Vigilante | ✔

Part XI: Visible Silence

He leaned back against the crates and listened attentively to the sounds of people moving about. Eli tensed as he heard the first gunshot. There were angry yells and a couple of loud, crashing sounds that made the redhead think of splintering wood. A grunt close to where he was hiding caught his attention and he carefully peered around the crates, squinting to try to see through the darkness.

For a moment, Eli couldn't really tell what he was looking at. There were flashes of light around a stack of crates and then there was a loud bang, like something had just exploded. So startling that Eli nearly fell forward and out of his hiding spot. He cautiously leaned further out to try to get a glimpse of Matthew, grimacing as he shifted his injured leg. The sudden light that settled upon him nearly made him lose his balance.

With a feeling of dread, Eli turned and found himself face to face with the man who'd been guarding him earlier, and he did not look happy. There was what looked like dried blood on his face. Eli couldn't be sure, with the bright light blinding him after having been stuck in the dark for so long. Not to mention, he wasn't really thinking about taking in the details as he dropped to the floor when he saw the glint of metal being raised and pointed at him.

With a deafening sound, the gun went off, and Eli worried that he'd been shot again. Then he realized that he'd fallen at a bad angle and the pain from his leg wound was bad enough to make him think he really had been shot a second time. He still did his best to ignore the pain as he tried to get away. Not that he succeeded.

Before he knew it, he was being pulled up by the back of his shirt, and shoved back against the crates he'd been hiding behind. When he looked up, there was a gun pointing at him. Again. Eli idly thought of how many guns he'd been seeing as of late (definitely more than he would have wanted).

He was just thinking of what his mom would think about him dying in such a shady way when the man standing before him was knocked to the side by a dark shape that barreled into him. The gun went off again, and Eli's heart felt like it was about to explode because he swore he could feel the bullet whizzing by his head. The flashlight clattered to the ground along with the gun as Eli's legs gave out.

Matthew was there a moment later. Eli wondered how the man managed to show up at exactly the same time. Not that he wasn't glad.

"Are you alright?" Matthew was asking in a hurried voice, panic lacing his tone. His still gloved hands grabbed at Eli's face and arms and any other place they could reach, desperately searching for injuries.

"I'm fine," Eli said weakly. "I'm fine, really," he repeated in a stronger voice, pushing away Matthew's hands. In the weak light, he could just make out the relief on what little of Matthew's face he could see.

Wait, what light? Eli thought, because everything should still be dark. He turned to the place where Matthew had been — presumably — fighting and saw flames licking at the piles of crates.

"Yeah, that wasn't supposed to happen," Matthew muttered and turned back to Eli. "Let's get out of here," Matthew said, once he knew that Eli was fine (or at least, as much as he could be, given the situation). The moment of relief was short lived, however, as they were startled by the sound of someone moving up ahead.

Eli watched as Matthew began to stand, body tense and ready to move. He saw the man standing down the aisle of crates hurry to point his gun at Matthew, and heard himself shout out a warning. At least, he thought it was a warning. Eli couldn't be sure of all that happened in those few, horrible moments.

The gunshot was louder than any other he'd heard that night. It echoed through the building and was joined by the sound of the blood pounding in Eli's ears as his heart pounded in his chest. Matthew tried to move out of the way, but the bullet hit and tore a cry of pain — or maybe it was surprise — from the man.