Lucy stares at the man expressionless, gun arm spastic and her other bent and against her chest. It takes effort but I slowly find my feet, walking over to her. I gently take the gun, but she barely notices. “It’s okay,” I whisper. I think she can’t hear me. She’s checked out, and rightly so. Wish I had the luxury. Instead, I ransack the corpse for grenades, gun, phone, and a black bag with more bombs. I’m zipping up the bag when I hear voices shouting back the way we came.
I take Lucy’s good hand, but she still won’t move, won’t take her eyes off the man she just killed. “Lucy, move!” I pull her away and she moves, walking behind me as I’m trying to run. She’s passed her breaking point. We keep moving but slower than we need to be. This isn’t good for either of us. The voices get closer.
When we reach the next junction, we can go straight or right. I lead her straight until I spot a little burrow off to the side which she can fit into. “Harry, follow this to Lucy, okay?” I whisper into the cell phone. “She’s in a hole near our car. She has a broken arm. I’m going to lead them away from her. Hurry.” I hand her the cell, but have to stick it in her pocket myself. I even have to put the gun in her hand, wrapping her fingers around it. “I don’t know if you can hear me, but if anyone but the police comes, you shoot them. I’m going to get help and bring them back. Just be quiet, okay?” I don’t want to leave her. She just saved my life, but I have to. Fuck, I have to.
I pull out Blitzkrieg’s spare gun, a grenade, and his cell, dialing Cam as I run back the way I came. I see the beams of two flashlights and men coming into focus. “Cam, it’s Jo. Trace this!” The phone goes into my pocket seconds before the men open fire at me. I pull the pin and lob a grenade at them. It explodes just as I turn down the tunnel, covering my ears. I pull out Blitzkrieg’s flashlight and keep running. On a good day I can run a mile and a half without stopping, but this is uphill on gravel and my body’s been through hell, so I’m about to fall after a quarter mile. A bullet whizzes by my head and I spin, returning fire. All I can see is the light from their flashlights coming closer. I’d toss another grenade, but the blast would roll up and incinerate me too.
“The other one’s gone! Go find her!” Alkaline shouts.
Shit. Nothing I can do. She has a gun. I keep running. My lungs are about to give out, but my leg beats them to it. My right leg buckles but I keep pressing on. I’m not going to make it. Then I see the next platform and push myself forward. I climb up the rickety ladder onto the dusty platform. Rats squeak and run from the light. I stop dead from fright. Psychos with acid don’t scare me as much as rats. I have to force myself up the rest of the way, my breath as sharp as glass in a broken window. At least the station sign is intact here. “Cam, I’m at the old Siegal Street station. Hurry.” There are two gunshots far off. Lucy? Did he kill her? Stop it. Keep going.
There’s a rusty metal gate with a padlock on it at the exit. I shoot the lock and push the gate apart. It squeals and barely moves, but I squeeze through just as a bullet ricochets off of it. The bag gets caught and I fall forward, losing my grip on the gun. I wiggle the bag off just as Alkaline runs up. My eyes immediately dart toward that white tube extended from his wrist. It’s actually a hollow bone attached to an internal sac of acid, like a snake’s venom sac but deadlier. I pick up the gun just as he takes aim. “Joanna, stop running!” he says, more chiding than angry.
As I’m turning to run, a liquid squirts from that bone. It sizzles the metal like a steak on a grill, some landing on my coat. The burning on my upper arm starts instantly and it takes a lot not to drop the flashlight. I run up the wooden ramp, shedding my coat and shooting twice. The bullets ricochet off the metal beams holding up the ceiling in the middle of the ramp, almost hitting me. “Joanna! I have this gun pointed right at your spine. You need to stop or I will paralyze you. Stop and drop your gun. Don’t make me do this! Please!”
Fuck! Fuck! No. Not fair. Not when I’m so close. I come to a standstill near one of the beams. The boarded-up exit is ten feet away. So fucking close. I feel like crying, but I just don’t have the energy. I let the pistol fall and turn around with my hands up, not easy as my burnt arm is covered in my blood. Ryder walks up, gun and acid pointed right at me. “Good girl.”
That’s when I see him. Just a blur and whoosh of wind. Finally.
Alkaline hears it too, instantly spinning around and firing the gun. Justice slams into him, and they break the metal beam like a toothpick. The roof shakes and cracks, tiles from the walls falling off. I hug the wall as they smack into each other and a huge chunk of ceiling falls. Dust and dirt fill the air, so thick I can barely see through it. Justice tosses him into the wall, roaring like a madman. The entire tunnel lurches. Tiles and chunks of cement fall on and around me. The place is disintegrating. “Justin!” I shriek. “Stop!”