“Yes, come for me you fuckers. This is how we deal with pests in Italy,” Giovanni cried.
I just heard bullets then a thump. I was too occupied with the guys in front of me who were shooting. To shoot like this it required precision and tact to make sure you didn’t get hit. And, with bullets flying from everywhere it was near impossible.
Near, but not.
“I’m moving forward, take care of the guys behind,” I called to Giovanni.
Cool as it was that we were so synced, we couldn’t stay like that. There were too many of them.
He ran behind and did as I said. That left me to deal with the men in front.
Someone, however, slammed into me from the side. Came out of nowhere, knocked into me hard and I crashed into the barrier that led over the balcony. The impact made me drop my guns and it fucking felt like I’d broken another rib.
Shit.
I fell to the ground and whirled around to see a goliath sized guy balling his fists to land both into me.
I tried to dodge the blow but couldn’t move fast enough. That hit I’d taken to my chest in the barrier really took it out of me.
Fuck, as his massive fists pounded into me I saw stars then blackness. I had to will myself not to black out. I didn’t even know that was humanly possible but I did it. I couldn’t fuck this up.
Jia needed me. If I got captured we’d all be dead. It wouldn’t just be her. It would be all of us.
The guy went for my bag and I realized he must have known the prints were inside. I flicked myself up and roared through the pain that took me, along with the strength, channeling both to fuel me as I propelled myself forward and knocked him to the ground.
He pulled a gun on me and tried to shoot my head off when he pulled the trigger back.
I’d learned long ago though that with these types of people you had to fight dirty. It was my intention when I pulled my long reach knife from its sheath and gouged his eyes out, then stabbed him to the heart.
I spared no time to check if he was dead. I grabbed my guns again and moved forward looking around for Giovanni but I couldn’t see him anywhere.
I shoot three guys who came at me from the upper level and continued running down the corridor then through the double doors.
Shit there were more guys.
I raised my guns and fired shot after shot taking down as many as I could, but there were too many and now I didn’t have anyone else to back me up.
A group of guys rushed me even though I was shooting. Two went down but the rest got through.
I gave one a round house kick and swooped into a side sweep kick that took out another. Jumping into the air I sent a flying kick down another guy’s throat and fired another three shots at three guys blowing their heads off.
I tucked and rolled only to be faced with more guys coming from the end of the corridor to my left.
Fuck.
There were so many.
Just now took the life out of me. This was wasting my God damn time.
Shit.
I stood up and aimed getting ready to fire again, but they started dropping dead.
Bullets whizzed down from above and I looked around to see Jack, Frankie , the remaining marines that came in with us and five of the marines we’d left outside with rifles.
They had my back.
My whole body sighed with relief.
“Boy, head down the corridor, quick, that bastard has her over some pit,” Jack yelled pointing down the path to my right. He started running too heading down to where I was.
I ran down the path and through another set of double doors. This part looked entirely different. It was more like the factory style set up I’d gone to in Nepal. The place were Claire died. This area looked like that.
I was going full speed ahead until a shot hit the metal piping hovering over me.
I stopped and snapped around to see Ethan coming at me with a shot gun.
Good, it was time to start seeing some of the people I’d wanted to kill the fuck dead the most.
Like an animal I launched myself at the asshole. He thought he was a match for me with that gun.
He was not. But maybe he would be with the machine gun he’d started to use.
I had to jump out of the way to avoid being hit and scuttle over to hide behind another set of pipes. These were large and tubular, almost big enough for me to fit inside.
“Yes, you think you can get me!” He taunted jeering me. “Give me the fucking prints Xander. Give them the fuck to me!”
“Go fuck yourself you fucking dog!” I cried back. Word attack, word vomit, whatever anyone wanted to call it, it was just a taste of all I’d wanted to say. There was so much to say to him, yet none of it really mattered.
The result of being betrayed was feeling betrayed.
The emotion coiled through my whole body, being this close to him. Within the vicinity of him.
I wasn’t close enough though. Not to do the damage I wanted.
The aim was just to get to him. If I could get close I could get him.
I would be able to get him and take him down.
I rolled over as he came at me and decided to just go for him using one of my crazy tactics. People innately assumes you’d retreat from danger, not go toward it.
It was built in us to flee at the sign of anything that could kill us.
I flipped that around every time as a surprise attack. This time it worked no less than it always had.
I went straight to him and stunned him. I managed to knock him to the ground even as he fired the shots. He dropped the gun and the two of us rolled over a couple of times from the impact of my attack.
He moved before me to try and get me but I didn’t allow it. I got him first with all the rage inside me.
I’d been building for him and Balthazar.
I’d been building up and ready for them.
I pounded into his face knocking off his eye patch revealing the sealed skin of what used to be his right eye. He’d never told me how he lost it. No matter, he was about to lose the left.
This prick had done so much damage to me. Damage of trust, damage of everything. Made me go against my internal warnings of trusting people and I ended up trusting him out of friendship.
Bastard!
I hit him again in his face and as he howled with pain I really thought I had him. Except a jab to my side right in the fucking rib that was broken made me double over and lose my edge. I lost my momentum and he gained the upper hand.
He flipped me off him and was ready to pulled his hand gun when blood splattered through his shoulder and splashed all over my face.
Fuck!
Another bullet pierced his side and he dropped to the ground.
I shuffled away from Ethan’s flapping arms as Jack rushed over to us and sent a kick to his head snapping it backwards, knocking him to the ground.
I jumped to my feet and joined him.
Jack held the gun down at Ethan who was spurting blood and bleeding out. He lifted his head to look at the both of us.
“Xander go rescue your girl. I have to talk to this dog about Claire,” Jack said to me.
As I looked at him I was so glad he’d come with me. This was his fight too. He’d been friends with Ethan for years before he’d known me.
It was right that he got to finish this with him.
My fight was with Balthazar Kane.
I nodded and ran to leave them.
With each step I knew that what I’d just gone through was just the prep. I hadn’t gotten the big boss yet. I hadn’t gotten to the big boss in this game.