Running on Empty

Chapter 2

It happened in a bank in the city, a year before. Lily, Vinn's wife and soulmate, was one of the unfortunate customers to be taken hostage by some low-life thieves. Marcus, Vinn's best friend and partner on the force, was also among the captives.

     Marcus was very much the alpha male in the police force, and years of widely-publicised successes  made him both popular and confident. When Lily struggled against her captors, he didn't hesitate to draw his firearm and be the hero. But the bullet that was intended for one of the robbers caught Lily in the back, piercing her heart. 

     Somehow, inexplicably, the robbers escaped that day. After Lily's body gave in at the hospital a few hours later, Vinn went on a vengeful rampage. He tracked the bank robbers for weeks, using every skill he had learned over the years. "You'll let them destroy you if you don't let it go," Marcus had said. Vinn wasn't interested in justice, or serving the law; for that time, all that mattered was revenge. The need to destroy the monsters who had taken everything from him was his only drive; all that kept him going. 

      And then he found them. 

      He came upon them in an old apartment building, boozing and laughing as if everything was perfectly fine. They never saw him coming.

They were meant to suffer. He wanted them to feel what he felt every moment of every day.

  But when it got to the deed, and he was pointing the gun, instinct took over and he shot the wide-eyed kids down like clay targets. He thought he had what he came for. Revenge was supposed to heal, or at least alleviate the pain, but it only made things worse. 

       The last one he took down wanted to live, like Lily had wanted to live. He lay there choking on his own blood, tears streaming down his cheeks. Even when all his mates had taken their last breath, he clung to life. Vinn wished he could walk out and let the man's world end in a wash of pain and fear, but he couldn't bear it. 

    Instead, he crouched next to the man and looked him right in the eyes. He could feel tears stinging his own eyes, and he let them come.

"Do you see what you've done?" Vinn had asked the dying soul. "I can't go on without her, do you understand? You  took everything from me! You deserved this, don't you see that?"

    The man just continued to pant and sputter, too afraid of death to notice anything else. Vinn turned the man's head on its side to let the blood run out. The man coughed, then said the last thing Vinn had expected.

"I'm so sorry." His lip was quivering, but he managed to hold his gaze on Vinn with eyes that showed an ocean of genuine despair. "We never thought anyone would get hurt. It was just for the cash, so I could pay my bills. I wanted to tell you before, but the boss threatened me with a bullet. I swear to God, I never meant for her to get shot. It was the boss that did it."

     Vinn ran a hand through his hair, and sat heavily. He was impressed by the man's courage; he wasn't begging for his life, he already knew it was forfeit. He looked back into the criminal's pleading eyes. 

"You're lying. My partner shot Lily trying to save her and the rest of the hostages. Your boss didn't do it."

"He did," the man insisted, really struggling now. "He's not here today because he ditched us after the take. His name is Marcus Judd. The woman, I mean your wife, recognised him and tried to talk to him, so he shot her. I tried to help her, I swear, but we had to get out of there. I'm so sorry."

   It felt like a thousand shards of ice pierced Vinn's flesh. What was left of his heart shattered in that moment. When he walked out of the apartment, the tears had stopped and numbness was enveloping him like a grey fog in the evening. Crossing the threshold was like closing his heart to humanity. 

____________________________________________________________________________

Thanks for reading guys, I hope you enjoyed the second chapter. Please don't forget to vote if you like it, and comment if you want to say anything. It means a lot :)