Part 23
I watched carefully as Rich pulled the bedroom door open. With the gun pushing against his temple and my hand tightly squeezing his arm, there was no way he would be able to escape from my clutches and live to tell the tale. I knew he was frightened - he was physically shaking - but I showed him no mercy. After all the hell he had put me through while I was trying to get Paul back to me, nothing would've pleased me more than to see him die. But I wasn't ready to kill him yet. I liked to see him wriggle like a worm on a hook. Any friendliness i'd shared with his man was long gone, and only pure hatred remained in its place. I would take Paul, then I would kill Rich. A simple plan, but I didn't need anything too complex. Not for what I wanted to do.
The door opened fully, revealing nothing but darkness.
"Turn on the light," I ordered. Quivering, Rich slowly lifted his arm towards the light switch, situated on the inner architrave. Moving too slow for my liking. I knew he was simply buying time and hoping that Paul would find means of escape. This angered me even further.
"What the fuck are you waiting for?" I growled. He fumbled up and down the architrave to find the light switch. After a few moments he gulped, breathing heavily.
"I - I can't find it," he stuttered, lowering his arm.
"Oh, bullshit!" The prick was even more cowardly than I thought. It was his apartment, of course he'd know where the switch was. He was playing some sort of game with me, and I wasn't in the mood to play.
I shoved him against the wall, holding the gun against his forehead, and reached around to turn on the light.
Paul's foot slammed my arm against the architrave.
I shouted out in agony, unintentionally dropping the gun to the floor as I grabbed my injured arm, wincing. With another kick Paul sent me sprawling to the floor.
"Come on!" Paul, dressed in long cotton pants, gently held Rich by the elbow and steered him around my body, heading towards the apartment door. The pain I was experiencing was blocked out by an intense rage, a rage I had never felt before in my entire life. Letting out a loud roar, I grabbed the gun and scrambled onto my feet, running after them as they exited the apartment. My face was burning red and my arm was throbbing intensely, but I kept running, and I wasn't going to stop until I had them.
I darted out of the apartment and quickly looked left and right. The corridor was not long, and there was only one other apartment on that floor. To my right were the stairs leading down to the exit, and I turned my head just in time to see Paul and Rich bolting around the corner, their feet loudly echoing as they made impact with each stair. As I ran after them, their cat reached out and clawed my leg. I kicked it away and continued chasing after my nemesis and my love. I rushed down the flight of stairs and turned a corner to be met by another flight, with Paul and Rich almost near the bottom. I held my gun forward and fired. I heard Paul let out a short scream but cursed myself when I didn't see him stumble. It wasn't him that I wanted to kill, though a bullet would certainly slow him down. My fury was for Rich, and I wouldn't stop until I had filled his body with every bullet in the gun.
We bolted down three more flights of stairs, with Paul and Rich leading and me in hot pursuit. I hired a few more shots, each one narrowly missing them. I told myself to save my bullets until I was closer to them, which wouldn't take too long - as I picked up speed, I was gradually closing the gap between us. Paul and Rich didn't dare to look behind them - they kept their heads down and moved as fast as their legs could carry them.
Towards the bottom flight, we passed a middle-aged woman carrying a basket of laundry up the stairs to her apartment. Paul and Rich quickly ducked around her, but I ran straight into her, sending her laundry flying and making her fall to the ground, rolling down a few stairs. No time to apologise - not that I would've, anyway.
Once Paul and Rich had reached the bottom, they rounded a corner and kicked a door open that led to the underground carpark. There was only one person in the area - a large-muscled security guard. As soon as he saw me racing after Paul and Rich with a gun in my hand, he immediately leapt forward to stop me in my tracks.
"Hey!" he shouted. He grabbed me by the torso and tried to pull me back. I kicked and writhed in his grasp for a moment until I twisted myself free. I pointed the gun directly to his head and fired at close range. Blood splattered on the door and he dropped lifelessly to the floor. Pushing the door open, I leapt over his body and continued my pursuit.
Once in the carpark, I skidded to a halt. The area was large, with cars filling their allocated spaces and wide pillars separating each pair. I could hear footsteps but only in echo, which made finding them a little more difficult. Keeping the gun poised in front of me, I slowly and carefully walked around, keeping an eye out for any sudden movement. Surprisingly the carpark was empty, with most residents of the apartment block retiring in their rooms for the evening. The lights were dimmer than I would've liked, slightly impairing my view of the carpark. I could hear heavy breathing and whispering, but couldn't identify their locations.
Growing even angrier, I let out a frustrated howl and swiftly kicked the side of a car parked nearby.
"Where the fuck are you?!" I shouted, hearing my voice echoing repeatedly as it travelled throughout the carpark.
The area was only silent for a moment before I heard more footsteps, originating from the right-hand side of the carpark. I quickly swivelled around and pointed the gun in that direction.
"Come out, come out, where-ever you are!" I called tauntingly, taking slow and careful steps towards the cluster of cars parked in that zone.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement, and I turned my head to see Paul and Rich scampering behind a battered-up vehicle, crouching to hide them from view. I fired in that direction, shattering the driver's seat window. As they crawled even faster, I ran after them, keeping my gun in front of me at all times. The weapon was warm in my hands; the feeling gave me power. And with power came strength. The chase continued with the couple now fully on their feet, darting behind pillars as I fired. I knew that if I didn't stop soon I was going to run out of bullets, and I hadn't brought any extra. I didn't have time to check the capacity - they were quickly making a move towards the entry and exit gate. All three of us were puffing but there was no way that any of us were going to stop.
As I ran closer towards them, they tried to make their way to the gate, but before they could open it I had reached them. They knew that there was no hope of escape for them now - it was too late in the evening for anyone to be driving in now. The gate required a swipe card to activate, which they didn't have. Puffing and clinging to each-other, they stepped backwards as I pointed the gun at them. I had them cornered.
"Tim, please, don't," Paul whimpered, shaking his head and trembling in Rich's arms. Both were terrified and knew that nothing they could say or do would get them out of this. Finally, the time had come to get what I had come for.
"We can do this the easy way or the hard way," I said, edging closer towards them. "Paul can come with me right now, and Rich will be killed. Or I could kill you both." I pointed the gun at Rich. "Either way, things aren't looking too good for you, are they, Rich?"
Paul snarled, grabbing Rich's hand protectively. "If you kill Rich, you'll have to kill me too."
I took a beat before shaking my head, chuckling. "Paul, you're more stupid than I thought. We could've had it good, you and me. But no, you had to choose Mr fucking Muso." I shrugged. "Well, if that's the way you want to do this...Remember your vows, boys: Till death do you part. Adios."
I moved one step closer and inched my finger towards the trigger, preparing to fire.
Suddenly, the headlights of a car parked nearby switched on, beaming into my eyes, and the motor revved to life. I couldn't see who was at the wheel, but the sound of the motor seemed to be telling me that this show was over.
Dropping the gun to the ground, I tried to make a run for it, but the tyres squealed and the car began to move quickly towards me. I couldn't move fast enough - the car came screaming towards me and hit, tossing me into the air. I twisted and turned for my brief moment of flight until my body fell on the bonnet of another car parked nearby. I rolled from the bonnet with blood oozing down my forehead, blacking out as soon as my head thudded against the ground.
Part 24