V is for Violet (COMPLETE)

Chapter Twenty- Nothing as Expected

And she took off, right as the front door busted open. I had just enough time to see her disappear away before I was spinning towards the commotion, my own borrowed gun in hand.

I caught a glimpse of one of the intruders the second before he fired his gun.

Directly into the side of Shandy's head.

"No!" I screamed, but I knew there was nothing I could do under fire and didn't drop to her aid. Instead, I ran around the curve of the stairs, bullets chasing my ankles, and took cover behind the bannister.

I fired my gun every time I saw movement through the door, and almost missed the man running up to me in the process of protecting the house. Before he could grab me though, I spun toward him and fired twice. The first shot hit the wall behind him, but the second sent him staggering back with a hand to his ribs. I took the opportunity to pop a bullet through his skull, before turning and running in a crouch the rest of the way up the stairs. I was going to guard the top of the steps at all costs to keep anyone from getting to Cheridan and her baby.

When I turned back, however, the power was cut, and the entire scene was plunged into darkness. I gripped my gun tightly, mentally doing the math on how many bullets I had left, and waiting for any sign of threat.

Not enough bullets, was the answer.

I heard rustling in the dark and an occasional gunshot or scream, but everyone was discombobulated in the dark. I breathed heavily and blinked rapidly in hopes to calm my nerves and adjust my eyes to the dark. Fortunately, this was something I had become quite accustomed to lately, and after a few more seconds, I could almost make out the scene below me.

There were bodies everywhere, for one, and those who weren't dead or critically injured were having trouble not tripping over them. I saw a few of the Salvaggi Crew, and more of the Fedorov's. But none on the stairs. Acting on impulse and instinct, I began to creep back down the steps toward the man I'd shot. He had a gun, maybe with more ammo than mine. I had to hope at least. As I was moving, a few more men below me found one another, and shots rang out rapidly in the darkness. I was shaking so badly I could barely stand, but I kept moving. I kept moving for Cheridan, Shandy, Alice... For the Salvaggi Family, no matter how f*cked up they could be.

I let out a soft breath when my fingers touched the assault rifle and I pulled it to me. It was covered in blood, most likely from its owner, but it was something. I held it close to me as I continued down the steps as quietly as I could to where Shandy lay. Carefully, I reached out to touch her neck, hoping beyond hope that the bullet hadn't hit too much of her brain.

Nothing.

I felt tears prick my eyes as I smoothed her blood-stained hair away from her face. She didn't deserve this. In any way. Neither did Alice...

"Ey!" I heard behind me, and I leapt to my left as the man who'd shouted fired. I shot a couple times in his direction until I could reach the top of the bannister and fling myself over it. I didn't know how far down the ground was, but the idea to brace myself barely registered by the time I was hitting the ground. I fell forward, hitting my lip on the floor, and then scrambled up as quickly as my body would move me.

It occurred to me then, as I was preparing to flee towards the back door, that Cheridan was still somewhere up there hiding, doing her best to protect her unborn child, and that I was about to flee to safety while she was trapped.

And so, I took a deep breath, clenched my fists around the gun I had, and hauled a$$ toward the back door, shouting and shooting as I went.

"This way, you c*cksuckers!" I screamed, and ran faster than I think I ever had in my entire life. I heard shouts behind me and the sounds of pursuit, and said a silent prayer hoping that my end would come painlessly. When I heard gunshots, I dropped to the ground and went to army crawl around a corner. When my face met boot, however, I stopped dead. You had a good run, I told myself, squeezing my eyes shut. The loud bursts of gunfire rang around me as I braced myself for my death, and then suddenly, everything went quiet.