Damaged Goods

Chapter 24- No Negotiations

Not Edited

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Mason watched horrified from the video feed as Marcus took his men out one by one. He was relentless, never even stopping after being shot and bleeding profusely. The man was a trained killer, completely ruthless. Marcus looked up from the floor directly into the camera, and Mason's blood ran cold. He had made a deadly mistake crossing this man and immediately knew it.

Marcus smiled a sinister grin as he raised his gun and fired, destroying the camera into mere scraps of plastic and wire.

Marcus knew Mason would be watching, and hoped he was scared shitless knowing his death was soon to come. The morbid excitement of killing the man after threatening all he cared about was enough to ease the pain in his side and continue on down the hallway.

Nothing would stop him from killing Mason, even if he died doing it.

As the determination grew inside of him, the sound of dogs snarling, racing down the hallway snapped him back to reality.

He'd completely forgotten about the dogs!

Squinting through the dimly lit hallway, he could see the glowing yellow eyes and razor sharp teeth of at least five heavily trained dogs. Strangely, he had a much harder time killing animals, especially dogs, than people themselves; but at times like these, the dogs weren't coming to play fetch. Their job was to kill, just as his was.

The dogs moved at a much faster pace than he anticipated, much faster than humans were able to, and more agile too. He fired off at the pack of animals, purposefully hitting the ground in front of them in an effort to scare them away and prevent killing them, but they weren't fazed. He took down three easily, though one stumbled and tried to keep charging.

Marcus's good nature kicked in and ended the Doberman's life before suffering more than necessary. But once again that night, let his emotions distract him as the fifth and final dog leapt, knocking him flat on his back. The air rushed from Marcus's lungs at the impact into the unforgiving floor and the pain increased tenfold. He didn't even have time to shout as the dog snapped his teeth inches from Marcus's face. Marcus used what strength he had left to hold the savage dog back by his collar.

He could see the black speckles in the dog's gums, the slight yellow staining on the deadly teeth, even dander in his coat from how close the animal was to his face. The beast turned his head, gaining access to Marcus's wrist, and bit.

Hard.

Marcus shouted in pain, as he heard the distinctive sound of flesh ripping and bone popping, but still tried to hold the dog back. Images of Aria and their first night at the bar flashed through his mind, the doctor's appointment to confirm her being pregnant, and their hopes for the future together. He couldn't bare the thought of losing her over something so ridiculous after he came this far.

His good hand kept the dog out of reaching distance as he used his mangled one to swat at the angry dog. He didn't have much use of the hand, rather than to flail it around, but was able to use one of his fingers to stab at the animal's eye.

Reflexively, the dog yelped and jumped back, pawing at the sore eye. Marcus used his good hand to throw a mean right hook straight to the dog's jaw, most likely breaking it in the process. As the doberman struggled to right himself, Marcus frantically felt for his gun but wasn't able to reach it. He reached into his clothing and pulled out the only weapon he could get to; his knife.

Ignoring everything but the current threat, he sat up and in one fluid movement, sliced through the dog's throat, ending his life and eliminating another obstacle.