Saints Row: Bullet to the Heart

Chapter 17

~*Purgatory*~

Gat sneezed, then took another sip of his drink. "Pierce, you have anything on what Li asked?"

Pierce walked by carrying a box. "Yeah, my boy got something, and then we can discuss it tomorrow. I have a plan."

"Aight, Carlos, what about you?"

"Yeah, nothing I can do. They locked Maero up."

"Shitting me, hold off on telling Li how long he is in for?"

Carlos shrugged. "Dunno, the second I know you know." Carlos trotted off when someone needed his help.

Gat nodded. His phone rang, looking at the screen.

> Went to visit Aunt Fu. See you later <3

Texting Aisha back, he then went to text several people. He has the task of gathering supplies, munitions, and the like. They were going to need guns, well... He was going to need guns and a shit ton of ammo. It did not focus his mind on what it should be. He took another long drink, poured himself another glass, feeling the burn slide down his throat, and left the HQ. His girls will be occupied for a while and he decided to hit the town.

Heading home, speeding through the streets, he pulled into the driveway. They were still out; he pulled out a black shirt and slacks, tossing a set of silver rings and necklace on the bed, and took out a pair of silver frame clear lens glasses. He hopped in the shower, his mind occupied. His dreams as of late have been waking him up in the middle of the night, Kyouki.

He always hears that song that she sang, they are together in his dream. Walking side by side, she runs ahead of him, stops. She's looking over her shoulder, smiling at him. "I'll see you later." Then, in a flash, she's gone. There is another that plagues him, worse than the other that leaves him waking, numb, shaking in a cold sweat. Johnny's thoughts even cycle when he tries to sleep, which has been impossible for years now.

~*Two nights ago.*~

They are outside with a large pool. It's sunny out. Li is wearing a hoodie, but she looks older, like now, just the hoodie; she's standing in a pool up to her knees. Aisha is there, with her, wearing what she did when she worked for Ben King, just a white shirt and black thong bikini bottoms. Inviting him to come play with them, then grows warm, he sees Troy come up walking past him.

Aisha walks to him, Troy leads Li away. Gat feels uneasy, he's getting angry, Aisha puts her hand on his cheek, he looks down at her, he smiles, but he tries to keep an eye on Li.

Seeing Troy lean in kissing Li, Gat is ready to deck him, seeing his hands move up, pulling the oversized hoodie up around Li's hips. The edges of his vision are frayed with blacks and reds. Aisha moves so she can pull Gat down. She kisses him and while they are engaged; he hears a scream. Tearing from Aisha's kiss, he sees Li is nowhere to be found.

Troy runs to him apologizing, but Gat doesn't hear him shoving the man out of the way. Troy screams "Help me find Li!".

In Gat's frantic searching, his chest burns, his voice is echoing the and outside colors shift to white. Aisha and Troy are side by side now, looking down at the pool. Gat's gaze follows theirs. Li is at his feet, face down and bleeding. The whole pool becomes red and everything outside fades to red.

He is trembling, his hands shaking, as he reaches for her, wet, bleeding, he kneels down in the bloody water turning her over, her eyes are closed, she looks like she's sleeping. He shakes her. "Wake up!"

~

Johnny always wakes with a start, heart pounding and he can't breathe, his whole body is numb. Aisha is there next to him. She had stopped waking up to check on him. She stopped long ago.