Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad-Chapter 948 : Blow Back

*Leo*

I felt like a character in a child’s fairytale, as I ran through the woods with no real destination in sight. The problem was there was no haven over the hills and through these woods. Bullets rang out all around me.

I took a shot, jogged some more, and hid behind a tree. Only to complete the pattern all over again. They took their shots, bullets plowed into trees, shooting shrapnel in all directions. I think I got hit from all angles by tree bark, rocks, and other debris whenever bullets hit everything except me.

I had been lucky so far. I’d run away, leading them on a dangerous chase of cat and mouse, bullets following me along the way. I was like some sinister Pied Piper with gunmen on my tail instead of hungry villagers.

I hadn’t had time to think of anything but getting Michael and his men that were following me further and further away from the family home. So far, I had succeeded in that. I’d shot so many men and reloaded.

But now, I only had one magazine left in my coat pocket. I hid behind a tree, peering out just beyond its trunk, and I saw a spark from a bullet releasing from someone’s chamber. I pulled my head back, but not quite fast enough to keep from getting a piece of bark lodged in my cheek.

I shot back at the shooter and started jogging again. I was breathing hard now. I needed to slow my breathing before Michael and his men found me just from the harsh exhalation of my breaths, alone.

It didn’t matter that I blew what looked like smoke from my nostrils and lips. It blended with the fog of the snow and mist from the moon shining off the snow as it rained down.

Had it only been a few days ago that I questioned every little thing in my life? Why had it been such a big deal that Bianca seemed distant and forlorn? Why hadn’t I just tried harder to find ways to keep her happy?

I had been so hell bent on protecting her from this maniac and his men, but I hadn’t protected her heart and soul. I’d broken both our hearts, and for what, to be out here in the freezing cold sneaking through the woods playing hide and seek with bullets and more maniacs?

She was one of the most important parts of my world, and I hadn’t done what it took to keep her safe or happy. Taylor might just have been right. This was the second time tonight that I’d thought that.

Bianca deserved better than either of us, yet she seemed to want me. I wanted to be there for her. I wanted to love her and always keep her safe. I hoped I was able to do that, as I continued maneuvering around trees and boulders without either getting shot or having an avalanche end me.

Thinking of an avalanche, I thought to use the snow to my advantage, shooting at the top of a tree that looked as if it were about to fall over from the weight of the snow holding it sideways, and a downpour of snow fell on the men that were following me.

I took off, taking the opposite path from them, as the men fell and scrambled, their guns went off in all directions. I think they were actually shooting one another by accident. I kept hearing loud exclamations of “Fuck!” and “Shit, you shot me!”

I got a little thrill from the success of my brilliant hunch, as I volleyed shots back and forth with even more men. I heard someone gaining on me. I shot at the figure I saw and moved behind another tree as the gun fire peppered the tree I was next to. I kept running, backtracking, and coming up behind the shooter who was still shooting at the same spot I’d been in before. We were standing in the path just beyond the clearing near the lake Bianca and I had been dancing on.

I pulled the trigger again, and realized I was out of bullets in this magazine.

“Shit!” I breathed out.

I slid the magazine out of the gun as slowly as possible. It whispered out a sigh that sounded like a clap of thunder to me. I was sure the guy taking his frustration with his own endless magazine of bullets out on the tree he thought I was still standing behind would hear it, but he just kept peppering the tree with bullets.

I peeked around the tree trunk I was behind, and he was still trying to find me. I slid my full magazine home, walked up behind him, trying to keep my steps from ringing out my position. I didn’t try to get his attention. While he was still shooting where I’d been before, I shot his brains out.

I didn’t even blink at the blow back of blood and gray matter that came with it. There was no need to worry over much about that one, I thought, as I wiped blood from my cheek and looked up to see Michael standing before me.

I turned and ran. A bullet ricocheted off a nearby tree near my head, and I was sure my energy was beginning to flag. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could keep up the pace I’d been going at since I had left the house.

The cold was starting to wear on me. My hands were stiffening up, my legs felt damn near numb, and my breaths were getting harder and harder to control as I continued to jog, hide behind trees, peek out to shoot a bullet, conscious of how few I still had on me.

I made sure to have the shot now. I didn’t have the luxury of shooting blindly and reloading. Every bullet counted now, and I tried to make each one hit its target.

I still needed to buy Bianca and her family more time. So, I was determined to keep going. I had one more bullet. I didn’t want to use it shooting into the dark at a man I needed to take out of this world for everyone’s safety.

If I left Michael in the land of the living, and he took me out, Bianca, the baby, and no one else in either of our families would be safe from Michael.

“This is it, Leo. Just you and me, buddy. Don’t you want to surrender and just let me take you out. I’ll make it fast and easy for you, but if I have to keep running after you, I’ll make it last for fucking ever.” Michael promised, as he took another shot that was too damned close for comfort.

I ignored him, trying to get him further away from the house and make sure it was just me and him as I made my way from memory to the frozen lake. I jogged around the trees, trying to move in a different pattern than Michael seemed to think I’d travel. When I got to the place I wanted to lure him, I saw him. I lifted my weapon and sighted down the barrel.

“One last shot,” I whispered, “God, let it be a good one,” I prayed as I took the shot, and it seemed to hit him square in the heart, but nothing happened, and he appeared to just be standing there, waiting for me to shoot him again.

Then, understanding rippled through me as I heard the slide of a bullet into a gun’s chamber from behind me. I spun around to stare in shock at the nightmare that was Michael. He laughed uproariously at my expression of horror.

He had gotten the drop on me. He stood, feet planted shoulder width apart, his gloved fingers holding his gun with both hands.

He had on a long sleeve shirt. I figured out what he’d done. He’d hung his jacket from a tree in a way that made me think it was him. He must have been counting my bullets as diligently as I had.

I had known Michael was calculating and cunning, and he’d waited for me to make the ultimate mistake. He’d waited for me to get caught without a way to fight him fairly. I guess God didn’t listen to gangsters after all. My prayer had been in vain because that madman was standing in front of me still laughing and gloating about having gotten the drop on me.

Franky’s words from the voice message this morning rang in my ears, as I watched Michael do the exact same thing I’d done a few moments ago. ‘Leo, you’d better watch your back, man.’ The words slipped and slithered through the ones I heard Michael spewing at me.

“I’ve enjoyed playing with you, but, alas, this is the end. You’d better say your last regrets. I can be your priest. We both know you’re going straight to hell anyway,” he said with a shrug.

I backed away, getting closer to the pond. I looked down at my gun and threw it into a snowbank. It was useless anyway. But I’d never let Michael see me sweat or give into the pain of leaving Bianca and our child.

I knew I was cornered. There was nowhere to go. Regardless of my fast thinking, I was well and truly trapped in the snow globe of life. Michael had won, and I’d lost. It was time to die by the sword I lived by. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

“You won’t win any more than I have even if you get to shoot me today.”

“Do you honestly believe I give a fuck about winning? It’s never been about winning you fucking idiot. It’s about you destroying everything I’ve built. This is the moment I’ve been waiting for, and I’m going to relish in it. Watching you bleed and die will be all I need for the rest of my life.”

“You destroyed yourself,” I said, waiting for the bullet to come my way.

At least he wouldn’t go after Bianca after this. Michael said it had been about me. He had only wanted me. I could live with that. I loved Bianca and our unborn child. I hope they were able to live a long and peaceful life without me.

I’d be here if I could, to watch over them from the other side, I thought, as I watched Michael’s finger begin to depress the trigger. Everything slowed down. I could actually see every inch that Michael’s finger moved.

I prayed that I’d get the chance to see Bianca in another life, as I watched the flare of sparks go off around the barrel of the gun. It was as if I could see the bullet coming at me as I heard the blast of the gun, and it was over. I was hit and was going down.

“I love you, Bianca,” I whispered, as everything went black.