UNMASKED

#31

Running through a warehouse filled with assholes who wanted him dead was an experience Eli didn't necessarily want to repeat. 10/10 would not recommend.

The fact that he was once again in that exact same situation was almost laughable. Maybe it was one of those we'll-laugh-about-it-later kind of things. Eli doubted it, but he'd been told he needed to think positive. He had to admit, the addition of Adria and Mikey didn't do much to improve things.

If anything, having Adria running in front of him—in heels—while shooting anything that moved, just made things a little bit more worrying. Eli was just grateful that Mikey was also in front of them and would serve as an excellent shield.

Now, if only Matthew weren't bleeding out from his shoulder.

"Shit," Adria hissed. The curse was followed by a gunshot and Matthew pulling Eli aside. They stood flat against a container, Adria and Mikey returning fire.

Eli felt his heart making yet another attempt at beating out of his chest. Fortunately, it had yet to succeed.

"Well, we're fucked," he heard Adria mutter, and just barely restrained himself from mentioning how very bad that attitude was for morale. Mostly, he only managed it because he couldn't really disagree. They really were well and truly fucked and not in the fun way.

"Only if we stay here," Matthew said, as if they wouldn't all like to leave. "Got anything to distract them?" he asked.

"We can always throw the little shit at them, but I guess that would defeat the purpose of this whole shitshow," Adria said, shooting some poor asshole who'd peered out from behind a container at the wrong time.

"Let's stick to helpful suggestions," Eli said. He didn't like being reminded of how much Adria would like to kill him. Or the ease with which she could accomplish it.

"Can you get him out of here?" Matthew asked, looking at Adria like Eli wasn't right there.

"Ha, fuck no, we're not doing that," he said before Adria could answer.

"Eli," Matthew started, like he thought that would work. Eli just glared and was inwardly gleeful at the sight of Matthew's resolve crumbling. Apparently, he'd more or less realized that trying to force something like that on Eli was useless.

"Honestly, how you two have survived this long is a fucking wonder," Adria said, sounding very much like their continued survival disgusted them. Which it probably did. She looked over at Mikey. "Got anything useful?"

The giant of a man that Adria seemed to have full control over for some terrifying reason thought about it for a moment. Then, he reached into the inside of his jacket and pulled out a fucking grenade. Adria's look of glee as the object was revealed was decidedly not a good thing.

"Oh don't look at me like that, it's a stun grenade. I'm not blowing anyone up." Eli thought there might have been a "yet" following that, but it had thankfully been left out. Probably because Matthew already looked adequately concerned. "Now, who has a good throwing arm?"

Eli, surprisingly, did not brag about the time he'd nearly taken a robber out with an orange. He'd let someone else get the credit this time.

In the end, with Matthew's arm busted, Eli not wanting to handle anything with the word grenade in the title, and Adria admitting her throwing aim was shit, Mikey ended up with the honor. They all hurried to cover their ears and got ready to run as Mikey hurled the canister at the enemy.

There was a deafening bang and a flash of light so bright that Eli almost felt bad for the guys caught in the blast. Before he could feel too bad about them, he was too busy running for what he hoped was the exit.