Four of a Kind

Un-Refreshing Aftermath

If Heylian was here… I didn’t know if it was good news or bad news. But either way we were grateful for the distraction. We didn’t want things to get more confusing than it already was. But I was hoping Heylian would come to her senses and think better than killing her boss’s son’s friend.

Whatever she shot Andy with wasn’t lethal. Cause he was back up in a few seconds and his attention was on Heylian. I knew this was the opening I need. But I was frozen stiff to the floor since I didn’t know what to do now. I didn’t have Heylian’s tranquilizer darts but I realized something. Earlier ago we rushed to the home depot section of the basement floor since I was creeped out about what happened to the two maids who were assigned this middle section. If they were really taken out, maybe we can find some tranquilizer darts to knock Andy out before Heylian did.

I ran back near Maq and Kim. Kim was profusely bleeding. I guess one of those random shots hit him earlier. Serves him right for not ducking low enough. But them again…he’s bigger than us.

“Listen. I think tranquilizer darts from the two maids from the two maids who went silent can be found. Go deeper behind the storage closet. I know it’s dark but use your flashlight. I’ll make sure to distract those two.” I told them.

“That’s a good idea given the current dire situation we’re currently facing.” Maq said tapping his glasses lightly on the watch it glowed a bit. Then it faded.

“Synedrate powered glasses.” Maq said proudly. He then took out his spare pair from his back pocket and gave it to Kim.

“Swell. Now go!” I told them. I turned back to the other two. Heylian’s gun had a bayonet-like blade which she used for closed combat. But I guess it wasn’t designed to be used like that cause the gun was pretty heavy to swing around. Andy was fighting like a whole “nother” beast. He slipped, twisted and parried the stabs and swings Heylian was giving. All I can think was it might hurt really bad if he actually got hit by the gun. It was heavy and sharp.

But Andy was dodging her attacks really well. None of her attacks even fazed Andy. Both his hands were occupied with the knife and gun. They might’ve been a lot lighter than the gun cause he moved fast, evading her attacks and wearing her out. When she started panting and and her moves started getting sludgy that’s when Andy attacked. First he kicked her in the groin. When Heylian bent her head over to wince in pain Andy stabbed her head with the knife. Or at least he tried to. Heylian lunged back to dodge the incoming kill. She kept moving back till there was considerable distance between them both. Now it was like a triangle. Me, Heylian and Andy.

“Well?” Heylian asked me clutching her stomach and grimacing in pain. “You gonna help or what?”

“Hold that thought.” I said selfishly. Andy must’ve calmed down or something. But I was a bit baffled.

Andy wanted to kill both, Heylian wants to kill one and save one, and the last wanted to save both. We three were in perfect contradiction of each other.

Andy didn’t initiate. He was silent and just looking at Heylian like she was prey.

“Reeves.. we didn’t find the maids yet. We found the circuit breaker along with the power generator. We fixed it. Want me to activate it mate?” Maq asked me telepathically. I was surprised to hear his voice. I was wondering what took so long but the return of blinding lights might be the distraction I needed.

“On my count.” I thought back. “….NOW!”

And like that, the lights came back on. This time I didn’t spare a second to waste. I ran towards Heylian and knocked her out by sliding to her when I reached a certain distance between me and her where I could stop and let slippery floor do the rest with momentum and slide me towards her. While I was sliding I whipped out my spear and made sure the butt of the spear extended and knocked her out. I might have given her a black eye but that was better than seeing her die.

Now it was just me and Andy.

“Andy…” I started out slowly. “You gotta calm down and believe me when I tell you there are people who genuinely care about you.” I didn’t know what the hell I was saying. But comforting him by telling him harsh cold truths weren’t gonna work.

“We don’t want to get you killed. Me, Kim and Maq. We can force my dad’s hands into stopping this. All you have to do is drop those weapons.”

“No.” He said bluntly. “You want me to drop em? Make me.” He told me.

I guess physical was the only way it’d work with him.

“Okay.” I told him. I guess this was sort of what I wanted. Heylian and her maids weren’t gonna bother us. And I was stalling time for Kim and Maq to find the tranquilizers.

“We found it!” Maq told me telepathically. Speak of the mental devil. All that’s left is to suppress Andy.

I lunged at him with my spear poking him near his legs which might’ve been easy to dodge. He moved back and immediately pounced back on me once I withdrew my spear. With his left hand he tried to stab me with the knife. Luckily I held the spear with two hands so when the blade came near my body I lifted my spear like it was a barbell. It was with perfect timing. I hit the blade of the knife with the spear before it touched me. And it slipped from Andy’s hand. I immediately moved back further as much as I can for fear it might land on me. Andy must’ve been stupid. He moved back as well but the knife was gonna land dead-straight at him so he shot it with his gun. Regardless of how precise of a shooter he was that was a pretty dumb move. The bullet met it’s mark and became dented. No longer usable. It fell of somewhere to my left.

We both stared at each other. Andy’s cross-gun had a old machete-like blade design molded into his barrel. So it could be used like a melee weapon.

We lunged at each other.

I sliced, diced and slashed as careful as I could. The fact that the spear was powered with Synedrate so it made swinging lighter was a big help. Otherwise I wouldn’t be able to pull of these Olympic-class moves. Andy had a grin on his face that grew wider with each increasing speed of the parries being made with our blades. Thank heavens I had the longer reach or it wouldn’t be on par with Andy’s manic precision of attacking.

“We’re here! We’re here!” Maq spoke in my head.

This was it. I had to make sure they had a clean shot. To do that I needed to make him temporarily stop fighting so that’d help me get away from the line of fire.

So I cut his left hand off.

“RAARRRRRGH!!!” Andy yelled. I refrained from vomiting. But this was no time to be baffled by the amount of dark red blood that came from Andy’s wrist. I moved out the way cause I could hear the footsteps made by Kim and Maq right behind me. Kim pushed me out the way.

He engaged Andy. Andy was still putting up a fight. He tried to stab Kim with the cross-gun he was holding with the right hand but Kim quickly countered it and stabbed Andy with the tranquilizer dart in the gut. He then took off Maq’s jacket and wrapped it tightly around Andy’s wrist.     

We made it up out the basement floor without any problem. Kim carried Andy like he was his bride. Andy must’ve passed out from the heavy blood loss. At least there wasn’t any more bleeding. But Kim was soaked red with blood I thought he turned into RED. Maq was shook just like me. I guess throughout his entire training he never encountered anything this extreme. I as waiting for him to react and scream at me telling me that I went too far.

He didn’t. He was silent. I guess his business was more important than others. I didn’t blame him either. He was probably wondering how to confront my dad after coming out of that slaughter floor without a scratch.

He really was the best condition out of all of us. Red still had red bruise mark from where the bullets hit him while he was Red and some cuts. I had cuts as well. Crossing swords with Andy only seemed like a success to me since I didn’t die but I was a hair’s breath from getting severe cuts nearly as deep as Andy’s decapitated hand.

The elevator reached the topmost floor. I didn’t hit the button for the floor from which we came to the basement to for fear I might face dad straight away. I was hoping for some time alone with the three.  I was also crossing my fingers no one would stop us from our way to the top. Thankfully no one did.

We reached the topmost floor and Maq still didn’t ask me questions. He helped Kim carry Andy to the attic where Kim once helped me put Bryan captive. I locked the door and sat down. I was down. I didn’t know how many more maids my dad had on his payroll but I couldn’t handle going Mr. Nice Guy any more. If it came down to it, I was willing to blast those them to kingdom come.

Let’s hope we don’t have to do that though.

We all laid back resting on whatever we could. taking deep breaths. We had some fresh water bottles Heylian kept for emergency in a low current refrigerator. I remembered and got up and offered them each a bottle. I put on near Andy’s forehead hoping that it might cool him. I looked at the wrist where his hand would’ve been. It was wrapped in some sort of special cloth before Maq loosened the tightly wrapped jacket. The cloth was thick and glowing. I didn’t need to be any more curious about why his bleeding stopped.

After a moment or two, Maq broke the silence.

“Now what’s in the next step of the plan? Do we plead for mercy? Shall we hold you captive to acquire a leverage for our safety?” He asked.

I hoped he was joking.

“Now we rest and wait till Andy wakes up. That thick cloth is made of Synedrate right? How does it work?”

“With cutting edge technology we managed to let artificial blood vessels be made instantly at the exposure of blood. It helps form a U shape set of vessels to let the blood keep flowing.”

“So the cloth’s not thick?”

“No, it just expanded for room to let the blood flow continue.” He answered. “So… what now?”

“I just told you, we wait.”

“AND THEN WHAT?” He yelled. “I’m tired Reeves! I worked my ass to get a direct assignment from your dad. Now he puts me on the kill list? What did we ever do wrong!!?” he burst.

“Anyone else?” I asked. My voice cracking. I was on the verge of crying. Yes, I was a sensitive person. I care deeply what a person thinks about me and hope they think I’m cool and reliable. But my snarky and narcissistic attitude must’ve pissed even these three off.

“I’m sorry.” Maq said meekly. I know it’s not your fault.

That’s when I snapped. The moment he said sorry. My high and mighty attitude thought he was solely in the wrong and I didn’t do anything to deserve his outburst. So going by that logic I got angry and lunged at him punching a straight right into his glasses.

He didn’t flinch. He dodged the second hook one by ducking and headbutted me pushing me to the floor. He had his knees rest beside my head and started punching me. I tried to block but since he was punching downwards his punched were really strong.

I wasn’t having any of it. I acted like an asshole my whole life to make sure I don’t have to fight. I bent and raised the lower part of my body and my calves acted like a cross hook on Maq’s neck to pull him back down ramming his head onto the hard wooden floor. He kicked my face and I backed off.

We put distance between each other and rested on something while breathing heavily.

“It now veels good right?” Kim asked. Cutting the silence once more.

“What?”

“When my dad is very drunk he vould hit me when I give him a long stare. I asked him vwhy he hit me and he told me that “It veels good.” Kim told me. “Doesn’t hitting make you two veel good?”

Me and Maq looked at each other. I guess he wasn’t wrong. I did feel good after that small brawl. Maq’s smile told me likewise.

“Listen everyone. No one is gonna die. I’ll make sure Hell freezes before my dad kills any of you.” I assured them. I never recalled saying I was gonna sell them out. I didn’t understand why they were making this a big deal. All three can actually protect themselves. But then again I wasn’t a target.

“How many more maids do you think they have?” Maq asked.

“Maybe… six…seven more? But if everyone who tends to this house is on his pay role then that’s a different story.”

“Do you think ve can make it?” Kim asked.

“I think so,” I told him. “If you guys are willing to drop a few guys without mercy.”

Their smiles were the just motivation I needed. Now all we needed was to wait for Andy to wake up and we’d breakout.

I got up to got jam the door lock and that’s when it opened.

“Is this where you boys were hiding?” Jack Nato asked coming inside the room.