Criminal(21)

My eyes are shut and I prepare for the end, our whole miserable lives set to come to a close, and I can feel this deep, dark pit in my stomach. And at the same time a weight lift off my shoulders. It was a strange, inexplicable feeling that I’m not sure I’ll ever understand.

The gun goes off… but I’m still alive.

I look, and there’s Kaiden. He’s slugged Ryder and he’s coming for me. It’s a brief moment of glory, my brother charging in to save me, be my hero once more! I could cry, if I wasn’t already bleary-eyed and in a panic. But it’s all for naught.

One of the other guys cracks Kaiden in the head, and then the guy pointing his gun at me pulls the hammer back with a click. Kaiden comes to a stop, fearful for my life, and once again… it’s all over.

I can only watch as my brother is laid into, two guys pounding on him in vengeance for his outburst.

“You’re gonna fuckin’ watch her die, prick! But not before we make you pay for that lil’ show,” says the guy over me, who moves over just enough to strike out with a kick into Kaiden’s side. And it’s like I can feel every blow that lands upon my big brother, twinges of guilt and sympathy pain wracking my body.

I can’t wallow in the pity for long, though because I notice that the man’s hold of the gun has wavered. He’s watching Kaiden now, not me, and the gun I left beneath that van is so very close…

I can rush for it, but I remember something I heard on TV long ago: the human eye picks up on fast motion far quicker than the slow. So instead, I’m cautious, and though it hurts me to do so, I let Kaiden take a few more punches and blows. A cracked rib too, by the sound of that crunch, and I’m so damn sorry for him.

But it’s better than having no chance at all.

My hand reaches beneath the vehicle, searching through the sand and dirt for the feel of my gun. For a moment I worry that I’d placed it too far out of reach, but then… oh yes, the cold press of steel to my fingers and palm.

I’ve got it!

I pull it out, slowly, slowly… don’t rush Abigail, don’t blow it. I raise the weapon, point it at the man over me— the only man still holding his gun at the ready then— and squeeze the trigger.

The kick on the gun comes as a surprise, even though it shouldn’t. I know what to expect, my father taught me, but I’d never fired at a human before, and maybe that’s what really gives it the kick. I pull the trigger on him, then I point at the other guys.

“Leave him alone!” I scream, my voice sounding manic, insane! I’m nearly out of my mind at this point, watching Kaiden being beaten, knowing that they might’ve done serious harm to him already, or worse.

And while my threat got them to still, the guy I just shot wasn’t out of the picture.

The shot was near point—blank, but I didn’t kill him. Not even close. My bullet struck his shoulder, maybe only grazed it, and while blood gushed, he wasn’t going down. He'd dropped his gun since I’d wounded the arm that held it up, but that didn’t stop him from hitting me with the other fist, and my world spun from the rough blow.

“Kill that fuckin’ bitch,” came Ryder’s cruel voice, sounding tired of the whole affair.

We had been so close, and now it’s all over. I close my eyes, waiting for the sound, but where I fell, my big brother came to pick me up.

In the brief moments of my almost-glory, he got up. His fist sent a spray of red from the one man’s face as he took the handgun from him, a mere moment later and two shots rang out. One man was definitely dead, or just as well as.

Kaiden is like a wild animal; he’d become a force of nature itself, and with a fury and rage that surpasses any I’d seen, he lets loose a roar and comes for me.

Comes to my rescue.

He strikes down that piece of shit, putting another bullet in him, then another. Kaiden isn't taking risks, not like I did. Sympathy only put us both in danger, and he’d learned from my flash-in-the-pan attempt to rescue us both.

I scramble for my gun in the dark, but Kaiden, oh Kaiden… he's wrath incarnate. He's standing up, tall and strong, gun pointed at the once cocky Ryder.

“You shit, you think this is ov—” Ryder’s cocky words are silenced by the pull of Kaiden’s trigger. The boom of the gun shot drops the man, and the insufferable asshole is down on his back, clutching his wounded neck and screaming in agony.

Kaiden advances on him, gun still aimed for his head. And he pulls the trigger again.

“No Kaiden!” I cry, but it clicks. And no boom follows.

It clicks again, then again.

“You don’t fucking touch my sister!” Kaiden shouts, leaning to one side as the gun is now useless, but his body is still sore and smarting from his beating. Instead of a bullet, he plants the heel of his boot into Ryder’s face.