Ex Gratia (#1 EX TRILOGY)

Chapter 37

Akoma was so sure that Ender was trying to trick her to lose guard, so she decided not to let anything distract her. Ender was staring right into her eyes, and in that moment, Akoma feared the lady was trying to use her witchcraft on her again. She was not blinking, and they looked piercing and hostile, but the smile on her face was totally out of place.

“Now you will do as I say,” Ender said in a soothing voice, and Akoma felt some warmth flow over her eyes like it usually did whenever she sensed sleepiness seeping in. She blinked and tried shaking it off. “There is no way you can escape this, because I already have you locked on. You will put the gun down and go to sleep. Sleep. Go to – “

BANG!

Akoma shut her eyes and winced as the sound of the gunfire rang in her ears. Somehow, the noise shook the sleep off her eyes, and she opened them to see Ender standing with a mixture of shock and agony on her face. Blood was spurting out of the gun wound in her neck. She gagged and clutched the wound to attempt to stop the bleeding, but the blood merely flowed through the spaces between her fingers into her clothes and on the floor. She dropped to her knees and groped for Akoma’s feet, but Akoma stepped out of reach. Jake watched Ender in terror and stood there seemingly paralyzed.

Ender scoffed, looked up slowly and glared at Akoma, and it was a pity how horrible she looked in that instant. “You’re – still – Ender’s – “, she began to say with difficulty, but –

BANG! Akoma shot her in the face and she fell to the floor in a pool of blood never to move again. Jake whipped out a gun from his jacket, but Akoma was fast enough to fire two bullets into both knees, force him to the floor before finally shooting him in the chest to kill him. Akoma screamed and covered her ears, and as she stood by the wall, she began to tremble. She felt like something had been sucked out of her and her palms were sweaty and burning. She had killed two people, and she wondered if this was all Ender wanted to her to do, or if their spells ever got broken once you had gotten rid of the caster. Akoma turned to look at Derrick who had heard the death of his colleagues and was still groaning and rubbing his hurting eyes. He sat there on the floor panting and groping around with his eyes shut, and Akoma pointed the gun at him.

Derrick chuckled. “You think I am afraid to die?” he gasped. “No. The cause of the syndicate still lives. You think you are – ending it – but – only one person can – end – everything – and you know who it is. She is – she is – not far – from – you. You are still – Ender’s – “

Akoma detested that statement about being Ender’s slave because it made her feel useless and hollow, and she was sure they were merely playing with her mind with those words. She clenched her jaw and pulled the trigger while aiming at his head, but she only heard clicks. She was out of bullets. Derrick laughed hysterically with his eyes shut. Akoma found it annoying and stepped closer to club him on the head with the butt of the handgun. Derrick cried out and clutched his aching forehead and attempted to reach for the hem of Akoma’s dress, but she evaded him and threw the handgun into a corner. She remembered Jake had a gun and attempted to go for it, but Derrick barked and lunged at her, and that was when she realized that somehow the irritation in his eyes had worn off. Derrick seized her around the middle, lifted her off the floor, and ran with her all the way to slam her back into the glass. Akoma wished it had broken, because it felt rigid and the impact sent a sharp pain in her back and waist, making her cry out in pain before Derrick hurled her into the corner near the door.

Akoma tried to scramble to her feet, but Derrick grabbed her right foot and dragged her across the room. Akoma glimpsed his eyes and realized they were bloodshot and full of savagery. Derrick attempted grabbing the second foot, but Akoma kicked him in the jaw and forced him to let go off her leg. Akoma feared Derrick might use her leniency in defending herself as an advantage to probably kill her, and she was so sure she was being calm about it because she was yet to switch off any emotional connections she shared with him at that instant. She started to crawl backwards from him towards the exit.
Derrick spat as he flexed his jaws and advanced towards Akoma. “Come back here, silly! Once you’ve started, there is no turning back! It’s a one-way trip to – “.

Akoma lunged for the table without knowing why she made that decision, and somehow it made sense that she did when she saw the sharp instrument. She picked it up quickly, but Derrick seized her from behind and locked her in a chokehold. Akoma stabbed him in the left forearm twice, but the man did not even wince, and she wondered whether the object was made of plastic or Derrick just could not feel the pain despite the blood oozing from the wounds. He increased the pressure on her head and neck and Akoma felt drowsy at once. Her vision started to blur, and the pain in her neck was excruciating. She squeaked helplessly in the gentleman’s thick arms as her knees gave under her. The instrument fell out of her hand to the floor. She could hear him making grunt sounds, and she feared that she was finally going to die with the secret of the syndicate.

She wondered why her backup had not shown up yet, having received no message or phone call to prompt her that her SOS had gone through. What if there was no network access in that zone they were in? She had no idea which part of the world she had been brought to.

“Nii,” she squeaked as tears poured out of her eyes and her eyelids began to droop. “Stop. Please.”

“I am not Nii. My name is Derrick!” Derrick whispered into her ear. “Get it right before you die, at least.”

Akoma tried scratching his face but he evaded it and increased the pressure in her neck. She could feel blood rushing through her ears, and all the sound around her started to fade slowly. Was she dying?

WHACK! Akoma felt Derrick let go and she fell face first onto the floor. She coughed and turned to see someone bludgeoning Derrick with a weapon, but she could not make the person out because of her fading vision. She shut her eyes and blacked out for a moment. When she opened her eyes, she saw herself being dragged outside the room into a dark room outside, where she saw the other side of the glass window. Akoma saw the person banging the door shut before Derrick could reach it, but she could not stay awake long enough. She passed out again. When she opened her eyes, she saw her rescuer turn the valve open, and thick clouds of poisonous gas began to pour into the room. Akoma managed to rise to her feet and rubbed her eyes, and slowly, her vision got a bit clearer. The person standing close to the glass watching Derrick retching and writhing in the room while being engulfed by the gas was a woman whose back was turned to her. Akoma watched in horror as Derrick died slowly, blood oozing from every opening in his head as he coughed, wheezed, sputtered and scratched his throat, and he finally dropped to the floor and lay there motionless. Akoma could not stand the scene. She trembled all over, and then without warning, she passed out again out of shock.