Why the fuck did I get stuck with this guy? Oh right… I brought him here. “Just shoot him in the leg or something. It probably won’t kill him.”
“There’s an artery in the leg!”
“Then shoot him in the dick! I don’t give a shit, just shoot him!”
“FUCK,” Ellis yells as the gun goes off.
The man who’d been chasing him reels back and screams as he holds up his hand. “You shot off my fucking finger!”
Even through the stream of tears, I can see how horrified Ellis looks, like he’d just slaughtered the man’s entire family, not simply removed one of his many fingers. “I’msosorry. We’ll just like… put that on ice, and then I’m sure someone can reattach it. And it’ll all be good. I promise it’ll be fine. I’m so sorry. I’m reallysorry. I just panicked and you were chasing me and wouldn’t stop and I’m sure it’s fine. It’ll be fine. Please be fine.”
“Doesn’t look fine,” I mutter as I watch the demolished finger roll over to me. I grind it into the ground. “Looks a bit flat. Now, Ellis, you suck at this, throw me the gun.”
He’s too busy gaping at me to throw me anything.
“Ellis, the man might have one less pinky, but he still has plenty of ways to murder you. Throw me the gun.”
He finally seems to get the hint that he fucking sucks at this and throws the gun right at me. At first, I worry it’s going to be like one of those stupid action movies where his throw is so bad that he misses me totally and the gun goes right to the guy standing behind me, but no, the toss is pretty damn good.
It’s the fact that hedidn’t switch the safety onbefore throwing that gets me. Kind of like theholein my shoe. I think we’re all too busy gawking down at my foot as I slowly wiggle my toes to make sure they’re still all there to continue our brawl.
“You made me throw it!” Ellis says, like he could pushanyof the blame onto me.
“I assumed you’d put the safety onfirst,” I hiss as I swing the gun over and aim it at the guy blocking the door. The man puts his hands up and Ellis runs over to me, though I’m not quite sure I’m the person he should run to after heshot at me—even if I was the one who technically hit the trigger when I grabbed the gun.
I shove him out the door before shooting the guy so he can’t follow us. Then before following Ellis, I snatch up the very nice vase these assholes said I couldn’t have!
Joke’s on them. It’s mine now.
Then out the door we go into the fresh night air.
The sky is cloudy, so there’s not much light from the moon, and my eyes are still fucked enough that I’m struggling to see very well.
“For some reason, I can’t see,” I mutter as I stumble over something.
And I realize I’ve just given him the go-ahead to run off without me. Not that Ineedhim. So far, he hasn’t actually helped a significant amount… or really any amount at all. Shockingly, he doesn’t run off. Instead, he grabs my wrist and hauls me after him.
My eyes burn, my shoulder aches, and I feel a bit lightheaded, but I let myself be dragged off by him.
“I don’t know where to go, and you’re bleeding pretty badly,” he says, sounding anxious.
“I’m fine. It’d be nice if I could wash my face off.”
“What are you carrying?”
“My new vase.” I present it to him so he can be jealous that I got a vase out of this and all he got was to be scarred for life.
Ellis keeps pulling me along for a bit before he gives me a shove. “Sit down.”
“We should keep moving.”
“I think we’re far enough. There’s so much shit out here that they’ll struggle to find us. You look super pale. I think you keep aggravating the wound and making it bleed more, so let’s stop for a minute. I want you well aware that I’m only keeping you alive because you’re getting me off this damn island, and then you’re going to apologize to me. Tilt your head back.”
I do and suddenly, I feel him splash water over my eyes. It immediately feels better, but when he stops too soon, I blindly reach for the bottle to pour a bit more on my eyes that I finally succeed in rubbing the spray out of. Since my shirt is coated in spray and blood, I reach out and grab his shirt to rub them dry, which makes him smack me off a bit.
“Where’d you get that?” I ask as I realize he’s holding someone’s phone.
“Off some guy. We need to call the police.”
