Locked in chains

Chapter 1

"LEILAAAAA! " Lucas shouts from downstairs. "We have to go, hurry up. "

"Yeah, I'm coming, urgh. " I say, rolling my eyes. At least he couldn't see me do this, he would be so mad about it. I hurry downstairs, get in front of my brother with my arms crossed together, and look at him with a death stare.

"Happy?"

"I'll be happy when we finish this mission. The guys are waiting for us in the car, so let's go, " he says. We left the house and got in the car as fast as we could. Usually, I'm the one screaming at him or the others, but this time, it was the opposite. Let's say it's an exception.

"Next time we'll leave you here," says Cole.

"You can keep your threats to yourself."

"Leila, stop it right now" He replies, snapping his tongue on his palate.

"Well, well, someone woke up angry this morning" I mutter. I didn't add anything, and I stopped talking to him. Not out of fear but because I didn't feel like arguing with him again, it was only a waste of my breath anyway. It's crazy how it became a habit since we all started living together, like a tradition if you must. I loved pushing his limits, and vice versa. Nothing more. Kyle, who's sitting in the front passenger seat, turns around to face me and lifts his eyebrows in question. I give him a sign that everything's ok, and he turns his attention back forward. This guy is an angel to me, my best friend, and the one who can make me laugh despite all the crap happening in our lives. I don't know what I would've done without him, or them. They were there when no one else was, treating my brother and me like their own. They're my family now and no one in the world could change that.

After thirty minutes of riding, we finally made our way to the bunker of the opposing gang, The Devils. They stole a shipment from us not long ago, which included some guns and ammunition. Marcus, Cole's father, wanted to show them not to mess with the Red's business. If I was in their place I'd be scared. So here we are, putting on our white masks stained with blood. For some of us, the masks were redder depending on how many people you've killed. The redder the better Marcus always said, he thinks it shows our strength to the others. Let's just say that Cole has the most prominent one. Mine's mostly white with some stained blood on my right side and the top too. Anyhow, we've prepared for the worst. Everyone grabs their weapons, I take two small knives and a gun that I directly put in the back of my jeans.

"Ready?" Asks Cole.

We all nod our heads and move towards the side of the bunker without being seen. If we want to make it out alive on this mission, we need to be discreet. Lucas, Enzo, and Kyle went to the back of the bunker, while Cole and I stayed in the front as planned. He gives me a nod directed towards the top of the bunker and I hurry to figure out a way to get to the roof. It's always good to have someone watching and having a general view of the situation, and I have a good eye for this. Once I found a way to get on the roof, I got into position and waited for the signal. It wasn't the first time the five of us had done a mission together. I knew what was expected of me and I was prepared for any eventuality. That's what I thought anyway, but I wasn't ready for this one.

There was a window on the roof, and I could see what was happening inside the bunker without The Devils seeing me. It's the perfect spot! They were sitting around a table playing poker, and they had no idea what was going to happen in just a few seconds. One of the first things you learn when you join a gang, or any high organization is that you must always be on guard in this lifestyle. It seems like they'll have to learn this the hard way. In the corner of my eye, I see Lucas coming inside the building with his hands up.

"What is this imbecile doing? This isn't the plan... " I say to myself. I feel the stress building up inside me, this wasn't part of the plan that we discussed earlier. Why would he do that? How did the others let him enter empty-handed like that? I continue watching the scene from above and cursing my brother. Immediately, the Devils stand up at the same time, probably surprised to see Lucas in front of them, as am I.

"Shit," I say between my teeth. I wave my hands so that he can see me and maybe if he looks at me, I'll be able to see if it's part of some stupid plan he just concocted or if he needs help. Suddenly, one of the Devils raises his gun towards my brother and approaches him slowly until his gun touches his forehead. I hoped that Cole, Kyle, or Enzo would appear in the room, but as more time passes, the more I lose hope. Surely, they wouldn't let him handle this alone. I can't believe what's happening right now.

"Fuck it!" I wasn't going to be waiting for my brother to get shot and watch him die in front of me. I don't want to relive the death of someone I love. I trusted the Reds, but no way I will stand here and wait for some fucking signal to act and save my brother's life. I quickly break the window and then find myself on the floor of this bunker. I raise my head towards my brother, he's looking at me also and I can see in his eyes that he's wondering what I'm doing down there, literally. I turn around to face the other guys that I've been watching the entire time.

"Who the fuck are you?" One of the guys says.

"Your worst nightmare."

While saying this to him, I threw one of my knives at his throat. The others grab their guns and aim at me without hesitation. I throw another knife which ends up in the forehead of another guy, leaving only three guys left. I flip over the poker table on its side and take cover behind it to avoid the ensuing gunfire. If I didn't already screw up the mission, I did now. As I'm about to take out the gun that I hid in the back of my jeans earlier, Cole finally appears in the room with Kyle and Enzo. I look at him briefly and see that he looks furious, his gaze is black, and you can see that he's clenching his jaw. He's not happy, let me tell you that. The plan was for me to wait for the signal, but I didn't. My brother's life was at stake, and we never talked about this shitty plan. Without me even realizing it, Cole shoots one of the guys in the head, while Kyle and Enzo do the same thing with the last 2. The 5 guys are now on the floor, bathing in their nasty, filthy, murky blood.

"Can you explain what that was..." I start saying.

"Shut the fuck up, Leila."

"No Cole! That wasn't the plan, and you know it!"

"Cole..." begins Lucas.

Cole gives Lucas a hand sign to be quiet and approaches me dangerously. I don't back down to show him that he doesn't scare me, but I can't help but feel a little bit nervous. He had this aura that would make anyone crumble, the way he has this death stare that shows that he could kill you if he wanted to. Scary. He gets very close to me, bringing his face closer to mine to the point I can see his black irises looking straight into mine. "I asked you to wait for the signal, didn't I?" he spits out. I don't respond, knowing well I screwed up. But the situation is resolved, right? They won't think to steal from us anytime soon. Message delivered, no?

"Now because of you, we're at war with the Devils, their boss is going to hear about it."

"But..."

"SHUT UP! We weren't supposed to kill them."

"You left Lucas alone Cole. He had a gun to his forehead. What were you thinking?"

"Lucas is a big boy, he knew what was expected of him," he says dryly.

"We had a change of plans sis'. We didn't have time to tell you. I'm sorry to have put you in this situation, but you know better than to act on impulse. You almost blew everything."

"You guys always keep me in the dark and afterwards you're all going to say it's my fault? Are you fucking serious right now?"

Silence falls into the room.

"We should go..." says my brother.

"You'll deal with this at home," adds Enzo.

Cole gives me one last dark look and we decide to finally leave the bunker. On the way home, I'm staying silent the whole ride. Lucas is sitting next to me and he's trying to talk to me, but I don't want to hear anything. Because of me and my fear of losing him, I just screwed up the mission. But why was Lucas entering the room empty-handed, like he was surrendering or something?