Status: New and Active!

Nobody's Hero

XI. || Nobody is Dying Today

"Scar!" Phoenix said quietly as soon as the door was closed. She ran across the room and hurled herself into his arms. Tears streamed down her face as he held her and he could tell she was on the verge of a panic attack. "I can't believe you're here!"

"I am here, Belle. I've got you," he whispered into her hair, holding her tightly. They embraced for a while, both of them trying to hear what was going on at the front door but unable to. "Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" he asked her after a moment, putting a finger under her chin so that she was looking at him. She shook her head silently, and he could tell that it wasn't totally true. Where he seemed to have not hurt her any further physically, it was obvious that she'd been subjected to even more emotional torment than she already had before.

"I really thought he was going to kill me this time, Andy. He still might. In fact, he'll probably kill both of us this time," she said, her voice quiet but bordering on frantic.

"Nobody's dying, Nix. Listen to me," he began, giving her a moment to collect herself. When she finally did, he reached into the pocket of his black jeans and pulled out his cell phone. "First of all, he was stupid enough to leave me with a phone. Second of all, he left my bat on the floor over there and a huge knife on the bedside table," he said, motioning to the bat and the knife respectively. Phoenix seemed suddenly optimistic when she realized that his words rang true.

"I'll fucking kill him," she growled, moving to the table and grabbing the knife.

"No, you won't. His dad is the sheriff, Phoenix. You'll rot in jail forever, self-defense or not," Andy said gently, walking over to her and taking the knife gingerly out of her hands, admittedly slightly afraid of what she might do with it if he didn't.

"What do you expect me to do then, huh? I'm fucking done being a victim," she said, and he nodded as gently as he could.

"I know, sweet girl. Just calm down a little for me though, please," he said, moving to her and placing a hand on either side of her face so that he could hold her still for a moment to look in her eyes. "Right now, I'm going to call the police station back home. They're aware of everything that's happened and they even said they sent officers from there to here because everyone in the state (their words) has been suspicious of Patrick's dad for a long time, so they had no problem believing me," he said, and Phoenix nodded slightly, moving out from between his hands and across the room to listen at the door while he called.

"They're sending two officers over. We're going to be fine," he told her after he'd hung up the phone, and when she looked back at him he was confused as to why she still looked so sullen. "What is it?" he asked, moving to her and taking her hand.

"That just seems way too easy, doesn't it?" she asked him, and before she was even finished with the sentence, he was shaking his head.

"No. No, it doesn't. Because sometimes good things do happen, Belle. You've got to remember that," he told, leaning in and kissing her forehead.

"Where is he?" she asked, distracted and still listening at the door. "There were voices and then nothing. I didn't hear the front door close or anything. Just silence," she said, leaning hard on the door to try and hear better. Andy listened with her, and for a good few minutes there was nothing and then suddenly there were footsteps right outside the door. Both of them scrambled to the bed and sat, trying their best to act like that's where they'd been all along.

"Anyone know why the fuck I've got neighbors knocking on the door, asking if everything's alright?" Pat asked as soon as he stepped through the door, and Andy and Phoenix exchanged a confused look.

"Probably because you're actively holding two people hostage?" Phoenix asked, and Andy was sure he was about to have to take Patrick on because of the look of pure rage he got in his eye at her words.

"Don't be fuckin' cute with me. What did you do?" he addressed Andy, crossing the room and pulling him roughly to his feet. As he stood, Phoenix saw that he was still holding Patrick's knife behind his back.

"I didn't talk to any neighbors," Andy said calmly and honestly. Patrick regarded him for a moment more and then seemed satisfied with the answer. He pushed Andy backwards towards the bed and then immediately began pacing back and forth across the room.

"What are you doing, Pat?" Phoenix asked in the calmest voice she could muster, mostly just out of curiosity.

"Deciding what to do with you two idiots, obviously. I'm bored of the game. It's not fun anymore but I don't know how it should end," he said quietly, like he was speaking mostly to himself.

"You could let us go," Andy said and Pat stopped pacing to give him a look.

"Obviously that's not going to happen," he said, just as both Andy and Phoenix had expected him to. "Mostly I'm deciding which order to kill you in, how to do it, and what to do with the bodies afterward," he said in a voice that would have scared Phoenix to death a few weeks before. In that moment, however, it mostly just filled her with rage.

She was about to say something in response to him but before she could, all three of them heard the front door of the apartment being broken down. Patrick made a small noise in the back of his throat and then looked between Andy and Phoenix quickly, like he was trying to decide something. Finally, his gaze landed on Phoenix and he crossed the room to her, snatching her up off of the bed and holding her in a tight choke hold with his gun pointed straight at her head.
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A day late, sorry! :(