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“I’m so sorry Phantom, I’m sorry, I nearly cost you your life, I wanted to save you-”
“Well, lucky I was around and saved him for you, huh?” Max cockily stood up and dusted himself off.
“What did I miss?” Colt eyed Ricardo on the ground, in a puddle of blood, his eyes wide, his face white. Colt didn’t look surprised. He got on the phone straight away. “Yeah, Ash? Yeah, we got him. Max and Phantom. Yep, all fine… Ricardo’s fucking dead… you all okay? Jared? He can take that, he was a Marine for fuck’s sake! And Rita? Yeah, she’ll be pissed… yeah Sophie’s here, too… fuck if I know how she got here… get everyone together, pile up the weapons, set a fire, fucking burn it all…”
Phantom reached out to Sophie’s shoulder. She looked, he nodded toward the back door of the hangar. Where she had crept through. Where the guards were tied up still.
“The men… the guards, there are about three of them,” Sophie licked her dry lips. “What are you going to do with them?”
“Phantom knocked them out?” Colt asked.
Phantom nodded.
Colt took a deep breath in and sighed. “We’ll take them back with us. They can stay if they want to, if they don’t, we cut them loose.”
Phantom dipped his head once.
Sophie felt a breath of relief pass her lips.
“Hey mister, are you really having lasagna for dinner?” Max asked Colt, tilting his head to the side as he looked up at him.
Colt stood up and regarded the lanky teenager for a second, then put a hand out and ruffled his hair. “Yeah kid, a shit-hot lasagna at that, too, you hungry?”
“Fucking famished,” Max replied, toeing the ground almost bashfully.
Colt looked over at Sophie and Phantom, then looked down at Max. And he smiled. The warm smile of a father, looking around at the happy life he’d built for his family. A proud father. Sure, a trail of bodies and empty bullet casings in a derelict hangar wasn’t what all fathers would call a triumph. But Sophie had no doubt that he was proud of his family today.
Colt couldn’t hide his grin. “Come on then, let’s all go home.”
Phantom stood, looked down at Sophie, and held out his bloody hand to take hers. She immediately took it, gripping through the wet slick of scarlet, and pulled herself up to stand alongside him.
“Is there dessert, too?” Max asked, unapologetically.
Sophie rolled her eyes affectionately and cleared her throat. “Sure there is.” She flashed her eyebrows up and smiled “Ice cream,” she said, nudging Phantom in the ribs.
He smiled at her, through his bleeding nose, through his bleeding heart.
It turned out ice cream could take away the taste of blood, after all.
Three Months Later
The darkness had eyes.
Carmelo stood in the darkness, the air was cool, still. He peered over his shoulder, knowing he shouldn’t be looking, but unable to resist. It was quiet, not silent, but hushed, a reverent quiet. He wasn’t alone, he stood with many other people. He felt someone’s jostling shoulder next to his, just a light bump as they stood, slightly restless with the anticipation of the day.
The darkness smelled sweet.
Roses. He turned his head, and yes, the grungy concrete wall had bunches of beautiful pink roses on it. Paired with pale green eucalyptus and white little baby’s breath. He could see them in the gloom because there were candles, too. Also on the wall, as if it was a medieval crypt. Lighting the way forward. Some people held some, too, casting small pockets of soft, warm glow in the heavy darkness and as people moved slightly, the light danced and flickered.
Carmelo turned to the front and saw the flash of the whites of eyes up ahead. The darkness held something that glinted. Cold steel. A blade.
He heard a rustling and peered back again.
Sophie. She stepped forward, tentatively. She could be seen, even in the darkness. It was so still and quiet, Carmelo heard her take a sharp breath in. She was walking right to him. Carmelo felt his heartbeat in his body watching this unfold.
She took another step forward. Her heels giving a muffled clip on the concrete. He looked at the floor and saw straw had been laid out. That also accounted for the sweet, summer-like smell. It was lightly scattered down the path she walked on. Her dress skimmed over the floor. The candlelight flickered over her face.
The darkness breathed. Carmelo turned back to the front, andheard a little puff of a sigh.
