Sha Qing

Chapter 24: The Devil King & The Cavalry (1)

When Leo's consciousness returned, he heard Rob's groan in the haze.

"Are you alright?" He asked with difficulty.

"... Not so good, I think," Rob gasped from the front, his voice sounded like a dry rock rubbing against gravel. "I was shot. The bullet penetrated through Mike, and got stuck in my shoulder blade... my face is full of his flesh and blood ... They actually killed him! He was still talking to me seconds ago, but now he's only left with two-thirds of his head! These sons of bitches, scums that deserves to go to hell! I'm going to blow their heads off! Oh, fuck, fuck, fuck ..." Rob hysterically repeated the last word.

"Calm down, Rob, calm down..." Leo whispered, not only to Rob but also to himself. He tried his best to not touch the idea that came to his mind at this moment: Mike died because of him! If he hadn't felt pain in his wounds caused by driving for a long time, Mike wouldn't have swapped places with him. This shot was supposed to be for him, not for the black young man who came out of the slum with dreams ahead of him! This idea was suppressed and crushed by him, as the time now is too precious to be wasted on guilt.

"Can you still move, Rob?"

"Except for the left arm and shoulder, it should be fine ... but the door is stuck."

Leo resisted the dizziness in his brain, pushed open the rear door and got out of the car. He picked up an iron bar from the ground and smashed the right front window glass, and pulled Rob who was pressed under Mike's body. The blood on his left shoulder was gushing out like a spring, his upper left body was sprayed with flesh and blood, and his face had several cuts caused by the splattered bone fragments.

"Call for back-up! There should be a back door in this warehouse. You go out immediately and find a hidden place to stop the bleeding!" Leo pulled out his Glock 18, and using the body as a cover, pointed the muzzle at the large hole that had been knocked out of the warehouse wall. The bright light there was suddenly obscured by a shadow- it was clear that someone was hiding behind the wall...

"Let's go together!" Rob said as he covered the bloody wound on his brow bone.

Leo caught a glimpse of a gun in the figure's hand thus he fired without hesitation. The opponent also shot bullets non-stop, making the steel body bang and pit. Leo lowered his head and hid behind the car, as he whispered, "I'll cover you! Move it!" After the other side finished the consecutive shots, Leo glanced out from his hiding place and saw half of gunner's face stuck out from the wall. He fired another shot but the bullet hit the concrete and the figure immediately retracted behind the wall. "Go!" He pushed the still-hesitant Rob.

Rob gritted his teeth, pulled out all his spare magazines, placed them at Leo's feet, and then disappeared into the gaps between the stack of containers.

One cartridge ran out quickly. Leo pressed his right thumb of the magazine and his left hand replaced it with a new one in the blink of an eye, his firing rate did not stagnate at all. After another cartridge, he estimated that Rob should have been out of the warehouse, so he stopped shooting blindly for cover. He returned behind the car to reload his gun, inserted the remaining two spare magazines in his waist, and listened to the movements around him as he held his breath.

Sweat dampened his forehead, soaked his back and the bandage. The wound kept throbbing with sore pain; he didn't know if it was because of the salty sweat or if it was torn again by his rough movements. Leo crouched with his back against the car, as he gasped silently and listened nervously to the subtle footsteps from faraway, estimating its direction and distance in his mind.