Lifeline | Steve Rogers

Chapter 20

Moments before the gunshots -

You gulped, staring at the other end of the barrel, letting out a shaky breath. There was Billy with what used to be his pretty-boy face but now consisted of a busted nose and a few other scraps across his face. He clenched his teeth, pointing the glock at you, forcing you to stand still.

"Hon, let me put this into perspective for you. This whole fighting and running away bit needs to stop. Someone is going to get hurt, and I don't want that to happen, do you?" Billy's brow quirked, keeping a watchful eye on you. "You have to realize it by now no one is coming for you, hon, so forget about your friends and family, and focus on the one we are going to create together."

"You're ridiculous, Billy," you scoffed, shaking your head. "You need to get it through your head that you don't get to make decisions for me anymore. Sure, I went along with it before because I was scared, and I thought it was the right thing to do, but I'm not scared of you anymore. And to be honest, HON, I would rather be dead than have to live with you the rest of my life."

He clenched his jaw, narrowing his eyes at you, and pulled the trigger. Your eyes snapped shut, biting your bottom lip, waiting for the pain to come, but there was nothing. Everything around you fell silent, except for the light breeze touching your skin. Letting out a hesitant breath, you slowly open your eyes to find Billy pointing his gun to something to your right. Peeking over your shoulder, you find a rattlesnake lying motionless.

"You're lucky I was here, or you'd be dead...oh, wait, isn't that what you wanted," Billy snarled, putting his weapon back on you. "You're getting on my last nerve, you know that. All of this could've been avoided if you just came home, and you know what else...Steve would still be alive." Your eyes shot to his, clenching your jaw as you watched a smug smile spread across his face. "Must have been some guy, willing to die for you, kind of pathetic if you ask me. And your brothers, well, they aren't much better."

The muscles in your body tensed up, and you lunged for his gun. You grabbed the top of the barrel and quickly stepped out of the line of fire. Billy dropped one of his hands off the grip, trying to push you away, but you continued to charge forward, placing your other hand on the back of the gun while trying to twist his wrist to get him to let the gun go. He caught on quick, shifting his stance, pulling the gun from your grasp, and firing it in the air. You ignored the slight humming in your ear, kicking him in the groin, and he dropped the gun. You turned to run, but he tackled you to the ground. Pushing yourself up, you tried to crawl away, but he flipped you around and sat on your hips, holding your hands beside your head.

"Oh, so you learned some new tricks. Am I supposed to be impressed?"

"Why? Are you?" You quipped, earning a scoff in response.

Noticing his current position, you smirked, trapping his foot by hooking your left foot around his ankle, pushing up off the ground with your right leg and hips, rolling him over, and trapping him underneath you. His eyes widened in surprise at your move, quickly wrapping his legs around your waist, trapping you against him. You proceeded to punch him in the stomach, making him cower and separate his legs. You pushed off his hips to stand up and turned to run only to have him catch your foot and pull you back to the ground. Your hip crashed into a sharp rock, sending a sharp dull pain coursing through your system. You cried out, rolling over, hissing in pain. His face appeared above yours with a bone-chilling smile.

"Nice try, hon, but you're gonna have to be quicker than that."

You felt for the rock you landed on and grunted, hitting him in the side of the head. He tumbled to his side as you slowly stood up, leaning against the rock cliff wall for support.