Playing the Assassin

Ch. 17 Psychotically Stubborn

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                                                                                N.O.A.H

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                   Her fingertips were nearly blue and her eyes were flickering open and close. Her wet body was pressed against my chest. While Lexis was trembling, I was having trouble settling my fast pacing heart. It freaked me out that my heart beat was beating fast, which made my breathing more rapid. The hand holding her back was being drenched by blood spilling from the back of her chest. Her head bobbled back.

                   “Don’t pass out… Hold on.” I whispered to her, leaning against a tree and watching a couple of men coming in towards the lake, poking their flashlights around the area. Sadly, my own and Lexis’ clothes were still on the laying on the ground. There wasn’t exactly enough time to grab them along with taking Lexis with me in time.

                   “Drop me,” She croaked, “They’re going to find you. Go get Damon.” Her eyelids were collapsing ever few seconds. I scoffed. Leaving her for dead would probably mean my head. “Damon’s safe. Trust me,” I bitterly said. Carefully, I lifted her weight up again and moved down the forest-bare foot and half in the darkness. The only light was the moon peaking through the trees in some spots. Eventually, I found an opening where an area was lit more up-clear from trees. It was a field, a corn field further into the distance. Past it, there was a two story house that must have been old but a home nevertheless.

                   I lowered myself to my knees and helped Lexis go on my back instead. She hung loosely on my neck, hiding herself into my back. That bullet must have hurt and bothered her a lot. I felt thankful that she decided not to make any sound. I began to go through the corn field with a lowered head and eventually made it through the field and to the door. “Lexis…” I called out.

                   “Am I…?” She whispered in a tiny voice.

                   “No. I’m going to ask these people if they have a car we can borrow to take you to the hospital,” I assured her, but even I knew that my words could be false hope. Odd. I’ve never lied before. I didn’t have an upstanding record of saying the truth but I never told a lie. I kicked on the wooden door because my hands were occupied.

                   A bulky man suddenly burst the door open with squinted eyes and slanted eyebrows. Then the man’s eyes were looking up and down at us seeing us nearly half naked. This was not going to be easy to explain. I explained to him that my friend was injured and made a turn to show the wound at the back of Lexi’s chest. He let a heavy sigh and motioned to come in and said that it was unnecessary to go to the hospital because the closest one was past an hour away and he also happened to have a daughter that was in med school. I thanked the man, and stepped into his home-it was a small living room.

                   He led me up the small steps, past the second floor hallway and into his room’s closet where there were stairs that was pulled down from the ceiling. He led me up to the attic. There was a single bed there and some stuff. It didn’t look like they’re attic was used for storage. I set down Lexis on the bed; her eyes were closed by now. I had an impression that this man knew that we were being hunted down.

                   Out of exhaustion, I sat at the edge of the bed. The man informed he would go get his daughter who was staying here for the week. Soon, a tired female with long black hair braided to the side poked her head out into the attic. She climbed up wearing pink shorts and a black t-shirt. She undid her braid, to tie up into a bum while glancing at me, asking me to show the damage. I flipped Lexis to her back and showed the gaping hole that was in her back. She swore in Russian, and start spitting out that we must have had an affair or something and Lexis boyfriend got mad-her guess. I would tell her she was wrong but then I realized that it didn’t sound so far off.