Last One Standing ➣ Bellamy Blake [Book 1]

18.0 We Must Be Killers

When Andromeda came too she looked around frantically looking for William. Instead of the ruined city, she saw the cellar where she and Bellamy were practicing. It took her a second before she realized what had happened. William was dead so that meant it was all a hallucination. A sense of relief washed over Andromeda. She got to her feet but felt a massive pounding in her head. Someone had to have knocked her out. A hallucination couldn't have done that. Her mind immediately raced to Bellamy. She grabbed the rifle off the floor and sprinted out of the cellar.

She made it to the top and looked around for any sign of her dark-haired companion but found none. That was either a good sign or a bad one. She looked down at the ground and found some footprints she knew to be Bellamy's. Strangely though, trodden over them was a pair of footprints that belonged to a heavyset human. She followed the tracks and raced through the forest after Bellamy.

She found him a few minutes later lying on his back with one of the hundred known as Dax pointing a rifle at his face. Before she could reach them, Dax pulled the trigger. Andromeda's heart stopped for a moment but the bullet was a dud. Bellamy rolled over to pick up an invisible something from the ground and pointed it up at Dax. This gave Andromeda enough time to come up behind them. She loaded the gun and pointed it at the back of his head.

"Put the gun down Dax or I'll put this one straight through your skull," she threatened.

The boys just noticed her as she stepped into the clearing. Bellamy looked at her afraid and partially with relief. Dax turned and trained his gun on her.

"You should've stayed down there, Andromeda. I tried not to kill you but here you are and Shumway said no witnesses," Dax explained calmly as if he had the upper hand.

Shumway?

"I know Shumway is a dick but what the hell are you talking about?" she questioned the boy.

Bellamy answered from below, "Shumway set it all up. He gave me the gun to shoot the chancellor."

Bellamy's whole story finally made sense to her. Shumway wanted the chancellor dead but it couldn't have been his idea. Andromeda figured he wasn't that smart or cunning.

"Walk away now and I won't kill you," Dax offered.

Andromeda replied with, "Put the gun down and I'll kill you quickly."

"Your choice."

Andromeda squeezed the trigger but like Dax's bullet earlier, nothing happened. Dax smirked at her and pulled his trigger. Andromeda spun behind a nearby tree just in time for the bullet to go whizzing past where her head was a second ago. Another gunshot rang through the air. She heard Bellamy growl and she peered out from behind the tree to see him tackle Dax. They wrestled around on the ground and Andromeda rushed forward to help Bellamy who had come off worse. She took the butt of the gun and smacked Dax in the head with it opening up a huge gash on his forehead. Dax howled in pain but bucked the back of his gun right into her still healing side.

The pain from William's strike was imaginary but this one was real. She shrieked in pain and collapsed backward. This was enough distraction so Bellamy grabbed a bullet from the dirt and jabbed the tip of it deep into Dax's carotid artery. Andromeda looked up to see Dax choking on his own blood before he rolled off of Bellamy and fell back into the dirt.

Andromeda crawled back to lean up against a tree and Bellamy quickly joined her. When he sat down next to her she took his hand.

"You're okay," she said trying to comfort him through gasping breaths.

"No, I'm not," he gasped.

Bellamy's stare was far off even though he was looking at the ground. Andromeda could see he was in pain and once more couldn't think of anything to fix it.