Renegade
I stopped falling.
The paving stones hit me with a dry smack. I got to my feet and looked up. The height of the drab brick wall made me dizzy. It was a hell of a long way to fall. Against the moon, a silhouette launched itself from the roof I had just left. Only, it made the leap across the gap, landing on the roof of the building opposite.
At least that bought me time. Grimly, I dragged myself along the wretched alley I had landed in. My left leg felt limp and useless. Instinct nudged me towards the darkness at the end of the alley. Yet, for all I tried, I felt like I was going nowhere.
A cry from above drew my attention to the skies once more. My pursuer had noticed that I was not on the roof. The sly wink of metal preceded the crack of gunfire. But I was already rolling across the ground. Another shot split the air. The zing of the bullet sounded closer. Keeping in the dark, I rolled again. Such was the gloom, I had not spotted the steps. My leg screamed at me as I completed an angry tumble down into the deepest depths.
The shooting had stopped. I eased myself into the densest patch of black. For a moment, I held my breath. Silence. Gently, like I was releasing a butterfly, I let my breath steal out. Seconds later, I caught it again, clamping my mouth shut.
Noise.
A regular groan-groan of metal being placed under stress. Grunts of concealed effort. Light pattering showers of brick dust on concrete. My pursuer was climbing down to join me.
I shuffled over to the bottom step. I pushed myself flat against it until my ribs creaked. I braced myself for the gunshot. When it came, it would be the last thing I would hear.
The shot sounded. But it was nowhere close. Instinct took over. Retaliation. My own shot echoed along the alley.
A scream.
Silence.
“You have shot me. In my leg. It seems we are equal.” The words were punctuated by ragged breathing.
“We’ll never be equal!”
He laughed.
“What on Earth could be seen as different about us? We are two guns for hire. Two foot soldiers in someone else’s battle.”
“At least I am on the side of good. I fight to protect freedom.”
Once more, he laughed.
“I wonder, do you feel free enough to choose to let me leave? Would you decide not to pursue me or send others after me?”
The moon had moved in the sky and its light shone silver in the stream of blood coming from my injured leg. I watched it in silence.
I felt I could hear his smile through the darkness.
“I think your silence tells me everything. We are equal.”
Then all was quiet apart from the rasps of his breathing.
Whilst I sat, I wondered about what he had said. Somehow, I knew him to be right but I didn’t want to admit it. A second flow of blood dripped down the steps and ran across the concrete. His blood. Remorselessly, it ran towards mine.
I watched it, horrified. I was willing the two streams to remain separate. But it would not change its course, no matter how much I willed it to.
The two joined and forged ahead, surging into the darkness together.
