Red Bullets in June

Chapter 36: God's Angry Thunder

"Where is it that you're going, son?"
I peer up through my haze of tears to see a big and broad Black man holding on to the overhead rail of the bus and staring down at me with large and round Amber eyes. He's wearing an all black suit and black button up shirt with a blood, red tie. I gape at the vibrant color that's so shiny it appears to be wet. Forgetting what the man asked me, I just wipe my nose on my sleeve.
"Are you lost?"
I shrug again.
"Where are your guardians?"
I shake my head.
"Do you have guardians?"
His question provokes fresh, stinging tears and I shake my head again.
He nods, mulling over my responses and appearance. "Tell you what... If you'd like, and this is all your decision, but if you'd like, you can come with me. I'm getting off at this next stop. I can take you in and take care of you and if not that, at least I can take you to an orphanage. What do you say?"
I bite my bottom lip, anxiously.
This man wants to help me? But what if he's lying? What if he hurts me?
"I promise I won't hurt you," he says, as if to read my mind. "I only hurt those who deserve it... I'm also a good judge of character and I can feel that you're a good, young man."
What does he mean by that...?
"Anyway, think it through. If you want to come with me, you can follow me off the bus."
And with that, he begins making his way toward the front of the bus in preparation to get off.
I start to panic.
Should I follow him? Should I trust him?
He does seem trustworthy, but some of the worst people do...
But, if I don't get off with him, where will I go?
To the end of this route?
And then what?
I have no more money. I spent it all on this bus ticket...
To escape...
As the bus rolls to a stop and the doors swing open, my heart knocks on my rib cage frantically. I watch as the broad, Black man descends the steps and doesn't even pause to glance back. Person after person files off the bus and my eyes dart from my twisting, nervous hands to the all black suit getting farther and farther away. The doors of the bus swing shut and it lurches forward to continue its route.
"WAIT!" I yell.
The bus driver glances back at me in her rearview mirror.
"That was my stop!"
Seeing the urgency in my eyes, she pulls off the road and stops. I shove through the opening doors and bolt towards the retreating black suited figure. "Wait! Sir! Please, wait!"
He stops as if he was waiting for me all along and turns to look at me with a warm smile that lights his Amber eyes.
"You can call me Byron. And what's your name, son?"
"Jaxon."

Upon reaching a grove of trees 100 yards away from the warehouse, Jaxon parks, removes his pistol from the motorcycle seat and heads straight for a tombstone that's cemented in the dirt a few feet away. The stone reads: Byron Bradford, November 24, 1972 - January 11, 2017.
He wedges his fingers beneath the tombstone. It gradually lifts diagonally to reveal a steep staircase underneath that disappears into a world of blackness. "And you always thought this was your dad's burial sight..."
He descends the staircase and closes the misleading mirage behind him.

I've been beaten and taken advantage of by every putrid man in this warehouse and I'm hanging onto consciousness by a thread. Every limb on my body is strained from my entrapments and throbbing with heartbeats of excruciating pain. My head is pounding and spinning at the same time and my eyes are swollen shut. I know I have a plethora of broken bones across my body, but I don't even care.
All I can think about is our baby. Gabriel took a massive beating beneath my skin and I could feel him struggling in protest. I'm afraid our little angel is...
I can't even think the word...
I recite a mantra to the heavens again and again.
Please, keep our baby alive. Please, keep our baby alive. Please, keep our baby alive.
"Have you spotted him yet?" Khleo's rancid voice pollutes the air.
I always knew I hated that man.
"Not yet," Ian answers. "I've been watching from the front entrance and Kade's been watching from the back."
And I can't believe Ian and Kade are back. They finally got their way with me and it makes me so furious, I would rip my own hair out if I could. I've never felt so hopelessly helpless in all my life. It makes me feel nauseous just thinking about all the atrocities they did to me. But I didn't stand a chance against all of them and their pistols.
Maybe if I had my old pistol... The one Jaxon bought for me...
"THEN WHY THE HELL ARE YOU IN HERE?? KEEP WATCHING AND DON'T COME BACK UNTIL YOU HAVE THAT B*STARD IN HANDCUFFS!"
"Yes, boss."
Khleo's words aggravate the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I begin another mantra to the heavens.
Please, keep Jaxon safe. Please, keep Jaxon safe. Please, keep Jaxon safe.
My body is fighting to stay awake, pushing through the thick fog of exhaustion and pain because I want more than anything to ensure that Jaxon doesn't get hurt.
"WHAT THE HELL IS TAKING HIM SO LONG??" Khleo bursts in impatient rage.
As if to answer, a shattering succession of bullets rings through the barren warehouse, followed by a domino train of what sounds like bodies thudding to the ground.
What the?
I try desperately to force my swollen eyes open, but it's no use. They won't budge.
"Jaxon??" Khleo gasps in horror.
Jaxon? He's here?
"How'd you get in here??"
"Your dad's grave," Jaxon laughs.
"What?? Ho-"
Nothing but the slice of a bullet answers in reply, followed by Khleo's frantic wailing. The sound is otherworldly and sends goosebumps across my tattered skin.
What did Jaxon do to him?
"TRY STICKING THAT FILTHY THING IN HER NOW!"
Holy crap. He shot off his...
"What's going on in here??" Ian's voice is back. Followed by Kade, "What happened to-"
But they are cut off by Jaxon. "You worthless, little *****!"
"Jaxon??" Ian sounds incredulous. "How did you-"
"Time for your special reward..."
"Please! No!" Ian and Kade beg pathetically.
Two more loud snaps of a bullet tear through the air, followed by frenzied screams, just as otherworldly as Khleo's and just as chilling.
The screaming of Khleo, Ian and Kade reverberates every wall of the warehouse. It's ear-deafening. Then 3 more cracks of a bullet and silence.
I breathe a sigh of relief.
"Charlotte!" Jaxon bounds to my side.
"Holy ****!" Trey's voice comes from the same place that Jaxon's emerged from earlier. "What the hell happened here?"
"Oh, Trey! Thank goodness, you guys are here! Take care of the bodies. I'm taking Charlotte to the hospital."
Back up is here and Jaxon's okay. Thank God in heaven that Jaxon's okay.
And it's then that my body can't fight through the fog of exhaustion and pain anymore.
My world goes black.