i hired a hitman on myself // joshler [✓]

XLVI

i froze.

"what?!" i held the gun in my shaky right hand, "why do i have to kill them to leave?!" this was all so stupid to me, i wasn't about to kill them.

"because," petes tone was casual, "these people aren't who they say there are, killing them benefits everyone." he sounded so sure of himself, but it wasn't hard to notice the crazy look in his eye.

i shook my head, "can't i just kill you and get this over with?" he chuckled, but let it die quickly before giving me the death stare. i was convinced pete went insane, or maybe he was this whole time.

"if you even TRY to kill me," his glare pierced right through me, "you won't like the outcome of it, joshie." he warned me in the creepiest way possible.

i looked over at brendon who began to struggle in his restraints again, trying to get them lose. pete stopped paying attention to him and kept his eyes on me, as he already figured brendon wouldn't get out of the ropes.

his back was turned to brendon, and when i glanced over to him, he quickly mouthed,
"stall him."

i figured this was as good of a plan as any, since jenna was crying mess, tyler was almost passed out, and ashley wasn't doing anything. so i decided to go with it and see what happened from there.

"soooo," my mind drew a blank for a few seconds, "you're raz? you've been raz this whole time?" this was all i was able to come up with, but it was good enough.

his eyes widened and stared wandering away from mine, "uhh-- huh? what was the question?" now he was trying to stall my question.

"are you raz?" i asked with a smirk, his reaction made me feel a lot more confident in my distraction. he took a long pause before responding.

"i-- i mean," he scratched the back of his neck nervously, "raz is a weird name, isn't it? it's like you could have any name in the world, but raz is a reallyyyyy weird one." he was now avoiding my question.

"but are you raz?" i was starting to get fed up with him, but i knew how to keep my composure to occupy him long enough for brendons plan to work.

pete bit his bottom lip, "kind of sort of, maybe?" he sounded extremely unsure of his answer, but still didn't explain himself further.

"so, you're not raz?" i easily concluded, he just gave an awkward half smile before shaking his head, "i'm not THE raz, but i-- i work for him, in a way?"

"in a way?" i probed in the conversation, he shot me an annoyed look, "look, raz doesn't know i exist or that i'm even doing this shit," he admitted, agitatedly, "he just sent out a warrant for ashley-- to get her back to the main headquarters but you guys just got in my damn way--"

i was distracted when i saw brendon finally got his ankle ropes loose. he then stood up while the chair was still bounded to wrists with restraints. this is where his idea came into play.

brendon ran full speed backwards towards the wall behind him, lunging himself full force into the wall, smashing the wooden chair, now freeing him completely.

pete took notice of this and his jaw dropped, i took my chance and tried shooting him a bunch in the chest. he stumbled back a bit, but he didn't fall and he wasn't bleeding.

he had a bulletproof vest on.

my heart was pounding from adrenaline, but now the gun was out of bullets and i know had an angered pete in front of me. out of instinct, i swung at him, landing a sucker punched on his cheek leaving my knuckles in pain.

this still didn't send him to the ground, but the now freed brendon tackled to him to the ground, rendering him immobile and defenseless.

"i--i got him, josh," brendon assured me, while he was on top of pete, pinning him to the ground, "help the others while i handle this fucker." i quickly nodded.

i went over to free tyler first, only to see he was passed out, not moving an inch. i went down on my knees to his level, and tried waking him in a panic,

"ty?! ty?! wake up-- dude you gotta wake up--!"

"his infection is so bad," jenna spoke up, "if he doesn't get medicine soon..." she started assuming the worst but quickly stopped herself. i then decided to free jenna first, seeing as she knew the whole medical stuff better than i did.

her eyes were puffy from crying, and she snuffled here and there, but she was rather stable. when she was out, she ran over to free tyler while i went to get ashley out.

she looked lost in thought and sad, but still cracked a small smile when i was undoing the knots in the ropes. i helped her stand, allowing her to lean on me if she had to, but for the most part she was fine on her own.

"everything alright?" i asked her, she shrugged and sighed a shaky breath, "i can never get away from this deep web shit, josh," she explained, "raz is always gonna have it out for me."

"do you know who raz is?" i questioned her, her face fell and she went silent, not revealing any information for whatever reason. after a few seconds, it looked as if she opened her mouth to say something, but brendon interrupted her.

"guys, we still gotta find sarah and dal--"

he was cut off by pete kicking him off of him. he the quickly stood up and ran to the opposite side of the room, and before anyone could do anything, the lights shut off again.

and when they turned back on, pete was gone, and the door was now open.