CHAPTER 43
Half the weapons from the crate were already out of ammunition. He was going through rounds so quickly that Aaron no longer had time to notice the difference in recoil between the various rifles and pistols. His entire arm, from wrist to shoulder, had long since gone numb.
Smoke from the ventilation and the smoldering logs was gradually filling the room.
He coughed.
For some reason, the trembling in his hands had stopped. The fear hadn’t gone anywhere. It was just that, together with the smoke, everything around him had begun to feel distant and unreal.
Sparks from bullets flashed before his eyes, the fire was blazing nearby, and the heat from the bright flames burned his back and side. But, gritting his teeth, he continued to crack the door open and fire at the attackers.
If only he could buy them a little more time.His throat tightened, his vision blurred for a second, and suddenly…
Instead of the whistle of bullets, he heard a school bell in September. Metallic and far too loud.
Ten years ago.
The smoke swirling through the air seemed to spread through the school corridor. The smell of burning was replaced by the scent of furniture polish, and instead of the thunder of gunfire, there were the rustle of pages, laughter, footsteps.
Aaron remembered standing frozen by the lockers. His heart had jerked so violently that for a second he thought something was wrong with his breathing. But no.
It was Rick.
All alone, lost, as though he had wandered into someone else’s territory by accident. On the surface, just an ordinary boy, but there was something incredibly touching about that lonely, slightly hunched figure. Like a small wild kitten that had crawled into a corner, watched everything around it carefully, and clearly had no intention of letting anyone hurt it.
Messy chestnut hair falling over his forehead. Warm brown eyes, a mixture of confusion and wariness. A scattering of freckles across his nose and cheeks. A tiny mole above his lip. And those lips — soft, pink, slightly bitten.
“I should go over to him…” The thought flashed through his mind, but his feet only seemed to become more firmly rooted to the floor.
He felt his palms grow sweaty, his throat dry.
“Who is that?” he managed to ask Steve without taking his eyes off him. His voice sounded unusually hoarse.
“I don’t know. Maybe he’s new?” Steve smiled. “Come on, let’s go introduce ourselves.”
“No, wait!” Aaron wanted to stop him, but his lips wouldn’t obey.
So he had no choice but to go with him.
He barely heard Steve speak first:
“Hi, I’m Steve Miller, and this is Aaron Lake. Are you new?”
Rick looked up. He smiled.
It was so pure, sincere, and open that the world around them disappeared for a second. Something inside Aaron’s chest broke loose and plunged downward. The noise of the corridor, the hum of voices, the clatter of lockers — none of it existed anymore. There was only him.
“That’s it… I’m done for…”Aaron nodded, barely managing to steady his breathing. On the outside, he kept his mask of calm. But inside… in that exact second, he understood: this was the end. He had fallen in love.
Another bullet brought him back to reality.
The kiss…
For a few seconds, he had allowed himself to forget everything except Rick. And he didn’t regret it for a second.
But now he had to hold out a little longer. For them.
He coughed again. Breathing was becoming harder, as though he were breathing through cotton. The damn smoke was already choking him, creeping deeper and deeper into his lungs.
For a second, the gunfire stopped. Aaron cautiously peered around the door. Bodies lay in the corridor. Dark pools of blood spread beside them, small splatters visible across the tiles. The air was thick with the sickly sweet, nauseating smell of iron.
Something struck the floor and rolled toward his feet. A small metal cylinder.
“Shit,” he hissed, jumping back.
A smoke grenade hissed, releasing acrid smoke. Everything around him was quickly swallowed by a murky gray haze. Aaron stepped backward, feeling the smoke sting his eyes.
“Laaake,” a familiar voice drawled, stretching the word as though savoring it. “I know you’re in here.”
Broken glass crunched beneath his footsteps. Aaron’s eyes watered, making it impossible to keep his eyelids properly open. In the glow of the flames, Aaron could barely make out his silhouette. Unable to see where he was shooting, he pulled the trigger. But he missed. A fit of coughing doubled him over. Spent casings clattered across the tiles, bouncing in different directions.
It felt as though his lungs were being torn apart from the inside.
He hid behind one of the shower stalls, trying to focus his vision. But it was no use.
Squinting, he looked around the edge of the shower stall and froze for a second. The first thing he noticed was the scar on his face. Then the disgusting smirk on his lips. Then the hands holding the gun.
The very same hands that had squeezed Rick’s throat.
The ones that had dared to hurt him.
Suddenly, hurried footsteps sounded. Another young man ran in behind Austin. Aaron would have guessed he was about twenty.
“Mr. McLeod!” the young man began anxiously. “Mr. Hamilton asked me to tell you…”
A gunshot thundered.
Aaron flinched.
The young man never got to finish.
Austin shot his own man.
“Idiot,” he scoffed. “Didn’t they teach you not to interrupt your elders?”
Lake wiped his watering eyes with his sleeve and pressed the back of his head against the tiles. Sweat ran down his face and soaked into the collar of his shirt.
“I looked into you,” Austin drawled lazily. “And your friends too.”
He took another step.
“You’re an interesting bunch. But you’re the most boring one. I’ll take you out first, and then I’ll finish off the others…”
Austin smirked.
“But first, of course, I’ll have a little fun.”
Aaron tightened his grip on the pistol until his knuckles turned white. His world narrowed down to one thing: that voice.
Dirty.
The same voice that had sounded back then, when Rick had been choking beneath his hands.
He leaned out from behind the shower stall, took aim, and pulled the trigger.
But there was no click.
The magazine was empty.
Austin immediately raised his gun.
A shot thundered.
Aaron jerked to the side. The hot bullet passed right by his ear, scorching his skin, and struck the tiles beside his head, sending chips flying. He took off, vaulted over a bench, and crashed down behind it, pressing himself against the floor.
Another shot split the room.
The bullet passed over the bench.
He was breathing heavily, feeling his heart pounding somewhere in his throat. His ears were ringing, and the thick smoke made it almost impossible to see.
Aaron heard footsteps very close.
One step.
A second.
He clenched the empty pistol and, before he could give himself time to reconsider, threw it toward a metal box.
Austin only had time to turn his head before Aaron slammed into him with all his weight.
They crashed onto the dusty tiles, hitting the shower partition with a loud bang. Austin’s gun flew toward the hatch. Lake landed on top of him, caught his arm, and slammed his wrist against the floor with all his strength.
“Bastard…” he breathed through clenched teeth.
Austin jerked, trying to break free, but Aaron held him. A punch. Then another.
Everything he had kept inside for so long finally burst out.
That same smile appeared before his eyes. The one he had seen when Rick was choking beneath his hands.
He struck him again.
Blood was already covering his fingers.
“Fuck!” Austin spat.
He jerked violently and drove his elbow into Aaron’s ribs with all his strength.
The air was knocked from his lungs, and Aaron doubled over.
He choked on a cough, desperately dragging air into his lungs. His throat burned, his ears rang, but instead of relief, thick, acrid smoke poured into his lungs again.
The fire was already devouring the walls. Flames crawled across the tiles, then caught the ceiling. Breathing was becoming harder and harder.
Darkness had begun creeping into his vision from the lack of oxygen. His world narrowed down to one desperate breath.
Austin lunged again.
For a second, Aaron lost his grip. Austin managed to free his arm and shoved him in the chest. Aaron rocked backward, and in the next second Austin was on top of him, pinning him to the floor with his full weight.
Fragments of tile dug into his back and shoulder blades.
A heavy fist crashed into Aaron’s face.
The next one struck his cheekbone.
His skin split.
“Well, Lake?” he breathed. “Not so tough without your gun, are you?”
Another blow.
The metallic taste of blood filled his mouth.
His vision blurred.
“Where are your friends?” Austin smirked, breathing heavily. “Ran away?”
He bared his teeth triumphantly and raised his fist again.
At that moment, Lake abruptly shifted to the side.
Austin lost his balance, and Aaron immediately took advantage of it. Twisting, he slipped out from underneath him, caught him around the body, and yanked him toward himself.
They rolled across the floor.
One more movement, and Aaron was behind him. He pulled Austin toward him, wrapped an arm around his neck, and locked him in a chokehold.
“Fuck!” Austin rasped and jerked, trying to break free.
He hammered his heels against the tiles, twisting desperately. His fingernails dug into Lake’s arms, scraping the skin until it bled.
But Aaron only tightened his hold. He could feel his arms trembling, but he didn’t loosen them.
“What did you say?” he hissed through clenched teeth. “‘I love this moment when you cling so desperately to life’?”
Austin tried to break free again.
Aaron tightened his arms even more.
“For daring to touch him…” he breathed. “You can die.”
Austin choked, grabbing at his hair.
Lake jerked his head to the side, and the crack of cervical vertebrae echoed in his ears. The heavy body above him shuddered one last time. The muscles went limp.
His stomach immediately twisted.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw another figure flash in the doorway. The muzzle of a gun glinted in the firelight. Aaron realized he wouldn’t have time to crawl away and hide.
Was this really the end? Was this how it would all end? Beneath the body of some amoral bastard, with the lingering, bitter taste of a kiss on his lips, killed by someone else’s bullet and consumed by fire.Well, at least in the final minutes of his life, he knew he had bought Rick and Billy enough time to escape. They would survive, live long, happy lives, and this endless nightmare would finally be over.
Indeed, there was no fear anymore.
A deafening gunshot rang out.
***
Supporting him with his shoulder, Rick carried Billy’s weight, trying not to jostle his broken arm. But every now and then Billy still cried out softly through clenched teeth.
Billy was pale, sweat beading on his face, his lips dry. He could barely drag his feet, doing almost nothing to help Rick. Rick could feel how heavily he leaned against him and could see what every step was costing him.
The sewer pipe reeked of rust and rot. The air was heavy and damp, thick with smoke and the stench of sewage. Rick was finding it harder and harder to breathe himself, but he kept dragging Billy forward.
“Just a little longer,” Rick breathed. “We’re almost out.”
Billy nodded, barely staying on his feet.
A gunshot thundered above them, and a deep echo rolled through the metal walls of the pipe, as though the earth itself had shaken. Rusty dust rained down from the ceiling, murky water dripping onto their faces. In places, corrosion had eaten through the metal completely, leaving bare patches of earth visible overhead. It seemed as though one more impact would bring the whole thing crashing down on top of them.
With a trembling hand, Rick touched his lips.
Aaron had kissed him. Himself.
His mind was such a mess that Rick could barely understand how he was still walking while carrying Billy at the same time. His heart pounded, and that brief touch kept flashing across his lips again and again. It had happened so unexpectedly and so quickly that even now it seemed almost unreal.
“Fuck… he’s back there alone. Against a bunch of heavily armed criminals…”The mere thought of something happening to him made everything inside Rick clench.
Rick abruptly shook his head, driving the thought away, and quickened his pace, determinedly pulling
Billy forward.
They walked almost by touch.
The flashlight flickered, flooding the walls with intermittent flashes of light.
Their breathing grew louder, while the tunnel narrowed more and more with every step. Rats scurried past them, their black bodies flashing through the gloom.
“Just a little farther…” Rick rasped. His voice cracked and sounded completely unfamiliar. “There has to be an exit.”
And there was.
A grate appeared ahead. Beyond it, through the openings in the manhole, faint, trembling moonlight filtered through.
Rick grabbed the grate with both hands. It didn’t even move. He adjusted his grip on the bars, planted his feet, and pulled again, straining with his whole body. The grate gave a pitiful squeal but stayed in place.
“Come on…” he gritted out.
Another pull. And another. His fingers slipped, his palms already burning. Rick released the grate, stepped back, and kicked it with all his strength.
The metal rang hollowly.
But it didn’t give.
“Fuck!”
He kicked it again. Then again. His foot was already throbbing, but Rick grabbed the bars once more and pulled, throwing his entire weight against them. The grate trembled in his hands, squealed, but remained firmly in place.
“Rick, stop…” Billy rasped, sinking to the ground.
“No!” Parker breathed, not even turning around. “Aaron’s back there! All alone! And I… I can’t even open this fucking grate!”
He turned and slammed his shoulder into it with all his strength. White spots flashed before his eyes from the pain.
Rick stepped back, breathing heavily. He immediately grabbed the grate again, but the metal didn’t even budge.
Nothing.
The bulletproof vest was getting in his way, pulling him backward, restricting his movements. Rick yanked at the strap, trying to undo it, but his fingers weren’t cooperating.
“Goddammit!”
He pulled harder, tore the vest off his shoulders, and angrily threw it aside.
“Rick…” Billy called weakly. “It’s useless.”
“Shut up!” he snapped, turning around. “I’m getting you out! I have to!”
Rick was breathing heavily. His fingers were still trembling from his attempts to wrench the bars free.
He looked at the grate again. Thick metal bars, a massive frame, a lock on the inside. In places, the hinges had rotted through. Moisture and time had eaten them away until they were nothing but brown, crumbling rust.
Then his gaze stopped on the pistol in Billy’s hand.
Rick snatched it from him.
“What are you doing?!” Billy rasped. “No, the metal’s too strong! The bullets will ricochet!”
Rick tightened his grip on the handle and aimed at the lock.
“We’re about to find out…”
Without giving himself time to reconsider, he pulled the trigger.
The gunshot deafened them both. The muzzle flash struck painfully against eyes accustomed to the darkness. The bullet hit the upper hinge dead-on.
Rick immediately lowered his aim and pulled the trigger again.
This time, the bullet glanced off the metal frame, veered aside, and ricocheted into the wall with a loud metallic clang.
He cursed through clenched teeth.
He adjusted his grip on the pistol and aimed again.
The third shot.
The bullet struck exactly where he wanted it to.
The metal cracked. The grate jerked and toppled heavily to one side.
“Holy shit…” Hong whispered, barely moving his lips. “It actually worked.”
