12Holly dropped her empty mags to the floor of the hospital, immediately bringing the man behind the door to tense up even further. If he shot too soon, she might avoid him altogether, too late and she would most certainly end him.
On the opposite side of the door, Holly clicked the slide locks, chambering a round into each of her best friends, and stepped to the side of the door. Looking back to the trail of bodies she left in her wake, she found one common item on all of them; revolvers. These people really thought they were Clint Eastwood, and should there be someone waiting for her on the opposite side of this door, surely he too would imagine himself a cowboy. She twisted the doorknob, and gave the door a tug.
The clean-shaven man watched the door eerily creek open, and tightened his finger on the trigger. Holly could just make out the sound of the hammer being pulled back and spun Mr. 1911 around her pointer finger, "Too easy." She threw the weapon into the room, and on cue the man opened fire. In half-a-heartbeat, Holly rounded the corner and fired off three rounds in quick succession. While she had put him down, he did manage one more shot on her, this time to her left thigh. She hobbled over to pickup Mr. 1911 before stepping to the man's subdued form. Her foot landed on his chest, pressing on one of the wounds she had made, bringing him to howl in pain.
She locked Mr. 1911 on his forehead and asked, "Where's Becca?"
Knowing his death was coming, his arrogance came back to the surface. He smiled and spoke, "We already done fucked that little girl up, you dumb bitch." He laughed slightly as Holly tightened her finger on Mr. 1911's trigger, "Guess you're just a little too late, aren't ya?"
Holly smiled as she looked down on him, "You know what I love most about doing dicks like you? How fuckin' oblivious you are to how easy you are to read. Word to the wise cocksucker, women can smell when a man is lying, and right now; you smell like shit."
"Why you-"
Though it hurt her, she knelt down and forced Mr. 1911 into his mouth, silencing him in an instant, "Say hi to your buddies for me." His eyes widened as she squeezed the trigger. Both blood and grey matter, splashed across the floor, and just like that, he was done.
Holly got to her feet, when from the next room in, a voice called out, instantly grabbing her attention, "Holly?!"
"Becca?!" Holly shouted as she kicked the door in. Her injured leg crashed back to ground in pain, and she observed the scene before her.
Becca was now wide-awake as she lay on the table, and the doctor held a needle in her neck, his finger on the plunger, "That's far enough, bitch."
Holly raised her weapons in semi-submission and barked, "Let her go."
The doctor chuckled slightly and replied simply, "No."
"I know what you're planning to do with her, some part of you has to know how fucked up it is."
"All I know is that thanks to you, Kevin and all of his subordinates done away with, and young Becca here stands to make me a very rich man."
Holly slowly lowered her aim back to the doctor, bringing him to twist the syringe slightly. Becca screamed in pain as the needle bent in her neck. Holly's body ached for the little girl, and when he finally stopped moving the needle, she asked over her cries, "You alright, Becca?"
Becca struggled through her tears and replied, "I'm alright."
"But she won't be for long if you don't put the guns down."
Holly's eyes bounced back and forth between Becca and the doctor, and finally she replied, "I can't do that for you, doc; but I'll tell you what…"
"What's that?" The doctor asked with an arrogant smile.
"…you let her go right now, and I promise I won't kill you," Holly finished. The doctor laughed at her comment and she asked once more as she adjusted her aim, "Last chance, doc."
The doctor locked his eyes on her and spoke, "What are you going to-"
Holly quickly raised Mr. 1911 putting a .45 caliber slug in his jugular. His left hand flew to his throat, and just as he squeezed the plunger with his last bit of strength, Holly fired a shot from Mr. 92FS, shattering the syringe. As his convulsing form fell to the ground, Holly stepped to Becca and ripped the needle from her neck with a yelp.
Taking in her rescuer for a moment, Becca ignored her own pain and shouted, "You're hurt!"
Half of her restraints undone, Holly replied, "I'm fuckin' fine, now let's go."
Finally free, Becca jumped from the table and tightly wrapped her arms around Holly. She buried her face in Holly's shoulder and cried out, "You came for me!"
Holly closed her eyes, and didn't return the gesture in the least as she spoke, "You know, since I found you, you've been a royal pain in my ass kid."
Becca pulled away from Holly and looked up to her with tear soaked cheeks, "I'm sorry."
Holly finally offered Becca a smile and replied, "Hey…"
"Yeah?" Becca asked through her tears.
"…thanks for fixing my necklace."
Becca smiled through her tears and again pressed her face to Holly's shoulder, "You're welcome."
After a moment of mutual comfort, Holly pushed her away, picked her clothes from a table by the door, and pressed them to Becca's chest, "Now get dressed; we need to go, before this whole damn town comes after us."
Holly turned, offering the child the privacy she knew she would have wanted, and as she slipped her clothes on, she replied, "There's another way out!"
Holly immediately turned to find Becca fully dressed and asked, "Where?"
Becca stepped to a section of the wall at the far end of the room and gave it a firm push. The wall swung open and Becca answered, "I heard them say that they brought me in this way to keep me hidden from the rest of the town." Holly joined her and she continued, "If we go this way, we should end up out by the cars."
"Right where I left the horse," Holly thought, bringing a smile to her lips. "Well what are you waiting for? Let's go!"
They slipped through the tunnels beneath the town, which was now in complete chaos. Lights had turned on all over the place as men scattered about like ants in search of who or whatever caused so much trouble. But as Holly and Becca emerged just outside the garage, their frantic search didn't matter. They were well out of view, and not long after their feet touched sand, had they both mounted the horse and taken off into the night at full gallop.
It took mere minutes for them to put miles between them and Los Angeles at the horse's strong pace. However, within those few minutes, the horse had expended a great deal of energy, and it wasn't long before they had to stop. The cloak of night kept them well hidden from anyone who might come looking while the horse rested and drank. Becca hung onto her medical gown and after ripping it into smaller sections, used the pieces to tie off Holly's gunshot wounds. Oddly, the pain that constantly gnawed away at her was the only thing that kept her grounded and calm.
"How far is it, back to Tucson?" Becca asked.
Holly smiled slightly, her eyes rolling about as she spoke, "About four days. It'll be a fuckin' miracle if I make it."
"Don't talk like that!" Becca scolded. "You're gonna make it, you're gonna be fine!"
Holly laughed as she fell back in the sand, "You sound just like me kid; making promises you can't keep."
Becca's tears welled up in her eyes, and her anger washed over her as she spoke, "No! You're too strong to let those two little holes kill you, you hear me?!"
"Fuckin' hell you're a tough little shit," Holly replied. "You really know how to piss me off, but you know; I kinda like that about you."
Holly's eyes closed as the massive dose she'd taken finally wore off, and brought her to crash all at once. At the sight of Holly's body seeming to give up, Becca slapped her across the face, instantly bringing Holly's eyes to open, "What the fuck was that for?!"
"You're not gonna fucking die yet, now get up!" Becca ordered.
"I'm not fuckin' dying, I'm crashing!"
Regardless of what she said, Becca helped Holly back onto the horse, and kept walking away from LA. She knew how Holly worked, and that she would have headed in the direction that offered her the shortest distance between LA and Tucson. It wasn't much to work from, but it was a start. Just as they began walking once again, Holly muttered as she faded into unconsciousness, "Markers every mile. Just try and stay straight."
As Holly slumped forward on the horse's back, Becca's eyes locked on the expanse of desert before her. She looked back to Holly for a moment, to the wounds on her body and thought, "I'm not a liar, Holly. You are going to make it home."
Just before the lights went out altogether, a single thought passed through Holly's mind, "I'm coming home, Kim."
Nine days had passed since Holly left Tucson to find Becca. The flames that consumed Kenny's quiet little haven were gone, and once again, he had begun to rebuild. Even the weakened structure left by the flames was too precious to abandon. Hammering support boards in place, Kenny stopped his work every now and again to look off to the sand, hoping that any minute now, Becca and Holly might appear in the distance. He knew he couldn't have stopped her that day, no one could have, and as the daylight faded on the ninth day, his hope of seeing her again was fading fast.
As the sun fell below the horizon, he was finally through for the day, and gave the desert just one more glance. He could almost super-impose the image of Holly and Becca on horseback, riding in from the night. Sadly though, no such image appeared. He laid his tools on the makeshift work surfaces, and headed into his building. After ascending the stairs, he was thankful the hallway was so endlessly dark. The dried blood of the girls that died just outside Holly's room remained hidden in the darkness, and the door to Holly's room remained open as she'd left it.
Just as it seemed he was willing to just pass her room by, he stopped and entered her space. Immediately he felt hollow, just being here without her. She'd never have him, and he was almost willing to accept that, but a part of him always wondered if maybe some day, she'd finally be ready to try. Regardless, none of that mattered now. He stepped into her washroom to find her dried blood still on the wall, and his eyes shut tight, "I can't stand missing you, Holly." He struggled to calm himself down, and stepped from the washroom and closed the door behind him.
Noticing she'd left her window open that last day, he stepped over to close it. As he reached the window, his eyes widened and he did a quick double-take. Just a couple yards away, Holly lay atop a horse with Becca beside her, walking towards Kenny's building. Almost as fast as Holly had descended the stairs nine days ago, Kenny made a mad dash back outside. The first thing he noticed was Holly slumped over on the horse, whether she was alive or dead was unknown. He then looked to Becca, who looked every bit like she'd spent five days walking through the desert with no food, and sparse rations of water.
Knowing that Holly would want him to tend to the girl first, Kenny ran to Becca and asked, "Are you alright?"
Becca's exhaustion, was so clear on her face and in her tone as she replied, "I'll be fine." She looked up to Holly and continued, unable to give her words the emphasis she wished, "She's been shot twice, and she lost a lot of blood."
"Becca-"
"I can take care of myself," Becca interrupted. "I made her a promise; don't make me a liar."
Kenny wrapped his hand around Holly's wrist in search of a pulse. At feeling the weak thump in her veins, a slight smile appeared on his lips. When he turned to look back to Becca, he found her walking off towards his building, more than likely in search of water. He looked back to Holly and carefully took her into his arms. His exhaustion from the day's work was the last thing on his mind as he carried her to the building in which the town's medical duo resided.
"Nikki! Tony!" Kenny roared as he kicked the door to their building.
Hours passed, and once again, Holly lay in her bed. Nikki and Tony had cleaned and dressed her wounds, changed her clothes, and while it may have been a rather crude setup, they also connected her to an IV of liquids to rehydrate her. The sheet that covered her up to her chest slowly rose and fell with her breath, and she lightly tossed about, her eyes fluttering beneath their lids as she slept. She may have been shot and was possibly closer to death than she'd ever been, but the look on her face, the look of utter serenity and calm told that in just a few days, she'd be just fine.
In the bar below Holly's room, Kenny and a freshly showered Becca sat in discussion. They both wore wide grins, Kenny drinking a glass of booze, while Becca struggled to stick to her glass of water. "Come on," Kenny insisted as he slid the glass of alcohol across the table to Becca. "It won't kill you, and after what you've just been through, it'll be good for you, I promise."
Much more awake, and feeling somewhat euphoric at simply being with someone she felt safe with, Becca replied, "I really don't think I should."
"Trust me; it'll take the edge of these last couple days right off, I promise."
She was tired of arguing this with him, and finally picked up the glass and took a healthy gulp. As soon as she placed the glass back onto the table, the alcohol burned her throat, bringing her to cough and wretch. Of course Kenny chuckled at her reaction, "Another two sips and you'll be feeling like a million bucks."
Becca chugged back the rest of her water to ease the burn, and made her way to the bar to get more, "Thanks, I'm good."
Kenny laughed and took a sip of his booze. The alcohol warmed him slightly and he commented, "You know Becca, it's a damn miracle the two of you made it back."
As she filled her glass, she replied, "I just did what Holly said. I kept our path as straight as I could, and followed her markers."
"Well you did good, Becca," Kenny replied. A light chuckled from Becca's lips brought him to ask, "What?"
She shook her head and took another sip of her water as she took her seat beside Kenny, "It's nothing, I just…" She couldn't even believe her words as she spoke them, "…after I lost my mom, I changed my name."
"Why?" Kenny asked.
"I wanted to forget everything that reminded me of her. Whenever someone called for me, I heard her voice and it made me crazy. Changing my name, it was the only way to make the pain less." Kenny could see the sadness in her eyes as she spoke, "But now that I'm here; I don't know why, but I think I'm ready to remember her; ready to keep her with me again."
He smiled slightly and took another sip of booze before he asked, "Well in that case, introduce me; who am I speaking with?"
She looked up to him with glazed over eyes, and a smile so sweet that it could have ended the most heinous of wars, "Kimberly…" Her eyes blinked a few stray tears loose, and she looked to her glass of water as she finished, "…but mom always called me 'Kim'."
And that's that. I know the ending was a bit cliche, and I apologize for that, but I felt like I really needed to give Holly something (Even if she doesn't really "get it") for all she'd been through.
Anyways, if you made it this far, thank you so much for reading. I really hope you enjoyed it :)
If not, again, please be gentle ;)
-jm