 |
Gunshot -- A drabble.
Seeing that car again, Nick knew what he had to do. Ennis and the other Vultures had taken Madison... and Nick had no idea if his mom was dead or alive. All he knew was that he wanted to kill Ennis for everything. He wished he'd killed him last time they ran into each other. The only reason he'd stopped then was that Madison told him not to; Charlie was watching. But this time, he wasn't going to stop. This time, he was going to kill this man for taking his mom.
"Don't! Don't!" Morgan insisted, trying to hold Nick back. Nick stared into Morgan's eyes, knowing he wouldn't be able to stop him. Even though they'd only known each other a few hours, he knew Morgan wouldn't hurt him even to stop this from happening. "Do you have what it takes to stop me?" he asked, breathing heavily as he clutched Morgan's stick. As Morgan backed off, a small smirk crossed Nick's lips. "Didn't think so," he breathed out as he walked into the small building after Ennis.
Ennis was rummaging through some boxes, back to the door. Nick clutched his hammer tightly as he ran towards the older man, ready to swing. However, Ennis turned around just in time, swinging his knife towards Nick, causing Nick to drop his hammer. His hands moved to hold Ennis' wrists, keeping the knife inches from his face. He struggled a moment to hold him off before finally gaining the strength to push him away; causing him to fall backwards onto a set of antlers. Nick stood there for a moment, watching the man suffer before leaning down and pushing him further onto them. Ennis tried begging for his life, but Nick shook his head. "This is for my mom," he whispered. Although he knew this wouldn't give him answers on where his mom was, he was filled with rage.
The life slowly drained from Ennis as Nick held him against the antlers, his breathing still heavy. As Ennis finally stopped breathing, his body fell limp. Nick stood up, slowly walking back outside; blood dripping form his hands. He was eerily calm. "Maybe I should have asked where they were holding mom before killing him..." he thought, but shook his head at himself. It was too late now. He was determined to find Madison again, to find her alive and well. Then he would kill the rest of them, and try to convince Charlie to come back to their group, hoping that she would see they were better people.
"I know where you are, Nick. I've been there," Morgan spoke softly as he saw Nick come back out. "To answer your question from earlier? Those I lost? My wife, my son, and my friends..." he spoke calmly, telling Nick his story. The young former-addict stood there, listening. He listened as Morgan continued to explain things, telling Nick that all life is precious.
"Okay? How exactly?" Nick asked, obviously confused. He wanted to tell Morgan he was crazy; tell him that there were bad people out there that deserved what they got. But, before he could get any of that out, Morgan showed him the book he had with him, The Art of Peace. Nick shook his head, telling Morgan it was too late before trying to push passed him. Morgan stepped infront, insisting that Nick take a look at the book. Wiping some of the blood off of his hand onto his pants, he reached up to take the book, looking down at it for a moment.
Morgan left Nick alone after that, letting him read the book for a moment. Nick paced as he read the pages. It did seem interesting, but part of him still thought that Morgan was crazy. He was so lost in the book that he didn't hear the large truck pulling up, or Tatiana talking to Morgan. "Nah... some people deserve what they get," Nick sighed, sliding the book into his back pocket. That was when he felt the stem of a flower. Pulling it out, he sat down on a pile of wood, looking down at it; a Bluebonnet.
Staring down at the flower, Nick thought about the last time he'd left the walls of the baseball field; the time he nearly killed Ennis first. Madison had pulled the truck over to show Nick there was still good in the world by showing him the flowers. It was shortly after that those bastards took her. Nick sighed, staring down at the flower. "Mom... we are going to find you," he thought silently, twirling it around. "Alicia and I are going to find you. Promise."
Just then, his thoughts were broken as a gunshot rang through the air and a sudden pain in his chest. He looked down, bringing his hand up to feel that his shirt was wet...and warm. He looked down at his fingers, now covered in fresh blood. He glanced up, staring in shock for a moment. There was Charlie, barely ten years old, standing there with a gun pointed at him. "Ch...Charlie..." Nick gasped. "Charlie... what the hell?" he wanted to say, but couldn't find strength to get the words out. Instead, he fell to the ground; Charlie running off.
"No... not like this..." Nick thought, blood now dripping from his mouth. A few tears stung his eyes. He still had so much to live for. Finding his mom, protecting his sister, protecting Tatiana...marrying Tatiana! "Nick, you have to stay strong...you're going to be okay," he tried to convince himself silently. But as he tried to find the strength to push himself up, it wasn't there. He tried to call for help, but he couldn't do that either. Instead he lay there, unable to move, a metallic taste filling his mouth.
"NICK!" Alicia and Tatiana both screamed in unison as they came around the corner. Tatiana instantly bent down beside him, as Alicia ran to see who had shot. As Tatiana and Strand began to look Nick over, he looked up at his fiancee sadly. He weakly reached his hand up to her face, accidentally smearing it with blood. He tried to speak, to tell her he loved her, but the words were drowned out by him choking. "I love you...so much," he thought as he stared at her, hating that he couldn't say the words out loud.
Alicia dropped down beside her brother, grabbing his other hand as Victor put pressure on the wound. "Nick... it's okay... you're going to be fine..." Alicia tried to convince him; trying to hide the pain on her face. But Nick knew his sister, he could see right through her. He glanced between her and Tatiana, wanting to tell them both he loved them; wanting to tell them to keep each other safe. When he opened his mouth to try to speak again, all that escaped was a small gasping. Crimson blood dripped down his face, hitting the dirt below him. Alicia began to cry, still trying to tell her brother that it would be okay. On the other side of him, Tatiana squeezed his hand. "Nick... no..." she whispered, tears cascading down her cheeks. "Please no... I love you..."
The worst part about all this for Nick was not dying. No, it was the fact he was leaving those he cared about hurt. Death was not something that Nick feared, but seeing the pain on the faces of the two women he cared most about? That was hard. He could only imagine what Madison would look like if she were there too...
Although he tried hard to hang on, his breathing began to grow shallow. In that moment, he actually regret killing Ennis. He slowly drift off...
|
