"What the fuck." I curse as everyone starts charging at each other like some cliche battlefield movie scene.
"If you don't move, then you're going to die," Rob pushes me down to the ground beside him as a dagger whizzes over us.
"Thanks bro," I nod as I observe the scene. My parents are at the front trying to reach Barsetti, while my uncles and cousins are fighting against the soldiers. I duck as stray bullets come towards my way. Then, I feel a burst of hot air throw me forwards.
Fuck. I wince as I land very hard against the ground. I look back to see flames erupting from one of the containers. Looking to my left, I see Robin out cold against the floor. My head spins and my hearing is temporarily gone as I try to orientate myself. Crawling over to Rob, I anxiously measured this pulse to make sure he's still alive.
For a second, I almost give myself a heart attack as I don't feel a pulse. However, I realize his pulse is just very weak. The back of his shirt is burned away revealings some burns on his back along with some blood. I wince at the sight and can figure mine is probably just as bad as I can smell a strong whiff of burned flesh. At this point, my body is wracked up in all types of pain so my body is now just literally and figuratively on fire.
"Robin!" I shake up him awake.
He doesn't respond.
"C'mon." I frown, but I decide to worry about waking him up later. Slowly but surely, I drag our bodies to another location, preferably one not near somewhere that can explode.
"Here." Uncle Sky pops out of nowhere and helps me bring Rob over behind some roof mechanical equipment.
"Allow me," Sky nods as he pulls out a first aid kit.
Do we really have time for that? I mean I'm glad he has one and is doing it so quickly, but we are in the middle of a war zone.
"Better now than never," Sky seems to notice my expression as he quickly bandages and clean Rob's wound. Pulling out a small black box, he opens it to reveal the similar syringes of the healing juice that I took earlier.
"Hey, where'd you get that?" I gasp.
"There's a lot in there," he gestures toward the huge helicopter.
I try to get up but it's quite impossible due to my lack of back muscle strength. I decide to roll on my side to try to get up, but I'm too weak to do so. Sky brings me to a sitting position as he scrunches his brows in worry.
He offers the syringe but I shake my head. "I don't think my body will be able to handle it. I've used way too many of those." I fear I might even get a reaction from using that foreign substance.
After Robin is taken care of, Skyler moves onto me. "Thanks."
"Of course, but we need to get the two of you out of here. There's no way in Hell that you two are in any condition to fight, let alone stand."
"We aren't going to die today. That's not the Ricca way." I wince as I accidentally laugh and the movement shakes all my wounds,
"None of you are invincible, no matter how much your uncles think they are. I'm amazed they have managed to live up to this age given everything they've experienced."
"Hey now, that's my uncles you are talking about." I halfheartedly try to sound offended, but I know Sky means well.
Sky signals for the twins, who are busy trying to win the battle. Speaking of which, I think we are winning, but it's cutting it close. I start worrying as I see my parents and uncles sporting some wounds. I think Sky is getting to me.
I gasp as one of the soldiers sneaks cowardly toward Nicco. I yell to warn him, but he's in hand to hand combat with two other people. He doesn't hear me.
I want to be beside them fighting. Acting impulsively as always, I grab the syringe and use it. Within seconds, I can feel myself get better. I stand up and wobble just a little.
"What are you doing Naomi!" Sky stands to his full height and towers over me threateningly. I gulp. When he's serious, Sky can just be as scary as my dad.
"Sorry!" I look down, not able to make eye contact for disobeying him. I rush after the twins.
"Don't you dare!" I scream as I run and tackle the soldier trying to sneak attach my dear cousin. The two of us go down roughly against the floor and roll from the momentum of my tackle. The two of us regain balance and crouch facing each other. I glare at that young looking kid, who can be fifteen or sixteen. Looking closely, there's something off about his appearance, but I don't have too much time to think about it since he's already on his feet and charging towards me.
I feel myself being pushed back as he starts attacking with his knife. To be honest, he might be better at fighting than I am. Also, he happens to have a weapon and I only have my body. I barely manage to block his swipes as I duck and kick his shins. Somehow, he manages to jump away as he lands a solid kick at my side. I grimace but am thankful for the vest I am wearing. Still, my vest is pretty much in tattered from the explosion.
He kicks me again but this time I block with my arm and throw a punch at his cheek. To my surprise, he doesn't even bother to block it. As soon as my knuckles hit his cheek, I know why. It's like hitting a brick wall.
I may have trained my fists to hit through layers of wood, but certainly not break brick walls. I groan in pain as I hold my fist. I think I have fractured or broken something in my hand because it's on fire. I also curse my luck because the healing potion thing is also not working anymore. The more I move, the more I can feel my energy draining and the pain doubling up.
The teen takes my momentarily lapse of pain to attack. Unfortunately for me, his speed is too fast for me to dodge. I try to dodge rather than block his attempt to knife swipe. As I roll to the side, I can still feel the cold rush of air as the knife slices through my chest. I get up and look down. The vest is torn through and a thin slice of blood appears. Thank you vest for taking the brunt of that attack.
This is going on for too long. I need to hurry and get this over with. I aim to get rid of that knife he's holding. I hit him in rapid procession hoping to seize an opportunity to get that knife. I finally manage to kick him off balance as I grab his wrist and twist it painfully until he drops the knife. I scramble to pick it up and jump away from him as he immediately retaliates. However, he kicks the knife away and shoves me down.
I knee him hard in the nose and feel a sense of satisfaction as blood gushes out from it. We both try to grab the knife but each time the other person knocks it away. It's quite infuriating. Plus, I'm growing weaker by the second. We grapple with one another and I manage to get him in a choke hold before he sacrifices his shoulder. Dislocating his shoulder, he contortions his body so that now I'm in a choke hold.
Unfortunately for me, I have never been in choke hold and have no idea how to escape it. As my breathing is closed off, I start feeling very lightheaded. Reaching around with my hand, I manage to latch onto something. In one motion, I bring it in a swinging position towards his neck. The point of the knife lodges in his neck as his blood splatters all over my body. I gasp in fascination and horror as his life drains out in front of me. Then, the light goes out from his eyes and I push him off me feebly. I gasp, out of breath and happy for the hot air.
"Naomi!" My mother cries out my name. She and my father continue to fight in combat near Barsetti. I turn around too late as I turn around to see Barsetti a couple feet away with his gun raised. My mother and I watch as he fires the gun. She knows she won't be able to make it in time.
Closing my eyes, I wait for the bullet of death.
I wait.
And wait.
Then, I realize it never hit.
Opening my eyes, I see a body standing in front of me. Then, he drops to his knees and falls toward me.
"NOOOOO!" I scream in anguish as Uncle Sky smiles sadly as blood spurts from his mouth. He pats my head as I scramble looking through his stuff for some of the healing syringes. THere's only one left. Kneeling in front of his body, I insert the liquid and wait.
His body remains unmoving.
"No no no no no," I shake my head in refusal. Why isn't it working? It should be working?
I look around. And see my mom rushing towards me. She kneels next to me.
"Why won't he wake up? I gave the healing liquid. It should be working!" I start bawling at this point.
My mother looks at Sky in shock and then at me. Her eyes are glassy and filled with sadness. She hugs me tightly, "Sweetie, he's gone." She tenderly closes his eyelids and he looks like he is sleeping.
"No, he can't be. He should heal. I put the needle in. The liquid works." I push her away and pound on Sky's body.
"Look," My mother forces me to look at his wound.
"It went straight through his heart. He died almost immediately after. " My mom's voice shakes. My ever so strong mom is crying. Her tears match mine as they trail down our cheeks.
"No...." My voice shakes strongly. "Mom...."
"I know, sweetie. I know." She cries with me as we hug tightly.
The two of us look up and see my family forming a circle around us, protecting us and giving us a moment with Sky.
"Auntie Pearl and Marco...it's all my fault. It's all my fucking fault. I shouldn't have..." I start blubbering.
"Ssshhh, don't start that..." My mom hushes me as she hugs me and pats my head. "Your Uncle Sky thought of you as if you were his own daughter. He did what anyone would have. It will never be your fault."
And I cry some more, until I have nothing left. "Mom, Barsetti needs to get what he deserves."
"Revenge isn't the best option. It will never end will. Your father will take care of it. For now, rest." She sighs.
Despite everything going on, I find myself being pulled to sleep. The sadness has exerted the last of my energy. I don't think I can go on.
______________
A/N
I know :/ I was so tempted to kill a Ricca, just to show that they aren't invincible. But, I just love them so much. And I love Sky and everyone else just as equally. However, I had to play the evil writer and kill a somewhat major character off.
Thank you for waiting.