Page 147 of Wrench
with a fucking hatchet, of all things, grasped in his two hands. A menacing look possessed
him as he crept behind my President. Forgetting all about Slink, I propelled off my feet to
shoot across the room and tackled Tank to the ground.
¡°Wrench, what the fuck?¡± Tank asked, sounding furious, but I kept my arm on him to
hold him down. Only a couple feet away, the napping man had raised his hatchet above
his head. Without hesitation, I pulled out my gun, aimed for his core, and pulled the
trigger.
The hatchet fell to my feet, followed by a loud heavy thump of the body dropping to
the ground, blood oozing through his stained gray shirt.
Panting with relief and nausea, I watched the man I shot lose color in his face. If I had
been a second later, Tank would be dead.
¡°Wrench!¡± Tank yelled from behind me and I looked up to see Slink pointing his gun
at me with a clear shot.
Using my last seconds, I shifted to shield all of Tank and clenched my eyes shut,
prepared to endure whatever, if anything, came next.
Samantha¡¯s smile flashed behind my eyes.
BANG.
A thump hit the ground, but there was no pain. I was fine.
When I opened my eyes, my heart sank. On the ground in front of me was Archer lying
in a fetal position, clutching his knee, and screaming with agony. Blood poured from the
hole in his thigh where the bullet was lodged.
Ripper yelled, ¡°We gotta go,¡± as he pinned Ray to the ground, their guns each thrown
to the side. Not wasting any more time, Ripper clenched his giant fist, which was nearly
the same size as Ray¡¯s face. Three solid punches and Ray was black, blue and snoring near
a shattered beaker.
That was when Maverick, who was crouched next to Rooster underneath the table
where the chemicals sat, shouted with a hoarse cry, ¡°S-slink! Gun!¡±
I whipped my neck to where he was pointing. Quickly, Slink was loading a new round
of bullets. When his eyes were still lowered, I leaped off the ground and ran full speed
toward him.
