König and His Darling

Chapter Eleven

I sit in the empty alleyway in the rain for what seems like ages. Eventually I realize that, once again, I would have to save myself. I gather myself together and begin to assess my surroundings.

The sound of the rain begins to let up slightly but I can still hear the click clacking of it bouncing off of metal roofs and awnings. I try to stand up but soon feel a searing heat in my leg, I stumble and fail to catch myself as my cheek and jaw make contact with the brick pavement underneath me. When I begin to regain some stamina I look down to see that I had been shot in my lower leg while running.

"Through and through" I mumble to myself through gritted teeth.

I take my belt off and tie it above the knee as tightly as possible to slow my blood loss. I then begin to try and stand again with the help of the alley wall next to me. I gingerly test my leg again and apply pressure on it, fortunately it doesn't feel as if any bone was broken and the bleeding has stopped for the most part so hopefully no artery was nicked either.

I breathe some relief, knowing my circumstances could be a lot worse. Fortunately my radio stayed attached to me by some miraculous divine intervention. I grab the radio and begin flipping through the channels, listening to static before eventually I hear chatter and it's the shadow company soldiers clearing buildings looking for us.

I quickly flip to another channel and it's only silence so I take my chances,

"Is anyone there? Ghost, Soap... König?" the last name hitching in my throat. I let go of the button and waited.

"Aye, good to hear your voice lass" I hear Soap over the radio, his voice clearly exhausted.

"Affirmative," I hear Ghost's voice chime in quickly after, "everyone make your way to the church," he finishes with an order.

I wait because as happy as I am to hear Ghost and Soap there is someone I want to hear even more and I hear nothing but static.

"Has... has anyone heard from König?" I say hesitantly into the radio.

"Negative... sorry Grudge," Ghost says into the radio.

Everything is spinning, I need to grab ahold of anyone or anything but I can't seem to move. Gone? König gone? This can't be happening, I just got him, I just touched him... I just loved him. A sound breaks through the silence,

"Grudge... now is not the time, you must make it to the church, I am waiting for you and Soap so we can get out of here," Ghost breaks in, gaining hold of my conscience.

"... affirmative L.T.," I say begrudgingly, my heart now aching for someone too far away to ever touch.

I force myself to walk, the pain beginning to dull in my leg the further I move, now being a throbbing ache. Suddenly I hear gunshots followed by the screams of children. They're murdering children? Even for Shadow Company I am left in disbelief. I duck into a shop with broken windows that have been shot out.

I can hear voices coming closer down the alleyway so I look around for anything to help. I grab a shirt off a mannequin and rip a length of cloth off of it and wrap the cloth around a long piece of broken glass. A makeshift shank, crude, but it will work for now.

I back against the wall next to the doorway, pulling myself into the shadows. I breathe out slowly, silent to the ears of the men coming closer. I wait until they pass the doorway and I leap forward onto the back of one, slamming the glass into his neck. I rip the shard from his neck and thrust it into the other man's neck before he can react or make a noise. I cling to the first man's back as he falls forward. The thuds of their bodies unheard against the rain and distant screams of innocent civilians.

I drag the two bodies into the shop behind the counter to conceal them and take a weapon off their bodies along with their knives. I rip another strip of cloth off the mannequin's shirt and wrap around my hand as I cut myself during the attack.

I step back out into the rain, ready to continue my journey. I see a ladder hanging down another alleyway and I begin to climb it, very aware the wound on my leg has begun to bleed again. After stepping onto the fire escape I look above to see the rooftop, I gently climb onto the railing and reach up, just barely able to grab the edge. I squat down and quickly jerk back up, throwing myself up just high enough to grab the roof and pull myself up.

I look around from my new vantage point before I finally see it, the church. My destination was further than I originally thought and there were heavy patrols of soldiers between me and the looming building. I quickly run to the edge of the roof and leap off, pushing myself with a foot against the edge. I land on the next roof, rolling to break my fall. There was going to be only so much of this that I could do before I will have to get off and walk, I soon realized.

After continuing my roof leaping method for a few more blocks there were no more roofs close by to jump to and I was exhausted, with my leg and hand throbbing against the wet clothes that were clinging to my body. If I hadn't already removed my tank top previously I surely would do so now to stave off some of the cold I felt in my bones.

I duck into another building, knowing I needed to take a break before I made a mistake that would attract the closest soldiers searching for me. I creep up the stairs, looking for anything to help redress my wounds. I step into the bathroom and open the medicine cabinet above the sink. As I am rummaging through it I hear footsteps and muffled voices below and I freeze.

"I swore I saw someone come in here," I hear a soldier say to another unseen body.

"This is the 141, if you see them it'll be too late, you'll already be dead," the other mutters back.

Suddenly I feel a large hand wrap around my bare waist and another wrap over my face, I jerk instinctively and claw at the hands when I hear a low voice,

"Shatzi... shhhhhh" König whispers into my ear as he pushes me further into the bathroom, turning out the light and shutting the door to conceal us.

I whip around once his grip loosens and look up, afraid to believe my eyes. I must be hallucinating from blood loss, this can't be real, can it?

"I thought you were dead, I called on the radio..." I trail off while trying to fight back the tears clawing at my eyes.

"Oh, mein shatz... it broke, I'm sorry" he responds as he wraps his arms around me again, pulling me hard against his chest.

The two voices drew closer as we could hear them coming up the stairs. König stiffens against me before letting go and turning to prepare himself for attack but before anything happens we hear the men's radios chirp up,

"Shadow 12, do you copy?" the radio says to the room.

"Copy" one of the soldiers says directly outside the bathroom door.

"We need backup in the shops, we've found two dead Shadows," the empty voice says back.

"Copy" both men say in unison to their radios before turning and quickly going back down the stairs.

König turns to me once the men were out of earshot,

"I'm assuming those were your handiwork?" he says with a smirk in his voice.

I simply smile back before wrapping my arms around him again, never wanting to let go. König returns the embrace before he continues,

"Have you heard from Soap or Ghost?" he says, barely above a whisper.

"Oh shit," I say, reality of our circumstances finally setting back in, I grab my radio before quickly stating,

"L.T., I found König, he's alive and we're on our way" I finish before letting go of the button once again.

"Thank bloody Jesus" I hear Soap chime in over the radio.

I turn to König, knowing that emotions needed to take a back seat right now,

"We need to get to the church," I say before grabbing König's hand and quickly leaving the bathroom and going back down the stairs the soldiers had left only moments before.