AllFreeNovel
Share Us
But Ricardo opened the palm of his hand and let something drop. Everyone stared through shocked eyes, taking longer to compute what it was. A grenade. It landed at Colt’s feet.
“Fuck!” Max shouted, and both Max and Colt grabbed each other and tried to bundle themselves back as far as possible. Phantom ducked with Ricardo, holding him by the scruff of his neck. Sophie took a breath.
Boom!
The grenade went off, blowing the concrete out beneath it. It knocked Colt and Max off their feet. Colt’s head smacked the concrete with a crack, and he was out cold. Max luckily fell forward, onto his hands, bracing himself. Safe, if not shaken, on the floor.
Phantom let out an ungodly snarl, and drew his blade. Faster than a frenzied breath, it was against Ricardo’s throat. He was going to do it. He was going to kill. She would see him drenched in blood, see the man that he should have left behind. No, he was better than this, he was bigger than this now. She had to save his soul. His sense of self revolved around him being a monster, a killer. He wasn’t that man anymore. She had to stop him.
“Eli!” Sophie shouted then.
He looked up. Blinked, as if remembering where he was. Who he was. The world stood still, held in space, just for them.
“No more,” he husked, staring at Sophie.
She nodded. “No more,” she replied to him.
He turned back to Ricardo, a wide eyed mess, and dropped him to the floor. Phantom was done.
But Ricardo was not. He flung himself forward, head butting Phantom right between the eyes. His nose exploded with blood, caught off guard, staggered backwards, and dropped his knife. Unable to stand, he dropped to his knees, completely stunned. Ricardo fumbled in his pocket for a spare gun magazine. The knife clattered to the floor, not far from Sophie.
Given a choice between saving Phantom’s soul and saving his life, Sophie chose his life. She now understood he killed because he had to. Because it was them or him, and he’d chosen to live. An untainted soul was too lofty a goal. She had been naive to want that for him. She just wanted him alive, warm, in her bed every night. Living and breathing. They could worry about his soul another day. They could spend the rest of their lives saving his soul, he had to live.
Ricardo released the old magazine, which dropped to the floor like a stone. The jarring sound echoed in the hangar. She knew she would dream about it on dark, stormy nights to come. She knew it would haunt her nightmares.
Sophie looked around and spotted Phantom’s knife, the one he’d dropped on the ground. She didn’t think twice, she didn’t falter. She wasn’t going to lose him. What do you actually do, when faced with life or death? That of yourself, or a loved one? You move heaven and earth to choose life. You do anything, literally anything, to choose life. Sophie understood it now. You fight. You kill. Without question. Without hesitation. She lunged forward and kicked Phantom’s knife over to her brother Max. She was the monster with the tainted soul now.
The knife skittered across the floor as Ricardo slotted the new magazine into his gun.
Max saw it, he was ready. Crouching on the ground, he snatched the spinning knife from the floor.
Ricardo pointed the gun at Phantom’s temple. Grabbing his hair, standing over him, laughing maniacally. Phantom just stared at Sophie, like he wanted to take one final, last taste of her. Sophie couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t look but she couldn’t not look, either.
Max threw the knife.
Just like Phantom had taught him.
From his squat position, Max didn’t overthink, didn’t pause, didn’t hesitate. He pulled the knife over his shoulder, spotted his target and with a deft motion, and a gentle flick of the wrist, he threw the knife.
Sophie felt a stuttered cry leave her lips. She saw it in slow motion as the knife flashed through the air. It rotated once. She heard the air skimming out of its way. It began its second rotation. She heard Ricardo’s gun cock. She heard Phantom breathe out, resigning himself to death.
A dull thud echoed in the hangar. The knife sunk neatly into its target. Ricardo’s chest. “Oof.” Ricardo let out a noise as he staggered backwards, releasing Phantom. Red blossomed on Ricardo’s white shirt. He looked down in shock, dropping the loaded gun. Then fell back.
* * *
Colt cameto at that moment, with a loud groan.
Sophie’s gaze snagged on Colt as he rolled over and immediately puked.
“This concussion is gonna be a bitch,” he grumbled, annoyed at the sheer inconvenience of it.
Max sunk back onto his butt, blowing out a huge puff of air and raking his hands through his hair.
Sophie went to where Phantom was kneeling. Bleeding, alive. She plopped down in front of him, grabbed him and pulled him into her. She felt she’d winded him, but his arms came around her and she held him tightly, too.
“No more,” he sighed into her hair.
She smiled and burst out crying. She felt her cheeks wet, her eyes stinging with salty tears. She was laughing and crying at the same time.
