Page 2 of Point of Infinity
A sickening thud followed by a loud, piercing scream took my breath away. It sounded like it came from the bottom of the stairs. I huddled farther into the back of the secret room. A whimper, then another thump and a scream made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. I heard whispered men’s voices, but I couldn’t fully make out what they were saying.It continued like this forever. I covered my ears to block out the noise. My mom fighting to breathe, flesh thumping noises between screams and cries and more whispers. I didn’t notice my own tears until they dampened my shirt. I reached up to open the door and save her, but her guttural screams stopped me. I covered my ears again, but it didn’t help. My mom was dying, and I couldn’t do anything about it.
Eventually, the screams stopped, the noise died down, and the entire house went silent. It didn’t last long. Heavy boot-clad feet stomped up the stairs again. I covered my mouth to keep from screaming. They searched every room.
“She’s got to be here.” Furniture was pushed and scraped against the floors. Doors slammed. Glass broke.
“No one else is here,” another voice, not so slurry, said.
“Fuck.” They were in the hallway at the top of the stairs. “Pres told us to find her. He’s going to kill us. We can’t go back empty-handed. We had strict instructions. Find and bring his daughter back.”
“Maybe you should have thought about it before you had your turn fucking his ex-old lady to death.” Another voice chuckled. “His daughter probably ran to the neighbors and is calling the police as we speak.”
My ears perked up.
Daughter.
“Pres said we could have some fun before.” He made a weird strangling sound with his throat. “I have no clue why Pres wants to play father of the year now.”
I never knew my father but had seen pictures of him. I knew he was part of a motorcycle gang. My mom told me he had died before I was born. Why would she lie about that?
“Maybe she wasn’t here, and she’s at a sleepover or something.” The heavy footsteps made their way down the stairs. “She’s got to come home eventually.”
“We’ll wait for her.” Their voices disappeared. The television in the living room came on.
I curled up in a ball and covered myself with the blanket. It was too much. Nausea made me clutch my stomach. My brain was on information overload. My mother was down there hurt, or worse, and I was stuck in the hole in the wall for God knows how long. It was a nightmare I couldn’t wake from. I closed my eyes for a minute.
I needed to think.
My eyes blinked open.
The house was quiet.
I sat up and rubbed my eyes. I couldn’t tell if it was morning or still the same night. Hopeful they had given up, I slid the lock away and pushed the door open to crawl out. I didn’t notice the men sitting at the bottom of the stairs until it was too late.
“Well, there you are.” A man with greasy dark curls and a scraggly beard peered over his shoulder. “Here the whole time.” He stood up and adjusted his jacket. It had the emblem of a skull with a snake in the shape of an infinity symbol penetrating the eyes. The word Infinity in white block letters spanned the top, shoulder to shoulder, and Kings along the bottom. I’d heard the name somewhere before but couldn’t place it. With no time to contemplate it, I took off up to the top of the stairs but ran into a wall of two men dressed in all black. They stopped me in my tracks. I scrambled back, white knuckling the banister.
Black masks covered their faces. My gaze traveled down their bodies, and terror seized my limbs when I spotted the shiny silver guns in their right hands. My legs wouldn’t cooperate. The men in black looked identical, except one was slightly bigger. When I reached their eyes, my terror went away. They both had striking eyes, but where one was gray and kind, the other was more hazel and darker. His eyes reminded me of something, of a memory, but I couldn’t place it, nor did I have time. No matterhow kind they looked, they were obviously here to do something bad. All I knew was they looked like two angels of death, but somehow, I knew they weren’t here to hurt me.
“Where the fuck did you guys come from?” The man with the Infinity King jacket started up the stairs, his gun drawn.
He didn’t get far before a gunshot rang out. The sound ricocheted off the walls and made my legs turn to jelly. I had no time to react. My guardian angel with the gray eyes jumped down the landing and shielded me in his arms. He cried out, but he covered me and pressed me into the corner. More gunshots rang out. I covered my ears and prayed for it to be over soon.
The smell of sulfur filled my nostrils.
Time moved slowly, but eventually, the noise stopped.
“Ratchet.” The other guy pulled my shield off me. “You hit?”
“Yeah, fuck.” He growled and slumped down on his butt. “Got me in the forearm.”
I lifted my head, and the two of them sat next to each other, shielding me from the bottom.
“Shit hurts, don’t it?” He pulled a black bandana from his back pocket and wrapped it around the wound.
“Fuck yeah.” He winced. “Be careful.”
“Maybe next time don’t jump in front of the man with the gun firing bullets.”
“Is he dead?” I adjusted onto my knees.
