Nico
1
I saw the men approaching from behind before the explosion sent me flying to the ground. I thought by putting Isla on one of the further back points would be safer, but I was wrong. So fucking wrong. I saw the bodies of a few groups behind ours and I knew she was in danger as I yelled out for her to run, but the next thing I knew my back felt like it was on fire and I was eating dirt. Tony pulled me up by my collar, his gun raised as he took aim at the invading party. My ears we’re ringing, my head fucking pounding as I tried to run towards the spot where I last saw Isla.
I’m screaming at my body to cooperate with me as I stumble and scramble back to my feet.
“Wait!” Luca’s voice comes through the ringing. He pushes me down just as a bullet flies past where my head was an he shoots back in that same direction. He shoves a gun into my hand as he pulls me up and behind a tree for cover. There’s fucking bullets flying everywhere and any time I try to duct my head out to see where Isla is, the tree we’re behind is hit.
“Fuck!” I scream out. I manage to land a few bullets in brains and I think it’s clear enough to make a run for it.
“I have to get to Isla!” I yell over the chaos.
“We’ll cover you!” Luca yells back as Tony nods from his tree close by. I duck my head out for a quick look before I make a run for it. Ducking and weaving through trees until I reach our spot and she’s not here. She’s not fucking here! A guy runs at me with his knife, and I promptly snap his fucking arm, using his own blade to slit h throat as he screams out the last of his lifeforce, drowning in his own blood. Red is all I see now. I need to find my girl, and these fuckers are standing in the way. I find myself going from prey to predator as I hunt down these fuckers dressed in black. Many of them are wearing bullet proof vests, so I aim for the head and neck with each bullet, each slash of the blade. Every time I see camo on the ground, I quickly scan them for any sign of my girl, with no luck. I’m thankful each time that it’s not my girl dead on the ground but that still doesn’t take away the overwhelming fear that something has happened to her. I want to believe she ran…but something deep inside my gut tells me she didn’t get the chance to. They’ve taken her from me. They’ve taken my Queen. The few men in black that are left start to retreat, but I don’t let them. I chase them down, ramming my knife into their backs and leaving them to bleed out slowly as I move onto another and another, and another. I’m in a daze as I slaughter my way through the grounds. I’m pulling the knife from one guy with my foot stomping on his head as another one tries to grab me and I turn him quickly, pushing him to the ground and driving my knife into his back, until a hand lands on my shoulder and I spin around ready to strike again but my wrist is caught quickly as I regain enough focus to realize it’s Tony, and he’s yelling.
“Nico! Stop! We need at least a few of them alive!”
“They took her! They fucking took Isla!”
His face morphs into fear for a split second before he lets a mask of cold steel fall back in place.
“And we will get her back, but we need a few of these men to talk before you turn them into some sort of fucked up soup sandwich.”
I look down to the body at my feet, with a knife in his back, still breathing, barely, but his fallen comrade beneath him I now see I’ve squashed his head with my boot so hard it does indeed look like a ….soup sandwich. I tilt my head before scanning the rest of the grounds where dead bodies litter the grounds and our own men that aren’t completely dead are being helped to their feet or temporarily patched up. Luciano, Ariana, Matteo and Mason are running towards us. Each of them are splattered with the blood of our enemies and bits of their cothing burnt from the explosion. Mason scans me from head to toe before frantically looking around for Isla. He runs faster to me.
“Where is she?!”
I don’t say anything as I drop to my knees and hang my head, trying desperatly not to cry.
“Where the fuck is she?!” He grabs my shoulders and shakes as he yells. Tony pulls him off me as I fall to the ground beside a dead body.
“They took her! I tried, Mason, I fucking tried to keep her safe and I failed! They took her!”
Luciano pulls me up by what little is left of my shirt, forcing me to stand before he pulls his hand back and slaps me across the face so fucking hard.
“Get your fucking shit together boy! This is not your fault. It’s not your fucking fault! Do you hear me!?” He pulls me into his chest, holding me hard against him before he grabs my shoulders, pulling me back to look me in the eyes.
“We’re going to get her back, okay? I swear to you on my life, everything that I am and everything that I have. We are going to get her back and we’re going to kill every last one of these fuckers, painfully and slowly. They’re going to regret the day they were born.”
“Okay.” I breathe out, nodding. “Okay, let’s do it. Lets get go get her.”
I take a step forward but his hold on my shoulder stops me.
“First, we need to get everyone patched up. Your back looks fucking disgusting.”
