The Split

Chapter 6

Central Ohio, 2017

They fired first. The pistol's pop rang through the whole duplex. My response was fluid, and I ducked my head behind the sight and squeezed the trigger. The sound deafened me, leaving me in a confusing world of high pitched ringing and muffled sounds. I don't think he had hit me, but I had definitely hit both of them.

Both men were on the floor, covered in blood. I saw Derek roll to the other side of the walkway holding his stomach. A third man staggered into sight from the hallway and I fired twice, watching him fall back and slump against the wall, dropping a gun to his side.

The last three men stayed behind the corner. My eyes darted from side to side as I watched the narrow walkway. Two of them weren't getting back up, but there were three more and I could hear Derek screaming from the other side of the walkway opposite from the others.

"TRAVIS KILL THEM BOTH, I WILL GET YOU MEELA! ARGHHH!"

I knew I had hit him but he had apparently avoided most of the buckshot. From around the corner, I saw a hand holding a pistol firing at me blindly. Soon, the others were doing the same and I threw myself and Meela to the ground behind the couch.

Hearing a break in the fire I popped up and aimed at the hand holding a gun. I shot twice, tearing a chunk through the drywall and being reward with a sharp scream.

Meela grabbed my arm, pulling me back behind cover and squeezing me tight with her nails. I threw her off of me causing deep scratches in my arm. I could feel pain but it wasn't coming from my arm where I expected, but instead my leg. I looked down to see the side of my pants had been torn open, exposing a long bloody wound.

Deprived of most of my hearing, and in the throes of a single minded adrenaline rush, my pain was in the background. The sight of my own blood brought forth no fear, only anger. There was a sudden stop in the hail of bullets coming from the corner. A frantic muffled conversation was followed by clicking noises and I was filled with a brief clarity of mind. Emboldened by the silence and lack of gunshots, I stood up and charged towards the walkway.

I rounded it shoulder first, going right into the path of three wide eyed bikers. I jerked my shotgun up near the first one's head as he caught the barrel, wrestling with it against his shoulder. Derek screamed behind me and I turned to see him slowly start to raise his gun. Shots roared out from the other direction as the other bikers tried to shoot past the man I had my gun on. As the man slowly pushed down the barrel off of his shoulder, I lunched backwards, stomping down and trapping Derek's gun against the ground. Now in a lower stance, I tore my gun from the other man's hands and brought the stock down from my shoulder to my hip.

I fired 8 times. Blood sprayed out in every direction, covering the walls and floor, as I shot through the first man and into the two behind him. The cloud of pellets carved through all three men like they were made of paper, leaving behind a visceral scene of gore and mutilation.

Suddenly, Derek grabbed my leg and hit me at the joint of my knee with a fist. I pushed back, and brought my knee to a right angle to kick him in the face. His hand was freed, and he brought his pistol up for the kill shot, but I was faster.

I shot again, and was immediately splattered with blood from my face to my chest. Bringing the shotgun down to one side, I wiped at my eyes, and through blood smeared vision I saw what was left of Derek's head gushing out of the top of his neck.

I cried out, ecstatic with some mixture of celebration and relief. My muscles felt tense and I could feel the blood everywhere. It had covered most of the hallway walls and had formed puddles half an inch thick around my shoes. It was on my face and in my hair and felt like it crawling over my skin.

Meela.

Just then the thought of my girl rushed into my mind. She was my girl, and in the clarity of this bloody aftermath I knew there was nothing in eternity I wanted more.

I walked over to the couch and knelt to hear Meela whimpering.

"Ssh, it's okay baby. No one can hurt us now," I consoled, laying down and wrapping an arm around her. She recoiled at my touch and I felt a warm wet spot on her chest.

My blood ran cold. She had been hit. I carefully pushed down on her shoulder and waist to roll her onto her back so I could see. She cried out in pain, and I saw it, a dark red spot seeping through her shirt centered around her stomach.

"Oh Meela baby..." I felt the tears coming hot and heavy as my initial shock turned to desperate sadness. Weakly she grabbed my chin and pulled me close to her face.

"Burly Burl," she said in a breathy hushed tone, a pained smile on her face, "You saved me."

"No I didn't." the tears continued to fall down my face.

She laughed softly and I heard her breath catch as she strained her face, I could see blood in her mouth.

"You r-risked your life to save mine, and now they can never hurt me again. I love you Burlington... Oh god! I don't even know your last name!" She laughed again forcing another pained breath. "We've only known each two days but it doesn't matter, none of it matters. I never thought I would feel anything like this again, and even a day with you was worth it. I love you Burly man and-"

She coughed, blood came to the surface and shot out of her mouth hitting me in the chin. She took a deep raspy breath and then her eyes stilled.

"Meela... It's going to be okay, 9-11 is on their way. Meela... MEELA!" I screamed her name and gently shook her head. I put my ear to her heart and then to her mouth. Nothing. She was gone.

Something inside me broke. I began to feel a dull throbbing pain in the back of my head. Shock gripped me like a paralysis as I forced myself to lean up and stare down at her stilled body.

This girl had become my everything, and in just a matter of hours was torn away from me. My body numbed and my brain seemed to split apart as I realized that I had loved her too.

I love you Meela.

It was too much, I swung my hands down onto the ground. A sharp pain shot up my right arm as I did it again and again.

"It's not fair!" I bellowed towards the ceiling, "The first time I get someone worth fighting for and she gets torn away in a DAY!"

I needed her back. It was the only thing that mattered, or ever could matter.

In my anguish I cried out to whatever God or spirit could hear me. I needed a miracle and my sorrow had suspended all disbelief.

"I am a prideful man, I am a wicked man. I live my life for myself and deny the existence of anything greater. I don't believe in anything or anyone but if there is something greater please... I ask not for myself but for Meela. I love her and would die for an eternity just to see her come back. I call out to anyone... anything that can hear these words. Bring her back and I will pay whatever price!"

The tearing pain in my brain surged and nearly rendered me unconscious. I screamed out in pain and grabbed my head.

Forcing my eyes open, I looked around the room in a daze. Swirling red and white lights were surrounding the edges of my vision. I rapidly tried to blink them away, but they remained.

Suddenly I heard a cough and looked down through my obscured vision to see Meela gasp for air and her eyes jerk open. I rubbed at my eyes, unsure of what I was seeing was real. This couldn't be.

She was back, something had heard me cry out.

The lights suddenly intensified, and completely consumed my vision. Something tore through my brain as I felt my consciousness leave my body and get pulled through something else.