A final slam made the doorframe splinter, sending bits of wood flying everywhere and the door swinging open with a loud bang against the wall. The doorknob dented the wall, it was thrown open with such force, and I yelped and ducked further back, backing up into the closet to avoid the man.
Milli looked at Merrick with an unemotional expression. “If you think reminding me of the good old days is going to stop me, then you’re even dumber than I thought.” He fired his gun, hitting Merrick in the stomach and sending him down to the ground. “Wait there for me, won’t you? I’m not ready for you to die just yet. I’ll need your signature on some papers.” He turned his head slowly and looked at me. Suddenly, I was a rabbit in a corner and Milli was a dangerous, blood-thirsty fox. “Hello Avion.”
“Hey Milli,” I said.
“That was cute tiptoeing you did. Trying to put some of my skills to practice, huh?”
“I was trying,” I said.
“You know what’s a shame, is I actually really did like you. You’re a fireball in a world of wood. You brought the entire Raines family to its knees in just a handful of months, and I gotta say, that’s impressive work.”
“Just because I chose to care about them doesn’t mean I’m out to ruin them,” I said.
He shook his head. “No, that’s the frustrating part. For a while there, I was actually thinking about trying to make you something of a protege. You don’t like your brothers, and I thought we could take them down together after killing the Raines, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to let another unexpected child take everything from me. I’m going to kill you and your baby and drop your dead body in front of--”
Rather than waiting for Milli to finish his bad guy speech, I fired at him. The bullet hit him in his upper thigh, toppling him to the side a little.
Taking advantage of the unexpected was something Tamryn had beat into my head repeatedly.
I leapt out of the closet and kneed him in the chin, then yanked the gun out of his hand. I looked at Merrick, but he shook his head and grunted out, “Go!”
The door was right there and Milli was regaining his composure, but I couldn’t do it. As much as he hated me, when I needed Merrick to listen to me, he listened, and that meant a lot. I jumped over Milli’s body and looped my arms under Merrick and started to drag him towards the door.
“Avion,” he groaned. “We’re barely moving, just go.”
Milli got to his feet and turned around to tower over me. His leg was bleeding and he had a trickle of blood pouring from his mouth, but he was standing up nonetheless. He reached behind him as Merrick moaned, “Second gun,” and he pointed it in my direction.
With my arms hemmed up trying to drag Merrick out, I couldn’t shoot. It felt like it was the end for me when something came flying into the room. A book smashed into Milli’s face, sending him toppling to the ground again, then a second set of hands reached down and grabbed Merrick and helped me drag him out. Once we were out, the door was slammed shut, and I looked up to see that helping me drag was Punk, and holding the door closed was Tamryn.
“Merrick,” she whimpered.
“He got hit right in the stomach. We need to get him to a doctor,” I said. Punk started trying to get him to his feet.
The door opened and both Tamryn and I lifted our guns and immediately started to fire. Milli ducked out of the way.
And just like that, it became a standoff. He was on his side of the wall aiming right for that frame, ready to shoot whomever walked through, and I was on our side doing the same. Whoever tried to move first, was going to get shot and killed, plain and simple.
“Get Merrick to a hospital,” I said. “Now!”
“I’m not leaving you here!” Tamryn said.
I looked at her with a fierce stare. “You taught me how to fight for myself and others, that’s what I’m gonna do. Milli and I are gonna have a little standoff.”
“Merrick needs help, and if my brothers are in the house, so does Gio. Just go! I’m fine!”
“You’re… overestimating your abilities,” Merrick grumbled out. His entire head was covered in sweat and he could barely hold himself up even with Punk’s help. “Milli is a trained assassin.”
“Then I’ll die,” I said. “Those are my choices. I kill him or he kills me.”
A flurry of gunshots cracked out into the distance and I could hear a ton of voices screaming, including both of my brothers, Gio, and Kelly. “Dr. Aurora should be here. Punk, you get Merrick to Dr. Aurora, and Tamryn you go help Gio and Kelly.”
They were all looking at me like they were staring at a dead woman, which would have pissed me off if I wasn’t already the most angry I had been. I knew that I wasn’t some trained killer and that I hadn’t been in their world for as long as any of them, but it wasn’t like we had a choice. Tamryn and Punk were both better served elsewhere than here with an already injured Milli. My chances of helping were better off finishing off this wounded deer than trying to take down my brothers against whom I was fairly certain I’d freeze up.
“This is my chance to prove I belong here,” I said. “Call it an initiation,” I looked down at Merrick. “I’m no longer useless.”
“Let’s go,” Tamryn said.
Punk’s jaw dropped. “But--”
