Human Sized Hurricane | Michael Clifford

Chapter 15 - Double Up

Michael watched from the kitchen window as Emma put her bag into her dads car and climbed into the front seat, looking at him once more while the engine started up. He kept the eye contact through the window even though he knew she couldn't see him, but he never moved and instead thought of how he could have touched her gently in the barn and not threw he about. But the thought was interrupted by the sound of the car as it drove away from the back of the house. Michael took this as the chance to check his weapon and gave a hearty sigh when he saw it still had a full round in it. Then he checked the windows in every downstairs room on his way into the kitchen for something to eat. He hadn't eaten for over a day and it was starting to get to him. No breakfast meant not as much energy as he would have normally had and definitely not enough if he wanted to face off with Bobby. He carefully slid the gun back into the waistband of trousers and prepared a sandwich, devouring it like an animal with some juice and a few packets of crisps to fill his belly. He washed up his hands and retook his position in the living room, standing beside the window just out of sight of anyone who walked by.

A few hours later, Michael was still on his feet pacing about the house until he stopped, noticing a black van as it drove past the house, making him duck behind the wall and hide from the van. He remembered the door wasn't locked, so he reached up from his hiding place and turned the lock. Suddenly, a dark figure appeared in the stained glass framing the door and reached for the handle, turning it a few times until he realised it was locked. As he turned back to shout to the people in the van, Michael took that as his chance to race across the living room and hide beside the staircase, pulling his gun out and holding it ready with two hands. The man at the front door kicked it down with their heavy boots and pointed their machine gun into the house, crossing ways as he stepped cautiously into the living room. Michael shrieked back and crouched as he saw the man dressed in a hoodie and jeans with a bullet proof vest step quietly passed the sofa and into his range. He aimed the revolver and fired a precise shot, hitting the hired gun in the neck, killing him.

The sound of the bullet travelled out of the house and was heard by the rest of the men in the black van, who quickly made their way up the steps and into the house, their guns poised. The man at the front of the three signalled for one to go left and the other to go right, so the three of them would cover the house faster and find their target quicker. At the same time, Michael slipped into the cupboard under the stairs and moved right forward until he was crouching under the stairs. He watched as one man's feet passed under the hidden door in the kitchen, then once he passed, Michael came out and quietly reached for a knife on the table, advancing slowly on the man as he stepped closer to the end of the staircase. As fast and quietly as he could, Michael jumped up and stabbed the man in the chest, neck and chest again and let him drop to his knees, then retook his hiding place just before the body was found by another one of Bobby's men. Michael listened as the man panicked and whimpered, mumbling stray words to himself as the teenager rolled his eyes and forced open the door opposite the back door, startling the man, who held the gun up and spun around firing off random rounds. Two more men raced into the house and darted into the kitchen with their guns raised, then lowered them as they reached the panicking man and he ran out of bullets. "Fuck this" One smug looking man said to him before shooting a pistol into his head.

Michael listened from the underside of the a lounge chair with its skirts reaching the floor, so he was concealed from the men hunting him. As the sounds of the men talking brought the man who went upstairs back down, Michael took his chance and shot the man, getting up from his hiding spot as the dead man tumbled down the stairs and Michael raced up them, ducking into a room as a round was fired at his feet. "He's upstairs. Find the girl, she's probably with him!" Michael heard one man yell as he caught his breath behind Emma's open door. He looked down to the bloody knife in his hand, panting with deep breaths, but he didn't panic. He was used to seeing blood on his hands. Opening the cylinder, Michael counted the bullets he had left and made the conclusion that the shots would need to be as precise as the first. A big back boot entered Emma's bedroom and Michael readied his knife, stabbing the man a few times before catching his body and making it fall behind the door where he was hiding, then he jumped out and shot at the man at the top of the stairs, firing two bullets before the man fired off a hole round while taking some steps forward. He shot just a few bullets at the door, just as Michael fired just one at the same time and hit the hired gun in the arm, making him fall back into the carpet and drop his automatic rifle. The last man left was at the bottom of the stairs creeping slowly up as Michael stole the fallen man's gun and shot him with it. Then he rushed out into the landing and ducked into Andy's room, moving to hide behind the bed as the bullet in his side began to hurt. He grunted quietly as he laid on his stomach and dragged himself underneath the double bed, leaving a few spots of blood.

Michael watched from under the bed as the big black boots walked slowly and cautiously at the top of the stairs, disappearing momentarily as he found the bodies of the men in Emma's bedroom, and the sound of the gun clicking echoed in Michael's ears. While the man searched the bedroom next door, Michael put his revolver down on the carpet and took the machine gun in both hands, aiming at through the skirt of the sheets and hoping to hit his target. He bared his teeth and grimaced through the pain of his wound as the man stepped into view. Suddenly, Michael's phone vibrated in his pocket startling him and he fired the weapon at the man in the doorway, sending him backwards while still shooting at him until the man fell back dead. Then he pulled his phone out of his pocket while still underneath the bed and turned it off, placing it on the floor and holding the gun in the direction of the stairs just in case there was anyone left in the house.