Heart of Gold | B. Gold ✓

13 | Let me Help

Once again, Fawnie woke to the sounds of shots being fired and immediately felt fear rush over her much like the red paint did in the paint shop. Her throat ran dry as she clutched her pistol tightly. Fawn pushed her door open slowly and held the pistol in front of her chest, finger ready to pull the trigger at any moment's notice.

The front door was slammed open and Fawn shot beside it, a pair of familiar eyes met hers and she felt rage. "The fuck are you doin' here!? I told Arthur to tell you and Finn to be gone yesterday!" Thomas began the conversation by shouting, how original. Fawnie thought sourly. 

Still, machine guns fired at the house as Fawnie pressed herself against the wall, "You told me nothing! How about you explain what the fuck is happening outside of my flat?!" Suddenly, everything grew quiet... too quiet.

Thomas climbed on top of the china cabinet and revealed a large gun, Fawn's eyebrows creased as she was unaware the gun was even there in the first place. "Managed to get those Italian bastards where I wanted them, it's time to end this vendetta."

"Tom, you can't kill them all on your own." Fawn's voice faltered for a moment as she questioned her sanity upon her initial thought being to help Tommy. "Let me help, please."

His eyes widened as he shook his head, "Your first kill won't be a bloody Italian."

"It's too late for that, Tommy."

Fawn could have sworn her brother's eyes softened at the nickname but he closed them and finally nodded, "Don't be an idiot, yea? If you die, I'll kill you."

"Of course not, who else is going to pull your leg for fuckin' breathing the wrong way?" Upon hearing footsteps coming toward the open front door, both of the Shelby siblings fell silent and aimed their weapons. A startled old woman stared down the barrel of Tommy's gun.

"It's alright ma'am, it's alright, come inside. Come inside," Tommy walked toward her as Fawnie quickly laced up her boots. She felt a sense of dread settling in the bottom of her stomach but Fawn wasn't about to let her brother go into a fight alone.

She tied her hair back with a ribbon and placed her peaked cap on her head. Luckily Fawn was too paranoid to sleep in proper pajamas and choice to wear a pair of pants to bed. After checking her gun for bullets and making sure the woman stayed inside, Fawn followed behind Tommy silently. "Stay behind me." She didn't answer, "Fawnie."

"I will, Tommy."

The young adult was surprised that she was able to keep up with her brother's larger strides as they ran up a flight of stairs. Suddenly Fawnie heard gunfire behind her, Tom reacted quicker than she did and pushed her behind him as he practically carried her up the stairs. "Stay." She nodded frantically as Tommy shot down at the Italian below them.

Fawnie's throat still felt terribly dry as she scooted along the wall for a better view. Her hands shook despite knowing how to handle a handgun. She saw her opportunity and fired. There was a clatter as the man and his weapon fell to the ground, she got his arm. "Come on, come on!" Tom lifted her to her feet before pushing her in front of him.

The pair sprinted through the laundry as their pursuer seemed to get his gun back as shots began firing toward them. She turned her head and saw the man, dressed in a black trench coat like her brother's. Fawnie raised her arm and fired twice before Tommy made her keep running. "I could have gotten him!"

Thomas didn't reply, he just stepped around Fawnie and fired at a shadow behind the sheet. Fawn hadn't noticed the looming figure and instead of running, she picked up the dropped weapon. "What're you doing?"

"I need something more than this, I've already used most of my rounds."

He nodded in understanding and gestured for her to get in front of him again. The weight of the bigger weapon felt sturdy in Fawn's hand as she held it in front of her defensively, ready to mow down anything that moved.

━━━━

Fawnie's breath was ragged from all of the running, "What are we going to do?"

"Kill them."

She nodded, "If we die, just know I don't completely hate you."

"Be quiet." It stung, having Tom not reply with a loving response but Fawnie knew that him telling her to shut up was his way of saying he cared about her. "You go that way until you find a way out and don't stop running until you've reached Watery Lane, you hear me?"

"What? No! I'm not-" Tom's face hardened and so Fawn nodded, "Fine. Don't die." Fawnie ran silently down the dimly lit hall until she noticed shadows walking behind the orange-tinted glass. Of course, she knew better than to disobey Tommy but if she had the opportunity to end this vendetta quicker, Fawnie would take it.

She lowered herself down until she was positive she'd hit at least one of them. A round of shots fired and the two men got distracted so Fawnie stood up and held down on the trigger. One of them yelped in pain before bullets began coming toward Fawnie, she dropped onto the ground and hid in the darkness praying that Tommy would find her before the Italians did.

AUTHOR'S NOTE.

This was originally going to be like 300 words long but I changed my mind and just let myself see where I wanted to go with this. Now, I understand that realistically, Tommy probably wouldn't have let Fawn go with him, but personally, I think he'd rather have his eye on her than risk her getting taken by the enemy. Despite their differences, she's still his baby sister. I've written so much for this story in the past three days that it's crazy!! I'm very excited, thank you all for nearly 7k reads! I really love Fawnie and her story <3