CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER EIGHT

I wake up again and stay still, letting my vision adjust, I don't have much time before the assassin strikes. I catch a glimpse of light reflected by the blade and I send a fist in that general direction, hitting what I assume to be the attacker's elbow. I shout my friends' names to alert them as I jump out of the bed, running toward the position I remember for the light switch, but I stumble and fall, knocking a tooth out of my mouth. Before I can get up, all my air is exhaled as a heavy object lands on my back, nailing me to the ground. 

    At the same time, Chloe lets out a muffled scream, but I can't even turn to look because someone is sitting on me, holding my head still. 

    "Wakey, wakey" says a voice coming from somewhere to my left, I recognise this voice as Jake, "Now how did you find out about our plan Todd?" he proceeds to ask.

    Cole grabs my arm and gets off me, twisting it to lock me at a position where I can look at Jake, who's standing there with a knife to Chloe's throat, and a hand blocking her mouth.

    "I can turn back time" I say without realising how mocking it sounds. Cole twists my arm until I hear a cracking sound, followed by a cry from an unknown source. Wait, was that me? 

    "Oh, funny aren'tcha?" He says with his annoying accent, placing the knife closer onto Chloe's throat, until a little blood comes out, "How did you find out about our plan dumbass?"

    Tyson interrupts, "Stop! I work with the police, they suspected you for a long time and I followed you the past few weeks", he bluffs. 

    "The police? The police knows about us?" Cole says, raising his tones. He's scared.

    I utilise the distraction to shove Cole and launch myself forward. I jump to Jake hit his hand, allowing Chloe to get loose and escape his grip. 

    Tyson says something about a lamp, but a sudden hit to my head knocks me down before I manage to decipher his words. Everything spins, but I can see Jake stabbing Tyson in the shin right as my head hits the floor and I black out.

***

I wake up with the hopes that I died while sleeping, but I am laying on the floor, as Tyson is fighting to keep Jake's knife away from him and Cole is ramming Chloe to the wall.

    I get up and jump straight for Cole, realising I only blacked out for about two seconds. I shove Cole away from Chloe, but he reacts by using my shove as a head start, punching me like a spring, everything is black. 

***

I wake up, lying on the floor, as Tyson is fighting to keep Jake's knife away from him and Cole is ramming Chloe to the wall.

    I get up and grab the nearest weapon, smashing the lamp on Cole's nape. 

    Cole drops to the floor like a sack of potatoes as I turn to Jake, who stabs Tyson in the gut and kicks him onto the bed.

    He bends over right when I'm about to hit him and I feel his uppercut shuffling my inside with force. I get knocked back down on the floor and I puke blood, unable to get up again.

    The next thing I know, Chloe's face appears before me, but she isn't smiling, or even looking at me, she's completely expressionless. As I try getting up, I slip in a huge pool of blood, still pouring from her neck, and Cole smashes into me, knocking me over on Chloe's body and sticking a knife in my chest.

***

I wake up dry again, lying on the floor in the same situation as before.

    I get up and grab the nearest weapon, smashing the lamp on Cole's nape and turn to Jake, who stabs Tyson in the gut and kicks him onto the bed.

    He bends over right when I'm about to hit him, but I'm ready for it, sending my knee straight for his jaw. Jake stumbles backwards and charges for me, stretching his arm to my head in a mean lariat that sends me right into the floor. 

    I roll to the side, dodging his stomps, but Cole wakes up and grabs me, pulling me up and tossing me against the wall. My head is dizzy and I try turning around, but I'm shoved again and before I can react I get stabbed repeatedly, my body twitching with each stab like a seizure.

***

Damnit! I wake back up and I grab the lamp again. I smash it on Cole and I turn to Jake, not realising that Cole has been hit in the back instead of the nape. 

    Cole armlocks me and Jake turns around to stab me through the eye, having just kicked Tyson onto the bed. I try screaming as my eye spills out like a fluid, but Jake stabs me in the neck, silencing whatever sound I was about to create and replacing it with a shushed exhale.

    I drop to the ground after he extracts the knife from me, and I lay there dying, still able to hear the horrible sounds my friends are making as they're being killed right next to me.

***

I wake back up and I grab the lamp again. I smash it on Cole and I make sure I aim for the nape.

    Cole drops to the ground and I turn to Jake, but I took too long and his body is already turned in my direction. Jake knifes me in my belly, shoves me backwards and jumps to me, wielding the dagger in his backhand.

***

I wake up and grab the lamp, smashing it on Cole's nape and turning to Jake right as he kicks Tyson onto the bed.

    He bends over as I'm about to hit him and sends an uppercut to my guts, but I am ready for it and I send my knee for his face. Jake stumbles backwards and charges for me with his lariat, but I drop to dodge it, unfortunately, Jake is faster than me. He sends a low kick and my upper teeth meet his bone.

    Jake proceeds to hook punch Chloe in the windpipe and jump on me, crashing my chest with his knees.

    "Oh Toddy, if you'd've just let us kill ya with that bomb" He says as he changes the grip on his knife and strokes it like a brush against my cheek, the pain is sizzling as a wound reveals itself to the open air.

    Cole stands up again, "Jake, we need to get going, the police are onto us"

    "Are you braindead? They're not, if they were, we wouldn't have been able to go home after today, we'll have cops at our house before we even arrive, that idiot was bluffing" Jake answers and puts the knife in my mouth, "Do you wanna know how I got these scars?", he asks rhetorically and tears my lips into a big crooked smile, taking pleasure from the unearthly sounds I'm emitting.

    Cole walks around, impatient, "Dude seriously, what if he wasn't lying? Let's get on with it!"

    "Jesus, Cole, ok!" Jake says and splits open my neck, everything darkens and my head drops backwards when he lets go of it.

***

There's no way of beating them! There is just no way! No matter how much I try, they always get the better of me!

    I wake up and crawl to the corner, sobbing against my will. I can't do it, I'm just not strong enough.

    "Ha! Look at this p***y" says Cole, "He can't even fight for his friends"

    Cole walks over and lifts me up, grabbing my head and turning it to Tyson, who's being stabbed and kicked onto the bed.

    "Take a look at that" He says, "Such a sight for sore eyes, ain't it?". He has no idea I already saw that countless times before.

    I turn to look away as Chloe's eyes glance at me with concern, but I can't block the sound her skull makes as Jake cracks it with his foot. My body goes numb and I drop loose in Cole's grip, I give up.

For a few minutes I just lay there, awaiting my death, but nothing happens, so I look up and what I see sickens me, Jake and Cole stripped Chloe of her clothes. I'm not sure if she's still alive, but I hope not.

    I get up and run toward them angrily, but Cole turns around and punches me hard in the torso, allowing Jake to draw the knife and stab me, ending what was probably my most pathetic life yet.

***

I wake up, furious and I grab the lamp again, smashing it so hard on Cole's nape it bent out of shape, he's not waking up anytime soon.

    I turn to Jake and instead of punching him, I grab him with a bear hug. Although still unable to save Tyson from the stab, I allow him to get away and punch Jake in the nose. Chloe runs to the phone and calls the police.

    Jake struggles and escapes my grip, shoving me back into the closet. He assesses the situation for a moment and escapes through the closed window, breaking the glass pane. I run to watch him, hoping he sprained an ankle, but he was long gone, dropped from second floor like it was nothing.