*This chapter contains scenes of graphic violence. Reader discretion is advised*
Jungkook returned fire but it was hard to hit a moving target when you were also taking evasive action. I took a steadying breath and tried to sit up. Joon pushed me back down.
"Don't," he warned.
"I have to, Namjoon. It's our only chance." His grip tightened on me possessively for a second before he let me up. I turned and peeked over the back of the seat as much as I dared. It was hard to get a grip on something I couldn't see. Jungkook glanced back at me, doing a double take.
"What are you doing? Get down!" He was looking at me when the bullet pierced him. He screamed, his face contorting in agony as he collapsed onto the seat. I screamed, too, my powers ripping out from my body. Hobi swerved again from the force of it, but my focus was on the cars behind us and the men that had just shot my Jungkook.
I reached out with my mind, grabbing the lead car. It jerked from right to left, taking out innocent people on each side. I cleared the way, then twitched my head, sending the vehicle flying through a barrier and off the bridge we were on. As the headlights disappeared over the edge, I grabbed onto the second one. Slamming down with the full force of my thoughts, I crushed the hood into the road. The driver and front passenger were thrown out of the windshield and their broken bodies flung underneath the wheels of the other pursuer. Realizing what was going on, the final car slammed on their breaks, trying to put distance between us.
I tried to focus on the vehicle, but I was distracted by Jungkook's ragged breaths below me. A man leaned out of the passenger window and put the scope of a very large rifle up to his eye. The more I tried, the harder it became to direct my powers. They were becoming more and more difficult to control. Our car skidded wildly over the road.
"Breathe, Morgan. Come back before we lose you," Namjoon was saying behind me, but I didn't want to listen. The power was seductive and my rage nearly all-consuming. I wasn't going to lose someone I loved again. I would burn the world down before I let that happen. I took a deep breath and focused on the man leaning out of the window. I could almost see his eye through his scope. Finally, I latched on and snapped his neck. His body dropped immediately and the driver nearly lost control when he realized what was going on.
"Um...hang on guys. We've got more company," Hoseok said lowly from the front before slamming on the breaks and throwing us all forward, then sideways as the car drifted around. I threw my body over Jungkook's to keep him from being thrown into the floor.
Almost immediately, bullets were slamming into the car from all sides. Glass poured down on us like hail as we all sunk to the floorboard. No one could speak or hear each other over the noise. If I didn't do something right away, we were all dead.
The pain in my head was more intense than anything I'd ever felt before as I pushed my powers out from my body in an attempt to make a field around us like I'd done when Wonho blew up the street. The sound inside lessened, but I could still hear the guns firing from beyond the car. I had to get out where I could see. As I climbed over the seats and broken glass, I felt something latch onto my ankle. When I looked down, I choked out a sob. Namjoon's face was covered in blood and he was barely conscious.
"Don't," he said weakly.
"I have to," I whispered against the pain of controlling my powers. It didn't take much to rip my ankle out of his grasp.
When I stepped out of the ruined SUV, the gunfire stopped. They could see what I was. As blood poured down my head and stained my skin red, I pushed out on the force field, throwing all the bullets I'd caught back into the men that fired them. Whistling filled the air like a thousand fireworks being set off at once and one-by-one, the men fell. I crumplee against the car just as another one pulled up beside us. I pushed myself up, ready to fight until the end, but Jimin's voice stopped me.
"Oh my God..."
He reached me just as my legs buckled underneath me. Yoongi cursed under his breath as he started pulling our men out of the vehicle.
"There are more coming. We've got to get out of here," Yoongi said under his breath as he started prying the doors open so he could reach Namjoon and Jungkook. It wasn't clear how I'd made it out unless the metal bent away for me and then returned to its earlier position. Which was crazy, right?
"I'll stay... hold them off," I croaked out.
"The hell you will," Jimin growled.
"Jimin...we can't fit them all in this car," Yoongi murmured. His face was even paler than usual and his mouth was hanging open as he breathed out heavily, trying to figure out how to save us.
"Go. I'll find a way back," I groaned a little more forcefully as I tried to push Jimin off of me. Hoseok had climbed out of the front and was helping get Namjoon and Jungkook out. I could hear engines racing towards us. "Go," I screamed.
Jimin looked at me with a range of emotions I couldn't begin to interpret before a voice crackled through our coms.
"Leave her. I've got her." Jin. "Get to the alternate safe house. The mansion isn't secure."
The guys looked at each other before springing to action and shoving what bodies they could into the tiny compact car Yoongi and Jimin had managed to steal. I choked out a sob when I saw Jungkook's limp body being pulled out. Namjoon was badly injured, but once he was free, he was able to walk away under his own power. He looked at me with an agonized expression, but he was smart enough to know that he was powerless to help in this situation.
Seconds later, Tae pulled up on his bike and Hobi hopped on the back. Three other cars were swerving around the carnage then. Two stopped and disgorged armed men while the third took off after my guys. They fired in the general direction of their pursuers, but they were quickly running out of ammo so their most pressing need was to get the hell out of there and get as far away as quickly as they possibly could. I was the only valuable weapon they had left.
And I couldn't let them see how close I was to failing, too. I sighed with relief when they got out of sight, hoping one car wouldn't be too hard for them to handle in their state. Luckily, Hoishi's men had correctly judged me the bigger threat. Maybe the Baron had already told them about me. Maybe they were even hoping to bring me back in alive.
But if that was their plan, they were in for a world of disappointment today.
Digging down into whatever well of energy was still in me, I was able to sling a few men off the overpass onto whatever lay below. The others caught on quickly and ducked behind the cars. But I was pissed. I started walking toward the cars, not caring if I lived or died, just needing to feel that fire burning through my veins. When the fire got too strong to maintain, I let it burst out around me. The two cars before me exploded and the men hiding behind them screamed in agony until the flames entered their lungs. Then they didn't scream anymore.
Just as the last screams died on the lips of Hoishi's men, Jin's bike flew through the flames and smoke, making him look like a knight riding the back of a dragon. Some distant part of me was relieved, but that part had long ago lost control of my mind. Jin propped his bike up and ran over to me, putting his hands on either side of my face and pulling me close to him. I could see the fear in his dark eyes, but I couldn't wake up.
"Baby, come back. Please. You did good, but we've got to go. The others are still in trouble and I can't save them without you. I need you to come back."
I hung on to his pleading words and fought with the darkness inside me. Slowly, I pulled it all back and folded it into the recesses of my mind. When Jin saw my eyes clear, he sighed and wrapped his arms around me, kissing the top of my head. Then he threw his helmet on my head before dragging me back to his bike. As if in a haze, I climbed on and wrapped my arms around him, holding tight as he took off. I could barely feel my fingers and toes anymore and my mind desperately wanted to go blank, but I held on with every part of me. If I lost myself then, we'd all lose.
It didn't take long for us to catch up to the others. Jin wove his bike in and out of traffic until he was able to pull up alongside the trailing vehicle. He pulled his gun out of the back waistband of his pants and unloaded the clip through the window into the driver without ever taking his eyes off the road in front of him. Then, he floored the throttle to get away as the car swerved to the side, hitting the center barrier and going airborne. The crash and following skidding tires and screaming breaks of cars narrowly missing its wreckage faded as we made it into downtown and left it all behind. With the elegance of a dancer, he returned his gun to his waistband and leaned to the side to take the ramp out of town.
"We need to split up," Jin said into his live mic. "I'll take Morgan to the cabin. You guys lay low for a couple days and keep to secured channels."
"Be safe," Hobi's gruff voice called out through the night.
"You too," Jin whispered before ripping off his mic and throwing it in front of his tire. It shattered as we drove over it, leaving nothing but a glittering trail of metal in our wake.
This and the previous chapter was actually the first scene I ever wrote for this book about a year ago. This is where the idea began. It changed a little here after developing the story around it, but this has always been where I wanted the story to lead up to. It's violent and gritty and chaotic, but I love it. If it were a movie, this is the kind of movie I'd want to watch.
**Also... THANK YOU SO MUCH for all the reads! If y'all could get this to 2k before the end of the year I'll write in a reader's choice chapter. Just leave a comment on what you'd like to see more of. Smut? Action? Fluff? Angst? I'll write whatever you want because I wouldn't be at this point if it weren't for you guys. Thank you from the bottom of my black heart!