I decided that I don’t want any of you to remain alive. Make sure you clean up the mess,” he commands his men.
Only a couple of them look like they have real weapons on them. He probably assumed that we ran out of bullets or something. You can never assume with Alex. I prepare myself to shoot as many of them down as I can before they can tear us down.
What I didn’t expect was Sam. She was still kneeling on the ground at Alex’s feet. She looked up and made eye contact with me and then Derrick. We’ve been friends long enough for me to understand what she was trying to tell us.
She was going to sacrifice herself.
She pulls out a small pistol that she had stashed in her large pocket and immediately puts two bullets in Alex’s stomach. All of the Bandits stood still for just one beat before the rushed her. Sam didn’t hesitate at all before she took down two more.
“Let’s go!” I yelled at my boys. We immediately started shooting down the remaining Bandits. Thankful for the head start that Sam gave us. I was aiming my gun at one man when I noticed that he had a gun aimed at Sam. “NO!” I fired off three rounds but my bullets found their target too late. The Bandit was able to get one shot off right before one of my bullets landed in his chest.
I didn’t bother to stop and see if he was actually dead or not. I rush over to Sam. Derrick had already beat me to her, rolling her over onto her back and cradling her head in his lap. Blood was pooling out of her shoulder at an alarming rate. “Nononononono. Oh no, Sam!” I have never seen Derrick come so undone before in my life. Not when his grandparents died, or when he fell out of a tree when we were younger, breaking his arm and leg when he landed on them. Hell, not even when I was shot just minutes earlier.
“Derrick! Get yourself together! The shot was clean,” Brian states. “I saw the exit point before you rolled her over. We just have to get the bleeding to stop.”
The sound of someone coughing had me whirling around. Alex was still alive, but barely. Sam shot him at point blank range, so I know she must have hit something vital. “Take care of her, Brian. I’ll be right back.”
I walk over to Alex and stare down into his ashen face. Blood is oozing out of his mouth, even though the only sign of that is really the blood coating his teeth and tongue. The moonlight and stars light up the night. The sun should be rising in a few hours and we need to be gone from here by then.
“I guess you lost after all,” I say to the dying Bandit.
He tries to laugh but at this point he’s choking on his blood. “I never lose. You think that I’m the only one that thinks this way? The closer you get to that launching pad, the worst kind of people you’ll run into.” He coughs again. “By the time you’re done with this journey, you’ll either be dead physically or spiritually.” He starts laughing even harder, forcing the blood to pour out of his wounds in torrents. I quickly put a bullet in his head as well, though the sound of his laughter and his words will follow me long after the night is over.
I walk back over to Derrick and Brian and I see that Sam is unconscious. Derrick finishes wrapping her shoulder up in an ace bandage. With the help of myself and Brian, he stands up and cradles Sam against his chest. The contrast of her pale skin and his brown is striking. The way he’s holding her against his chest, looking at her like she’s the most precious thing in the world, I realize that I missed how much he truly loved her. My throat swells up with emotion, seeing my friend barely holding onto his composure. Brian slips his hand in mine and my chest loosens a little bit.
“Let’s go back to our family,” I say, smiling into his brown eyes.
He brings our joined hands to his lips, kissing my fingers. “Sounds perfect to me.”
Epilogue
It’s been a week since our showdown with Alex and his Bandits. It took us a long time to get back to the apartment where our friends were holed up. Between Derrick being careful with Sam and me barely holding on to consciousness myself, it was a slow and long trip. We made it back with an hour to spare before sunrise. Ch
ristine nearly had a heart attack when she saw the condition that we were in.
After tending to Sam first at my insistence, she slowly fixed each of us up as best as she could, with help from Sarah. She gave us a cocktail of pain pills and antibiotics and sent us to the two rooms to get some sleep. Brian and I took one room and Derrick and Sam took another. After showering off all of the blood, we were finally able to get some rest.
I slept in Brian’s arms that entire night.
I have no idea where our relationship is going, but I’m finally able to allow myself to see what it could be. Sam refuses to talk about anything right now. She doesn’t even look us in our eyes. I know that she was scarred from all of the things that Alex has put her through, and I know that it will take some time for her to feel comfortable telling us about it; I just missed my old friend.
It’s going to take some time for me to fully trust her again, too. It’s kind of hard to forget how easily it looked like she was going to side with our killers. I don’t know if it was all an act or if she really didn’t care whether or not we lived or died. Derrick seems to not care about any of that anymore.
Isaiah has been sticking close to my side. I think he thought that he would never see me again, and I can’t lie and say that I didn’t think the same thing. I gave him the notes to read first, trying to prove to him that I think of him as an equal too. At first, he didn’t like reading it, but then he found the humor in it once the realization that we were here and safe sunk in.
Aida and Ashlynn are back to normal, well as normal as I’ve ever seen them. Which is kind of abnormal for Ashlynn. It seems that something is brewing between those two. Ashlynn blushes at least every time Aida opens her mouth and Aida seems like she’s purposely trying to make her blush.
We had to send Ashton and Ravi out to get more medicine since there was now four more of us that had extensive injuries. Brian is almost as good as new, besides his wounds scabbing up. Derrick acts like he never was cut up, so I don’t bother hovering over him.
I know Sam is in a lot of pain, because I still am.
I don’t know how much longer we’ll be able to stay here. Soon we’ll have to leave and try to find another way to get to Russia.
“I’m glad we’re all together, but how do we get there now?” Ashlynn asks. If it was the old Ashlynn, I would have thought that she was being sarcastic. But I can see the true concern behind her question. We’re all hanging out in the kitchen and living room area, so everyone heard her question. I know that it was directed towards me and Brian. Derrick leaving them changed how they saw him. They don’t defer to him for guidance any longer. It hurts my heart that it had to come to this, but he made those decisions and now he has to deal with the consequences of his actions.
“I don’t know,” I sigh. “But we’ll figure it out.”
“I know how we can get there,” Sam says quietly.
All the eyes in the room turns towards her, waiting to see what she has to say.
“Alex has… had a boat stashed away. It’s a small yacht I think. I know where it’s at.”
“Where is it?” I ask eagerly, feeling my hope rise at the thought of finally getting out of this country.
“It’s here,” she states.
“How are we going to get it to the water?” Brian asks, face falling.
“You’ll just have to trust me,” she states calmly.
Damn her. She’s forcing me to forgive her quicker than I was ready for. But I know Sam, or at least I think I do. She’s testing me.
“Sounds good,” I say. “We leave in four days.”
Acknowledgments
Thank you to my amazing Beta readers: Tikiera, Jehan, Vanessa, Peta- Kaye McFarlane, James "Majestic Park" Patrick, Nikki Walsh, Amanda Salami, Mohogany Baker and Ryan Gebhart. This was my very first project and y'all made the process easier than if I was stuck alone with my own thoughts. Thank you, BeJai Fray, for being there when the idea for this book was first created and listening to my thoughts well into the night, even though you had no clue what I was talking about. Thank you, Jazmin Rhodes, for being my last minute model and having your mom take my cover photo of you! You really saved me hours of stress! All of you are so amazing and supportive. I love you!
And thank you to the readers, for giving my book a chance! I hope you loved reading it as much as I loved writing it!
About the Author
Raqurra is a first-time writer, but a long-standing obsessive reader. She spends most of her life saying “Hi, my name is Raqurra. It’s like Shakira, but my hips lie.” Only for everyone to mispronounce her name anyways. She loves to turn her dreams into books, with the hopes of sharing her world with others. She was born and raised in Florida, but currently resides in Georgia.
Kiani’s Journey- Mayhem Page 19