Innocent Murderers

Twenty Three - The One With The Smoking Barrel

Aaron's PoV
The sky is blue this morning.
Ironic considering this is the day we (probably) engage in a 'battle' of sorts with Adam's men, and women. Kennedy is the centre of it all and she is my goal.

The taxi ride to Roosevelt Island is a long one.
I am alone in this car with just Rose and Derek. None of us speak.
The piece of paper is gripped in my hands, stark white against my tanned skin.
I close my eyes, watching the dancing patterns behind my eyelids.
I will get you back Kennedy.
The thought runs over and over through my head like a broken record. Every time I feel less certain we will.

What if she's already dead?
What if we're too late?

Those thoughts lie in my head for the remainder of the journey. Thirty five minutes pass and we finally pull up outside of the barren building.
The gothic style architecture dawns terrifying shadows over the pavement and I suddenly realise how stupid we are.
"We have no weapons. No way to protect ourselves," Lucy says.
"Thought you might need help with that." Oslo appears in the knocked out doorway.
He grins at us, and makes his way down the steps.
In his hand he holds six handguns. A seventh is strapped to his waist in an ebony leather holster.
I take mine willingly, weighing it uneasily in my hands. Since last time, I hadn't even thought about the prospect of shooting a gun and I can only think I'll be as bad as last time.
"Thanks, man." Says Derek. Oslo nods, suddenly grim.
"Anything for my sister," he replies.
"Do you know if she's here?" I ask.
Oslo shakes his head.
My heart falls.
"Most likely she is, but like I said, Adam doesn't tell anyone anything."

I nod, trying to not get my hopes up.
"What are we waiting for?" Jackson asks.

"Let's do this."

Kennedy's PoV
The first shot is fired and my mind is pulled from the pain filled reality for a split second.
I try to lift my head and investigate the sound, but I find myself paralysed.
The second shot is fired not long later. I open my eyes, seconds after they fell again.
A routinely shot of electricity is fired through my veins and I use the sudden muscle spasm to hoist myself off the floor and lean against the cool glass.
I can't see much outside of the glass, just a dark room that looks as if it's underground.

Another shot is not fired, and so I  return to my exhausted slumber.

Dereks PoV
The gun in my hand has never felt so right. The third shot of the fight echoes through the empty 'room'. The walls are decayed and mostly destroyed but still the sound rocks me to the core. I do a quick scan of the landscape, checking for my friends.
Lucy is next to me, blonde hair pinned behind her ears, eyes calculating as she grips the gun between her fingers. It looks unnatural, such a petite girl, vulnerable and scared yet determined with a gun between her hands.
I manage to lay eyes on Jackson, Aaron and Penny, all crouched behind piles of rubble like Lucy and me.
Rose is nowhere to be seen.
I bite my tongue, blink the sun from my vision and concentrate on staying unseen.
We never had a plan for this.

We are purely improvising and already three men have died.
Three of Adam's men. They are all assembled, in a circle pointing their guns at us.
I managed to shoot down one, Aaron doing the other two.
It's a waiting game, who will make the next move?
Lucys PoV
My hands are slick with sweat and my eyes on the verge of spilling, and yet I still manage to hold the gun with as much grip and fierceness as Derek, who is crouched behind me.
We've been crouched behind rubble piles for almost ten minutes, and I'm getting bored. Taking a breath, I squeeze my eyes shut.
When I open them I'm on my feet and firing everywhere. My gun is shaking beneath my fingers with each shot.
Derek is yelling from behind me but I am deaf to all sound but the bullets unloading from the weapon I am holding in front of my face.

Soon, I run out of bullets and I look at the damage in front of me.
All but one of Adams men are on the floor. One woman, a bullet planted in her foot, is wriggling and I almost feel sorry for the mascara stained cheeks red with pain and streaked with tears.

I swallow down the lump in my throat and look up to meet eyes with the one survivor.
"Say one word and you die." A chilling whisper shakes my spine the same time a cool metal blade is pressed to my throat.
"Rose," I whisper back.
She laughs.
"That's right, princess. It was me this whole time."
I whimper beneath her grasps and the point of the knife pricks my skin.

"How could you?" I ask, she breaths on my neck.
The action disgusts me.
"Shhhh. It's okay. It will all be over soon."

And then everything goes black.

-
Two more chapters and an epilogue.

Love you beautiful people x