Take One Last Breath

..::Knoxville’s P.O.V::..

“This beer tastes like piss,” Dunn said, coming out from the kitchen, and examining his Coors bottle.

“That’s because I pissed in it,” I said, not looking away from the TV.

“Dammit,” Dunn sighed heavily, “That was the last one.”

“I know,” I giggled, “That’s why I did it.”

“You’re one fucked up guy, Clapp,” He said, and I heard footsteps. I assumed he was walking away, until I felt the cold liquid being poured on me, and I knew it was the contents of Dunn’s Coors bottle.

“Thanks, man,” I said monotonously.

“Any time,” he said, before actually walking away this time. I got up to go take a shower when the door opened. I’d assumed it would be Austin and Ville coming back to tell us they couldn’t find Kori and Bam. I was surprised, however, to see that it was Kori and Bam walking through the door. They were sweaty, and looked a little tired, and when Bam saw me, his face turned into a scowl. I started running for the stairs before he tackled me, sending me to the ground with him right on top.

“Holy shit, what the hell is your problem?” I called out, a dull pain in my shoulder from where he slammed me into the ground.

“You sent us to Bath fucking Maine. That’s my problem. No map. No phone. No clue where we were, until Kori recognized the place as her home town,” he growled, and then sniffed as his face contorted into disgust, “Dude, you smell like a mix of beer and piss.” All I did was grin and he made a vomiting motion, and got up off of me.

“What’s going on in here,” Dunn asked as he walked in. He immediately started running as he saw Bam and Kori, neither of them chased him, though. I assumed they were too tired.

“We’re gonna go take a shower, and then go to bed, okay? This time leave us the fuck alone,” he said, making his last sentence very clear. He grabbed Kori, and they walked up the stairs. I’d have to call Austin now and tell her that Freddy and Jason were home now, so they could come back.

..::Austin’s P.O.V::..

“Do you think she’d be here?” Ville asked as we walked up the steps to Kori’s apartment. I didn’t know where to start looking for the Bam and Kori, but I thought that maybe she’d go crash at her place with assh – Bam.

“I’m hoping so,” I muttered, and I got to the top of the steps, and walked up to her door. I knocked a few times, and afterwards, tried to open the door. It jiggled, meaning it was locked, “and hope is lost,” I sighed, “they aren’t here.” Ville took me in his arms, and started stroking my back.

“Don’t lose hope, babe. We’ll find them. They’ll turn-“ He was cut off by my phone ringing. I took it out of my pocket, and looked at the Caller I.D. to see that it was Knoxville.

“What does he want,” I sighed before clicking accept, and pressing the phone to my ear, “What do you want?”

“Well what kind of way is that to talk to somebody who comes bearing good news,” He asked defensively.

“You never come bearing good news,” I scoffed, “Now what is it, I’m busy.”

“Idiot and Idiot’s Lady are back. They walked in, and I nearly got killed thanks to Bam,” Knoxville said like he nearly had got killed.

“Maybe next time he’ll finish the job,” I mumbled.

“Thanks. Bitch. Anyways, they’re back. You could come back, or not. You could stay there as long as you like,” He suggested, and I know he was pulling for the latter.

“Any time, Clapp. We’ll head back now,” I said, “So…uh…bye.” The goodbye was awkward on my part, but Knoxville didn’t even say a goodbye before he hung up. “Douche,” I said before I pocketed my phone again, and looked back up to Ville, who was smiling widely. It was contagious as it transformed my blank stare into a smile of its own.

“She’s back, isn’t she?” he said like he was rubbing it in my face.

“Yeah, they got in just now. Knoxville almost got killed. I’m sure nobody else is safe, and I’d like to go home and watch this before they’re all dead,” I said, and Ville grabbed my hand. We’d have to go back to the house and grab our stuff, and head back to Pennsylvania.

“Well let’s hurry up and go, then,” Ville kissed my cheek before we piled into his car, and drove back to my dad’s house. We left shortly after we gathered our things and did a quick clean up of the house. The drive was short, and carried a sweet silence. It was getting dark by the time we finally arrived at the house, and I decided I didn’t really want to go in. Seeing Kori? Of course. Seeing anybody else? No thank you.

“I don’t want to go in,” I said blankly as we sat in the car, which was turned off, and the trunk was already popped.

“Maybe we can sneak in, and get to the bedroom,” He offered, and I snorted before I rolled my head to look at him.

“They’re probably huddled around every door, waiting for us to come in, so they can shoot us with paintballs, or taze us. Come on, you know them. You know them better than I know them, and I’m related to one of them. The head of them,” I said, and he nodded.

“Bite the bullet?” he asked, and I sighed heavily.

“I guess we have no other choice. They’ll realize we’re out here sooner or later, and I’m tired,” I said, and he nodded. He pecked me quickly before we both got out and walked to the trunk. We grabbed our luggage as we shut the back, and made our way to the front door. The first thing I saw when I entered the house was Dunn passed out on the pool table. I didn’t see or hear anybody else, and trust me, I was not complaining. I made way up the stairs, and back to my room, and Ville shut the door behind us.

“Nobody’s here,” Ville pointed out.

“Yeah, it’s almost too good to be – no wait. It is too good to be true. I wonder what’s going on,” I said curiously.

“Why don’t we go scout out somebody?” He offered the idea, and I nodded.

“Alright. I’ll look upstairs, you look downstairs. If we find nobody, we leave, because the house is gonna explode or something,” I ordered, and he nodded, “And one more thing,” I placed my hand on his shoulder.

“What?” He asked with a smile.

“Be safe,” I nodded, and walked out, really getting into the FBI character. I checked Kori’s room first, because it was right next to mine – nothing. I walked to the next hall, and headed to Bam’s room. I heard harsh whispering in the room, but I didn’t feel like eavesdropping. I knocked on the door, and the whispering stopped.

“Shh,” I heard Bam, “Who is it?”

“Freddy Mercury!” I called out sarcastically, and heard Kori laughing. There was shuffling before I heard the door unlock, and there was Kori on the other side as she opened it. I tackled her immediately, “I missed you, short bus!” I called out, and she pat my back in her why-are-you-touching-me hug.

“Missed you too!” She said. She sounded uneasy, that’s for sure, but seeing as I haven’t seen her for over a week now. I’d pry it out of her later, though. I got up off of her, and helped her up onto the ground. I saw Bam sitting on the bed, looking at me with disinterest.

“Hey,” I said, forcing a smile on my face. He nodded in my direction, and I turned back to Kori, “When did you get in?”

“Earlier this morning,” She admitted, “We’ve been in here most of the time.”

“Where’s everybody else gone to?” I asked, leaning against the doorway.

“Bam scared them all out of the house,” she said, and Bam started snickering from the bed, “Which is good because –“

“BAM,” A screech came from downstairs. Not just any screech, but a screech that made you want to stab your ears out with a butter knife, and then bang your head against cinder blocks.

“Oh fuck,” Bam said. His face showed extreme horror, and the blood drained out of his face.

“Great,” Kori mumbled.

“Ah, Austin?!” Ville called, running down the hall, looking uneasy himself.

“Get in,” Kori pulled me into the room, and I drug in Ville. She shut the door quietly, and locked it. She then grabbed a chair, and placed it under the knob. She pulled a bat from under the bed, and held onto it.

“BAM?!” Missy was right outside of the door, screaming at the top of her lungs. We all looked at each other as the doorknob started jiggling, “BAM YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE. OPEN THE GOD DAMN DOOR,” she continued yelling, and then there was banging on the door. Bam hesitated as he got up, and walked over to the door.

“Get out of my house, Missy,” he called back, more calmly than she was yelling.

“This is my house, too. And you’re my husband. You don’t belong to that little slut, you belong to me,” she yelled. It was obvious how furious she was, “And I bet she’s in there. I bet she won’t talk to me face to face now. Little bitch,” she called, and I could see Kori’s knuckles whiten as she clutch the bat tighter.

“I don’t think you want to challenge her,” Bam said. He continuously looked back and forth between Kori and the door. Challenging Kori usually did not end up well.

“And why not? I’d love to lay her pansy ass out,” she called.

“Listen, Missy,” Ville said reasonably, “There’s no need to get violent here. Nobody’s threatening you. If we can all calm down, I’m sure we can talk this through like adult,” he insisted.

“No. Not possible,” Kori disagreed, bringing the bat up, like she was about to use it.

“Kori. Put down the bat,” Ville said slowly.

“Make her leave,” she ordered, “When she leaves, I’ll put down the bat. If she stays, I’m going to fix that little squeak in her voice with this nice aluminum baseball bat,” she said. She looked bloodthirsty, and I wanted to get out of the way.

“I’ll leave when I have my life back. You leave, you don’t belong here. Neither does that fucking friend of yours,” once she said that, my anger flared. I’d been Bam’s cousin. I’ve known him for years.

“This isn’t your life anymore, you psychopathic maniac. Either way, I was here first. I’m family,” I said as I got closer to the door so she could hear me clearly.

“Why don’t you open the door and say that to my face?” She screamed, and I rolled my eyes.

“Because if that door opens, your life is on the line, and that’s not something you want,” I felt Ville’s arms around me, and I calmed down.

“It’s over, Missy. Why can’t you understand that?” Bam pleaded. I could tell he was a little scared. I’d be scared if my legal wife and the girl I had an affair with were fighting. I was surprised that Kori hadn’t already ripped the door opened and bashed her face in.

“We’re not over until I say it’s over, and believe you me, I will take everything you’re worth. Every single penny, I’m going to fucking take it,” she threatened. It was obvious Bam shrugged it off.

“You won’t get shit except what you came in with. Now leave before I call the cops,” he ordered. It was quiet for a second before there was heavy kicking on the door. She was really trying to kick the door in, but she wasn’t doing a good job. Ville’s arms tightened around me as I breathed heavily. What the fuck were we supposed to do?

©Shannon.