Unstoppable: Revitalized

-43-

I'd only just made it to break when I hopped the gate, letting my hands catch me as I picked myself off of the floor, unable to stop the tears falling from my face as I headed back home, my eyes now glued to my shoes and the pavement. My mind was running away from me: Flashing images and saved moments from all the brutal, unforgiving things I had done, unable to shake or rationalise them as my body shook, my eyes twitching and my head slowly shaking. My feet stumbled over them, each step calling upon a buried memory, a new wound I'd ripped open with my claws.

Get it together Adam, for God's sake.

The walk home blurred between reality and the past: One moment the streets, seemed normal, lights and the odd person passing me, in the next second the hallways appeared, Poppy's dissembled body dragging me back into it's depths, Liam's bloodied face taking more hits, Callum's raging words burning my ears. It lingered. Held onto me, dug it's way through my body and mind, ravaging and ripping apart anything it could, worming through. I couldn't stop it. It kept going: Liam's fists crashing into me, my parents' car crash I'd seen through videos, the calling of my parents death, the first time I'd been screamed at, everything. Nothing was forgotten, I remembered everything, and by the time my mind had finally let me breathe and come back down to earth, I was in my own house, curled up on the floor, beating my hands into the ground, my knuckles turning from white to red to blue. My fists kept coming down, seemingly echoing through the empty house as I screamed, at the top of my voice, my mind finally shattering after all I'd done, all I put myself and everyone else through. Finally, my hands rested on the sides of my face, clamping against my ears as the tears fell.

Someone, anyone, please, help me.

"Adam?"

It was Callum, and clearly? He was not in the mood to be happy. His voice told me way before the kick in my stomach did. It jolted me awake, causing me to flinch and cough up a storm, finding my feet quickly, taking a step back. My hands went up, and both of us looked at them, noticing how damaged they were.

"Same fists you used to kill three fucking people? Your beating them to death now?" Callum took a step towards me, and I backed up, keeping the room. I didn't want to hurt him, and I think, deep down, he knew it too. "The Boss told me: Found three people dead today. The Headmaster, the receptionist for him up on the top, and a member of the organisation. Care to explain?"

The blood rushed to my face as I thought of some sort of reason, but with how ruined my mind was, I couldn't come out with anything. I'd stood still, not in the form of fighting, simply stuck in place and incapable of defending myself vocally or physically.

"I didn't think so. For fucks sake..." Callum spun, walking into the kitchen, the anger so palpable I could feel it from in here. I still hadn't moved. I took a long time to blink, taking each movement steady and slow. I'd managed to make it to a sofa and sit down robotically on it, completely stiff with my back straight, before Callum re-emerged, coat around him. He took a seat opposite me, staring dead ahead. He took a breath, before looking down at his fingers and tensing them, before staring again.

"I've got nothing. I couldn't think of any other way to keep him out of here. He wanted to put himself, Oscar, and five other armed men inside of a van, drive over here, kick the door down and riddle you with bullets. You know what would've happened after that? The house would've been cleared, top to bottom. He would've found Charlotte and Poppy. We would've been dead. You'd vanish, and that would be the end of this. Do you just not think before you do fucking anything?" He finally turned to me, but instead of hate, disappointment lined his face. "I can't keep doing this, Adam. I'm tired, more than ever. I've done a lot of shit, worked a lot of awful jobs, but keeping you out of trouble, and making sure no one around here gets hurt? It's been the worst one. Easily." He took a shaky breath, clasping his palms together. "There was only one way I could keep him from coming here. I said I'd take him to you."

I shot up, hands immediately raised as I backed away, ready to knock him to the floor if I had to. Callum looked me up and down with pity before continuing, noticeably unbothered by my change, giving me the same look a dog owner gives a pile of fresh shit.

"I'm not going to force you. I was told to put some cuffs on you and lie, telling you some sort of story about how Oscar was coming to collect samples, he'd need to have you still to take them, and so on, but we're not doing that. We're going to get to the school, kill The Boss, take whatever he has in files and cash, and get out of the country and run. It's the only chance we all have. We'll have to start fresh. I've thought about it: We get to him tonight, as he'll be at the school till late waiting for you. We need to kill him, take whatever he has, head into the Headmaster's room, burn everything in there, and find his stash of money. He has to have one, everyone in this line of work does. After that? We'll have a day to get to an airport. We come back here, pack a bag for around two weeks, take a plane to wherever we can afford, and never look back. It's the only way we'll be able to survive, Adam. It's the only shot we've got. As soon as they know he's gone? They'll come down on us, and they'll do it hard."

"What about-?" I started, but Callum had come prepared, butting in almost instantly.

"Charlotte and Poppy have been moved to my flat. The eyes around it have been moved in preparation for this. It gives us a chance. At most, he'll have a few guards with him, but that's nothing compared to what you can do with your... Friend." He stood, walking over, and, finally, I didn't back away.

"I know it sounds crazy, and honestly? It is, but it's the only chance we have." Callum put his hand out, a sign of true peace between us. A sign that told me that my actions would never be forgiven, but if I helped him out here, he'd help me too. A sign that no matter what happened now, we'd stick together through anything and everything. A true, honest gesture. I shook it slowly, playing the details over in my head.

"Alright. So, we kill The Boss, burn all the evidence of me existing on paper, and grab Charlotte and Poppy before we clear off?" I asked.

"Exactly that. There's just one problem, and I think..." Callum pulled his phone out, checking the time, before his eyes widened, panic taking over. "Oh fuck."

I was going to ask, but the loud roar of a car took centre stage, as it increased by the second, before suddenly cutting out, as if parked outside. I rushed to the window, peeking over the side to see something really bad:

Oscar, and another man, stepping out of a Range Rover. And neither of them looked happy enough to knock.