I sat there on the porch until the sun began to rise. I didn't know how I could face Belle right now. I had kissed her. I don't know what came over me. I showed her my emotions. I showed her that I was human. But I know how she feels about Kane even if she doesn't see it herself right now. She's into him and I know he has a thing for her. I mean why wouldn't he? She's pretty much perfect. Innocent in her own way, yet not so innocent. Determined to live. We both knew that she would fight to live and that she wouldn't go down easy when it came to it. That's what we liked about her. She was tough despite her size. She had heart. Heart that no one else had. What was I supposed to do now? Go back to being cold hearted to her. I couldn't play with her emotions like that.
"Niko." My name was called but it wasn't the voice that I was hoping I would hear. I looked up and saw Astrid standing before me.
"What?" was all I said as my reply. It came out colder than I expected it to be and I saw her wince from it. I knew being cold to her hurt her but I couldn't be her friend if she was going to continue to think that she would have a chance with me.
"Marcell wanted me to tell you and Arabella to go see him when you two get up." she didn't look me in the eyes and I don't blame her.
"Okay. You can go now." I said as I stood up and turned to walk into the house. When I walked in Belle shot up from the couch. She looked embarrassed to be found sitting there but she had nothing to be embarrassed about.
"Marcell wants to see us." she nodded in response and walked towards me. I felt my heart beat pick up but it died down when she went around me and to the front door.
"Are you coming?" she asked as she was already down the steps of the porch.
"Yeah. yeah, let's go." she began walking while I closed and locked the door behind me. I quickly caught up to her and we continued to walk in silence. I didn't know what to say. I didn't know if she hated me or if she wanted to forget that the kiss had ever happened. I would never be able to forget it. I don't understand how something so small could take up so much space in my mind. I need to do something to get this off of my mind. It is driving me crazy.
We walked into Marcell's office and he stood up. He looked like he hadn't slept all night and honestly I don't blame him.
"How are you two feeling?" He asked.
"I'll be fine." Belle told him.
"I'm good. Let's get down to business shall we? Kane. He would have come back by now and we both partisipating. B and I will go out and look for him."
"She was just shot yesterday. Any kind of activity like that will only make her wound worse."
"I can handle it. I'm going. Kane is my friend and I will not sit here while he could be hurt. "
"It'll also be better if I have her there. I might need the back up if things get too serious out there. She knows my expectations and we'll count this as a run as well. I have faith in her." I told him. He looked as if he was weighing the odds back and forth. Then finally he nodded.
"Can you two leave today?" We both nodded. "Good. Go get prepared. Leave as soon as you can." He sat back down at his desk and we walked out the room. We made our way to the armory and grabbed our things. We were sure to put on bulletproof vests as well.
"The way I'm seeing this Belle, whoever shot at you and Kane wanted you two alive. I'm assuming questioning. Keep guns put away. Remember we only use them if we need to. And if things go south after we get Kane, you take him and come back. I can handle myself out there and I can draw them away. Initials from here on out okay? Běh. That means run okay. If I tell you běh you run. No matter what. Please Belle. I need you to listen to me. Follow my lead. Don't second guess my decisions. Please okay?" She looked at me speechless and then she nodded.
"You can trust me Niko. Let's get out there and get Kane back home." she said to me. I wanted to kiss her again at that moment but before I could even act on it she began walking to the door. I had to clear my head. I blocked out all of my emotion like I did before and stayed some distance behind Belle. We walked all the way to the city and it was probably noon by the time it finally came into view. We had our face masks on already and I sped up to lead the way. I figured it would be safer to go through the alleys and try to find a way up to the roofs. We stayed low as well, always making sure we had cover. We had to take out a few zombies on the way but it was nothing too hard. We eventually made it to the roofs so we had a pretty good view of the city. I saw a man walking on top of one of the buildings with an obvious sniper in his hands. I motioned for Belle to stay low and she nodded. When he had his back to us we would jump onto the next building. We were making sure to stay quiet as well. I was on high alert. Everytime we jumped I was hoping that Belle could handle it. I didn't want her to push herself too much and be stuck on the roof. I know how bad she wanted to get to Kane and see with her own eyes if he was okay. As we got closer to the man on the roof I soon began to realise that it was a young boy. The way he was holding the gun made me assume that he was inexperienced. He was probably a scout. Told to shout for someone if he saw anything. We had one more building to jump before we were on the one he was on. I motioned for Belle to stay here on the building I was on and she nodded. I hoped that she knew what I was talking about. I quickly jumped to the building the boy was on and sprinted to him and quickly covered his mouth before he could even say a word.
"You make a sound and I will slit your throat without a single hesitation." I motioned for Belle to make her to where I was and then I placed my attention back on the boy. "You're going to turn around now okay? Nod your head if you understand." I told him as I moved my blade away from his neck a bit. He nodded his head and I slowly directed him to turn around. I saw Belle from the corner of my eye and it made me glad that she made it because I wasn't able to watch and make sure she made it safely. "Are your people in this building?" He nodded again. "Do they have a captive here?" he nodded. "You're going to lead the way to him you understand?" he nodded. "If you're lying I swear I'll kill you." I felt him nod again and gave him slack so he could walk and lead the way. I still had his mouth covered as we moved. Belle pulled out her hand gun as well as her blade and I knew it was just to make sure that no one would try anything. We walked down a couple of flights of stairs and didn't run into anyone. As we got on the bottom floor we heard voices.
"This dude doesn't even speak english. We're never going to get anything out of him. We can beat him as much as we want but nothing is going to come out of it." I heard a man say.
"Vy lidé jste blázni." I heard Kane say. He seriously called them fools. I shook my head and behind my mask I was smiling. I was proud that he was smart enough to not give them any chance at any sort of information. When the two people came into view I was relieved. I knew I could take this chance to ask if he was okay.
"Jste v pořádku, bratře?" This caught the attention of the two figures in the room. Kane's eye was swollen shut and he had dried blood on his face and droplets on the floor that looked dried.
"Nikdy lepší." he responded with a smirk.
"How in the? Carson are you okay?" the man asked when he realized I had the boy In my grasp.
"Let him go please." the second figure said. It was a woman who spoke.
"They probably don't speak English." the man said. I looked over my shoulder briefly and nodded towards Kane's direction. When Belle began moving I knew she understood me.
"You're wrong, old timer. We came for our friend. Release him now." I said sternly.
"Release Carson first. He's just a boy." the man said.
"You see this isn't how things are going to go down. My friend that you got tied up, I know you shot him. And my other friend right there," I nodded in Belle's direction, "you shot her too. Now she isn't too happy about that and I'm pretty sure she isn't happy with the way you have our friend here. So I will only say this once. Release my friend or I will kill this boy, then the woman and then you. I don't mind adding more lives under my belt." I said cynically.
"Fine, we'll do it." the woman announced. She put her hands in the air as she slowly made her way to the chair that Kane was in. Belle moved with her too. She had her gun pointed at the man and the blade at the woman. She began untying Kan, staring at his feet.
"Who are you people?" the man asked.
"Someone you should have never messed with in the first place." was my only response. The man stood there silent. I knew there was nothing more for him to say. They messed with the wrong people and they would pay for it. When Kane was finally loose he shrugged the soreness out of his limbs. I looked at Belle and saw that there was no emotion in her eyes and she looked at the people who shot her. I had never seen her so cold before and I knew she would do anything to get out of here. She had a silencer on her gun and I was glad that she was a very smart girl. I didn't even do that with my guns.
"B, make sure they can't follow us." I saw her nod and in two swift movements, and two pulls of her trigger, the man and woman were on the ground groaning in pain. I pushed the boy forward and she did the same to him. We were out of that room quickly. Kane didn't seem like those people fazed him at all. I did notice that he was holding his side where it hurt the most. He was definitely going to have to get checked on. He kept up a good pace though and we made it home right before the sun set. Everyone was happy to see him back. They tried to crowd him of course but Belle and I blocked either side as we guided him to the infirmary. Only after we were behind the security of the closed infirmary doors, did Belle break down.
"I'm so sorry Kane. I should have been watching out for you. This is all my fault. I'm so sorry." she said as she looked up to him. Tears were rolling down her face as she spoke.
"Belle, I'm fine. Come here." he said as he pulled her into his arms. She wrapped her arms around his torso and he winced the slightest but he made sure that she wouldn't notice. "You followed the rules and you made it back. Even after being shot you came back for me. Thank you Belle." he said. They looked content together and I instantly felt out of place. At this moment they seemed perfect together. How could my kiss with her feel so right, yet so wrong at the same time.
"Come on you two. We need to check your wounds. Belle, we advised you not to go on any more runs until you were healed. You better not have strained it too much or we're going to have to keep you here with us." the female said as she pulled Belle back to one of the beds in the room and Kane was pulled to the other. I was handed Belle's equipment along with Kane's so I could put them back in the armory. As I was about to leave I looked back and saw Kane and Belle talking and smiling at each other. Maybe she really wasn't meant to be with me after all. My heart sank and I returned to my house alone, in peace. I knew word would get to Marcell that we returned with Kane so I didn't bother going to see him. Right now, I wanted to be left alone with my thoughts.