Restoration: Book 2/3

Chapter 10

-Hinata's POV-

My lungs burnt as I sprinted through an abandoned street, already a few blocks away from the asylum. The cold winter air stung my face as the wind howled around me.

I had to slide out of my coat and make a break for it to avoid being captured or killed or whatever that odd man planned to do. He wasn't human; he couldn't be. I'd stabbed him in the stomach with my boxcutter, and he hadn't flinched.

My grip tightened around the blood-covered item clutched in my hand. I couldn't leave it behind because I needed a weapon to defend myself, so I chose a knife over a winter coat.

A few bullets ricocheted off the pavement near my feet, and I looked back to see the same man chasing me steadily despite the heavily bleeding wound on his abdomen. The blood was running down his front all the way to his shoes. There was so much of it that I couldn't understand how he was still upright.

I turned to face forward again, only for a wild heat to erupt in my shoulder and throw me to the ground. He'd landed a shot. A shocked cry slid past my lips, and I struggled back to my feet to resume running, only for an overbearing weight to take me to the ground. The side of my face scraped against the pavement as a large hand shoved my hair out of the way so the man could put his weight on my head.

The pain would've been bearable two months ago, but today it wasn't. Tears rose as I struggled beneath him, but it was useless. My body, as it currently was, wasn't capable of the strength I needed to escape. Images of Hanabi and my friends flashed before my eyes before I squeezed them shut in anticipation for this odd person to land the killing blow. To my complete and utter shock, though, his body fell lifelessly on top of mine in the next instant.

I gasped for breath as I weakly pulled myself out from under him and rolled onto my back to catch my breath. For a moment there, I might've passed out, but I also might not have; I couldn't be sure. Either way, I somehow got myself upright and searched my now-dead attacker's body. His gun had two bullets left in the chamber, so I took it. Then I tried to get the hoodie off of him but didn't have the strength.

My injuries from breaking that mirror had reopened, and the glass shards from the explosion probably were, too. I couldn't see them, but I could definitely feel it. Worst of all was the heavily bleeding bullet wound on the back of my shoulder. If it'd been on the front of my body, I could've removed the bullet and tried to patch it up, but it wasn't, and I wasn't sure what I would do to remedy the situation.

As I searched his pants pockets for maybe another round of ammo or something, gunshots started sounding nearby and startled me to my feet. I saw the dead man's partner sprinting towards me with his gun raised and the backpack on his back bouncing with each step. When I activated my byakugan and saw the grenade earlier, I saw many more inside that bag. This man was more dangerous than the first one.

My limbs hurt from all the sudden exercise, but I forced my legs to move, and the chase resumed. Any time I paused to try and catch a breath, gunshots would sound behind me, and the bullets would come incredibly close to landing. I was lucky these men weren't better shots, or I would've been dead already.

Since my right shoulder had been injured, I couldn't lift my dominant hand steadily enough to return fire. Having only two bullets, I didn't want to waste them on a shot I wasn't a hundred percent sure would hit.

My lungs soon hurt to the point that it was hard to stay upright, and I had no choice but to duck into an abandoned house and look for a place to hide. My breaths were loud and ragged as I held an arm across my torso to try and ease the ache. I moved furniture against the door with trembling hands to create a barricade. After a couple minutes, I heard the man try to open it and fail.