From Death Unto Life

Ch. 25 Athos

I aimed and shot. I felt this relief when I saw his shocked face, the blood spreading, the way death crept into his eyes. I turned, shoving the revolver into my waistband, when a discrepancy caught my eye. I counted the bodies. Then counted again. Three men lay beside Anthony. Two...I stopped. There were supposed to be three men beside Anthony. Not two. Then it hit me. Helio.

"Helio's in danger!" Emilia gasped and was right behind me as I darted into the woods and sprinted back towards the house. We heard two gunshots and it spurred me on. The kitchen door was open and I crept inside. The house was silent as a grave.

"Helio?" I called.

Dean stayed outside with Emilia. There was no answer. I swallowed, scared what I might find. I ran to his room and froze. He wasn't in his bed, but there was blood on the floor and wall.

I ran back into the hall, passing the guest room when a hand reached out and pulled me in the room as another shot rang out. Helio pulled me behind him as he clutched his own revolver. He didn't say a word, just watched from behind the wall, out into the dim hallway.

He put an arm around my waist. I thought at first that he was scared or he wanted affection, but he pulled back seconds later, and I could feel the absence of my knife.

A shadow moved down at the end of the hall, and Helio ran, barreling into it. I heard a groan, and Helio flipped the man over his shoulder and took a knife to his arm. The man swept a lazy hand, and Helio was knocked over, knife sprawling.

I rushed out, grabbed him, and took shelter behind the doorframe of the nearest room, holding Helio behind my back.

Several shots exploded, and Helio tried to shoot back from behind me, but his gun was empty.

"I have one shot left," I whispered.

"Save it until the right moment."

I watched as the shadow of a man crept down the hall, floorboards creaking. I pushed Helio into the room gently, squeezing his hand as an "I love you".

The boards creaked, and I recognized the silhouette as one of the goonies, half of his body limp, probably from the tranquilliser.

I aimed.

I fired.

I waited, the skin on my neck prickling.

I missed.

The man chuckled, his throat gurgling with some evil liquid.

He approached quicker, sliding his left foot across the floor, dragging the hunk of torn flesh that was being caught in the splinters of the floor.

"Into the room, get INTO THE ROOM!" I shouted, rushed inside, and slammed the door, leaning against it. I glanced at Helio to make sure he was safe. He was pressed to the wall, eyes closed, hands to his chest.

THUMP.

The man was trying to get in.

Rattle rattle.

The door handle.

Slam.

His foot.

Creak.

The door.

Crrrrkkkk....

The door split in two, right down the centre.

I jumped back, taking Helio's hand and keeping him behind me. The door was kicked down, and the man entered, grinning wider than the devil himself.

"Knock, knock, little boys." He was clearly enjoying himself.

His arm extended, revolver at the end of it.

"Lights out." He cocked the gun.

I squeezed Helio's hand, then released it. I lashed out at the man, kicking him in his one working knee, and he collapsed, the gun exploding, glass cracking somewhere in the room. Helio's arms wrapped around my chest.

I detached Helio from my body and leaned down to check the bastard's breathing and pulse.

They were both erratic, then stopped suddenly.

"Honey..." Helio leaned down next to me.

"He's dead," I said morosely.

"Honey-"

"That's it, that's the end of him."

"Honey!"

I sensed the rising panic in Helio's voice, and whipped my head around just in time to see him hurl across the room and onto the broken window.

I exclaimed and wrapped him up in my arms.

"You need to lie down," I told him, wiping the sick off of him with my shirt.

He felt weak in my embrace, so I picked him up myself and carried him to our room.

I set him on the bed as gently as I could and poured a glass of water for him.

"I'm not that sick, I can-"

But I silenced him with a kiss and pulled up a chair next to him. I held his hand and grazed his knuckles with my thumb.

"I love you more than you could ever know," he whispered.

"And I love you more than you could ever imagine," I replied. "'Good night, sweet prince, and let flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!'".