Page 49 of Ashfall
The captain cuts in, “I'll head up and clear.” Hawk nods, giving him directions to get to the checkpoint. The captain turns to Brodie and me. “He's still inside, likely further through the back,” and I nod. He squeezes his daughter’s hand, then eyes shift to me. “You look after my daughter, Nocturne. Or I’ll have your fucking balls.”
Normally I would respond to that with a look of indifference, but there’s a hint of a plea in his eyes, even with the mild threat. “With my life, Captain.” He tilts his head firmly, then strides the other way to get into position. I reach my arm out to pull Brodie flush to front, my arm clutching her chest, the other gliding down to grip her waist as I whisper in her ear, “Ready to go hunting, Malyshka?”
I feel the wicked grin form from the side of her face, “Always.”
We stalk the outside of the building. The access to the secondary building was sealed when the factory closed - all the brick cemented to form a barrier - so we needed to take the scenic route. Orange flames dance along the path, the truck Phantom blew up as a distraction still a raging inferno as the odd crack of bullets echoes in the distance. The light and heat waltzes as we edge through the darkness. The battered door creaking against its hinges as we enter.
A stench of staleness and damp assaults my nostrils deeper into the building; the place has clearly been left to fester in the darkness. The only light able to penetrate the space is from the moon and the remains of the burning truck, the radiance peaking through the high up windows. The old engine room yawns far ahead towards the open water. Corroded steel pillars stretch across and make archways in the middle of the concrete floor. Water droplets crashing into formed puddles is the only sound that cuts through the silence. Every surface bears the murk of shadows. Like my favorite playground.
I throw my hands signs up, signaling to Brodie to stay behind the pillars with me and to follow my lead. The beams are wide enough we can both fit behind - with backs pressed together so she can cover my six, and I can scope ahead. My eyes drag across the floor, adjusting into the dark - no movement. I sidestep across the floor, gun slowly swaying back and forth as I scan thearea. When I secure the next pillar, I motion for her to follow me. Instead of following me, a sinister smile spreads across her face.
She steps backwards behind the steel, slowly slinking underneath the walkway, and disappears into the dimness. I bite back a curse; that shouldn't turn me on how at one with the darkness she is right now. One I brought her into. But mostly, she just fucking disobeyed my order. And the wicked look she tossed me shouldn’t have sent a thrill to my dick - she’ll pay for that later. My teeth grind, and my head snaps forward as I stealthily creep forward, watching for anything that might give away my position on the ground. My eyes continuously dart over to Brodie.
When I approach the middle of the factory, I hang back until I can see her reach the next pillar. My pace is slower than it normally would be - always making sure she’s in my peripheral vision. A sharp clatter echoes around the walls, causing my ears to prick back and my movements to stall. My head and gun snap to the source, and my breathing jams, eyes fixating on every point where I saw her two minutes ago - and where she should be. My pulse begins to accelerate as I edge into the wide-open center, then I stop. One foot still suspended in the air.
Brodie moves forward with a feline grace, the delicate light allowing a glimpse of her. My lungs release gradually - she's gonna give me a fucking heart attack. I lift the sight back to eye level, deciding it's better to let her get in front - scanning ahead of her. We’re almost at the edge of the building, and my aim pauses when a faint wisp of black blinks into the sight’s periphery. My senses heighten, and the scope drops from my eye, my fingers gripping tighter around the foregrip. Then I hear it - a burst of debris being disturbed underneath a pair of feet. An icy malice pours in my bones.
My feet lunge through the wide open space, slinging my rifle behind me as I transition to my Glock. I press my back to thepillar, giving it a beat before stepping out – aim focused straight ahead. I falter when I don't see her, a howl now forming beneath my skin as frenzy threatens to breach within me. My eyes shift to the archway, towards the gaping threshold leading to a small dock. The moonlight strains on the ground as its glare is broken by a silhouette. Graves has his hand around Brodie's mouth and nose, gun at her head as he drags her towards it.
Black ire is now forming deep inside me, the smog elevating to wrap around and consume me - I’ve skipped being angry, I’m approaching apoplectic. A deadly prowl takes my form, inching ten feet behind them, my exterior demeanor a lot fucking calmer than the chaos triggering inside me, waiting for the hatch on it to blow. My voice cuts through the silence.
“You're touching something that doesn't belong to you, Graves.”
He stiffens, his body locking on the spot with his back to me. My eyes focus on Brodie's shoulders, the quick succession of rise and falls as she struggles to breath with the clamp he has on her airways.
Graves whips them both round, and his eyes are wild and uncivilized. The whites in his pupils are a stark contrast to the ink-coated room around us. He looks like a feral beast, caught in the snare and ready to chew his own leg off for freedom. This is this man's one last reckless move, and I need to approach a cornered animal with caution. No matter how much my hands ache to grab her, I need to keep my feet cemented to the ground.
“Well, well. Didn't take you long to catch up with your bitch, did it Nocturne?” His words come out rushed, like he’s tangled in his inner hysteria. My knuckles bleed white with how hard I grip the handle of the Glock, and I lift my fingers over the carbon to stop myself shooting this bastard too early. “I’m always watching,Commander. Always got eyes on you. Volokov's had it that way for the past four years.” I add a wink, and it’s a daringmove given the situation we’re in. But the way his cheeks flare scarlet against the moon's glow has a satisfied smirk crawling up the side of my face.
“Fuck you! I knew he had you doing his dirty work for him, like a cheap lacky. Volokov had served his purpose. Nyx, here, did me a favor taking him out. And besides…” he shoves his face close to hers, and I notice her eyes have started to go unfocused as he moves his grip to her throat. She drags in a gust of air to refill her lungs. “She’s helped me set it all in motion.” He presses his nose right against her ear, allowing me to creep forward. Her eyes fight to look at me, trying to plead with me to help her.
I'm here, Malyshka.
“She didn't follow her superior’s orders, therefore, option one is about to stain your soul for the rest of your pathetic life.” He switches limbs, armed hand pressing against her neck whilst the other digs into this pocket, pulling a burner phone and hitting a dial. He holds it in the air, like a fucking trophy as the dial tone bleeds into the atmosphere.Fuck. The realization washes over me that Virginia may no longer exist.
I can only fucking hope James managed to get to it in time. When Brodie realizes what he's done, her eyes widen as she bucks wildly in his hold. Her hands shoot beneath her vest, dragging out a knife from the pocket, and reaching behind her to stab his side. I pounce, two shots crack through the air as he clutches the blade in his side. My hand already at his shoulder - his gun now aiming for Brodie as I grip his forearm. It’s followed by the snapping of joints and tendons, my force ripping his shoulder from the socket.
The crunching and juddering of bone beneath my grip spikes the wrath in my blood. My fist slams into his face as the other wraps around the hilt of the knife between his gasps, dragging it right through his abdomen. The unforgiving and sickening slap of internal organs hit the cold concrete floor, steam billowingbetween us as his intestines spill out. A poetic gurgle claws its way from his throat, and it makes me feel like a barbarian.
His only functioning hand clutches at his torso as he tries-and-fails to keep his innards contained within his stomach walls. My boot collides with his chest, slamming him back with a thud, his knees bending at an awkward angle. I can feel my own eyes darken as he shrivels onto the ground, body trembling with the soul-wrenching pain that’s likely setting his entire anatomy on fire. I snatch his blood-soaked hand, slapping it flat on the ground, the blood flickering into the air like red fucking confetti.
My movements are swift - reaching back to grab the knife, raising it above my head, then plunging it down over his wrist. Every muscle in my body is used for the force, as I take his hand clean off. A shriek roars from his lips, the first one he's made since he's pushed past the shock. The sound makes me grin like a psychotic fool. My hand wraps around his jaw as I force him to look into my eyes when I rasp, “That’s for touching what's fucking mine.” The blood-soaked metal plunges into his groin. “That’s for thinking you could take her away from me.” My dick shrivels up at the unhinged and deranged move. I've brought this man down to nothing, exactly how he should be. If I had more time, I'd draw this out for days.
I lean back on my haunches, harsh breaths hurl from my lungs as the adrenaline continues to spark like a live wire through my veins. I shift my torso round to get Brodie - we’re getting the fuck out of here. But when I see her, the beats of my heart cease at what I witness, it feels like I’ve sunk to the depths of the ocean around us, and I can’t get up for air. “Brodie!” My body throws itself towards her, knees cracking off the concrete as I collapse beside her, a small pool of blood gathering on her left side - now coating my hands. My fingers slip across the radio as I send my voice thundering down it. “I need medical, now! Bring that fucking chopper here for evac.”
My red dip-dyed hand goes to her chest, feeling the slow rises of her breathing.She’s breathing. My gaze darts over her body; she’s covered in so much fucking blood already I can’t work out where she's been shot. “Brodie? Brodie, come back to me beautiful. You're ok. Where does it hurt?” My hand strokes the hair away from her angelic features, she truly was carved by a supreme being. The only one of her kind. And I won't fucking lose her - Not again. Those haunting green eyes flicker open briefly, captivating mine when she manages to keep them open, but she's struggling. With the bullet and Graves cutting off her air supply, she'll feel weaker as her own adrenaline comes crashing down.
“Lev?” Her voice sounds so small, so fragile. And my chest feels like serrated talons are clawing their way out, tearing at my bones and flesh to make their way to the surface.
“I'm here, I'm not going anywhere, and neither are you.” My hand grazes her side, and blood instantly makes it wet.FUCK. I grip the radio, my voice sounds like a broken man, a desperate man, as it bellows across the factory floor - shaking the very ground beneath us. The ocean seems to retract at the velocity of it, “Get here fucking now!”
My hand falls from the receiver, and a deep, rhythmic thumping grows louder, the sound of rotator blades chopping through the air. The drums match the pounding in my chest. “I love you, Lev.” Brodie’s hand squeezes mine, and she may as well have been squeezing my heart. “Don't start that shit, Brodie. They're almost here. You don’t get to fucking leave me. Ever. Do you hear me?” The emotion swells up at the end of my words, and I force a swallow, but my throat feels like it's laced with gravel. “I'll drag you fucking back to me if I have to.” My voice now barely manages a whisper, the words burning through my eyes.
Boots hammer towards us, the sound of the thumping footsteps and echoes of muffled shouts cloaking around us. The words‘Virginia is safe’pierce through, but all I can do is stare at her. Watching her, watching me. Her skin is pale, and cold. I’m telling myself it’s because of the bitter air coming from the ocean, and the moonlight hitting off her ethereal features, dimming her usual apricity. Because that’s what she is to me. She’s the warmth to my frost. The fiery chaos that sparks my crazy. The other half of my fucking soul. We didn’t go through all this shit for it to end like this.
I don't even register the bedlam that unfolds around us, only the seeping chill that bites through my skin when her hand loses its grip in mine. The piece of my heart that she’s claimed, follows her into the darkness, leaving an agonizing hollow dent in my chest. The world feels like it's gone black.
epilogue
