The Cage (Book 2)

Shower of Bullets

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Shower of Bullets

Schneider's P.O.V

The letter was real. The letter was real, dammit! It had my brother's insignia and used our code -the code only the two of us knew to communicate safely. So how? How the fuck did our enemies get ahold of our secret code to set up a trap for me?

It was a fucking ambush.

A flying bullet whizzed by, scratching my neck. Flinching, I ducked behind the wall before I caught a bullet in the forehead. Blood dribbled down my neck, seeping into my prison uniform's collar. My ears rang with the sound of firing guns. This wasn't my first shootout, but this was the first time I was so severely disadvantaged.

Sensing our critical position, they rained bullets on us from left and right. Wood splintered from the cabin's walls and showered us.

The bastards brought machine guns with them. Once, when we were kids, my uncle brought a machine gun to demonstrate on a hanging pig carcass what damage such a weapon could do. By the time he'd finished emptying its magazine, there hadn't been much left to identify that it was once a pig. I'd been fascinated by its savagery then. My eleven-year old self never expected to be on the dark end of the barrel.

"Shit." I hissed, reloading my gun. I was down to my last twenty bullets. Twenty bullets were not enough to take out the small army of forty or so I'd counted.

Any other day, I would have been flattered they sent so many just for the two of us.

A sinking sensation of dread settled in the pit of my stomach. It wasn't one I experienced often.

No, not the fear of death, but rather the bitterness of unfinished business.

"This is bad, boss." Cade pressed a hand against his bleeding shoulder wound, stifling the blood now soaked thoroughly into his uniform. He'd taken a bullet to his right shoulder by surprise as the bastards sprang on us like demons from their hiding places. "Really bad," he added as he tossed his gun away, indicating he was out of ammo.

I cursed. We didn't have a lot of options left. Actually, we didn't have any options left. They had us cornered from all sides like fucking rats.

"Bastards."

I was furious at our attackers' cowardly ploy, but I was even more so at myself. I should not have fallen for this pathetic trap. I should have known to investigate the letter's source before I went running to my brother's rescue. But sentiment and the letter's urgency had sent me flying into action. Schneizel was one of two of my weaknesses.

The other was Julian.

Julian. My Julian. His face appeared in my mind like a summoned spell, and I had to mentally wrestle him back to the recesses of my mind lest I be distracted.

What a shame it would be if I died here without ever seeing his handsome face again.

The liquid in my spine froze when I belatedly recalled where I'd left him.

Fuck. I knew agreeing to leave him in solitary was going to come back and bite me in the ass.

I had to get out of here alive. For both our sakes.

But how?

Frustration nipped at my mind when I couldn't think of a way out of this mess. I tasted the bitter taste of desperation at the back of my throat, and it was sour indeed. Time and time again, I'd succeeded in thinking out of every dangerous situation that came my way, but it seemed that my luck had finally run out. Outsmarting my enemies this time would not be enough.

If a direct approach couldn't be taken, then perhaps I had to play a game.

"I can count on you forgiving me for this, can't I, old friend?"

Cade looked aghast. "What did you say? Did you just apologize to me? Schneider, what are you going to do?"

"I got you into this." I said, and it was the truth. As my brother and I's loyal friend, Cade would follow us into hell if we asked him. My eyes flashed with determination as I met Cade's rounded ones. Resolved to make things right, I added, "And I'm going to get you out."

"Oh, no. I know that look. You better not be thinking what I think you're thinking." Cade warned, dropping his hand from his wound and stepping close to me. A shower of bullets made him retreat to the bookcase's cover. "Fucking assholes."

"Do you see any other way out of here?" My mind was made up.

"Don't give me that!"

"Play dead."

"Wha-"

I moved quickly. I swung my gun and struck Cade upside the head.

"You... bastard..." Normally, a hit like that wouldn't have done anything to the large brute except maybe piss him off, but with his already weakened state because of his bleeding injury, it did the trick.

I watched as his eyes rolled back into his head and he crashed to the floor, face down.

"I'm sorry."

Exhaling, I dropped the gun, cast the unconscious Cade one last apologetic look, and announced to my attackers at the top of my lungs, "You got me."

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

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Was it wise of Schneider to leave Julian behind?

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