Ethan's head was pounding, that brutal throb was radiating at the back of his head as he struggled to open eyes. The pain in his left shoulder was excruciating, he'd never felt anything like that burning agony in his entire life. The taste of copper was in his mouth, the tang of fresh blood hanging in the air, it took him a second to realise that it was his own. Once more that spell of exhaustion hit him like tsunami, dragging him back under, his eyes flicking closed as his head slumped back against the wall. His breathing was coming out in short, rapid pants, he could feel his chest constricting against the affliction in his shoulder as he strained his ears trying to make out the flurry of sounds around him.
He picked out a voice, someone familiar...
It took him a moment to make the connection and when he did, the adrenaline was like a burst of lightning exploding through his veins, igniting every single one of his synapses.
Sarah...
It was the distress in her voice that did it, her fear was pungent and all consuming as he heard the unmistakable tear of cloth, rip through the air. He wasn't sure how he got to his feet, there was a drive in him, one that he recognized from long ago, back when they'd been taking fire in Afghanistan. It was a violent, savage need to protective and it fueled him as he finally managed to straighten his damaged form.
Sarah was jammed up against the bed that Wallace had previous occupied. Her left wrist had been forced into the hand cuff on the opposite side of the metal frame restraining her arm. Wallace gripped her right in a painful maneuver bending it backwards towards the other stainless steel confinement. Her hair had come loose, those corkscrew curls of hers falling around her stricken, terrified features. The gun was jammed under her slender chin, pressed into the soft flesh of her throat as Wallace jammed his lower body against hers, in an attempt to pin her in place.
"Be good." the other man hissed. "You don't want to end up like the others do you?"
Sarah cried out, her head tipping back under the force of the gun so that her eyes roved upwards coming to rest on Ethan as he approached silently behind Wallace.
"I'll be good." she whispered tearfully, her gaze flickering back towards Wallace. Her lower lip trembled and Ethan watched with disgust as Wallace set the gun down on the cabinet beside the bed, as far away as he could from Sarah before his thumb traced the outline of her lips.
There was no way Ethan could reach it, the other man was standing directly in the way. It looked like he was stuck with Plan A, he just hoped that he'd be able to pull it off or there was a risk the two of them may end up dead.
"You've got a beautiful mouth." Wallace murmured to Sarah, his thumb once more dragging over her lower lip. "So pretty..."
Ethan took his chance. He lunged, his right arm sweeping around Wallace's thick neck and locking around his throat, yanking him taunt against his while he drew back his left fist and punched it as hard as he could into the other man's kidney. Wallace howled, his head reeling back into the crook of Ethan's right shoulder, his hands clawing at Ethan's bare arm in an attempt to extract himself from the hold. His grip was waning, Ethan could feel it slipping as agony tore up his left shoulder. Wallace bucked against him, jabbing his left elbow into Ethan's ribs causing his body to wrench at the nauseating onslaught of pain. Wallace jerked forward, lunging for the gun as Ethan's knees buckled underneath him. His head was spinning as he fell to his knees, the tiles rushing up to greet him. He could hear Sarah's screams ringing in his ears as rough fingers laced through his hair, yanking it back by the roots so his face was turned upwards towards the florescent lights, blinding him. He felt the cold muzzle of the gun press against his firm chest.
There were no Hail Mary's, no last resorts just Ethan Choi facing the specter of death in his final moments.
"I'm sorry Sarah." he whispered before Wallace's finger squeezed the trigger and it all faded to black.
