We Live Forever

Chapter 22: The Storm

Crimson's POV:

I waited in my spot next to the ropes that the cage was hanging from. Any minute now Charles should arrive. About twenty feet away from me on a separate set of rafters was Hank waiting to put the metal in place to block the entrance. Hank caught me looking at him and gave me a little wave.

I heard a noise coming from the entrance and my focus snapped right back to the task at hand. My eyes locked onto the makeshift doorway and soon I saw him - Charles. 

He looked like hell and part of me was glad he did. His hair was grown out and looked greasy. He was no longer clean-shaven and I could smell alcohol even from up in the rafters. He had clearly lost it but gained a bit of insanity in return. 

I waited until just a second before Charles would be under the cage and then cut the rope. Charles suddenly looked up and tried to run, but it was too late. The cage slammed down around Charles and moments later the door and subsequently, the warehouse was sealed.

Hank and I crawled down from the rafters and made our way to the cage. As soon as Charles saw us his face contorted into one of rage. 

"How dare you," He spat in my face. 

"Charles-" Hank tried to say before being interrupted. 

"How could you do this to me, Hank? I've been by your side providing everything you needed for decades and this is how you treat me?" 

"Did- did you really just say that to me?" Hank asked stuttering due to his utter disbelief at the words of the man he spent decades with.

"Yes, you traitor," Charles replied seemingly confused at the question.

Hank seemed disgusted before suddenly taking his glasses off and handing them to me. Hank slowly pulled his shirt off and then held it in a tight grip. He got close to the cage and looked Charles in the eyes. Hank raised his hand and pointed to the partially healed cut on his chest.

"You did this to me," Hank stated, his voice breaking.

"I'd do it again if it got me what I needed"

"What exactly is it you need?" I questioned.

Charles raised his fingers to his temple before speaking, "I need you to free me".

I need to free Charles.

No.

Free him.

No.

Free him!

No!

I turned to look at Hank for help, but he was gone. I looked around and I couldn't see him anywhere. I turned back to Charles and found that the cage had also disappeared. Charles started to walk towards me while speaking, his voice echoed heavily.

"Welcome to my mind. You're powerless here, oh wait, you're powerless everywhere"

"At least my husband didn't kill JFK"

"You married a furry, you don't get to talk"

"What's a furry?"

"It's a British thing, you wouldn't understand," Charles suddenly spoke from behind me.

"How could you do this?" I asked.

"You can't begin to grasp what could drive a man like me to break his moral code..." Charles alluded while a knife fazed into his hand, now pressed against my neck. 

"A man like you? Do you mean a psychopath?"

Charles slid the knife across my throat creating a deep gash. The knife fazed away. I dropped to my knees as the adrenaline wore off and the excruciating pain of being murdered in cold blood set in. My hands grasped at my throat, I tried to slow down the blood flow, but it was hard to grip anything. Blood slipped through my fingers and pooled onto the floor around me. 

"A man who sees the world not for what it is, but for what it could be. A man who romanticizes every moment because any of them could be his last.

A pair of feet entered my field of vision followed by the bottom of a cane. The end of the cane was placed under my chin and my head was slowly raised My eyes meet Charles' and I felt sick.

"Such a pity that you just had to know too much"

I spat blood onto him and managed to whimper out a question:

"You stabbed my husband Charles and you've done god knows what to the kids you promised to protect... why?"

"You wouldn't be able to understand..."

"Make me understand Charles, I want to"

Charles sighed and rubbed his hands down his face in exasperation. He waved his hand and the world faded back into reality. My pain was gone instantly, I was back on my feet, there was no blood, Charles was back in his cage, and Hank was by my side again.

"You may have lived a much longer life than I have Crimson, but you have never known-"

Explosions rocked the building. It felt as if the world was moving in slow motion. The side of the warehouse nearest to us was momentarily illuminated as the wall itself shattered into thousands- no millions of pieces. Huge pieces of metal and concrete moved towards us at hundreds of miles an hour.

Charles turned away from the explosion and used his arm to shield his face. We put him in a cage to protect ourselves and now he's safe and we're left exposed. I would laugh if I wasn't about to die.

I turned towards Hank and I saw him rushing toward me, his hand outstretched. I moved towards him and stuck my hand out towards his. Our fingertips just barely started to brush against each other.

Then it happened. A moment I'll never forget. Never unsee.

A massive piece of rebar moved through my husband like a hot knife through butter. The end the rebar embedded itself deep into the concrete floor of the warehouse. My husband's limp body had rebar going all the way through him.  The rebar kept most of his body off the floor, however, the hand that had slipped through my fingers was now just barely touching the rubble that littered the floor. Blood poured out from around where the rebar entered my husband dripped down his body towards his face. The first few drops of the blood made it down his body and onto his face, they slid down his face dripped off his forehead, and onto the floor. 

All of this happened within a second or two, but it felt like an eternity had passed. 

Then something very large and very heavy struck me from behind and I hit the floor hard. My vision faded and within seconds I was unconscious. 

Author's Note:

Merry Christmas guys..? (If you celebrate)

Oops. 

I never thought I'd google when and where furries originated. (1990's England btw)

Also, chapter 2 was called "The Calm Before The Storm" and this chapter is called "The Storm" and I've very proud of that.

I have a very clear vision of how Hank ends up at the end of this chapter. His stomach or "front" side is facing downward, towards the floor. He was impaled at an angle so his head and "top" side is closer to the ground than his legs. The rebar is right at the point between his chest and stomach. 

Hank kebab lmao

I'M SO SORRY BUT THE JOKE WAS RIGHT THERE

Thank you!

See you next chapter for more pain ;)