The fire is unbearable. The pain is intolerable. I close my eyes and breathe, praying that my legs will hold out.
I’m a fast draw, but with Max’s gun already pointed at my chest…
“You’re pathetic, Leon. I hope you die knowing it was all for nothing.”
My legs give out.
Bang.
The bullet soars over my head, where my torso had been a fraction of a second before.
I don’t think. I just draw.
The angle is terrible, and I’m unable to compensate entirely for my body’s awkward trajectory. But the trigger is pulled just before I black out from the pain of hitting the floor.
I wake up several seconds later, wishing I were dead. There’s blood seeping into my shirt from where my wound is leaking. I’m out of time.
But there’s something else. A choking noise only a few feet away.
With the remainder of my strength, I turn my head to find Max stumbling to his knees, hands clutched to his throat.
The bullet had shot clean through it.
His eyes are wide with shock as he collapses into a pool of his own blood.
It’s done.
I close my eyes and go back to sleep.
Hours pass. Minutes. Seconds. I can’t be sure. Nothing has any meaning but the brutal pain in my chest and the dizzy, spinning that keeps me pressed to the floor.
“LEON!” Dante’s voice cuts through my unconsciousness with the brutality of a gong.
My eyes snap open to the sight of him crowding over me; medical kit splayed open at my side. Vaguely, I’m aware that my shirt has been removed, and my chest feels tighter again.
“YOU STUPID BASTARD!”
“Maybe,” I concede with a groan as I prop myself up on my elbows. “But I shot Max in the throat.”
“You could have died!” He throws his hands up in the air in exasperation.
“I didn’t. I’m fine.”
“The hell you are,” he growls as he helps me to my feet. “We’re leaving. Now.”
“I’m going to the cell block. You can’t stop me,” I snap.
Dante groans, pinching the bridge of his nose like I’m the world’s biggest headache. “Teo will fucking kill me if I don’t get you out of here.”
“Then get me out of here…let’s just leave via the cell block,” I challenge, meeting his gaze. “It’s just over here.”
He exhales sharply, shaking his head. “You’re insane.”
I know the fight has left him as I slap him on the shoulder while making my way to the double doors on the far side of the room.
Dante is at my side in an instant, pushing past us to deal with the door guards stationed behind it.
“This must be it,” he mutters as we take in the long corridor and the door to the left where the guards had been posted.
