Page 44 of Roman Petrov

The smell of chemicals makes my nose burn. Holding my breath, I wait for his footsteps.

As he tries to run past, I fling the door open.

The thump when he hits it echoes through the empty building, followed by a grunt as he falls again.

A metal cylinder tips and rolls against the wall when I shift.

This is exactly what I need.

Grabbing the end, I flip it over and charge out into the hall and raise it over my head.

Swinging it as hard as I can, I connect with the middle of his back.

The high pitch scream reverbates off of the paneled walls making my ears buzz.

I drop my arm again, this time he deflects the blow with his elbow.

Hooking my calf, he jerks my leg out from under me, and the back of my skull hits hard enough to make stars shoot in front of my eyes.

Fuck.

His fingers dig into my thigh, then my ribs as he straddles me.

The first fist finds my cheek. Another hits me in the temple making the ringing in my head even worse.

No way am I going out like this.

Flipping the metal tube, I find the aperture on the end, and pull the trigger to kick out a blast of a blue flame into his eyes.

Both of his hands jerk to his face, but I don’t let go.

Fire catches into his hair, and heavy shirt.

Leaping off of me, he backpedals through into the room I was hiding in.

Shit.

I know those smells that are in there.

Dragging myself as quickly as I can, I manage to get just past a flimsy wall when it feels like all of the air is sucked out of my lungs.

God damn it, no!

I’m dizzy as hell, but I push myself to my feet and try to run.

A ball of flame whooshes around me and knocks me back to the tile.

His scream reaches new highs until the blaze silences him.

I have to get out.

The plume of toxic smoke boils over me, choking me with the fumes.

Trying to cover my nose and breathe through my sleeve, I keep crawling towards the entrance.

My eyes burn, and darkness absorbs the haze, making it almost impossible for me to tell which way I have to go.

Coughing, I slump to my belly and try to pull myself further.

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