Catharsis [Novel]

CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE

CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE

            "The trash man," I say through blurry eyes as I realize where this all started.  "It had to have been him.  That's what got me hooked."

            Now that I know what it is, I have a chance of fighting it.  For a moment I consider giving in to the pull and just feeding right now to alleviate the pain (I'll just give in to it this one time so I can feel better, and then I can quit tomorrow.), but then I realize that's the same rationalization that killed my uncle.  Resisting this starts right here, right now.  I will not give in to this.

            Forcing myself to get to my knees, I ignore the pull of the aromatic scent behind me and visualize what I need to do next: get inside that other house and get the money that's been funding all this.  Once I do that, then I can work on detoxing myself and working on getting healthy (I mean as healthy as a person can be who no longer consumes actual food and lives by draining the blood of others, that is.).  From my knees, I propel myself towards the house and away from the evil beckoning me from the grassy lawn.  Each step I take towards the house invigorates me and drains some of the ache from my gut, but I can tell the battle to not give in to the drugs will be both distracting and debilitating.  The bad guys just found themselves a solid ally, and they don't even know it.

            Building up to a jog, the open front door quickly fills my view.  I still have quite a bit of darkness left in me, so I decide it's time to put it to good use.  Let's see how much damage I can do when I want to.

            As I prepare to leap through the open door of the house (Is there any other way to enter a building when your goal is to completely startle and surprise its occupants?), I will time to slow down around me so that I can strategize for my entrance.  My ears pick out the thumps of five different heartbeats around me (two very close, and two deeper into the house), and my nose informs me that all of these men are armed with weapons (The unpleasant tang of multiple guns lets me know there is at least a one-to-one ratio going on in here.) and drenched with fear.  Fear can be useful, but it can also backfire if I make them feel trapped.  It's a fine line between fight or flight, and I have to be careful I keep them on the right side of it.

            Jumping through the door, I twist my body so that my feet go through first and I land against the far wall of the hallway and absorb the impact into my legs.  Momentarily crouching on the wall as my momentum holds me there, I look out and see two guys in the hallway mere feet away from me.  They both have large, oily machine guns (My past movie watching history tells me these are most likely AK-47s.  I didn't even know those were still used on the streets.  I kinda figured they were just a movie thing.) pointed towards the open doorway, and they are just starting to swivel towards me (I don't think they expected my entrance to be quite so sudden and acrobatic.) when I launch myself off the wall towards the one closest to the front door.  Aiming for his blond, shaggy head, I grab it with both hands and slam it against the wall as my body plows into him.  He goes limp and crumples to the ground as I land next to him.

            Without stopping my motion, I step towards his friend and grab the wood-covered barrel of his gun with my left hand and lift it up towards the ceiling while with my right hand I reach into his armpit and grab the stock and yank downwards.  The speed of my attack combined with the sudden unexpected pressure on the gun allows me to rip the gun from his hands before he can even pull the trigger.  As the gun continues its somersault, I thumb the magazine release button and allow the clip to fly out of the gun and disappear down the hallway.

            Standing well within his personal space (in order to free the gun from his grip, I had to get within "touching" distance), I have a good view of his reaction to what just happened, and it is quite entertaining.