"Billy!"

Throwing caution to the wind, Kyle grabbed the edge of the window and lifted himself to his feet. Glass dug into his palms, but he couldn't feel it. His eyes scanned the river. There was no sign of Billy. No floating bundle, no water rings, no nothing.

Something dug into his back, scrambling his insides with the force of the hit. Darkness clouded the edges of his vision, and he let it. He let it take over him, tense his muscles, quicken his movements, because fuck it! He was done with this. Done with the worry, done with letting the good in him make him and everyone he loved an easy target.

He could feel his body moving, but he didn't care. Let it trample over the henchmen or die trying. He retreated inside the darkness, trying to block out everything. Billy's smile flooded his mind together with his confidence, his misery.

What did you do, Billy? Did you do it on purpose?

"Kyle!"

Nope. He was never coming out of the dark, comfortable place. He liked it, he didn't have to face shit.

Coward.

"Kyle, wake up!"

Something slapped his face. Hard. But he didn't care. Let his body take it because it could. But when soft hands framed his face, he realized something might be wrong. Kay's eyes appeared in front of his own, scared, worried.

Shit, he'd totally lost it. He blinked hard, trying to come back, to overcome the grief and the rage inside him.

"Kay, out of the way."

The light touch left his face, replaced by another hard slap. It snapped him right out of it, and only then did he realize he was holding Jessie off the floor by one wrist while she used her other hand to hit him across the face.

He yelped and dropped her. She fell into a crouch, rubbing her wrist, her eyes taking in their surroundings.

Kyle looked around, too. He'd torn a path through the goons and most of them had stuck to the walls, trying to avoid his rage. The floor was filled with bodies, but they were moaning and moving, so he guessed he hadn't really done that much damage.

But he'd grabbed Jessie. He'd been seconds away from hurting her. The cold running through him froze his insides.

"Yes, problematic," Jessie mumbled as if the terror on his face was a window to his mind. "But we have no time for that."

She was right. Jerry and Tina were surrounded. He gave both girls an apologetic smile and rushed towards them, kicking away the guy hitting Jerry.

"We need to close the doors," Jerry wheezed, bending double and breathing.

He had the best point. Kyle chose the most crowded area to break through towards the doors. On his way, he threw a fleeting glance over his shoulder toward the baricade, but Jimmy, Angie and Tom seemed to be handling it well enough. They'd had no assailants from that direction so far.

It took him seconds to reach the first door and kick it closed. Jerry hurried to block the other entrance. He'd barely touched the wood when it opened and knocked him over. He tumbled over on the shattered glass and cried out in pain. A goon stepped out, pistol out and pointed.

Forgetting about his own door, Kyle charged at him and wrapped his hand around the man's wrist. With a light flick, he snapped it. The gun fell to the floor, next to Jerry's face.

A scream from behind had him turning around. The door he'd closed was once again open. Kay was on her back, on the floor, and a huge man holding a knife had just pushed Jessie from in front of her.

Jessie fell over, cursing. Kay kicked out, but the mountain of a man stepped out of the way.

It was like watching Billy falling through the window all over again. The play by play of the events slowed everything in Kyle's mind. Jessie didn't have time to roll over and tackle the guy. Kay had just lowered her defences after the kick. The tip of the knife was positioned to go through her neck.

He had no idea when and how he'd decided to move, but he did, sliding between Kay and the goon, facing her, stretching his arms out to shield her.

The terror in her eyes changed to grief a second before he felt the dagger tearing through his skin and flesh. The bullet proof vest put up some resistance, but didn't stop the blade. A sharp pain traveled up his spine and he took a rattled breath. It only made everything worse. His lungs felt like they were on fire and the edges of his vision blurred and darkened.

Kay's eyes filled with tears and her lips moved, but he couldn't hear her anymore. The pressure on his back intensified and his knees shook, gave in, hit the floor. He reached out his hands to brake his fall and stayed on all fours. But his mind kept blanking even if he tried to logic himself into wakefulness, into action. He had no reason to black out. He'd just been stabbed, just been...

Darkness swallowed everything.

❄

Jessie's cry of rage drew Jimmy's attention from the man he was fighting. The distraction earned him a punch in the ribs, but he barely felt it.

Kyle was on his hands and knees, the hilt of a knife sticking out if his back. Jessie tackled a huge man to the ground while Kay was trapped under Kyle.

Panic bubbled in Jimmy's chest as the implications of what he'd seen hit him. Kyle was down. Their first line of defence was torn down.

Pull your shit together! He punched the goon in the stomach and jammed an uppercut in his chin as he bent over, effectively knocking him out. Tom and Angie would have to handle themselves for a few moments.

He charged towards Kyle, who was now on the floor, and reached him at the same time as Jerry.

"Don't take the knife out!" Jessie yelled, just as Jerry put his hand on the hilt. She was off the floor, on the guy's back, hanging half upside down, her legs around his neck.

"What?" Jerry asked, his voice shaking.

Jessie twisted her body, tightening her hold around the man's neck, and using her own body weight to bring him down. Kay rolled out from under Kyle's body and charged at him.

"You'll only increase the bleeding," Jessie said between her teeth.

Jerry growled, but listened, and tackled another incoming man. Jimmy took advantage that he was momentarily free and grabbed Kyle's wrists. They needed to drag him away from there, leave him somewhere safe until this mess was over.

His head pounded with an evil chant that he might already be dead, so he focused on the feel of his wrists, trying to find a pulse. And he did. It was weak, but there. Kyle was still alive, at least for now.

Jimmy reached the wall and left Kyle next to it in lack of a better space. In seconds, Jessie was by his side, her eyes forever scanning the surroundings.

"Go!" she said.

"What?"

"We'll handle it here. Kyle beat the shit out of most of these guys. When they get up again, we can handle them. Go help Angie and Tom."

He faltered, seeing her point but not wanting to leave her and Kay alone at a time like this.

Jessie took his face in her hands. "Don't think about it. Not yet. We can't think about it now." Tears glistened in her eyes for the fraction of a second.

He nodded, drawing from her strength. She was right. He couldn't think about this now. About anything. Or he would crack and this was the time to fight, not roll over into a ball and cry. He would trust her. Her, Kay and Jerry to handle this, to protect Tina and what was left of Kyle.

Jessie gave him a curt nod too, then hurried back into the fight, towards a goon who had grabbed Tina and was dragging her by the hair towards the doors. If they needed him, they could always call.

He turned back towards the barricade, searching for his future target. He found it in a second. A goon had rounded the barricade and taken his pistol out. Tom and Angie were both busy fighting so the guy took his sweet time aiming. Tom brought his opponent down, giving him a clear shot.

And in that moment, Jimmy knew he had no time to reach them, especially because some other random asshole was blocking his way.

The panic morphed into cold blooded calculation. Hello, meat shield. He kicked the guy in the way of the other goon's aim. He caught on and raised a panicked hand, but his companion shot nevertheless.

The bullet went through the man's hand and lodged itself into Tom's shoulder. He fell over with a surprised scream.

"Tom!" Angie dropped to her knees next to him.

Jimmy charged at the two goons. Taking his gun out in the process. He'd run out of ammo on his regular one and only had the rubber bullet pistol, but who cared at this point? He shot the guy with the gun in the head at point blank range. The result was a crumpling sack of flesh moaning on the floor. The other man was nursing his hand so it was easy to kick him down and knock him out.

Over the barricade, the other men faltered. He took advantage and fired another round of rubber bullets at them. He needed to find a cartridge. But first, he needed to make sure Tom was okay.

"It burns," Tom was saying between his teeth.

"I can't take it out," Angie said, her voice filled with panic. "You'll bleed out."

"I can't use my arm like this and you need me."

"Let me see." Jimmy crouched next to them and analyzed Tom's shoulder. He could actually see the bullet. Given the meat shield, it hadn't gone in much. "He won't bleed much, its superficial. You can take it out."

"How am I supposed to take it out?" Angie shrieked, her voice half covered by the sound of shooting coming from behind the barrier, sending splinters flying around their heads.

Tom took his knife out and handed it to her. Jimmy turned away from them, not wanting to see this, and focused on every body coming out from behind the baricade. He tried to ignore how Angie muttered nervously, Tom's whimpers of pain. He looked once, just as Angie had stuck the tip of the blade into Tom's shoulder and drew out the bullet, and it made his stomach turn over. Tom let out a cry of pain and smashed his sunglasses against the floor.

Jimmy turned back, fighting the bubbling rage inside him. He couldn't lose it. He had to focus and they needed to work together.

Something small, round and black flew over his head. The explosion rattled his entire body and he hit the baricade. Plaster and splinters rained around him and a cloud of dust filled his lungs.

"Tom," he called with a cough. "Jessie!"

"We're okay," Jessie called.

"Ditto," Tom mumbled, appearing in his line of sight, a piece of his t-shirt tied around the bullet wound.

"Jerry!" Jimmy called.

A muffled grunt had him rushing through the madness. Snitch Gravel's men were picking themselves off the floor. A few bleeding bodies stayed motionless. Apparently they weren't above blowin each other to pieces.

Jimmy finally found Jerry and Tina caught under what looked like a rafter. Tina's forehead was bleeding and she was knocked unconscious while Jerry tried to pull himself out of from under the fallen beam.

"Are you okay?" Jimmy bent to lift the beam and help him crawl out.

"My leg really hurts." There was a tremor in Jerry's voice. "I think it might be broken. And Tina..." He looked at her, his face filled with sorrow.

"I'm sure she'll be fine. I'll check--"

Another explosion shook the room. Something flew past Jimmy's head, missing him by half an inch. The wooden bench hit Jerry in the forehead and knocked him over.

"Shit," Jimmy said between his teeth.

He had to get Jerry and Tina out of there. Fortunately, Jessie and Kay appeared by his side and helped him move the debris and the  bodies next to Kyle.

"What are they doing?" Jessie asked. Her voice was exhausted and filled with pain, and it broke Jimmy's heart.

"Trying to kill each other?" Tom ventured. "We need to--" He glanced over his shoulder at Kyle, Jerry and Tina who lay unconscious on the floor. "Where's Billy?"

"He fell through the window," Kay answered, her voice strangled.

"Fucking hell," Tom breathed, speaking Jimmy's exact thoughts.

"We can't think about this now," Jimmy said. "We have to--"

To what? They were getting their asses handed to them.

"Where do they keep coming from?" Angie asked. "I've never seen so many of them."

"And we're lucky they're not all shooting at us," Kay added the obvious.

"You're right, explosions are much better," Jessie said.

A new wave of gunfire hit the walls of their cover. They all ducked, keeping as close to the floor as possible. Bullets flew above the baricade, striking a few of the new men filing in from the other side.

"Stop shooting, you assholes!" one of them yelled.

The fire stopped and for a second, it was eerily quiet. Then another explosion threw the benches on top of the baricade around together with Tom and Kay who were closest to the explosion.

Angie and Jessie cursed in unison, raised above the beaver dam and started shooting. Tom and Kay rolled on the ground. Kay rose on her hands just as a man came out of the cloud of dust and aimed a kick at her side. With impressive speed and balance, Tom rolled on his back, rose on his healthy arm and helicopter kicked the guy away.

"Jimmy!"

He turned back to Jessie and ducked just in time as another grande flew on their side of the room. The explosion tossed Kay right into his arms, but Tom hit the wall and fell back covered in plaster.

"Angie, stay!" Jessie instructed before she could make a move.

Jimmy put Kay down. Her head was bleeding and her eyes were half closed. This was getting out of hand badly. There were already craters in the floor, the walls were showing brick and a few of the wooden beams had fallen. And only three of them were left standing.

"I need to get to him," Angie whispered.

"You need to not draw attention to him," Jessie said instead.

She sat with her back pressed against the baricade, the gun clutched in her hand. Angie moved over to Kay and pulled her to the side. Jimmy sat next to Jessie, watching the dust, expecting more shadows to come out if it. All was quiet on the other side, too, but another grenade could fly in at any second.

Jessie squeezed his hand in a rare show of vulnerability. "We're losing, aren't we hot stuff?"

He'd never lied to her and he wasn't about to start now. Not when it could be the last thing he ever said to her. She wasn't an idiot, she could tell how bad things were.

So he squeezed her hand back. "I think so. But if we go down, we go down together."

She nodded, tears making their way through the grime on her face. "Thanks. For not lying. I don't need empty words. Just to know you're here."

He leaned over her, stopping inches from her face. "I'll always be here." All three seconds left of always.

A shadow moved through the dust and Jimmy pushed off the barrier and towards it. He'd be dammed if he let anyone else get hurt.

He tackled the silhouette and knocked another one down on the way. His fist found the target easily and he could swear the guy's sternum cracked when he hit it.

"Kill him!" another goon yelled.

Jimmy rolled over the body, dodging the knife thrown at him. A scream of surprise and pain froze his heart. He glanced over his shoulder. Jessie clenched to her side, the knife sticking out of it.

He scrambled to his feet and headed for her. She gritted her teeth and yanked the blade out of the table behind her.

"It's just a scratch." He shoved the weapon in his hand. "Now go do your job."

He did. He turned around and propelled the knife into the stomach of the nearest goon. He fell over, revealing the door. Jimmy paralyzed with dread. A ton of men were filing their way inside the corridor, armed. They were dead.

Except the men ignored them. They walked past like perfectly coordinated ants. Jimmy didn't move, afraid any twitch might draw their attention to him.

And suddenly, Snitch Gravel himself stepped out. His eyes scanned the wreckage, takin in the bodies of his men, Kyle and Tom, Jerry and Tina, Kay, the ones still left standing, then for a second, their eyes met.

He showed no sign of emotion and continued his way past the barricade and towards the exit on the other side. And in the silence, Jimmy could finally hear the distant sound of sirens. The explosions had most likely not gone unnoticed.

The final three goons in line stopped, malicious grins filling their faces.

"Let's finish this," one of them said. "It's just him and one little girl left."

Despite his better judgement, Jimmy glanced over his shoulder. As far as he knew, there were two little girls left. The air became scarce as he started at Jessie. Her face was drained of all color and she clutched her side desperately. Blood poured between her fingers.

He rushed to her and unclenched her hands. Her resistance was feeble at best. She'd lied. It wasn't a scratch. It was a deep gash that cut her flesh. There was already a pool of blood gathered under her.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Um, Jimmy," Angie said, her voice shaking. "We have company."

❄❄❄

I know what your thinking. It's along the lines of what are you doing, you evil woman. I totally understand. Justified.

Yes, I'm killing people. I'm hurting people. At this point you have no idea if everyone is alive. They're obviously not well. Some climax, huh?

Why is Snitch Gravel leaving? Could it really be because the police are coming? What happened to Sam and Christine? Get ready to find out in the next exciting installment.

Hit the star! And please let me know if I'm still any good at writing action stuff 😅