Page 90 of Until Death or Defeat

The grinding sound is like nails on a chalkboard, but after another couple tries, I finally get it to go into gear and driveit onto the main road.

It’s almost sunset when I reach the area they were talking about, and I can see their cars parked along some brush, but they aren’t nearby. I park the stupid sports car behind theirs and hop out.

I don’t hear anything. Where does this even lead to?

I walk into the brush a bit, eventually hearing a loud bang.

Gunshot.

I panic and walk faster, battling against branches and weeds as I try to make my way through the brush when I hear another.

Fuck, what’s going on?

When I finally reach the clearing, I see a large, abandoned building. It looks like it used to be some sort of factory. I walk closer, my heart pounding so hard that I can barely hear.

Please,where are you guys?

I jump when I hear two more shots, much closer, and definitely inside the building. My hands are shaking as I try to quietly move toward a door that’s sitting ajar.

I step inside, and I hear nothing for a moment except my shuddering breath. I swallow hard as I round a corner, and walk down a long, rusty hallway.

When I hear yelling, my pace quickens until I find myself at the edge of a drop off; as if it used to be a higher level with a safety gate around the edge. That’s when I see Leo and Caesar across the way, but the bridge between the side they’re on and my side looks unstable and rusted to shit.

“C-Caesar! Leo!” I yell out, and they both turn to me.

“Gigi! Getou?—”

Bang.

I see my brother fall to the ground, and my whole body becomes ice. My trembling hand lifts to my mouth as I look at Leo, holding a gun.

Bang. Bang.

Shots toward Leo cause him to run off down another hallway in the opposite direction, and I crumble to the floor as I helplessly watch Caesar bleed on the ground.

“No!” I scream, my voice screeching through the empty factory when big arms wrap around me.

“What are you doing here? I told yo?—”

But his voice sounds so distant.

As if he’s in another dimension.

I feel like I’m watching this unfold in third-person, as my heart is pushing itself out of my chest and Caesar’s closed eyes won’t open.

“Moya! Stop! Look at me.” He shakes me hard, and my wide, expressive eyes finally see him. “Look at me. Don’t freeze up. Take a breath.” He sits there with me on the ground for a moment, but he’s in a rush. “We don’t have time, please. Stay with me. Are you listening?”

I nod quickly, as my ears stop ringing and I can hear other voices in the distance.

“We will come back for him. We have to find Leo now. Roman has already taken down his friend.”

I shake my head, turning to see Caesar again as my breath gets ragged again and he grabs my face.

“Just look at me, okay? It’s going to be okay. It’s me. I’m going to fix everything,lyubimaya, you just listen to me right now, okay?”

I nod desperately, my eyes blurry from the tears. “Please, d-don’t leave me, I-I c-can’t?—”

“Shh,lyubimaya.” He pets my head and tries to shush megently. “I won’t. I won’t leave you alone, okay? But you have to listen, you have to follow me and not wander off.”