The Blood Gang

Chapter 10

It must have been four, five in the morning when I started running again. Unfortunately, the sky was still very dark. I couldn't see much, often tripping over stones and scraping my knees, but thank God the sky was beginning to lighten. I stopped to catch my breath. So much had happened in one week. I had been threatened with death, survived a train derailing, been kidnapped and nearly starved, then freed, and now I was running for hours without end.

I began wondering about the town Iza told me about. Apparently it was small. Ambush? Most likely not. She and I went back a long way.

I heard footsteps from behind me and sprinted. Who was behind me at this hour? Iza? Was it some harmless animal in the middle of nowhere? I couldn't take chances. My life was at stake. I wasn't so sure I wanted Michael to grow up with John and Kathy. Speaking of which, were they already at the town? They couldn't be right behind me -- why wouldn't they shout my name?

Something -- or someone -- slammed into my back. The two of us tripped over a rock and fell to the ground. We grappled with each other before breaking apart, me tumbling for a few more seconds while the other sprang to his feet.

I rolled over so that I faced him, then stopped and gasped when I saw who it was. "Ezekiel?"

Ezekiel stood not quite two yards from me, his eyes narrowed in fury. He had his gun pointed to shoot me in between the eyes. "You killed my brother."

I sighed. "I'm telling you, no. I didn't kill him."

"Don't lie to me!" His hand shook slightly. "He was innocent, helpless... he was trying to help you get your life together!"

"He was not! He blew up my son's school, he murdered my wife, and he nearly peeled my head off, and then he tried to kill my son!"

Ezekiel growled. "Liar! He wouldn't do that! He couldn't!"

"You are living in a dream."

"Listen, I'm not saying your wife and a bunch of other people aren't dead, but Zudd didn't kill them. It was you who arbitrarily killed him. You're trying to ruin the family name."

"What name is there to be ruined? You live your life as a cheat! You have everyone do the dirty work for you!"

He clicked the hammer. "I'm not playing games, Flores. Admit it. You killed my brother."

I glanced around. To my right I thought I saw things steadily moving towards us, but realized I was probably hallucinating from starvation and dehydration. "Ezekiel, I stake my life on this: I did not kill your brother."

He growled and stepped forward, placing his finger on the trigger.

All of a sudden, I heard a sound like a car screeching to a halt. "NO!" It was a new voice.