KATIKA-Treason is never far away (Part.1)

Chapter 20 | Open it!

"It's the end!"

As he plunged deeper into the void at breakneck speed, this thought infiltrated John’s mind, taking control of his psyche. His eyes seemed on the verge of bulging from their sockets, and saliva dripped down his chin.

"Damn it, John, open your parachute!" screamed a distant voice, that of Carter.

Despite the agony imposed by the descent, despite the feeling that his skull might explode at any moment, the young man barely managed to turn his head slightly and spotted the lawyer, whose parachute was already deployed.

His hands were numb from the cold, and fear paralyzed the rest of his body. His mind seemed on the brink of slipping away, the pain unbearable…

Suddenly, a bolt of lightning struck. No more than two meters away. His eyes were blinded, his hearing dulled. Darkness and silence engulfed his being, preparing him for a certain death.

He was no longer anything...

"Think of Rebecca! Think of your child!" his mind whispered.

His spirit and heart remained intact, urging him to fight until the end, just as they had when he was beaten by Katika’s thugs...

"JOHN!!!" screamed Carter again.

In that moment, something clicked. Fumbling for his parachute release handle, John managed, as light slowly began to return to his vision and his ears gradually stopped ringing.

After five minutes, solid ground appeared beneath him. But there was a big problem: unless he was hallucinating, a dining table was approaching fast. A family of Italian farmers were happily eating there, completely unaware of the American plummeting towards them.

What was bound to happen happened—the impact was brutal.

Amid the screams of fear and shock from the family, John smashed the table in two, spilling an absurd amount of soup, carbonara pasta, and wine all over himself. A ridiculously muscular man with the bushiest red beard John had ever seen started screaming like a madman, brandishing a kitchen knife.

"Cretino! Stupido idiota! Vattene di qui prima che ti faccia fuori!"

Although he didn’t understand a word of Italian, John guessed that the wisest course of action was to run for his life as soon as he freed himself from the damn cumbersome parachute...

Keeping his eye on the knife, John managed to do just that, barely in time. A child had just handed the bearded man an ancient-looking rifle, which he grabbed with glee.

"Ecco! Prendi questo!"

Dodging behind half of the table at the last second, which he flipped over like a shield, John narrowly avoided the damage of a large-caliber bullet. To his left, the house wall hinted at a vast field in which he could, or rather had to, disappear.

He was no longer just fleeing the bearded man, but the entire family, now waving knives, baseball bats, and chipped shovels.

"AAAAH!!!" yelled John, panic rising again as he disappeared around the corner and ran like a rabbit, desperate to escape.

In the distance, the rifle fired a second shot, but by the grace of God, it had no effect, given the lead John had gained, now disappearing into a sea of wheat stalks that offered perfect cover.

"What kind of crazy family is this?" he thought, relieved not to have joined his mother so soon.

His heart was still pounding, but at least he was safe, though hopelessly lost in the middle of nowhere.