Haymaker: Part 1 of the Hayflick Series

Chapter 24

The first thing Luc did when the darkness fell was grab his brother's shoulder. After navigating this labyrinth for the better part of an hour, he sure as hell wasn't losing him again.

The second thing he did was find Ripley, and get the fuck out of her way. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he could just make out her silhouette wielding a gun. Brooke was upon her in an instant, however. Ripley aimed the firearm at the woman's face, but Brooke slapped it away with the back of her hand.

Luc's stomach began to churn, and likely Gio's even more so. His brother had mentioned her in passing: Brooke, the girl with the long black locks who looked good no matter how she did them up. They'd both attended Columbia together, and despite them being the same age, she'd climbed the ranks of the company much faster.

Red emergency lights and a rotating white light came on, illuminating the chaotic scene, while a klaxon horn echoed from somewhere down the hall. Luc had to blink his eyes to adjust to sudden brightness. The two women were wrestling over the pistol Brooke has whipped out, while the other guards around the room looked panicked, not knowing what exactly to do. One guard tried to pull Ripley away, but the room suddenly shook, a tremor trembling the earth and causing the guard to fall on his ass.

Another guard tried to escort the brothers to the exit, but Gio broke free with minimal effort. Luc realized too late that he hadn't let Gio know Ripley was on their side.

He walked up to Ripley and turned her around, only to deliver a punch to her jaw. She recovered with minimal effort, shooting a glare at Luc and then kicking the man to the floor. The room shook once again, and the pistol Ripley had wrested away from Brooke slipped out of her hands and skidded towards Luc.

Not again. The pistol stopped at the tips of his sneakers, and he fell against the bars of a cell, cold metal pressing into his back. As cold as he imagined the cold metal of the pistol's barrel to be, and in sharp contrast to the hot metal bullet that had pierced his temple. He exhaled, trying his very best to calm himself, to fucking move, but his breath came out in short, visible puffs in the cold basement air, and his legs affixed to the floor.

"Slide the pistol over to me!" Ripley called across the room, but Luc's body and mind were at odds at the moment, so he continued to shiver in pace. Brooke didn't waste any time; she sprinted over and snatched up the gun, planting three bullets in Ripley's chest in rapid succession.

The woman's eyelids fluttered, her expression a look of fatigue and exasperation rather than panic or rage, and she fell backwards, landing hard on the ground.

Gio leapt into action, running over to Brooke and asking her over and over if she was alright. Luc rubbed a hand over his face; he wanted to kick himself really, really hard. His mind worked at a hundred miles an hour, trying to come up with a plan.

By now, all the other guards had filed out, wisely electing to save themselves rather than deal with this bullshit. The earth shook again, a resounding boom coinciding, causing the three still-living people to collapse to the floor. A loud pounding came from the sizeable steel door situated at the end of the room. Luc had ignored it before, but now he was having some difficulty doing so.

A hand landed on his shoulder, and he yelped. Brooke squeezed reassuringly. "Let's get out of here."

He couldn't just leave Ripley behind. Unless... he could?

He had his brother. They were getting out. What more could he need?

But Cruz had vouched for him, and if Luc left Ripley here, then she'd likely be subjected to whatever torture their friend was experiencing right now. Not to mention Luc would never get his answers about all this immortality bullshit.