Thanks to the explosion of Elian's hand-held computer, his right hand bled badly enough to make a trail. Meeki followed the trail and felt hopeful that it would quickly lead to him. If she could get to him sooner he would most likely be disarmed and easier to handle. But even with a trail, finding him proved troublesome. He was very quick on his feet even when injured.
The trail led to an emergency stairway around the perimeter of the building. After descending several floors he made his way back into the tower. Meeki encountered a dark narrow corridor. With all the pebbles and dust, it must have been under some kind of construction. Meeki almost ventured into the darkness when Braya caught her eye. The girl seemed to be in a pursuit of her own, sticking her head close to the ground and sniffing for something.
“Braya, what are you doing?” Meeki called out.
The cat's head jerked up and she ran over. Despite the odd behavior, Meeki felt relieved to find a friend.
“Why are you here?” Braya asked, then she noticed the gun in Meeki's hand. “And with an old gun they use to have on Earth?”
Meeki frowned and motioned to enter down the dusty little corridor. It was almost too dark to see in there, but there was enough light for them to walk through.
“How's Maika? She and the others were attacked,” Meeki said.
“I didn't know that,” Braya insisted. “I actually never went to Maika. I kept thinking about Elian and couldn't get it out of my head. I tried to track him and caught his scent coming by here.”
“Well, turns out that Elian is the assassin. You were right to follow him,” Meeki said.
“I knew it! Ever since I first saw him, I could tell something about him was all wrong.”
“Yeah, well, he came to us at the top floor. Kiluana's hurt, but she'll live. I hate to say it, but it's come down to us. I've followed his blood all the way down here.”
They continued into the next hall, which led to nothing more than small window overlooking the northern cityscape. It was a dead end, but he wasn't anywhere to be seen. The blood trail itself stopped abruptly in the center of the hall.
“It doesn't look like he turned around or anything, it just stopped there,” Braya observed.
“The bleeding wouldn't just stop after all this running, unless he has some other secret we don't know about,” Meeki said.
Elian probably stopped the bleeding after finally realizing the trail he left, but he might have used another trick, like a secret door. Meeki approached the wall to check for a thin slit or even a discolored block, but the approaching footsteps of a man distracted her.
“Hello again,” Elian greeted.
They turned to see that he now carried a huge ovular blue gun. It looked almost too heavy for him to carry. A bloody bandage now dressed his injured hand. So it was a trick, he wanted to lure her into this dead end. Meeki gripped her gun tight and trembled more than she ever had. Now that he had a weapon, their chances of survival were once again slim.
“Samara, it's always an interesting time with you around,” he said.
“Just shut up and die!” Braya shouted.
A ferocious growl erupted from her and she lunged at him. Elian grabbed the other end of his gun and grinned, holding off her forceful approach with equal strength. Once engaged, Braya unsheathed her claws and repeatedly thrust herself at him in hopes of tearing at his arms. With very impressive use of his of the gun as a shield, he managed to stave off every attempt. Even when she began skipping around to attack him from other directions, he proved too quick and spun his body around to stop her. Braya didn't seem to mind that her frequent attempts were failing, she only continued her futile assaults like a crazed animal.
Meeki tried her best to aim her gun at Elian, but Braya kept getting in the way with her constant jumping and wrestling. Even during the short times Braya was out of the way, Elian's gun often covered most of his body. Meeki wondered she would ever find a clear shot.
After dealing with so many of Braya's relentless assaults, Elian took a different course of action by grabbing her arm and twisting her body around. He held her in a choke hold similar to the night at the motel. This time he swung the gun around to Meeki and fired. An enormous red ball of energy flew out and slammed into Meeki's chest. The force of the blast propelled her body into the air. She screamed in pure agony from the immediate incineration of flesh and even patches of muscle. Through some sort of miracle, the bullet spared any more damage by pushing her aside and veering off. She slumped to the ground while it burned into the wall just before the window.
The burn was excruciating in its torment and her scream lasted as long as she had breath. She tried to quiet herself and endure the pain, but it seemed that even breathing was too much to bear. She groaned loudly and gritted her teeth while attempting to force herself up, but the hole in her chest punished her for even trying. So much blood poured out from the massive open wound that it began forming a pool around her.
“A shot like that, and it wasn't an instant fatality? Very lucky of you,” Elian said.
Braya seemed lifeless in his arms, stunned as she watched Meeki on the ground. The sight of her friend dying was more than enough to knock her out of the murderous rage.
“Poor Meeki,” Elian chuckled. “She could have lived a peaceful life in my new world, but she chose death. Too bad. I'll see to it that the rest of her family is suitably punished for her crimes.”
“Sh—sh—shut,” Meeki tried to say, but her body spasmed in the attempt to speak.
Elian turned his back and dragged Braya along. Meeki knew that as long as she was still alive, something had to be done for her family's sake. If she couldn't kill him here, she at least had to try shooting him. So she strained herself to grab the gun and leaned up. Bearing the incredible pain, she quaked and trembled, slowly adjusting her aim to ensure something as damaging as possible.
Braya thrashed around to wrestle out of his grip. He tried to hold her steady but she gave him a hell of a time. As they moved off, Meeki realized she had no more time left to make a precise shot. Hoping for the best, she strained herself to make some final adjustments and finally pulled the trigger. The gun erupted with a powerful explosive roar and kicked back out of her weak hands. It skidded across the floor well out of reach. Elian groaned and fell to his knees. Braya leapt out of his arms and yanked the gun from his hands. He grabbed at his shoulder and looked to his blood, confused by the sight of it. The gun was much too heavy for Braya, but she managed to heave it up to point at his forehead. But nothing happened when she pulled the trigger. The previous blast drained the gun's reserve. Elian jumped away toward the center of the intersection. Blood coated his hand and he furrowed his brows.
“How did you do this? What is that gun?” Elian mumbled, his voice stricken with fear.
Feeling too weak to stay up and watch, Meeki fell back to the ground and closed her eyes. Her endurance in tolerating the pain was entirely spent. She felt like she wanted nothing more than to die just to stop feeling it.
There were sounds of a struggle, Braya was probably attempting to finish Elian off. She was trying to use the gun as a club, but the sound of his hands slapping it away proved that Braya still couldn't get the better of him. After some time, the fighting seemed to stop.
“This isn't over for me. My associates will see to your deaths, both of you!” he shouted.
The sound of his staggering footsteps down one of the halls announced his second retreat. Meeki opened her eyes and looked to see that Braya came to her. The girl dropped to her knees and cried.
“Meeki, you're hurt too bad. I don't know what to do, I can't wrap this up or anything! You'll die if I don't take you somewhere. I don't care about him if you're going to die.”
“Shhhh,” Meeki whispered.
“Don't talk, I can practically see your lung, just be quiet and try to stay alive.”
“Go,” Meeki mumbled. “Kill'm and take care of m—my kid for me. It's too late.”
“No, I'm always going to be with you!”
Braya wailed and tried to pick Meeki up, but a group of dark suited men appeared out of nowhere.
“You want to be together? We'll bury your bodies in the same grave,” one of them said. “You may have given our brother Elian a hard time, but we will be your true executioners.”
Meeki felt like she could care less. She was already in enough pain, any more would hardly make a difference.
But then a wave of faintness wash over her mind. Everything seemed to be fading. The pain, the sound, the sight. Even the stench of her blood began waning off in favor of nothingness.
She wanted to cry, but her body wouldn't respond. If she could cry, it wouldn't be crying for her own sake. The thought of her daughter growing without a mother was the truly painful thing about this. She mentally uttered a string of apologies to Miao until her own consciousness failed her. And then nothing was left.