I swing my rifle off my back and take a shot. The gunfire hesitates but doesn’t stop, so I lift the gun a little higher and fire again. I don’t feel like I hit him, but I need it to be enough to make him draw back, and I use that opportunity to pull Patel toward the door that leads to the hallway out.
“Past that door, you turn right and run. Jackson will grab you,” I say.
“You’re not staying here,” she insists.
Suddenly, I hear a voice, and I realize it’s coming from the security camera. He must be watching me.
“You ruined my life,” he growls.
“I thought I saved your life,” I say. “You’re sending conflicting messages. Are you obsessed with me or do you despise me? I’m not even sure you know. The abuse your father inflicted on you made you see me as some hero. I’m not a hero, Colby. I’m simply a man, just like you.”
“You are nothing like the man I envisioned you as. You’re a coward, a cheat, and a liar,” he snarls.
“Am I?” I ask as I shoot that camera, but he just starts talking from the next.
“I am going to replace you. I tried to raise you to greatness again, but there’s nothing left of you. So now I’m going to kill you and replace you.Iwill become the Sandman. I will revive the title you’ve destroyed.”
“Get down here and do it, then.”
The lights go out, blanketing me in complete darkness. I think he believes he can use his cameras to find me since he can see in the dark with them.
“Patel,leave.”
“I need to arrest him,” she says, but she can barely stand.
“I’ll make sure he never touches you again. How about that? Feel your way to the outside door. Keep going straight until it dead ends and the door is right there. And Patel, if you speak a word about me being here tonight, I will show you exactly why they call me the Sandman,” I threaten. “Now go.”
I guide her to the wall, but the instant she touches it, I hear her hit the ground. I spare a moment, waiting to see if she can get up on her own, but when she doesn’t, I know I have two choices.
Leave her here and hope that I draw Colby away from her where I will hopefully kill him… but risk him finding her first.
Or take her to the door myself.
Carrying her to the door will take me away from Colby, giving him more time to plan or more time to run. But I know that if I leave her here, I’ll be too fixated on making sure she’s okay.
“Fuck,” I mutter as I reach down into the darkness and feel some part of her. My hand pats her down until I find her arm, which I use to pull her up.
“Just leave me,” she says, but how am I to do that?
And boy, can I hear Lucas calling me a fuckup from here. He would have beaten my ass, called me a disgrace, and made me train until my hands bled, and it still wouldn’t have been enough to cover this blunder.
Another part of me knows that if I take too long doing this, Jackson will get worried and come inside, seeking her or me out.
I hoist her up to her feet and wrap her arm around me. “Can you hang on?”
“Yes,” she whispers.
“Don’t let go of me and try to remain quiet,” I say.
Patel nods, fingers digging into my side. I can feel her haggard breathing, even as she tries to hide it, and the way her feet slide more than they lift. The trauma to her head is making this difficult, and I’m afraid of how this is going to go.
The gun is steady in my hands while I listen carefully for where Colby might be. If he’s still watching the security cameras that show me in the dark, he can follow me from anywhere.
The slightest noise sounds behind me, and I pull Patel to a stop. It only takes me a second to realize it’s some equipment kicking on deeper in the place. Has he turned it on to fuck with my ability to hear him coming?
The hum of it seems to echo down this long hallway where darkness creeps around every corner. My eyes are slowly adjusting, but the only hint of light that I’m getting is coming from a backlit sign on the wall that must run off batteries.
I begin moving again, pulling Patel toward the front door. I’m dragging her as much as she’s walking at this point, but I need to get her out of here so I can freely hunt Colby down.
