by Sasha Leone
Ahead, Angel slows down and we come up to a set of cement stairs that lead down to the roof of a one-story home. For a second, our hands fall apart and I’m left to scramble behind my family in a desperate plea to keep up.
The second my feet hit the second roof, though, Angel’s hard hand is back around mine and we’re off again.
We’re close enough to the ground now that I can hear men barking orders, and even the pitter patter of bullets as they ricochet off everything in sight. My pounding heart bleeds for my baby boy. He doesn’t deserve this, to be surrounded by constant violence. One errant bullet could be the end of everything...
I shake away the bad thoughts and instead concentrate on Angel’s muscular back. His shoulder blades rise and fall without a single wasted movement, and I can see him flex around Oscar every time an explosion erupts nearby.
Eventually, the roofs run thin and we’re forced to hop on a cement partition. There isn’t any room to make a mistake up here, and my limbs turn to jell-o as we race across the precarious perch.
The though suddenly hits me that we might not actually have anywhere to run. Angel already told me that Wilmar’s place was hardly safe, and also that it was the last safe place in the city for us.
So, where the hell are we going?
The cement partition gradually descends to the ground and Angel and I find ourselves running right through the action as we hit the streets again. “Where are we going!?” I shout.
Angel skids to a stop just before the next corner. Through the sound of my pounding heart, I can hear orders being shouted just ahead... and a loud eruption of gunshots follow right behind. Angel is immediately on top of me, using his muscular body like a human shield to protect Oscar and I from danger.
I can help but cry out in fear. This is all too much. Just above us, I swear I can hear the sound of bullets ripping through the bricks...
“Who’s there!?” the demand comes from just up ahead. Angel immediately whips around, reaching for the gun tucked behind his belt. It’s hard to tell if he even sees who’s there before he starts firing. Oscar is left on the ground between us and I immediately lunge forward to shield him from the violence. He cries beneath my heaving body as I cover his ears with the palm of my hands. The roar of Angel’s gunshots nearly ruptures my ear drums, but there’s no way I’m taking my hands off of Oscar.
“Run!” Angel suddenly growls. For an eternal moment, I’m too stunned to move. “RUN!” he repeats as loud as thunder. A nearby explosion matches the volume of his roar and I swear my eardrums finally burst. Everything goes silent, but I’m finally able to start moving again. I scramble back down the alley with Oscar tucked tight in my arms, away from Angel and whoever he’s shooting at.
Dust upends around my feet as bullets nip at our heels. Through the eerie silence, I swear I hear someone shout, “It’s them!”
My heart catches in my throat, but I’m too terrified to think about anything besides pushing forward. A primal instinct clutches my arms around Oscar, and I’m somehow able to keep my feet moving.
Suddenly, a hulking figure approaching from our rear. “Cat! Cat!” the voice is muffled and distant, but then Angel’s big hand falls around my shoulder and sound rushes back into my damaged ears. “Are you alright?” he asks.
I nod, hardly stopping to think. Oscar still cries in my arms.
Both Angel and I immediately search the infant for signs of damage, but he seems clean, if not scared shitless.
What are we doing to this poor boy?
What am I doing to him?
We could have been free of all of this by now. What was I thinking?
Angel shakes me out of my shocked daze and a grimace crosses his face. My eyes immediately fall onto his blood-stained shoulder. “Angel!” I yelp. “Are you—”
“I’m fine,” he growls, before I can finish. “We need to get you two out of here!”
“There they are!”
The pursuing shouts come from behind us. Angel whips around again and immediately starts firing. This time, I don’t wait for his orders. I know what to do.
Run.
Luckily, there’s a tight corner up ahead. I lunge for the safety it provides, but when I turn onto the new street, I’m greeted by a horrific sight.
A new wall of enemy soldiers waits for me.
My escape route is entirely blocked off. I don’t have time to think, I just turn around and head back the way I came.
Before I can turn the corner again, though, I’m stopped in my tracks by a flurry of bullets. They block off the only other way out. Blood drains from my heart as I desperately search for another escape route, but there’s nothing. No secret alley, no hidden door, no fire escape ladder. I’m trapped.
“Grab her!” Someone orders from behind me.
No. No. No.
I whip around like a cornered animal, ready to tear the skin of anyone who dares test me, but then Oscar wails in my arms and all the fight flees from my soul. He can’t get hurt.
My mind threatens to shatter as a wall of armored men approach me and my baby with their guns drawn. My only hope is to turn back around to where I left Angel and hope he’s still there to fight for us. The bullets seem to have stopped...
The second I turn back around, though, an explosion rips through the alleyway.
“No!” I scream as everything on the other side of the wall is immediately evaporated. “Angel!”
My knees buckle and an anguished wail escapes my failing lungs. Dust billows up around me and I shout into the flames... then, a cold, gloved-hand grasps me around the shoulder.
I spin around and bite at it, but I don’t connect. Oscar squirms in my arms and the whole world seems like it’s about to implode.
The hand retreats, but it’s instantly replaced by the barrel of a gun.
My knees scrape against the hard pavement as I try to scramble away, but scorching flames nip at my back, and soon enough, four more soldiers surround me.
“Grab the baby!” one of them orders, and they all step forward.
There’s no feeling in my legs, but, somehow, I’m able to jump up. A new gun is immediately pointed at my face.
Whatever, I don’t care. I’ll die protecting my son if I have to...
But then, one of the soldiers points his gun directly at Oscar, and the wind is immediately vanquished from my sails.
“No, please...” before I can beg any more, two pairs of frigid hands have wrapped around my elbows and pulled down. Another pair of foreign hands grab Oscar around the waist. I’m helpless to do anything as my baby is ripped from me. “No! Please!” I wail, but a foot connects with the back of my leg and I’m dropped to my knees again.
A shockwave of pain erupts up from the hard ground, but it’s nothing compared to the anguish in my heart. The solider who has Oscar is immediately surrounded by four more heavily armed men. He backs away as they step forward, guns pointed directly at me.
My heart ruptures as I scream after my baby boy, completely helpless...
... Then, all of a sudden, one of the soldier’s heads explodes. He drops to the ground in an eruption of blood, and every gun that was pointed at me immediately pulls away.
Before they can find their culprit, another head explodes, and then another. For a moment, all I can do is watch, but then my senses return with a heaving desperation.
Oscar.
I scramble over the nearest corpse as the remaining soldiers run for cover. Up ahead, I see the man who took Oscar getting into the back of an armoured truck.
“Oscar!” I shout, reaching out for my baby boy.
But it’s too late, the door slams shut. A body falls beside me, but I ignore it; somehow, I’m able to keep pushing forward—I’m just not fast enough.
The car with my baby boy in it bursts forward and quickly disappears into the smoky night.
“No!!!” Agony rips out my heart and throws it into the fire. Still, I can’t stop crawling forward. My mind shatters as I force mysel
f to hold out hope. I’ll catch up to the car... I have to...
My vision is suddenly blinded by the barrel of another gun. “Crazy bitch,” some faceless soldier curses. They’re the last words he ever says. Before he can pull the trigger on me, someone else pulls one on him. His head explodes like a bloody pinata and I’m covered in his gore.
We both collapse beside each other. I may have been spared from instant death, but I feel utterly lifeless. My legs don’t work and my mind is too broken to make them to move.
My baby boy is gone. They took my son...
Suddenly, a new pair of hands find my shoulders. I don’t fight them. I can’t. What’s the point?
My head falls to my chest and I start to sob. Misery becomes me.
The new pair of hands somehow seem to sink with my soul... They aren’t even cold. No. Instead, they’re hot. Searing fucking hot. I let them burn me to the ground.
26
Angel
Oscar is gone.
“Cat!” I struggle to break her out of her misery. There’s no time to waste, but her shoulders are limp under my grip, and I can’t quite seem to pull her up.
A primal agony has its claws dug deep into my soul. I try to shake them away, but it hurts too much.
I let Dante’s men take my son...
For the first time in my life, the fight is drained from my fire. All that’s left behind is my exposed heart. It beats pitifully...
And then, Cat looks up at me.
“Angel?” Her voice is so soft and broken, and I can tell that we’re both feeling the exact same thing. Her anguish wafts up to me like smoke.
We failed.
Dark bile weeds its way through my nerves. I stand over top of her, trying to fight back the encroaching darkness.
“... They took Oscar...” Those words are too heavy for Catalina to bear, and her watery eyes fall back to the ground. She hangs her head in shame, and the hopelessness that weighs down my soul sinks with her.
For a moment, we don’t move. I stand over top of Cat and she crumples deeper into herself. Blood runs through the streets and a fire blazes behind us. I’m almost ready to give in. My grip eases on Catalina’s shoulder...
And then, I feel a warm hand fall over top of my mine.
When I look down, I see Cat’s limp finger slide down the back of my hand.
... She uses the last bits of her strength to comfort me...
And it works.
The heavy hopelessness that weighs down my soul cracks and splinters, shaking under the revitalized fury that’s begging to smash through it.
My grip tightens back up around Cat’s shoulder and my heart explodes in a fireball of pure rage.
They took our son.
I’m going to kill every last single fucking person in this stinking city...
I’m immediately given an opportunity to start my rampage. Up ahead, a dark platoon scurries out from under the cover of the nearest corner.
“Hey, hands up!” one of the shadows orders.
Instead, I lunge in front of Cat, gun drawn. My knee barely hits the ground before I start firing.
“Fuck!” the group breaks and scrambles back behind the nearest wall as my bullets dig into the bricks.
“These motherfuckers...” I reload my gun and don’t hesitate to push forward. There’s no more hiding. I’m sick of crawling through the shadows and hiding in the darkness. I’m going to make sure this city never puts out the fire I started, and I’m going to make sure they know it was me who started it.
A head peaks around the corner up ahead and I fire a shot straight at it. My bullet narrowly misses. Bricks erupt as I volley more firepower towards my attackers. Anger and frustration threaten to boil me alive from the inside out; the only way I’m going to survive is if I release it all. But I’m running out of bullets. My only chance is to ambush the unlucky fuckers who just stumbled upon me.
“Angel!” Cat suddenly cries from behind me. “On the roof!” My attention immediately whips up to a dark figure above me. His gun is drawn and pointed my way... but he doesn’t fire.
“Angel Montoya!?” The exclamation almost sounds friendly.
Behind the wall ahead, a slew of voices bicker over my name. “What!? Is that Angel!?”
“We found him!”
“Stand down!”
Before I can respond, a gun is thrown out onto the street before me and two unarmed hands pop out from behind the wall ahead. “We’re friends! Don’t shoot!”
I keep my gun primed and ready, but lower it just enough to give the shadows the confidence they need to come out into the open.
They don’t look like Dante’s men...
“Sir,” the first one salutes, bringing a straightened hand up to his forehead in a show of his respect. His buddies come up behind him and follow his lead.
“It’s an honor to meet you, sir!”
“Oh shit, is that Catalina!?”
I whip back around to my fallen bride. She’s leaning against the alley wall for support, trying to pull the gun out of the dead hands of one of Dante’s fallen soldiers.
“Cat!” I call to her, running back to help. When she’s in my arms, I look back over to the revolutionaries. “Take their weapons!” I order, gesturing over to the dead men.
“Did you kill all these guys yourself?”
“Wow!”
“These guys had no shot...”
I ignore the praise and grab a few new high-powered weapons for myself. Flames from the explosion that ripped through the alley behind us still flicker hot enough to melt steel.
“Do any of you have a vehicle? A car or a bike, anything.” I need to get moving. There’s no doubt in my mind that those soldiers are taking Oscar to Dante, and if they get to him before I can, then it’s all over. There’s no hope for us if we can’t go after my little brother, and there’s no way we can go after him if he starts using my son as a human shield.
“We don’t, boss, but I know Jesus and his crew have a few bikes they’ve been using...”
Jesus. “Where is he?”
“We’re not sure, sir. He sent us over here about an hour ago to try and clear out the army, but it looks like you already took care of that for us.”
“Why did he send you here?” I ask, already knowing the answer. “Why did it take you an hour!?”
“I think he heard that you were in the area. He wanted us to help give you a path out. But every street from here to midtown is filled with enemy combatants, and their firepower is far superior to ours. It took some time to sabotage and ambush our way to you.”
The guts on these kids. If I wasn’t so consumed by rage, I might feel a sliver of pride. Look what you’ve inspired in these people, Angel. They’re ready to bring down armies and governments for you.
“Do you have a radio?” I ask, pulling Cat onto her feet. I wrap her arm around my shoulder and carry her sad dead weight.
“No, sir. Sorry. There weren’t enough to go around.”
Fuck. “We need to find a car, quick.”
“They took Oscar...” Cat mutters under her breath. I swallow my shame and my dread and focus instead on my rage. She may be falling apart right now, but I can’t. For our son’s sake, I need to stay focused and alert.
“They have your son!?” None of these new men look familiar, and I doubt any of them were there earlier today when Cat, Oscar and I were discovered by the crowd near Wilmar’s, but they already know about our son. It’s no surprise that Dante does, too.
I fucking knew that would happen, but not even I knew it would all spread so fast. A new flare of rage flickers from my fireball at the thought of who’s responsible for that. We could have been long gone by now...
But this is no time to point fingers, and Cat has already suffered enough. I need to get her somewhere safe and I need to go after Oscar.
“Find me a car, now!” I order the man who appears to be the leader of this roaming pack of revolutionaries. He nods and gestures for two of his men
to come with him. “The rest of you stay here,” I continue. “You are to protect Catalina with your lives. Understand?”
None of them hesitate to agree.
I check the guns I’ve just picked up to make sure they’re loaded, then I carry Cat to the edge of the alley, surrounded by our new security detail.
“Did you see any cars on your way here?” I ask the group.
“There were some,” a young man answers.
“But most were already firebombed and useless,” another adds.
“Fuck,” I growl.
Suddenly, bright headlights screech around a nearby corner, blinding me. Cat tenses in my arms as I whip her back around the alley wall for protection.
“It’s us!” a familiar voice calls from the window of a beat-up old Pinto as it pulls to a stop in front of us.
The three men who went looking for the car file out. “I guess no one thought this hunk of junk was worth setting fire to,” one of them laughs, smacking the pockmarked hood with a fist.
The engine sounds worn out and sickly, like it’s on its last legs, but I don’t have any other options. Oscar needs me.
Suddenly, Cat feels very heavy on my arm. What do I do with her? Do I bring her with me, or is it safer to leave her behind with these men?
I’m torn, but Cat seems to sense my hesitation. It’s enough to snap her out of her anguished daze, if even only for a second.
“Go,” she pleads. “I’ll only slow you down.”
“We won’t let anything happen to her, boss!” one of my men shouts.
“We’ll get her somewhere safe; I swear it!” support echoes through the humid air. Despite all of the chaos that surrounds us, the violent winds seemed to have calmed.
My decision becomes an easy one.
“Take this,” I say, throwing my cell phone at the nearest soldier. I have the number memorized. “I’ll call you when I’m done. Don’t let anything happen to her!”
Cat’s weight transfers to new shoulders and I’m freed from her heavy sorrow. I hardly feel any lighter. Anxious dread undercuts my intense fury; I desperately try to smother it.
Stay focused, Angel.
Cat looks at me like a lost soul trying to find a hand to pull her out of the darkness. Our eyes meet and I feel numb. This is our fault. How can I ever forgive her? How can I ever forgive myself?
