(Six) Old Friends

Gabriel swung his arm up, slicing through another man's chest. Blood dripped into his good eye, it was from a head wound. He sighed and shut that eye tight, looking at the last man. Quickly, he wiped his eye clear but the blood soon began pouring again. He waved with his right hand, the metal glinting in the semi-darkness. 
The blade appeared much longer than it was as the remaining light was reflected off of the razor sharp edges. The blood that had been taken from the other men's bodies was gone, it had simply slipped off, it had nothing to grip to on the blade's surface. 
The final opponent raised his reloaded gun and aimed directly for Gabriel's head. His finger squeezed the trigger, and time seemed to slow for Gabriel. He could almost see the distortion from the bullets. He threw himself down, avoiding being hit by any of the thirty something bullets shot in the four vicious seconds. Gabriel pushed up off of the floor and sprinted at the thug, spearing him through with the blade. Gabriel drew his arm back and the thug fell to the floor, clutching at his chest. He began coughing and choking. Gabriel put his foot on the mans chest, and pressed down hard. He heard, and felt, the bones in the man's ribcage snap. 
"You don't f**k with me." He snarled at the dying man, looking directly into his eyes.
Finally, there was only one man left standing. Gabriel shook his hand, looking at the blade. It retracted as easily as it had appeared. He grinned and turned to Rose and Shadree. 
"Get up, shortass." He laughed. Rose giggled suddenly; the setting didn't affect her at all. Shadree swallowed and looked around him. The restaurant was an absolute mess, the sheer scale of destruction was greater than he could process. 
Lorenzo, though still alive, had been hit by a stray bullet. He clutched at Shadree's leg, his hand trapping Shadree's ankle. His face was covered in dried, bloody fingerprints and his chest was soaked with blood, his shirt clung to his skin, outlining his toned body. He gasped as he tried to move. Shadree immediately crouched down next to the man and began stripping his shirt off. 
"I'm... Too far." Lorenzo hacked, blood began pouring from his lips. "They're... Not alone."
"Not alone?" Shadree asked, putting his hands on either side of the Italian's face. "What do you mean?"
"Watch out..." The light in Lorenzo's eyes faded as his pupils dilated. He went limp in Shadree's hands, all the tension in his body disappeared and he looked almost at peace. 
Rose was looking over Shadree's shoulder at the corpse. She looked worried and slightly frustrated. 
"Watch out?" She gnawed on her bottom lip, "Maybe I shouldn't have worn a dress."
Shadree looked up, glaring at Rose. His eyes were almost black, fear and genuine pain for the death of the Italian screamed at her. He looked down at the body and shut the eyes, hiding the cold stare. 
"We need to get out of here." Gabriel said, placing a hand carefully on Shadree's shoulder and pushing Rose out of the door. "Pronto." 
"Where are we going?" Rose asked, darting towards the door and pulling it open for the guys to exit from. 
"We, uh," Shadree rubbed his forehead with his palm, "we need to get to the airport."
"How many ways can we do that?" Gabriel asked, scanning around for possible danger. There was none so he lead his two companions to the beach, where they let the waves wash the blood from their hands, and in Gabriel's case, his face too. He was crouched down, cleaning the blood splatter from his face when Rose stood next to him, watching the dark night and the horizon.
"How many ways out?" She asked again.
"I know the quickest way." Shadree said, cleaning his hands of Lorenzo's blood, "To the airport." 
"Which is?" Rose raised her eyebrow, but quickly turned back to looking out over the ocean.
"We... Well, we call in the helicopters we've got stationed around." Shadree muttered, "It'd be noisy and messy... But we'd get out of here."
"Not yet." Gabriel said, standing up slowly. He was looking at a figure that was slowly advancing down the beach towards them.
"Why?" Shadree asked, frowning. "It's a perfect idea... Well, it's the best one we've got."
"There's... Someone else here." Gabriel said dreamily, the majority of his conscience was in a long forgotten memory. "Turns out The Bear survived."
"No! Gabriel, no!" Rose grabbed his arm, tugging at him, trying to get his attention. "You'll... Please, no? He's not worth it! Please?"
"I need to Rose. Get off me." Gabriel said harshly, pulling his arm out of her grip. "He killed my friends."
"No, no I can't... I can't let you!" Rose stepped in front of him, her hands on Gabriel's chest. She could feel his heartbeat, too fast and too erratic. "You're going to get hurt."
"Don't worry about me." Gabriel said, pulling her hands off of him. "I'll be fine. I just need to settle an old score." 
"Rose, let him go. He won't die. You said it yourself, he's Price." Shadree seemed to have woken up from the dreamlike state of shock that Lorenzo's death had put him in. He pulled Rose away from Gabriel, letting the older man walk away from them.
"I... Just don't die." Rose muttered, watching his tracks in the sand. They were fragile and temporary; they could be removed at any minute, if the sea chose to throw a wave at them. As if it was a sick omen of what was to happen. She struggled for a second, trying to break the iron hold Shadree had somehow got on her.
Gabriel heard her and turned around, smiling over his shoulder. "I promise."
Rose said nothing, but she went limp in Shadree's grasp, her eyes on the sand in front of her.
 
The man was large, easily twice as wide as Gabriel and several inches taller. He looked slightly feral, his afro untamed and uncombed. The serpent's smile on his face made Gabriel uncomfortable.
"Hello, Tyrone." Gabriel smiled, looking at the fat man in front of him. "Looking more and more like an old, fat guy every time I see you."
"Gabi." Tyrone nodded, ignoring the jabs that Gabriel had made about his stature. "You know why I am here."
"Never were one for words, were you, tall, dark and ugly?" Gabriel sighed, "Pity that, I could use someone to talk to. Obviously, I'd have to kill them afterwards so my amazing reputation would stay intact."
"I can kill you. Easy." Tyrone smiled, "And so could my men."
"Ah, there's a problem there." Gabriel pointed to himself, "See? I'm alive. That's the problem with killing me, you have to do it right."
"I could kill you with my bare hands."
"You probably could." Gabriel shrugged, "If I was a box of doughnuts."
"Think you're smart, huh?" The fat guy rolled his shoulders, and looked over Gabriel's shoulder, "That chick looks good."
"You even think about touching her," Gabriel growled, his glare locked on to the large man's piggy eyes, "and I will end you."
"Tough talk, from a boy." Tyrone pursed his fat lips, making his face even more ugly than it had to be. He wasn't an attractive man; vastly overweight and sweaty, with a face of a man that was punched a few hundred times more than he should've been. His afro was almost turning into dreadlocks on it's own. Something about the man was actually, physically repulsive. 
"Come at me, bro." Gabriel snarled.
Tyrone's flabby fist swung at Gabriel's head. The one thing that the man didn't have was speed, this Gabriel knew and used to his advantage. 
He ducked down and quickly threw a solid hay-maker at Tyrone's face. Hitting him square on the jaw. Tyrone didn't even acknowledge the hit. He used his other hand and gripped Gabriel's neck. His hand was as solid as an iron vice, Gabriel gritted his teeth and slowed his breathing. He couldn't let this move be the one used to beat him. 
 
Rose muffled a cry as she was dragged away by Shadree, who was surprisingly strong for someone of his size. He wrestled her over to a safe distance away, where they could watch her friend being beaten to death in safety.
"Let me go, James." She snarled, pulling away.
"I can't." Shadree protested. "I'm sorry."
"Please." She begged, tugging at the hand that had a firm grip on her wrist. "Just... Just once. I can't let him fight this man."
"Why not?"
"He killed eighteen men as skilled, and even more skilled than Price. Tyrone's going to kill Gabriel." Rose looked into Shadree's eyes, begging him to let her go. Tears began to form as she remembered the horror of the years before, "I can't let that happen."
"I can't let him kill you." Shadree said, pulling Rose behind him and forcing her to the floor. "Stay here with me. Our armed forces will be here. Soon."
"If he dies," Rose hissed, kneeling beside Shadree, "I will never, ever forgive you."
"I know."

Reviews

[Coyote Poetry]

A very strong chapter. I hope to read more. I like the fights scene and the strong ending. Left a open ending in this chapter. Thank you for the excellent chapter.
Coyote