Read Story: SEASON 2 EPISODE 27

The sound of gunfire cracked through the forest, scaring the absolute piss out of me. The parachute erupted next to me as something small ripped through it. “Fuck!” I cried out reflexively and backed away from my useless cover. My hands found the tree trunk as another rapport from the pistol sounded, and chunks of wood exploded from the tree trunk about a foot from my head. There was no time to think. The only thing I could do was run.

I turned away from the gunman as my eyes searched for something… anything that could support me as my natural instinct to get as far away from danger as possible kicked in. I couldn’t die… not like this. Not like any way. I was just starting to get used to my new life!

A thick branch protruded about a third of the way around the tree that looked sturdy enough to support me. It wasn’t much, but if I could get a little higher and keep enough limb and trunk between me and the man on the ground, then maybe I could get through this. It was all I could think of. Jumping wasn’t an option… not when I was fifteen feet up. The chances of damaging something were too great.

I lunged forward, placing my foot on a smaller branch with the intent of using it to launch myself so I could catch the larger branch and climb up it. Unfortunately, the combination of it being unable to support my weight, the slickness of the bark from being wet, and the patch of pine needles on that exact spot caused my foot to slide down its length. My stomach jumped into my throat as I felt the branch give out underneath, bending just enough to send me hurling toward the ground. I reached for the branch instinctively as it continued to bend downward and grasped it with both my hands, trying to slow my descent to the earth just as I heard another gunshot go off.

With a fearful roar, I involuntarily slid down the branch, only partially aware of the wood and bark tearing at my palms as I descended. Something snapped just before I hit the ground, and I was grateful to find out that it wasn’t any of my bones. The branch I snagged had slowed my fall enough to allow me a sore but safe landing as it snapped and followed me to the ground. As soon as my feet hit the earth, I rolled to put more of the thick trunk between me and my assassin. I gripped the branch in my hands as tightly as possible, facing the direction I’d seen movement and praying that he didn’t circle around the other way.

Fortunately for me, he didn’t, and as soon as I saw the faintest hint of movement, I swung up with my branch as hard as I could. The branch came in contact and connected with the man’s chin. The only problem was that the business end of my weapon was thin enough that it didn’t knock him on his ass like I’d hoped. The good news was that he’d been so surprised that I’d been ready for him that his eyes had been wide and receptive to the can of pine needles that I drove across his face.

The stranger bellowed, clapping his hands over his eyes as he waved his gun blindly in my direction. I didn’t hesitate to launch myself at him, driving my hand into his arm as we both dropped to the ground. I’d gotten incredibly lucky, and I fucking knew it. This guy knew how to point a gun, shoot it, and get the bullet within a foot of my head, which was a hell of a lot better than I could do. If he managed to clear his vision and get some distance between us while still possessing the gun, I was cooked. The only thing I had was this moment, and I couldn’t fucking hesitate.

Keeping one hand locked on the man’s gun arm, I raised my fist and drove it into his face before he even had a chance to clear his eyes. I hit him again. And again. And again. He bucked against me, trying to throw me off, but even as he managed to launch my body a foot in the air, I still focused on inserting my knuckles as far into his nose as I could get them. I could feel warm blood on my skinned knuckles and simply continued to pummel the man until he stopped moving. The moment I felt him stop resisting, I launched myself at his gun hand and pride it out of his grasp, only then scrambling away from him and standing up.

Training the gun on him, I watched him for several moments while I caught my breath. Fighting was hard work. Chloe and Tara had begun teaching me the basics, and I’d sparred with them a little, but real-life fighting was different. I’d never had a workout quite like that, and my lungs felt like they were about to launch themselves out of my chest in protest.

Once I was satisfied that the man was either unconscious or dead, I slowly approached and drove my foot into his side. I’m not a violent man; after what had happened in Vegas, guys trying to murder me was a trigger.

I heard him wheeze faintly and took a shuddering breath. He was alive. I hadn’t killed him. Part of me was a little disappointed… after all, he had tried to kill me, but most of me was relieved. I didn’t want to actually end someone’s life. That wasn’t the kind of person I was.

I spent the next several minutes working out how to tie this guy up, managing to find some paracord in one of the pouches on my chute harness and used that in conjunction with my boy scout training to make some decent knots on his hands and ankles before tying those to one of the nearby trees. I stepped back to admire my handiwork, I would have felt sorry for leaving him tied up and at the mercy of nature, but like I said: the motherfucker tried to kill me.

Now that the immediate issue was resolved, my hands began to throb in pain, and I examined my palms. They’d been scraped up badly, with several splinters and bits of bark sticking out of them like porcupine quills. I braced myself as I began pulling the ones I could out, and once I had as much of the debris removed as possible, I set about making bandages to wrap them up. They were hurting with each passing moment and were going to make this entire excursion that much more miserable.

Just as I was finishing my self-care, a burst of chatter caused me to nearly jump out of my skin, and it took me a couple of minutes to realize that the man had a walkie-talkie with him, and that’s what was making the noise. Whoever was speaking repeated their statement, and once again, I picked up what sounded an awful lot like Japanese. Damn… where was Erin when I needed her?