𝐓𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡

𝟓𝟒 | 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐚 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝

"Oh, it's you," he lowered his hands freely to his body and exhaled. „Sorry, I was afraid it was Mercado's men. They split up. Some of his sidekicks remained to look after this side of the hotel. We saw them on camera. There aren't many of them. Us four can handle them," he declared, yawning.

„Four?" Otto's head peeked out the door. „You wanted to say five, didn't you?"

My heart pounded happily. Otto is still alive. And that's all I cared about right now. I looked at my friend carefully, from head to toe. He looked so... devastated.

And are you surprised at all? I contradicted myself. It's all YOUR FAULT. If anything happens to him, YOU will be the one to blame.

I gritted my teeth. The circumstances were bad themselves, so why did I have to make it worse with my own words? Why do I feel that no one hates Ria O'Donnell as much as I hate her?

There was growing distaste inside me. Distaste for my name, my father, and, last but not least, distaste for myself.

Maybe if I hadn't been born into a killer family, things would have been different.

Oh, dad, why did you do such bad things?

It's weird... because I feel like all the regret and guilt that my father forbade me to feel, came miraculously to me. It's like I've experienced it twice. I'm afraid that in the end, under the weight of emotions, I will shatter into a thousand pieces and no one and nothing will save my soul. And I will go to hell, where I belong.

Looking at the warm eyes and friendly face, I felt a breeze of hope. Invisible energy passed through my tense body, allowing me to relax for at least a second.

Otto gave me a long look. I tried not to smile, given the gravity of the situation and what had just happened. Even so, a small smirk spread across my face. Otto smiled back at me. Something about him made me feel at least a little better and less lost. Thanks to him, I was able to emerge from the dark ocean and breathe.

„No, four," Tom insisted. He stepped aside, so he made room for us to get inside.

This room was much larger than the one Patrick had dragged me into. Small screens connected to the camera system were placed all around. In the center of the table stood a massive computer with two keyboards.

I tripped on a cable and cursed softly.

„Watch out, it's a little dark and messy," Tom laughed, helping me untie myself from a tangle of long cords. Then he took a breath and continued talking. „Like I said - four," he stopped where he left off. He glanced straight at Otto as if to make sure he didn't overdo it and didn't do anything stupid. „I'm talking about me, Leo, Ria, and Patrick, because we can handle a gun. You could do us more harm than good," he tried to justify his decision. I basically agreed with him. Except for one part.

„For my self-defense," Otto intervened with a raised finger, „when Ria and I were chased by those morons in cars, I completely cut them off. It was like playing The Last of Us in a live version. Only without zombies." His hands immediately turned into two pistols, which he threw wildly all over the world and fired invisible missiles.

„I don't want to be mean," Tom interrupted his passionate video game monologue, „but don't you have anything to do?"

Otto sighed and sat on a chair behind the computer. Something was loading there. There was only a piece left to be completed.

„Yeah, it's almost over," Otto muttered under his nose. Then he tapped something on the keyboard at speed, speeding up the process. A folder with dozens of names appeared on the screen in front of us. „Done, I'm there," he said proudly of the job well done.