It sounds like he's running.
What's happening?
I can see Tobias and Xavier pushing through the crowd to get to Camille’s side, and Josei's expression mimics my confusion.
My heart goes out to him when he steps forward, reaching his hand out with both nervousness and fear, “Camille?”
A shot rings out in the air and my eyes widen.
Josei staggers back for a moment, blood spilling from his lips.
When he looks down at his chest there is a flower of red blooming across his grey suit.
Two more shots, and more blood spills from his lips—more flowers bloom across his chest.
And when he looks up at Camille there’s both a realization there… and a sadness in his eyes that goes dull as he falls to the floor.
All hell breaks loose.
Screams break out on the deck. Among them is Camille’s as she reaches for him, but Tobias and Xavier are already there, pulling her back behind the bar to their backs, right as more shots ring out in the air.
The servant falls next, the expensive jewel clattering to the floor and rolling out of the box, like the slow rolling of a movie. Until the deck is filled with panicked and stampeding people, shoving each other to get down to the levels below.
Some of them are shot in the back as they run, others are shoved into the pool in a bid to escape, painting the aquamarine with tendrils of red when they are caught by the gunfire. I am stapled to the floor, with no idea what to do as they run past me, shoving into my shoulders violently as they try to get to safety.
Tobias and Xavier have thrown Camille and Josei down behind the bar, to the front of the ship, with their guns drawn, but there’s no way for them to determine the enemy line of fire. It is only mere moments of mayhem, of screaming and violence and Reuben barking orders, until the deck is silent again. Until the only thing to be heard is the rapid pulse of my heartbeat in my ears.
Tobias attempts to take a look over the bar but he has to take cover from more shots almost immediately.
And finally, it’s enough.
“They’re firing from the bridge,” I speak over the comms, finally broken out of my shameful stupor.
“What about the crew?” Xavier asks. “I didn’t see any of them on the deck.”
“Whether they’re alive or dead will depend on what kind of people we’re dealing with,” Reuben responds coldly.
“Whoever it is, they’re obviously not squeamish, Reuben,” Tobias warns him.
“Well, neither are we,” Reuben replies.
A door slams open somewhere on my side of the deck and I pull my gun as I spin around, heart racing. I can hear them coming down the steps. Three of them shooting orders at each other.
I run towards them, because if they are armed, the space is too tight for me to avoid a shot.
“Gabriel. Christian. They're after the diamond.” Reuben’s voice is like the caress of a demon, whispering in my ear, until I can almost feel him there at myback, making the hairs on my neck stand on end. And I can imagine the crazy light in his eyes and the excitement on his face as the ghost of him grabs my throat and points my face towards the enemy.
“Fuck them up.”
Crazy bastard.
The shivers are there again, tingling through my body. And I don’t think it’s dread anymore because it feels like my skin is on fire.
And I am not afraid.
The first man leads by his gun. So the moment it comes through the opening and into the hallway I'm grabbing it, sticking out my foot and pulling him forward to force him to the ground.
After all these weeks, the weight of my gun is familiar in my hands now. I've practiced with it nonstop, projecting Geoffrey Nash and Everett’s face onto each of my targets every time I entered the practice range…
