Page 5 of Redemption
Unless you’re proficient in boxing or martial arts, you wouldn’t know you could knock a person out with body shots, but that’s exactly Cole’s aim as he barrels his fist into the man’s kidneys and gut with no reprieve.
Knowing he’s going to need some help, I grit my teeth and force myself to forget the nagging pain in my back as I throw my ass out of the bed. Everything hurts, and I’m losing my strength by the second, but I will myself to stand as I prepare my fading body to fight until the very end. I reach for my gun at the same time another shot is fired off, the round tagging me in my leg just as a heaving groan comes from the other side of the room.
I peek a glance over and see Cole's guy bent over at the waist, vomiting his breakfast all over the floor. Swaying on his feet, I can tell Cole’s fading, but the new position offers him the perfect opening to uppercut the asshole right in his ugly-ass face. Unfortunately, the hit isn’t strong enough and only does enough to piss the big bitch off. In response, he throws a haymaker right into Cole’s temple. Eyes drooping and growing distant, he falls, the harsh thud of him collapsing to the floor for a second time in less than a minute loud in the otherwise quiet room.
The breath in my lungs leaves me in a shocked exhale as I watch him go down.
And stay down.
Holy fuck.
With no room left to think, I lift and aim, ready to end the both of them here and now but, somehow, in the few seconds it took since I felt my hand wrap around my gun, the initial two intruders have turned into four.
And now six.
Shit.
What the fuck is going on...?
I shake my head, willing my eyes to focus before I choose one of them, pull the trigger, and wait for the impact.
“Haha! Missed.”
One of the six counters before I can react and fires his own weapon back at me, the third shot of the morning hitting my abdomen, just to the left of my belly button.
“Son of a bitch, this guy just doesn’t seem to want to go down,” one of them says to the other, seemingly impressed that I’m not dead yet.
Goddammit.
I stagger but try again, aiming for the middle of the hazy grouping. This time, I hit something. I hear it—the softthwoopas the bullet enters a body. Which one, I’m not sure, but it doesn’t matter. I hit something.
“Motherfucker!” he calls out, confirming my mark as I return an exhausted yet satisfied grin in their direction.
“Hopefully notyourmomma....” With my lips steadily turning numb, the words come out garbled and slurred as I sway where I stand. “I’ll pass.... thank you...verymuch.”
One more time. I need... to shoot... one more... fucking... asshole. One... more.
My breaths falter and my vision blurs even more, but I force myself to keep my arms raised so I can end these fuckers once and for all. Unfortunately, my body doesn’t seem to want to listen to any of my commands. As the seconds tick by, I can no longer find the energy to hold my gun up anymore, let alone pull the trigger again. My hands shake with growing weakness as my shoulders slump forward, my arms falling uselessly to my sides.
He must have hit something vital. I shouldn’t be going down this quickly if he didn’t.
I take in a deep breath, letting it out slowly before repeating the process a few more times, trying to lower my heart rate and conserve whatever strength I have left. One of them is on the floor, still moving, but not happy in the least about wherever I shot him.
Good. That’s what he gets for barging in and ruining my afterglow. Asshole.
Dots form at the edges of my vision, but I just need to see his buddy’s general direction to attempt to take him out. My fingers might not be cooperating with me, but my mitts are still fine and dandy.
I reach him after what seems to be too long and try throwing a punch, but the sloppy haymaker doesn’t even connect. It’s as if I’m in slow motion while everything else has sped up. The asshole takes advantage of the situation—and my lowered guard—and sends another shot straight into my chest.
It’s over.
It’s all over.
Still standing, I turn my head to the left, searching for Cole, wondering if he’s ok, but the only thing I see of him are his feet peeking out from beyond the foot of the bed, silent and still.
He hasn’t moved since he went down...
I flinch as I swing my head back to the right, my eyes too slow to catch up with the quick movement, making me even more disoriented and dizzy. The blurry bastard before me smiles like the filthy taint he is and waves his fingers obnoxiously in front of my face before gleefully saying, “Nighty, night!”
