The Death of a King

Chapter 11

Afternoon - 7:17 - Luke King
Dead. He's dead. I'm looking at a dead person. I tell myself this but it's not registering in my head. There's no logical explanation for this. Okay, so he's clearly not dead. I find myself questioning everything after the news of his death reached me. It was three years ago. I was still in college and away on spring break. Dodging phone calls from my board members. Until I got a call from Ashter. I was weary on answering it because I assumed it would be news about my dad and his prison life. Turns out, my brother was killed in a psychiatric ward. I didn't even know he was in one. He apparently was killed by a patient who went crazier than usual. I wasn't exactly close with him but nonetheless he was my brother. I told Ashter I would be home for the funeral. The funeral was a week later, and a day I try to forget. The prison my dad was in allowed him to be escorted to the wake of his dead son. Most of it was kept under the radar with help of a lot of money. Mark wasn't exactly a model citizen, hence why he ended up hospitalized. He was bearable with enough medication. But that's not all of it, he was a illegitimate child. Born because of an affair with my dad and his 'Assistant'. Once he was born, him and the mother was sent away, paid off by my dad. This was a few years before I came into the picture. The only member of the family besides my dad and myself to know all of this is Ashter. I met Mark for the first time when I was seven. He was already twelve. His mother passed away and my dad secretly adopted him. But by then, something had already broke in his mind. He wasn't normal, then again neither am I.
"Well little brother, surprise!" He raises his hands and smiles, "I'm alive!"
"I was at your funeral. I saw you in your casket."
"Looks can be deceiving. You want to know what you can learn when you're around a bunch of drugged up lunatics? Nothing really, but I did find out a lot about drugs and medication. You know there's a drug that can make your heartbeat drop so low it makes you look like you're dead? Well I did. Luckily for me, I had friends and money. Perhaps you got the company, but I wasn't sent away with nothing. I found the right people to help me get my revenge, and guess what? IT'S HAPPENING NOW!" He starts laughing, echoing throughout the entire lobby. "You wanna know the best part?" His facial expression hardens, "You're going to do what I say."
"What if I don't? You going to kill everyone in this building? You won't have enough ammo for that."
"You're right. That's why I had my guys visit your house. Let's call them and see what they got for me." Mark pulls out a tablet with his free hand and clicks a few buttons. It starts ringing. Someone answers and a voice booms from their end.
"Sir."
"Did you get in?"
"Yes boss,"
"Good, give them the tablet." Mark switches the screen over to where I can clearly see it, where I can see the face of a scared girl. Jax. Her face is red and her eyeliner is ruined, she's been crying. "Jax, oh my gosh what did they do to you."
"Luke...please do whatever they want.  They have Ashter and everyone else held hostage. If you don't...they'll just kill me and move on to the next person."
"Listen Jax. It's going to be fine. I'll do what I can to help." My thoughts race as to what options are left for me. Now more people depend on me for their lives. Now more than ever, I can't make a mistake.
"Well little brother, what's it going to be? We can take a little trip to your office so I can get what I want, or my guys can start redecorating your interior with your friends. Your choice."
"I...we can go to my office."
"Great choice. Logan, I'll call you back if I need any more motivation for Luke here." He ends the call. I cover up my wound from the screwdriver with my hand and we start to walk towards the stairs. "Luke duck!" I hear and my instinct kicks in. Gun shots start firing from the glass walkway. I look behind me as one hits Mark in the shoulder. He doesn't have time to react as he gets hit again in the back as he tries to run away. I haven't gotten over my shock from this change in our situation. Mark stumbles into the front doors and walks into the cold of the storm. My trouble are hardly over. Footsteps start echoing through the staircase and a door opens, John's face pops up. "Luke! You're bleeding. What happened, are you okay?"
"I'm fine, just a puncture wound. I have to go now. I need to get to my house, people are in trouble. Stay here with Liz, help her as best you can." I try to get up without wincing in pain but fail. Getting to my feet was tougher than I thought.
"Luke what are you talking about? The guy is gone, he ran out into the blizzard. He's as good as dead."
"That wouldn't be the first time I've been told he's dead. I have to get out of here now, it's important."
"You do know that's like a ten mile drive in a snow storm, you wouldn't be able to make it."
"John. They have people in my house. If I don't people will die."
John takes a minute and finally looks me in the eyes. Not breaking contact he raises the walkie to his mouth.
"Shawn. Jillian. Get down to the lobby. The guys gone, we need first aid on someone. Luke and I are going for a drive."
"On it man, we'll be there in a minute. What do you mean you're going for a drive? Do you not see the storm?"
"Luke need a my help, just get here. Good luck." John and I start running towards the garage where we get to my emergency SUV stocked up on everything a get away vehicle needs. Probably not the intended use for it but it words. We get in and John decides to drive. I find the first aid kit in the glove department. bandaging myself I can think somewhat clearly. I just keep seeing the scared face of Jax, how terrified she was.
"Okay, are we ready to ride the storm out?" John warns me,
"Yeah let's drive."
He turns the windshield wipers on, the heat on, and buckles up. I look at him weird.
"What? Safety first."
"Just drive."
So he puts it into first gear and hits the gas. The power is still out so the guard arm won't move so John just rams the arm and continues. The storm is raging outside, and immediately we can hardly see even with the windshield wipers going full speed. Every building is covered with snow. Maybe John is right, Mark is practically dead if this is how bad the storm is doing. Why would he run out like that? We're on the highway now, maybe too fast for being in a storm but it's the only thing we can do to make it in time for whatever awaits us at my house. I plan for the worst.
"How much ammo do you have left?"
"Uh...I'm not really sure to be honest I just kind of shot at the dude and hoped for the best, I think I have a full clip in my pocket. Here" he hands me the gun and checks his pocket and brings out the ammo. So now when we get there we can defend or attack. If I'm correct we should be a minute away. I continue to go back to fixing my bandage.
"LUKE!"
I look up but it's too late to do anything. John swerves out of the way of a another SUV and we hit the guard rail and crash. The last thing I see is a cracked windshield and snow coming through. I black out.