The 28th Stop [ Yandere x Reader ]

27 - Expeditious (Part 1)

Warning: Violence

Wellington ran.

Further than his spindly legs could take him; further than his shallow breath could handle. Down his parched throat, he rammed the brewing cries of pain - constituting both the sting in his muscles and of his crumbling pride - as he frantically swatted away all thoughts of stopping.

He could not afford a second to lose, with the ravenous creature hot on his trails.

He could not afford to die at his hands.

The bespectacled man jerked his body to the left and right, making sharp turns into different corridors. His movements might have seemed haphazard from an outside perspective, made on impulse from the primal urge to flee, but Wellington was not that kind of person. His body and mind were wired to save his life with minimal risk, including the risk of relying on one's subconscious instincts; the impractical gut feeling.

No, with every step he was crafting a plan for his getaway. The gears in his brain were firing at speeds only made possible by the surge of adrenaline in his system.

In his head was the map of the building that he had long since memorised. He visualised himself as a red dot on the map and Asher as a purple dot, the distance between the two estimated by how loud Asher's breathing and steps were behind him. A white cross denoted his destination. While there was a much quicker route to the place, Wellington took advantage of the building's complicated infrastructure and took a convoluted detour, hoping it would elude his pursuant.

'Good thing I listened to that lousy bastard,' he thought.

It had surprised him when Misha suggested this particular building complex - in fact, it was shocking to hear his opinions on anything for once. How that man gained knowledge of this property, Wellington did not know. Nor did he care. All that mattered was that somehow or another, he had information regarding this town that hardly any of his other goons were able to fetch.

That was the reason he hired him in the first place.

With one hand, he dug his phone out of his pocket and, with the other, he pushed down a pile of cardboard boxes lying on the side of the passage, adding more obstacles in Asher's path. But, with a glance over his shoulder, he saw that the young boy jumped over them effortlessly.

"Tch!" After tapping a certain number, he sandwiched the phone between his shoulder and ear. He heard ringing before the crackle of the phone being picked up. "Oi, Stinker! Get you, and as many thugs as you can, to room 43." He hung up.

'Let's see if he's all talk or not.' Wellington smirked and took another sharp right.

After a couple more stretched hallways, the older man made a final left and located his destination. He skidded to a stop and jumped right through the door before slamming it closed and locking it.

A moment of silence passed.

The handle juddered. Once, then twice more. A breath later and it rattled viciously. Shaken side-to-side, up-and-down, until it hung only by a single nail. The door quaked along with the tremors of the doorknob, as the savage outside thumped on the wood.

Trembling, Stinker - one of the more useful ruffians under Wellington's control - sidled to him.

"Um, Boss? What's the thing outside?" he queried. "Is it a dog? Or is it–"

"–A boy. It's...it's the Asher boy," Wellington answered between laboured pants. "The very sa...same you'll be...taking down in any mo...ment."

Stinker's jaw dropped. He glimpsed at the gathering of about 30 crooks behind him. Worry chalked his face as he grew paler with every absonant blow.