Anne was at a loss for words. Could the cop approaching the lot be Carl and Mel? Maybe they had forgotten about her and Tony in all the chaos. They left, then they swung back around to get the couple. A frustrating proposition but a relief nonetheless.

Except the officer who stepped out of the car wasn’t Carl. It was Davie.

“What happened here??”

Anne wasn’t quite sure what even happened in the lobby and unfortunately she had no helpful information outside of, “Someone started shooting in the hotel and someone’s dead in there. Tony’s inside checking out who it is.”

Davie looked at her incredulously, “Why is he in there alone with a body?”

Anne’s gaze went to her shoes, “I… he told me to look for Carl.”

Davie softened his eyes; realizing he was likely glowering at her. He opened the back door to his vehicle.

“I’ll be back with your not-so-better half before you know it. Stay here, no one will be able to get in. I’ll get you both back to the house before things get worse out here. I’ll get my hands on Carl and chew his ass out for leaving you two on your own. I’m grateful someone called this in while they were leaving.”

____________________________________________________________________________

Davie walked into the hotel with his weapon drawn. He looked to his right and then his left. His eyes landed on Tony, who did not look well. His mouth was agape and his eyes looked lost.

Davie continued towards him and spoke with a soft tone, “Tony? Your little girlfriend is pretty worried about you. Let’s get out of here and…”

His voice trailed away. Most of the thoughts that were racing in his head slowed to a crawl and seeped out of him. The brutality of the image was more than he was prepared to witness. He still had difficulty compartmentalizing the scene of the last corpse. The woman’s body had been ravaged, but contorted in an almost artistic way. It was brutalization with intention. What Davie was looking at right now was savagery only.

“Tony, I’m going to need you to muster up the strength to high-tail it out of here with me in the next few seconds. Can you do that for me?” Davie’s voice was rising, unintentionally. His rough way of interacting with others had always been a weakness of his. He always wanted to be kinder, to be more compassionate to those he swore to protect. Years of ritualistic servitude that ultimately boiled down to waking up early for not enough pay. He was unhappy with his place in life and this displeasure would frequently manifest itself in how he spoke to others.

Tony wasn’t responding. His thoughts were once again louder than his surroundings. His eyes were slowly darting around, but he wasn’t truly seeing anything. His attention was squarely latched onto Carl’s carcass and the detached mandible carelessly thrown away from it. He could hear Davie’s voice trying to break through his ears, but it was muffled. It was easy to believe whatever the detective was saying would be something important. Regardless of this knowledge, Tony could not eschew what his mind was fixated on.

Davie’s blood was starting to boil. He understood how jarring this must be for the young man, but that didn’t take away from the importance of immediate action. He stomped over to Tony and grabbed his shirt by the areas draped over his shoulders. Davie attempted to lift him up, but realized how heavy Tony was; how weak he himself had become in his older age. Davie attempted to hoist the student up a second time to no avail. Tony was essentially deadweight at this point. He was clearly in shock.

However, Tony was starting to regain his senses to an impaired level of normalcy. He still wasn’t aware of what was going on. He couldn’t completely digest the words being spoken to him, but he was able to understand Davie’s eyes. There was anger and concern bursting from both. Tony was beginning to absorb these emotions and feel them himself. Anger at the fact that he was, again, useless. He was a prisoner to his anxieties. Concern over the fact that they were in the crosshairs of some anonymous murderer. Concern over where his sweet Anne was.

Tony closed his eyes tightly. He was ready to start being a boone to those around him instead of staying as this constant, additional obstacle. His legs weren’t quite ready to operate on their own but whenever Davie attempts to lift him again, he’d be able to stand on his own two feet. He’d help those around him. He’d be the kind of man that Anne could feel safe with. He felt Davie lifting him again only to drop him after a second of effort. A yell. He opened his eyes

Davie was turned around and fired off a shot. The clang of the bullet’s impact on a background object alerted Tony to the fact that he missed. Not even two seconds after the shot was fired, a large body came upon Davie like a shark onto a school of fish.

The imposing body shrouded in black clothing sent a fist into Davie’s ribs. The heft of the impact was felt by Tony. Likely a broken rib. In a split second, the assailant’s fist rammed into Davie’s neck. A cough. A gag. Another cough. Another impact. This time both fists, clasped together and swung at the detective’s head. This hit sent Davie stumbling to the nearby wall. His gun skating off a couple of feet away.

Tony hadn’t noticed, but his body was moving on its own. He was scooting away from the violent scene, his eyes transfixed on the assault. His feet propelled him backwards while his bottom remained planted to the floor. There was nowhere to run if he went backwards, but his body seemed to only know one direction at this point in time.

The figure Tony had seen in the peephole was walking towards him. His face was covered by a ski mask and a hood attached to the burley jacket worn by the individual. This behemoth of a man was dressed in black from head to toe. His eyes were hungry, but unfamiliar to Tony. A gun was cocked.

Within a second, the man lunged at Davie. He ripped the detective’s left hand away from the gun and slammed it against the wall. Davie was trying to aim the gun towards the man as the man was fighting to force the detective’s right arm skyward. Davie let out a shot, but the gun was shaking and improperly aimed. Davie grunted like a scream in an attempt to correct his shot.

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The assailant took away an arm dedicated to fighting Davie’s adrenaline-fueled surge. He struck the detective’s throat again with an open palm. Davie’s eyes bulged and his desperate strength waned. The assailant grabbed Davie’s right arm with both of his hands and snapped his ulna and radius just below the wrist.

Davie let out a howl of pain as his right hand dangled from twisted flesh pierced by one of the broken bones. He had never been in this position before. His life was not flashing before his eyes, only his wife. Only the idea that she’ll be left alone. The detective peered up, hopeless. The stranger in black pulled a hunting knife from a sheath on his lower back.

“AAAAAGGGGHHHHHH!!!”

Davie turned to his left and saw Tony hurtling towards the stranger. The young man’s shoulder slammed into the assailant’s stomach. The force of the hit was immense. The stranger stumbled back and almost immediately began gagging as he fought off the vomit that was close to being released.

Tony yelped, “FUCK!” His shoulder popped out of socket. He had slipped once making impact and landed to Davie’s right. His eyes met with the detective’s. Both had tears in their eyes.

Davie grabbed Tony by his pocket and weakly pulled him towards the direction of the front door. In a fit of coughs he managed to wheeze out, “Go.”

Tony’s mouth wavered as he attempted to stave off the tears. Tony inhaled a large swath of air in an attempt to fight off the dread filling his mind. He slid the gun to Davie’s good hand and stumbled up as he tried to sprint to the opening.

The stranger in black was up and ready to grab Tony’s collar. “Duck, fatass.”

Tony lunged to the ground and started to crawl. The stranger reached for him when a bullet shot out and shredded two fingers off the assailant’s hand. He roared in pain. Three more bullets planted themselves in the man’s chest.

Davie’s breath was labored, “Son, I have two favors to ask. One of them is horrible, but it has to be done.”

Tony was shaking and he felt like he could pass out at any given moment. However, he meant to stick by the words he spoke to himself during the turmoil. “What can I do?”

“Take my phone and call Janet. Let her know what’s happening and where the emergency personnel can find me.”

“Absolutely, I can do that.”

“Before that, though, I need you to take this gun. Take it and dump every last round into that man’s head.”

Tony had no idea how to respond to this request.

“But… you already-”

“Tony, look at his body. What’s missing?”

“I don’t know what you mean, what are-”

“Tony, take the fucking gun right now and kill this man! There’s no blood around him. I shot him three times, he should be clearly bleeding. You have to do it NOW!”

Tony reached for the gun and placed it in his hands. He was shaking heavily. Would this burden be too great for him? Before he could begin to think about using it, his ears registered footsteps.

The stranger threw his hunting knife and it buried itself in Tony’s shoulder. A difficult feat for anyone to accomplish, but this man in black did so effortlessly. Tony let off two shots in response. They were wild and inaccurate. One bullet hit yards away, while the other managed to graze the man’s thigh. The man did not seem to notice.

“TONY, THE GUN! GET IT TO ME AND RUN!”

Tony found the courage to toss the gun back to Davie. An irresponsible action, but worth the risk. Davie caught the weapon and aimed it.

Too late.

The assailant kicked Davie’s hand up, grasped his wrist and swung the arm backwards. It bounced off the wall and the man in black grabbed it again. This time he slung his leg over it, his rear in Davie’s face. The man yanked back and snapped Davie’s arm at the elbow. The detective let out another pained howl.

Tony was conflicted. He was running out of the hotel, desperate for safety. He listened to Davie, but should he have? He heard the noises behind him, but they were horrible to hear. Should he ignore them as best he could or would that be an insult to Davie’s sacrifice? Tony felt worthless and horrified. He was overwhelmed with emotions and those emotions evoked deeper emotions he hadn’t felt in some time.

“I wish I had my mom and dad…”

These were the only words that seemed to be able to find their way from his lips. He didn’t know why he felt this way. Maybe the last time he felt this kind of duress was when he was…

“What the?” Tony’s eyebrow raised as he dug into his pocket while he ran. It was the weight and jangle of keys. Davie’s keys. He had placed them in Tony’s pocket when he pulled the young man towards him to advise retreat. Davie knew what the outcome of this altercation would be. Tony knew he had to honor this attempt to save him.

Before Tony realized it, he was in front of the police car. He was looking at Anne. Her eyes of horror as she stared at her boyfriend, pierced by a knife in his shoulder. Blood consistently flowing from the opening. Tony finally felt how weak he was; how drained of blood his body seemed to be.

Tony opened Anne’s door and gave her the keys.

“Babe, can you drive? I don’t think I’m cognizant enough.”

“Yeah, but you?? You’re bleeding! You’re hurt! Where’s Davie??”

All of the remarks were warranted and each one deserved a satisfactory answer. Tony had none for her right now. Anne could read this on his face and quickly fled to the driver’s seat and turned the car on.

She looked to her right and shouted, “TONY get IN!”

He had lost a large amount of blood. He was slower in reaction time. He felt only partially present. He knew he wanted to keep Anne safe. He finally could. She was yelling, but he couldn’t hear her. He could only hear the crunch of snow beneath the feet of the large man in black sprinting behind him.

It was only at the last moment that Anne realized there was another shape behind Tony. A large hand grabbed the knife’s handle as it dragged the blade backwards, carving through Tony's shoulder. Another hand grabbed Tony’s hair and jerked his head back, exposing his neck. The hunting knife sliced through it like deli meat.

Anne shrieked. The stranger slammed Tony’s lifeless head against the passenger window, attempting to shatter the protective barrier. Anne did nothing. She could do nothing. Until her foot reacted alone, slamming onto the pedal.

She drove off into the worsening snow. There remained the gradually shrinking silhouette behind her. The silhouette of a man holding the head of her lifeless soulmate. The silhouette of a bag of fluid, flesh, and bones loosely compiled; someone so important now reduced to bloating pieces.

Anne drove and drove. She wailed. She swore. Her eyes bulged until it felt as if every blood vessel in her face would explode. She drove and drove until the car had traveled for some minutes. Then the car stopped. The snow was unpassable in this vehicle. She would have to walk the rest of the way to where her friends were if she wanted to see them again.