Page 3 of Reaper Razed

When they walk back in, we are all on edge. Steel watches the tape and then again and again. “Fuck, I need a minute!” He stalks to the bar. We follow close behind him, pacing back and forth. “Where the fuck is she? What if they’ve got her? What if she’s dead? What if—”

The warning siren starts blaring…

Ray

…They say that your life flashes before your eyes in an instant when death is upon you, but for me, it’s the endless possibilities I will miss out on. The main one is Steel. Will he grieve for me if I’m gone? Will he move on with another if I’m gone? Will he go on to have children with someone else if I’m gone? Will he forget me? Will he be better off without me?

And as all these thoughts roll through my head, I have an epiphany. Would he fuck! He's mine! The sheer thought of him ending up with anyone other than me, having kids with anyone other than me, has me determined that I will come back from the Underworld to reap my revenge on the slut who dares try to replace me. I will drag his arse down there with me. He’s it for me.

As I shove off the balcony, I’m hanging upside down. I rear up and launch myself across the alleyway. The brute gripping onto my dress is not expecting the sudden lunge as I pull him off balance.

I’m heading to land on the balcony on the third floor. Bernie and Joseph had jumped to the fourth-floor balcony. I’m falling rather than jumping, so this is gonna be a rough landing. I reach out to hang my elbow over the balcony edge to catch myself on the railings with my left arm, but I’m falling too fast, with too much speed. As I try to lock over it and grab on, there’s an almighty twang as my whole body slams into the metalwork of the railings while my shins smash into the ledge of the balcony, and fuck, it feels like my shoulder is dislocated. It has been ripped out of its socket. Still, I have succeeded in slowing myself down drastically. As I drop toward the second floor, I reach out with my right hand and grab at one of the bars. There’s a shooting pain through my hand, and I grip tighter.

I slide down the metal bar, and my wrist jolts as I hit the bottom. “Fuck!” I bellow as pain radiates through my fingers, hands, shins and wrist as I hang there from the bottom of the second floor, swinging slightly. Well, I think I do, but in fairness, I think my hand goes, nah, fuck it, and drops me! Looking below me, there’s a clear drop into the piss-smelling alley, so I drop and roll. I roll my left ankle. “Shit!” As I drop, I smash my shoulder into the floor and roll onto my back, wheezing from the impact. “Motherfucker.” I stare up at the sky for a few minutes while I try to draw breath.

Between the buildings, there’s a shout from the fifth-floor Juliet balcony. “MARCO!” Glancing over to the side nearest the hotel, I grin as I see what’s left of Marco. He plummeted head first, but as I had dragged him over, his face smashed into the balcony and the wall and then he landed head first, all eighteen stone-ish of the fucker, slamming into his own head and exploding it like a watermelon.

Cursing as I get to my feet, stumbling up the alley to the back, there’s a dumpster. I scramble up the pile of rubbish the best I can, with the pain radiating from my left shoulder and my right hand, scrambling to the top and jumping over the fence into the neighbouring property. There’s a getaway car parked a few blocks away in case of emergencies.

I just need to get there. I drag myself behind a row of shops. I hear shouting coming from the alley. Fuck, I need to get out of here. I stumble through a gap in the fence, pushing a crate behind me to cover the gap a little. There’s a dumpster. Maybe I can hide in there. As I move towards it, there’s a growl from behind me. Turning slowly, there’s a huge Rottweiler, heckles up, teeth bared, snarling at me. He’s fucking huge, at least ten stone, but he looks underweight for his size. There’s drool flying from his jowls going everywhere.

He snaps at me. He’s littered with scars, looking like he has had a hard life. I huff out a breath, point straight at him, and growl, “I swear to fucking Hades. Do. Not. Test. Me. Today. Dog!”

The dog stops growling, straightens up and cocks his head to the side.

“Don’t you dare give away my location. I will make your life hell!” I turn and scramble very ungracefully to get in the dumpster, dropping the lid and submerging myself in all the rubbish. It fucking stinks, but I’m completely hidden unless that stupid mutt gives away my position. I get comfy-ish, cradling my injuries as the dog whines, then jumps on top of the dumpster with a huff. He lays down, and I let out a breath.

I can hear muffled yells and shouts, and as time passes, I slip in and out of either sleep or consciousness. It's hard to tell. I have no clue how long I’ve been here, but it was late evening when I climbed in. It was darkish; I must have fallen asleep or passed out. I’m woken with a start by the whining and scratching at the lid of the dumpster, slowly trying to lift the lid with my back but unable to shift it.

“Move off the twatting lid, you fucking idiot!” I whisper-yell at the dog. There’s a yap as he moves off, standing and forcing the lid open with my shoulder. It’s daylight. “Fuck!” I manage to ungracefully scramble up the rubbish and roll out of the dumpster, glancing around. I’m alone, well, me and the bloody dog looking at me like I’m the weirdo. “Shut ya face, you!” I shake my head at him, assessing my injuries. I wiggle my ankle fuck that’s sore, black and blue but a bad sprain, nothing more. My right hand possibly has two broken fingers, the skin is missing from my palm, and my wrist is likely to have some kind of sprain, at least.

It’s sore as fuck, but again, it could be worse. My right shoulder is definitely dislocated. Grabbing my knife in my left hand and standing on the bottom of my dress, I struggle to slice a chunk from it. My hand is thrashing, but I manage, with plenty of cursing, to make a sling and strap up my loose hanging left arm.

I slide my knife back into the holster, grateful that I still have that. My gun is long gone. “Fuck, I loved that gun.” Pa Bernie had got me one after I had borrowed Carmen’s. Anyway, tough shit. He can just get me another. I drag my arse away from the dumpster and the dog barks at me.

“Shut the fuck up, dickhead.” I snarl back, knee the crate away, and push through the hole. The dog appears beside me. “Where the fuck do you think you’re going?”

He just cocks his head to the side and sits beside me. “Nope! No!” I stride off into the shadow of the building as I skulk around the side of the shop I have been hiding behind. My ankle is swollen and hurts to stand, but I can suck it up. Looking across the front of the shops, there’s no one around, and the shops aren’t open, so it must still be early.

I hustle to where I know the car is. Swinging the door open, I knock my broken fingers. “Motherfucker.” As I go to get in the car, I grit my teeth. “Stupid fucking arseholes putting the steering wheel on the wrong side of the fucking car!” I growl out as I step back to slam the door with my hip.

The stupid fucking dog shoots into the passenger seat. “Are you fucking with me, Hades?” I yell to the ground.”

The dog barks.

“I swear to fucking Hades…”

He barks again.

“If you don’t get out of this car, I’m gonna lose my shit!” I sigh. “Why the fuck are you barking at me?” nothing. “Get out!” Nothing. “Don’t play fucking deaf, you stupid animal. I’m so not in the mood!” Nothing. “Fuck. You. Hades!”

Bark.

“Hades!”

Bark.

“Fine, stay in there then! You’ll be sorry coming home with me!” I climb into the driver seat, and the dog, “Hades,” by the sound of it, looks out the window to ignore my eye contact. “Stubborn, stupid animal!”

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