Vengeance In His Veins

Chapter 4: Run Lucas, Run

Gunfire roared through the hallway in an almost beautiful display of flashes that lit up the dark corridor.

If the flashes weren't leaving pellets of death in their wake, the symmetry of the gunfire would have been almost beautiful.

Kenji reacted immediately, pushing Lucas backwards into the room where his sister's dead body still lay.

The bullets pierced through the air, tearing into the walls and door behind them.

Lucas stumbled as he was pushed inside, terror gripping him like a vice.

Kenji slammed the door shut with a wave of his hand, before slamming a chair under the knob, buying them a little time.

Unlike Lucas, he was composed and barely afraid, he was used to this kind of situation.

“Lucas, move!” Kenji barked, urgency crackling in his voice.

Lucas stood frozen, his mind clouded with fear and disbelief. His sister was dead.

They were surrounded. His breath came in short gasps, panic settling into his bones.

Kenji grabbed a chair and smashed it through the window, glass splintering outwards in a loud crash. Lucas flinched as the cold night air swept into the room, but Kenji didn’t hesitate.

“Out the window!” Kenji commanded.

The door behind them rattled as gunfire punched through the wood, tearing it apart. Lucas barely had time to think before Kenji grabbed his arm and dragged him toward the window.

The masked men were already forcing their way in.

With a grunt, Kenji hauled Lucas out of the window and they dropped down into the courtyard below.

They landed hard on the gravel, but Kenji didn’t stop. He yanked Lucas back to his feet and they sprinted across the yard, their footsteps crunching against the ground.

Lucas thought that he couldn't feel more terrified than he’d felt when the lone masked man had pointed a gun at his head and was about to pull the trigger but he realized he was wrong.

Seeing his sister's lifeless body seemed to have given him a new definition of life and death; and he knew right then that he didn't want to die.

The fear of the unknown gripped him as he ran along with his bodyguard.

Kenji led them back inside the house through another window, hoping to use their irregular movement as a way to mask their intention.

As soon as they hit the floor, the multiple clicks of guns cocking halted them and as they were coming to terms with that, gunfire blazed once more with bullets, embedding into the walls beside them.

Lucas gasped, dropping to the ground as they missed getting shot by a hair's breadth.

Kenji’s movements were quick and precise. He checked the hallway before pulling Lucas to his feet again.

"They’re gathering, getting organized. We need a plan,” he said, and Lucas wondered how someone could bear such resolve.

He had stopped thinking a few minutes back and this man still had his senses; his respect for Kenji multiplied in that moment.

He glanced at Kenji, his heart shuddering. “What exactly is going on?” He needed to know, even if he was going to die he needed to know why he had suddenly been thrown into an apocalyptic era.

Kenji paused for a brief second, his eyes scanning the corridor. “Your father’s dead, Lucas. So is everyone else. Assassins have taken the house.”

Lucas blinked, remembering his sister's lifeless body at the moment, and his brain doing a great job to conjure an imagined image of his dead father too. “Why?” He demanded, unable to make sense of his situation.

“They gave the security detail a holiday,” Kenji continued, his tone steady but urgent. “Someone cut the house’s communications network right before the attack. We’re cut off from the outside world. No backup’s coming.”

Lucas felt his knees go weak. His father, dead? It didn’t make sense. Just hours ago, he believed his life was becoming meaningful and he was becoming someone responsible, someone his father would look at and be proud of, yet now, his entire world was being torn apart.

Kenji’s voice hardened as he spoke, pulling Lucas from his thoughts.

“I’m going to draw their fire. You need to escape. If you stay, you’ll die, and everything your father built will be for nothing.”

Lucas shook his head, still trying to grasp the gravity of the situation. “But... but what about you? I don’t understand...”

Kenji seized him, shaking his body to awaken him. “Lucas, look at me.

This is bigger than just you or me. Your father’s enemies came for blood tonight. You need to survive. If you don’t, everything ends.”

Lucas nodded, the situation becoming a little clearer at the moment. He opened his mouth to say something, but before he could open his mouth, someone kicked the door open..

Four masked men appeared at the doorway, armed to the teeth. Their appearance sent a shudder down Lucas' spine.

Kenji didn’t hesitate. In one fluid movement, he unsheathed his katana, the blade glinting with a fury that seemed to match its wielder’s.

The first man raised his rifle, but Kenji was already on the move. He darted forward, the katana slicing clean through the barrel of the gun before plunging into the man’s chest.

The others surprised by the movement paused for a moment, realizing the narrow doorway meant that if they shot at the man beside them they could risk shooting each other dropped their guns, letting it dangle around their neck for a moment, hoping to engage the old man in a melee combat, using their sheer size and number to finish him once and for all.

Kenji however was counting on that, he dashed sideways, his movements almost unreadable to the naked eyes delivered a blow to one of their assailants felling the second man with a swift and decisive attack.

But the third attacker was ready.

He lunged at Kenji with a knife, slashing upward. Kenji blocked the strike with his sword, but the fourth man came in from the side, delivering a brutal slash across Kenji’s face.

Blood streamed from a deep cut above his left eye, but Kenji didn’t falter.

He twisted his katana, disarming the third man with the move, as the man's knife landed on the floor in a soft thud and he kicked the fourth attacked backward, freeing himself for a moment.

As the bulky weight of the fourth man staggered from the unexpected kick, Kenji plunged his sword into the heart of the third man.

Lucas watched, frozen in terror, as Kenji turned to face the last man. Lucas didn't realize he’d been living with a warrior and he began to regret all the times he’d played pranks on Kenji.

The fourth man hesitated, clearly reconsidering his chances. But Kenji didn’t gave him time to decide. He lunged forward, his katana swinging down in a whoosh, and the man fell, his body collapsing in a loud thud.

Kenji stood there for a moment, panting as blood streaked down from his left eye. He glanced at Lucas, his voice strained but firm. “Go... now.”

Lucas hesitated, his mind spinning. “You are not coming?” He asked.

Kenji shook his head. “I’ll handle the rest. You need to escape. That’s an order.”

Lucas swallowed hard, his body trembling as the weight of everything pressed down on him. He wanted to argue, to stay and help Kenji, but he knew he wasn’t a fighter. If he stayed, he’d only get them both killed.

With a heavy heart, Lucas turned and ran to the window, his legs feeling like lead. He glanced back at Kenji one last time, the man who had saved his life more times than he could count. Kenji nodded, his katana still dripping with blood.

“Run, Lucas. Run.”

Without another word, Lucas climbed out of the window and dropped to the ground below.

He stumbled to his feet, tears blurring his vision as he sprinted away from the house, away from the gunfire, away from the nightmare that had become his reality…