by April Lust
Hannah started sobbing full-out now, cradling her head in her hands. “No, no, no,” she said between her tears.
Evan wished he could get up and comfort her, crush her to his chest so that he could take all her sadness and despair away. But his restraints were still tight and secure, even though he could tell the guard in front of him wasn’t paying close attention to his feet. Evan started moving around as subtly as possible, trying to get his feet free. He needed to be able to stand up if he was going to cross the room and take Alex away from Sal.
“You know, I think I’ve decided the appropriate punishment for you, Evan,” Salvatore said, suddenly turning his attention back to him while Hannah sobbed and banged her fists on the floor in despair.
“What’s that?” Evan said, trying to keep Salvatore’s attention on his face while he struggled out of his foot restraints. They weren’t as tight as Hannah’s were, he noted. They were coming loose, slowly but surely. He just had to make sure the guards didn’t notice and retie them tighter.
“You’re going to watch her die,” Salvatore said in a casual tone of voice, shrugging lightly. “Seems fitting. She’s the only thing you really care about, right?”
Evan didn’t say anything, setting his mouth into a straight line as he stared back at the mobster. He knew that if he reacted now, Salvatore might just torture Hannah more or worse, kill her faster.
“Answer me, you piece of shit!” Salvatore shouted, walking forward to kick Hannah in the side again.
“Don’t do what he says, Evan,” Hannah said in between huge panting breaths, curled up in a little ball on the floor. “He’ll kill us anyway. Don’t give him what he wants.”
“I know, baby, I know,” Evan murmured, watching as Sal turned practically purple in response to his words.
“Come here, ‘baby,’” Salvatore said mockingly, leaning over her with Alex in his arms and using his free hand to slam Hannah’s head into the ground again.
Alex started screaming, incredibly loudly, causing the guard above Evan to tear his eyes away from his captive in annoyance.
Now or never, Evan thought, flexing every muscle of his body until he finally somehow broke the restraints left on his arms. He reached up quickly and grabbed the gun from the guard standing above him, forcing it out of his hands. For a second he fumbled with the gun, almost dropping it, but he rapidly recovered, flipping the gun back around and pointing it at the guard.
“Back! Get back!” Evan shouted. But the man didn’t listen, launching forward to try to grab the gun back, so Evan fired, three times directly into his chest before immediately turning and aiming the gun at the next guard, shooting the man before he could try anything. Forgive me, Hannah, Evan thought. I’m not as good as you.
But this wasn’t the time to feel guilty. He got to his feet, shaking off the leftover rope around his legs, and pointed the gun at the last guard, who was cowering in the corner with his hands up. Salvatore was nowhere to be seen. He must have run out at the first sound of gunshots. “Stay fucking put!” he screamed at the last guard before running out into the hallway after Salvatore.
“Evan!” Hannah yelled after him, but Evan couldn’t afford to turn around or yell anything back, putting every ounce of energy left in his body into giving chase. He hurriedly fired the gun again halfway down the hallway, putting a bullet in the chest of the guard standing there, and continued running, seeing the distant silhouette of Salvatore disappear at the end of the hall.
“Come on, come on,” Evan said to himself, his lungs working overtime as he pushed his legs and arms as hard as they could go, leaping through the front door and out into the bitter winter night.
It’s snowing, Evan realized as soon as he exited the building, the snow coming down hard and fast and covering the ground thickly. Salvatore had disappeared, and Evan looked around desperately, but he couldn’t see any sign of the shadowy figure despite the flat landscape. But then he looked down, seeing new, undisturbed tracks in the fresh snow and quickly following them along toward the main road.
“Sal! Put the baby down!” Evan howled into the wind as soon as he saw the mobster running towards a line of houses across the way. But the man didn’t turn around or answer. Evan gripped his gun tighter and tried to take aim, but he realized a second later that he couldn’t do it and chased after him instead. He couldn’t shoot Salvatore like this, not when he was holding the baby. There was no way for Evan to be sure that he wouldn’t hit Alex.
Adrenaline pumped in Evan’s veins, his heart pounding so hard in his ears that it sounded like a drumbeat, like a war cry. He put this latest burst of energy to use, flexing his legs as hard as possible to catch up with Salvatore in the front yard of one of the houses across the road.
“Fucking asshole!” Salvatore shouted, holding the baby out in front of himself as a shield. “What are you going to do? Kill the baby? Hannah will never forgive you, monster!”
Evan groaned. “Don’t do that. Be a man and put the baby down,” he said, still pointing the gun in Salvatore’s direction.
“Not a chance,” Salvatore said between clenched teeth.
“I’ll put the gun down now if you drop the baby,” Evan bartered, slowly lowering the gun to the snowy ground.
“Kick it over to me,” Sal demanded.
“I’ll throw it off in the distance, okay? If you put the baby down first,” Evan said, but Salvatore just shook his head. In the past, Evan would have taken aim by now, finishing his hit no matter what the cost. But there was no way he could endanger Alex. I have to save him, he thought. Even if I die, he has to get out. He has to get away from Salvatore.
“Just hand me the baby and I’ll let you go,” Evan said. At first, he thought he was lying, saying something to get Salvatore to cooperate, but after a second he realized it was true. He was willing to let it go, move on, just like Hannah wanted, as long as they were safe. He didn’t care about revenge anymore. He just wanted to save Jeffrey.
“Throw the gun!” Salvatore demanded, his voice edging on hysteria. “Throw the fucking gun or I bash the baby’s head into this tree!”
Fear shot up Evan’s spine, consuming him. Please don’t hurt him, he thought about begging. Please, please, I’m sorry, just don’t hurt him. He’d never felt this desperate before in his whole life. But Salvatore was a man without a heart, without a soul. There was no way to barter emotionally with him.
Instead, Evan turned and tossed the gun behind him, putting his back into the effort to launch the weapon as far as he could throw it. Salvatore immediately set off in the direction of the gun, practically salivating for it, but Evan chased after him again, finally colliding into him and pushing him to the ground, trusting that the accumulation of snow would make a soft enough landing for the baby.
Alex’s cries mingled with the howling of the wind, but Evan barely had enough time to wonder if the baby had broken something when a fist collided into his face, connecting with a sore spot from earlier. Evan spat a wad of blood onto the ground and hurled himself forward, shoving his entire body into Sal’s and pinning him down on the ground. Evan smacked his fist into his face, again and again and again, grabbing Salvatore by the shirt collar and shoving him hard into the ground, trying to crack his head open.
Evan fought as hard as he could, but his injuries from the earlier torture had caught up with him, his lungs burning with every punch and blow that he gave to Salvatore. Several of his wounds reopened, and he bled into the snow, streaks of red mixing with the white to form pink clouds underneath his body.
He was running out of steam, and Salvatore took the opportunity to flip them over, shoving Evan into the snow and smacking his open wounds with his own bloody fists. Pain exploded in Evan’s skull, every last inch of his skin going numb and fuzzy again. I can’t lose, I can’t lose, he’ll kill Hannah, he’ll hurt Alex, I can’t lose, Evan thought, trying to force his body back up to flip them back over.
But Salvatore forced his knees down on Evan’s gut, pinning
him to the ground as he wrapped his hands around Evan’s neck, squeezing powerfully, forcing all of the air out of Evan’s lungs. This can’t be how it ends, no, no, no, no... Evan’s thoughts grew softer and quieter as Salvatore’s fingers shoved deeper into the skin of his neck, pressing down hard on the bone.
This is how it ends, with me failing the only two people I love, Evan thought as his eyes threatened to shut for the last time…
But then something wide and black appeared over them like a flying saucer, smacking into Sal’s head and shoving him down to the ground. A second later, someone’s hand reached down and pulled Evan to his feet. Hannah’s concerned face appeared, wide and open and vulnerable as she cupped the side of Evan’s face and rubbed his sensitive neck. “Are you…are you okay?”
“Alex,” Evan said, remembering the baby had fallen somewhere in the snow a few feet to the left. He heard the wail of the baby rise above the sound of the wind, stumbling off in his direction until he found him and scooped him up, hurriedly pressing him against his body to warm him back up.
“My baby,” Hannah said in between choked-off sobs. “My baby,” she repeated, reaching out to rub Alex’s face. Looking at her now, Evan finally noticed that Hannah was holding the frying pan—the weapon she once used to knock him out. She must have gotten it out of the car parked in front of the old hotel.
A moment later they returned to stand over Salvatore, who was moaning weakly but barely moving. Hannah spat in his face and swung the pan down hard again, grunting loudly, swinging again and again and again until Salvatore stopped moving. “Fucking coward!” Hannah screamed, lifting the frying pan above her head again, and for a second Evan thought she was about to finish the job, but she hesitated halfway down, her arm freezing in midair. She shivered in the wind, staring down at her abuser, but Evan could tell she couldn’t do it. Hannah just didn’t have it in her. And that’s a miracle, a quiet voice in his head said.
“Let me do it,” Evan said softly. “I’ll do it, baby.”
“I, I—” Hannah stuttered, her face flushing a deep red. “I can…I don’t…”
Evan shook his head and offered the baby forward. “Take your son, Hannah. You keep him warm. I’ll do it. Just make sure this asshole doesn’t move.” He took off across the lawn of the neighbor’s empty house, walking up to the porch to remove the Christmas lights hanging down from the roof. It had to be done this way.
Rule six of killing: hold nothing back.
He returned to Sal, straddling the mobster as he wound the Christmas lights around his neck, over and over and over again until they were as tight as possible. Evan tugged the end of the string of lights as hard as he could, pulling them forward until Salvatore made a low choking sound, gasping for air. Evan stared down into his eyes, watching for several minutes as life faded from him, until he finally twitched a few times and went still.
It was done.
***
Hannah
Hannah watched as Evan got off of Salvatore’s body and walked back over to her, stopping to grab the gun from the snow on his way back. “I have to go back into the hotel,” Evan said, his eyes looking off far in the distance rather than meeting hers.
She shivered and held Alex closer, trying to transfer all of her body heat to his. “Why?”
Evan swallowed, his throat working visibly as he prepared to answer her. “There, um. The henchmen. The guards. There’s got to be some still left in there. I have to take care of them.”
“No, you don’t,” Hannah said, reaching forward with one hand to grab one of Evan’s, rubbing his bruised wrist with her thumb. “Just come with me and let’s get out of here.”
Evan shook his head, staring down at the bloody snow. “I’ve got to—I’ve got to take care of them. They could come after us.”
Hannah shook her head furiously. “No, no, please. Please, Evan. Let’s just go.” Snowflakes were falling in her hair, and Evan smiled at her softly, brushing a piece of snow from her eyelash.
“You know these men, Hannah. They were loyal to him. They were willing to torture you, to kill you, to watch him hurt a little baby. They’d do anything for him,” Evan said softly, his eyes wide and sad as he looked at her.
Hannah tried to think up a reason, something to argue with him, but she couldn’t come up with anything. “I’ll go in with you,” she whispered.
“No, stay,” Evan said. “Get in the car and lock the doors. Stay warm. I’ll be right back.”
“Okay,” she said, walking over to the car, feeling her stomach sink as she watched Evan walk back into the hotel with the gun in his hand. Please let him come back to me. Please let him be safe, she prayed to any god that would listen, leaning forward against the steering wheel and holding Alex as close as possible, rocking him back and forth.
Alex whined a little in her arms, but he otherwise seemed to be okay. Thank you, God, thank you, God, thank you, Evan, she thought, kissing the top of Alex’s head over and over again. She was sure that she had lost her reason for living, that there had been no reason to continue. She was certain that her family had been destroyed forever.
But it wasn’t. It was a miracle, a Christmas miracle. Her baby was returned to her, and she was never going to let him go ever again.
Now if only Evan would exit the hotel and come back to her. They could run away from this and never come back, leave this whole mess behind them forever. But the seconds ticked by and slid into minutes, and then the minutes stretched on and on, the snow falling more heavily onto the roof of her stolen car. Hannah strained her ears, listening for any gunshots. It’s okay, it’s okay, it’ll be okay, she tried to tell herself. It’s a big hotel. He has to search the whole thing from top to bottom.
Alex was starting to become more responsive and active again in her arms, the warmth from her body bleeding into his. That was a good sign. But then he started squirming a little and whining under his breath. “What’s wrong, sweetie?” she said, rubbing his little back in an attempt to soothe him. Hannah tried to smile down at him, but it must have looked as forced as it felt because he didn’t smile back up at her. He’s as anxious as I am, Hannah realized. Alex could probably sense how worried and concerned she felt. And indeed, her hands started shaking again as the seconds ticked by slowly, all without any sign of Evan reappearing.
Hannah inwardly debated her options. She and Alex were safest if she just waited inside the locked car, ready to go at the first sign of trouble. But…her entire body itched like it had been set on fire, desperate to move. Blame it on her childhood, on her genes, on the way God made her. But she just couldn’t stand staying still. It was part of the reason why her life with Salvatore had been so unbearable, locked up in that room for so long.
Pow! Hannah jumped up in her seat at the sound of a gun firing. Her whole body was tense, ears straining as hard as possible to pick up on any other noise, but nothing came. “Fuck,” Hannah murmured under her breath. There was no way to tell from out there what was going on. It could have been Evan killing the last henchman who hadn’t run away yet, but it could also be the exact opposite. Evan could be inside right now, bleeding to death…Hannah thought, the painful grip of panic taking hold on her heart.
The internal debate inside Hannah’s head abruptly came to a close. She reached into the backseat for her frying pan and adjusted Alex in her arms, placing his little arms around her neck. She had to go save Evan. She had to keep him alive. There was no other option.
Hannah was just about to swing the door to the car open and step out when a dark figure suddenly appeared from the front door of the hotel. “Shit,” Hannah murmured, rushing to switch the engine on and preparing herself to pull out of the hotel lot, but then a second later her eyes focused and saw the man approaching her. Evan.
A crushing wave of relief smashed over her head, making her feel light and woozy, like she was going to pass out. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she murmured to whoever had answered her prayer, quickly putting Alex in the back
seat and rushing out of the vehicle to slam herself into Evan’s arms.
“Are you okay? Are you all right?” she asked urgently into his ear as she pressed him closer to her body.
“I’m okay, I’m fine,” Evan answered, but it was a little less than convincing as he wheezed for air and winced at the tightness of their embrace. He disentangled himself from Hannah’s arms a minute later, holding the side of his ribcage and bending over in pain. “Fuck,” he muttered.
“Were you hurt? Are you…?” Hannah asked, cutting herself off to focus on him, patting his body down gently, searching for a gunshot or a hole full of blood.
“No, no, just…from earlier,” Evan huffed out in between huge panting breaths, putting one hand on Hannah’s shoulder to steady himself. “I’m okay.”
“You don’t look okay,” Hannah said, reaching forward to pull Evan closer to her body, taking as much of his weight onto her as possible. “Why don’t we move to the car? You can lay down in the backseat while I drive.”
