I was only twenty feet or so away from him and more determined than ever to put a bullet through that asshole's head. But he was just as persistent. He didn't let up. He fired at me and I ducked behind another tree. I was slowly making my way closer to him, making Victor an easier target.
And then, everything froze.
I blinked. All I could see was a bright light, and all I could feel was pain. I blinked again.
What the hell had happened? Was I dead? Had that bastard got me?
I focused on my breathing and relaxed my shoulders, then everything cleared and I could see again. I could see the gray sky up above, the tree branches interlocking with one another, blocking the rain with their foliage.
I sat up slowly. I was covered in sludge. When I tried to get up and slipped back on my ass, I realized what had happened. I'd slipped. I'd gone and fucking slipped. Again.
"Shit!" I groaned and pushed myself off the ground.
I oriented myself and started running again, though I could feel my speed had drastically decreased. I knew I was going the right way though. I could see the tracks they'd left behind that hadn't been washed by the rain yet. He was close. Zach was close. I could feel it deep?—
Smash!
Something crashed into my face, and I found myself back on my ass, on the ground.
Victor emerged from behind the tree, all smug and proud that he'd elbowed me but if he thought this was over, he was more stupid then I realized.
I raised my arm to shoot at him, but my hand was empty.
Panic flared within me as Victor did exactly what I had intended to do, and I found myself looking at the barrel of his gun.
"Give it up, old man. This is over. It's all over, you hear me," Victor shouted and pulled Zach from behind the tree they'd hidden behind, as if he wanted to show him off.
I didn't know how I looked but Zach looked worse for wear. He was dirty all over, bruised, with puffy red eyes and unkempt hair full of twigs. He still looked beautiful though. To me, he'd always look beautiful.
Victor said something, whether it was to Zach or me, I didn't know. I was too busy gazing into Zach's eyes to listen to the deranged man standing over me.
If I was going to die, I wanted to at least have a perfect view before I closed my eyes for good. I didn't want to be looking at Victor or the barrel end of his gun.
Yeah, that was a good way to go. Staring at Zach. At the love of my life. There were worse ways to go. Trying to save the man I loved wasn't one of them. I'd tried. I'd failed, but at least I'd tried. I just hoped after he killed me, Victor wouldn't feel like he needed to hurt Zach further.
"Please don't kill him," Zach cried.
My heart thumped in my chest at the agony in his voice. I wanted to put my hands on him, to wrap him in my arms and soothe him. I wanted to do so many things, to be so many things for him, but now it would never happen.
Victor's hand tensed and I narrowed my eyes, waiting for the end. For the darkness to come for me and sweep me away.
But before that could happen, Zach wrenched his elbow back onto Victor's lower chest, and he yelped in surprise. His hand loosened on the gun. It was only for a split second, but that was all I needed to push myself up and jump on him.
I grabbed his wrist and yanked it up, pointing his gun to the sky. A bang thundered across the woods and my hands trembledfrom the after-effect of the bullet that would have gone into me if I hadn’t acted.
I tugged on him with all my might, trying to break the weapon out of his grasp but my arm flared from the strain I was putting on it.
I ground my teeth and pushed harder, bringing my knee up to meet Victor's groin. He yelped again, but the fucker didn't let go.
I growled and put all my weight on him until he fell to the ground. His gun flew out of his hand, but I didn't get a chance to grab it because we slid down a short incline. When we stopped, he was on top of me.
I threw a punch at him, but it didn't land and he retaliated by punching me in the head.
Pain ruptured at my temple. I put my hands up in front of me in an effort to stop the next attack, but he buried his fist into my stomach instead. On instinct I reached for my belly, leaving my head wide open. Victor took advantage and whacked me with a stone on my forehead.
As I felt blood trickle down my hairline he raised his arms over his head once again, rock between his hands and murder in his eyes. The woods around me started spinning and I said my final prayers. I wasn't even religious. I didn't particularly believe in a god or care if they existed or not, but if there was a higher power, I hoped they were listening to me in my final moment.
Please don't let Zach get hurt. He doesn't deserve this.
