Tuesday, March 21, 2023

Day 80 - Last Words

 Last Words 
Matthew Ryan Fischer

 
It was anti-climactic. He could feel the blood pulsing from his body. He didn’t want to look. He didn’t need to. It was seeping through his shirt, trickling down his side. He was sure the shirt was stained dark, pants probably too. Each breath was shorter and harder than the previous. Soon, one would be his last.
The kid was nearby. The kid was the best tracker he had ever met. The kid would find him. It didn’t matter. It would be too late. He hated to do this to him. No one should find a dead body. What an awful thing to see and have to remember. If he had the strength, he would call to the kid and tell him to stay away.
He opened his mouth, but no words game, just a gurgling sob. He didn’t want to die alone. He didn’t want to die at all. A tear ran down his cheek. He didn’t want to put this on anyone, especially not the kid.
The kid, not a son, but like a son, had been a good partner. The kid would make it. He would get through this and become a true fighter someday. God have mercy on anyone who got in his way. But that would be years from now and the way things were now, it hadn’t been enough tonight.
They had tracked Dom to the warehouse, but shots were fired and things got messy and they were separated in the fight. It was a lost cause, but they had tried their best. Best being subjective and, in this case, not enough. Dom was somewhere lost in the wind. If he focused, he could catch a whiff. Getting further and further away. The smell, dissipating with every second. Soon it would be gone. The kid, as good as he was, wouldn’t catch the scent at this distance.
Maybe someday Dom would catch justice. Maybe someday the kid would give it to him.
He could hear the rustling sounds of an approach. The kid was a good tracker, but he wasn’t subtle. Someday he would learn to make less noise.
“It’s okay… it’s okay… don’t worry about me…”
Was he saying it out loud? He couldn’t tell. No one responded.
“You did good, kid… You did good…”
The kid didn’t say a word.
A shadow fell. He struggled to turn his head an inch.
The shadow raised its arm.
It wasn’t the kid.
A shot rang out.

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