But…
As the bitter chill to a steel rail pulsed in his right hand, Kage let out a squeak of agony so minute that thankfully none had heard it. His body tired then wet from the flooding rain hurling his specks of blood to the street below continued to wear away at his reserves.
In mid-flight Kage suffered from the bullet penetrating his forearm, weakening the strength in his left hand from gripping onto the railing. This wound resulted in only his right remaining attached. The polyester gloves were torn to bits from the shards of glass leaving strings straining to hold together. Flexing his arm, Kage made an attempt to drag the rest of his body to the ledge then over onto the other side. First, he started with his left hand but saw that it rose limply to the railing eventually falling back to his waist side.
'Out of commission, aye?'
Surveying for an alternative, Kage placed either foot into the pockets in the railing, gaining a minimum of leverage. Leverage which went to waste due to the snapping of metal as the railing unhooked itself from its loosely configured location. Given no time to react, all Kage could do was mutter a softly spoken, "Fuck me" as he plummeted alongside the hunk of rusted metal.
'BANG!'
His legs still held, swinging the back of his cranium to crash against a steel barricade one floor below. A position that too did not last long as his legs gave out, allotting him the comfort of another smack, this time to his abdominals, while he landed upon a light post.
The bulb blew out, clattering its innards to the street, willing Kage to slide further into the uncovered base of a sickly green dumpster piled with mounds of solid opaque bags.
Bouncing from the pile, a thud resounded his arrival to ground level. Battered with a helping of leaking bruises Kage felt no motivation to pick himself up and waddle away. Well, except for the amassing cries to "MURDER THAT FUCKING CUNT!" echoing out from the complex now on the other side of an ill-catered barbed wire fence. That would have to be enough motivation, leaving him to soberly clutch onto the side of the very dumpster he dented with one of his legs. A quick check displayed no blood coveting from the location easing his growing list of worries.
Wincing, Kage managed to limp to the next overhang which blocked out the tide of the waterfall blanketing the city. In this mass of hurling wind and stormy floods crashing upon his sodden form, a quick flick snapped his eyes fully open. From just where he landed a girl stood searching the area around the dumpster.
'How the Hell did she get there so fast?'
No time to ponder further he dragged his almost, for sure, broken left leg across the jagged alley away into the blinding haze before a soul could see him.
In this weightless world, not a sound permeated through to him. For some reason, the place was silent. He saw the rain smashing onto him, but they no longer made a noise. His feet surely waded through the encroaching water but there wasn't even a feeling to the chill it must give.
In this world there was nothing but himself. It was a black void seeking to extinguish him from its existence. There was not a place for a tainted man so red.
'Red?'
He dared not look upon his hands. For the answer laid itself bare if he were to try. A muck dotted by bits of tissue replaced the rain now weighing immensely upon his back strangling his lungs as it made true on its promise.
'So much red. So much.'
The muck got in his eyes replaying the moment as the gun went off.
'BANG!'
Then again.
'BANG! BANG! BANG!'
Three shots for that brain to be rendered still. For that heart to be dropped and smashed to oblivion. That's what he wanted, right? To cling to this epiphany of kill? It brought an ounce of warmth to his devolving figure unable to claw away from the muck. A figure so clogged against its will that he may as well swim with the sewage instead of fight.
Yet, a light to his left, why? Why did it shine so brilliantly that the earth itself could be devoured whole?
'BANG!'
That same still image of the man slackened spit spilling across his double chin while the next bullet came out of the revolver sending the soul to Hell where it belonged.
'BANG! BANG! BANG!'
That light was glorious. But there was only one way to get there.
Could the man even be classified as human?
Could any of these predators, pleasure seekers, torturers be allowed the same dignity as all the rest?
What had he done wrong?
'BANG!'
No, nothing wrong was there. Although it was gruesome, ugly, abhorrent, it had been necessary. If those who willingly take exuberance in eradicating the lives of others are allowed to persist, then Kage would never be able to protect Lisa or Daniel. Even after he would be gone that man could keep coming to kill them. Chance alone predilected whether the good heart of a villainous pest was to be dissuaded.
Kage would not be a beggar to fate nor chance.
That's it, there was no other choice.
'BANG! BANG! BANG!'
No other choice.
'BANG!'
Kage reached out from the muck touching a finger to that light, vaporizing the sludge away from his body permitting his movement once again.
'BANG!'
No
'BANG!'
Other
'BANG!'
Choice.
"BLAARGH!" Kage vomited while his eyes fiddled asleep into unconsciousness, yet something held him by the shoulders. Someone was in this light with him.
It was the one he had to see…
But, why? Why must she be at the end to his fallen form?
Is it coincidence, or perhaps fate?
"What is it? What are you, Sophie?"