Property of Drex (Death Chasers MC 1)

In real life, it’s all a blur of motion and noise, and seconds turn into hours, each ticking by so slowly that you can taste death on the tip of your tongue. And the gunfire is just loud noise that all muddles together to create the constant roar of a storm.

Right now, Drex is cold. The care and concern in his eyes from earlier is completely gone, and he fires back at whoever is unleashing hell on us right now.

Drake does the same, but suddenly more guns are shooting, because the noise drones on, getting louder and louder.

Drake curses when he grabs his arm, dropping his gun in the process. Drex ducks down and curls his body around mine, wrapping me up completely as someone tries to turn the house into a sponge.

He reaches over and grabs a small table leg, flipping it so that it crashes beside us, and I see two grenades taped underneath. With quick, jerky movements, he tosses one to Drake, who makes even quicker work with throwing it out into the madness.

Drex cover my ears just before I feel the ground jerk beneath us, the house vibrating viciously as something thunders through the air. Dirt blows inside, filling my lungs and forcing me to cough. It was already hard to breathe before the dirt assault.

Drex is suddenly off me, and I see him launch the second grenade. He dives, but the explosion kicks back sooner than it did earlier, and it rocks the house harder, letting me know it hit closer as well.

Drex crashes into the coffee table, and limply collapses to the ground. Drake is grabbing a gun, firing it with one hand while his left arm hangs at his side, blood slowly oozing from a bullet wound near his shoulder.

Drex is exposed, lying out in the open in front of the window, so I scramble up on my hands and knees, clumsily crawling to him as Drake takes on the army on his own.

His dead weight is too heavy to move, so I do the only thing I can and turn the coffee table on its side, blocking the easy view they have. If the walls won’t stop their bullets, I doubt this table will, but at least it hides him better.

I cover him with my body the way he did me, and I softly chant his name, begging him to wake up. But he’s out cold. His head is trickling blood from where he hit it too hard against the table when he was thrown back.

More gunfire from a different angle kicks in, and I shiver, worrying more have joined. But no new bullets breach the house.

“Fuck yes,” Drake breathes, belly-crawling toward us and wincing when he has to use his injured arm. “The Calvary has arrived.”

My focus returns to Drex, but he still won’t wake up.

Almost at once, the gunfire stops or my ears have been deafened. I scratch that last theory when I hear tires squeal. Only a few stray shots continue being shot, but the door is kicked in before my relief can sink in.

I scream, but it dies when I see Axle rushing over.

“Is he okay?” he asks, but I can’t answer. I’m still on top of Drex, keeping him covered as though Axle is going to open fire at any second, even though I know better. My mind and body aren’t exactly communicating, so I don’t move or speak.

“Yeah. Just hit his head pretty hard. We need to get out of here before the cops show up. The place will need to be torched,” Drake tells him.

Axle nods, but when he leans down to inspect Drex, I tighten my hold on him.

“Calm down, Eve. It’s just me. I need to get him out of here. You too. Come on.”

Drake tugs my arm, and I reluctantly slide off Drex, looking at his lifeless body. It hurts to see him so vulnerable when I know he’d be pissed to be seen like this.

I stay on my knees as Axle curses and bends down, lifting Drex so that he can toss him over his shoulder. I couldn’t even get Drex to budge, yet he is picking him up as though it’s barely straining.

“I’ll get him to our doc. You need to get sewn up,” Axle says, eyeing Drake’s bleeding arm.

“Through and through,” Drake says as he stands, acting as though that makes it all okay.

I stand too, but I try not to draw any attention to myself. Axle carries out Drex, and I try to follow, but a guy suddenly steps into my path. My eyes widen at the sight of him, because he’s even taller than Drex, and he doesn’t exactly look too friendly.

“You can’t follow,” he announces, but Drake rolls his eyes while shoving past him and dragging me along.