Page 23 of Omega's Vengeance

At that moment, Carlo crawls to the top of the stairs, his face is red with veins bulging. When he sees us, he snarls and pulls the trigger. Bullets zing and ping off the refrigerator and stove. I grab hold of Alessio and I haul him with me out the back door of the cabin. There’s a black BMW in the dirt driveway, and I scramble toward it. But when I try the door, it’s locked.

Of course it is.

Bullets kick up the dirt near my feet and I’m forced to abandon the vehicle. Alessio follows me as I bolt for the thick pine trees a few feet away. That’s good because I’m done babysitting him. He either follows me or he’s on his own. I don’t have time to coddle him. This is life or death and I need to save my own skin.

The pine branches whip my face as I hurdle through them and away from the cabin. I hear Alessio behind me. He’s breathing hard and swearing under his breath. I don’t think Carlo is able to follow us, but I can’t be sure. I’m not positive if he crawled up the stairs to throw us off, or if he actually couldn’t walk. Just in case he can walk, it’s best to put as much distance between us and him as possible

I have no idea where we are, so I don’t know which way to run. If I knew the area, maybe I could find a road that would lead down the mountain. But for now, running deeper into the woods is what my instincts tell me to do. If Alessio feels differently, he’s welcome to stay behind and die.

We run for what feels like an hour. My muscles are exhausted, so I stop and sit at the base of a tall pine tree. I feel the trunk against my spine swaying in the breeze, and I close my eyes. Even though I’m in fear for my life, I can’t escape how quiet it is up in the mountains. There’s nothing but the sound of the wind in the trees and birds. Alessio grunts as he sits across from me. When I open my eyes, he’s staring at his bloody hand. The fact that he was able to keep up with me tells me it’s probably just a flesh wound. If he’d lost a lot of blood, I think he’d have stopped running ages ago. Adrenalin will only carry you so far.

He’s breathing hard as he looks up. “How come Carlo isn’t dead?”

I avoid his gaze. “Nothing went like I hoped.” I’m frustrated that I failed to kill Carlo, and part of the reason I failed was because Alessio bumped into me. He threw off my aim and now Carlo is alive and still very much a threat. But if I accuse Alessio of being part of the reason Carlo survived, he’ll probably get pissy. I don’t need that right now.

He studies me and then mumbles. “Fucker shot the tip of my finger off.”

“How much of the finger is gone?”

He grits his teeth and holds out his hand.

“I can’t really see,” I say, squinting. “You’re too far away.”

He crawls over, settling next to me. His hip presses mine as he scowls at his bloody finger. “It’s just the very tip and part of the fingernail.”

“It might grow back.” I examine the injured finger.

He scowls. “It might grow back? How? I’m not a lizard.”

“Some scientists did a study a while ago. So long as there’s still nail, the fingertip could grow back. Something to do with nail stem cells.”

He gives a gruff laugh and his teeth are white against his blood spattered face. “I’m shocked you’d know that kind of thing.”

“Why?” I ask, getting to my feet. Being so close to him is distracting. I need to be alert, not thinking about how warm his body is, and how much I like his sweet scent.

He shrugs and also rises. “I don’t know.”

“Because you think I’m just a dumb thug?” I chuff.

“Maybe.” He smirks. “I mean, if the shoe fits.”

“Ha. Ha.” I narrow my eyes. “If the comedy show is over, we need to keep moving.”

“Okay.” He tugs a tissue from his pocket and he wraps it around his wounded finger. “I think the bleeding is slowing.”

“Good, we don’t need to leave a bloody trail for your psycho cousin to follow.” I shove into the thick brush, and all conversation stops. It’s good we don’t talk. I need to think. I’m not sure what to do next because I don’t know the area. I’m a city boy and I’m out of my depth.

We walk until late afternoon. I feel it’s important we get as far away from that cabin as possible. I’m thirsty and starving, but there’s little hope of fixing either of those things. I’m a bit surprised at how well Alessio is keeping up with me. He’s not complaining about his finger or how tired he is. I expected him to be higher maintenance. So far, he’s just rolling with the punches. I’m forced to feel a grudging respect for him.

At one point we come upon a small cabin. There’s no smoke rising from the chimney and no cars anywhere around. The cabin isn’t well kept. There are no flower boxes in the windows, orHome Sweet Homesigns.

Alessio comes to stand beside me, peering at the cabin. “Looks deserted,” he says.

“Yeah, but looks can be deceiving.” I’m not sure if stopping here is smart. I have no idea where this cabin is in relation to the one we just left. For all I know we’ve been going in circles.

“We should check it out,” he says.

I meet his hopeful gaze. “Should we though?”

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