Twisted Games(Ryeji ver)

YEJI/RYUJIN[CHAPTER 8]

YEJI

One second, I was standing. The next, I was on the
ground, my cheek pressed to the grass while Ryujin shielded
my body with hers, and screams rang out through the park.
It all happened so quickly it took my brain several beats to
catch up with my pounding pulse.
Dinner. Park. Gunshots. Screams.
Individual words that made sense on their own, but I
couldn’t string them together into a coherent thought.
There was another gunshot, followed by more screams.
Above me, Ryujin let out a curse so low and harsh I felt it
more than I heard it.

“On the count of three, we’re running for the tree cover.”
Her steady voice eased some of my nerves. “Got it?”
I nodded. My dinner threatened to make a reappearance,
but I forced myself to focus. I couldn’t freak out, not when
we were in full view of the shooter.

I saw him now. It was so dark I couldn’t make out many
details except for his hair—longish and curly on top—and
his clothes. Sweatshirt, jeans, sneakers. He looked like any of
the dozens of guys in my classes at Thayer, and that made
him all the more terrifying.
He had his back to us, looking down at something,
someone—a victim—but he could turn around any second.

Ryujin shifted so I could push myself onto my hands and
knees, keeping low as I did so. She'd drawn her gun, and the
grouchy but thoughtful woman from dinner had disappeared,
replaced by a stone-cold soldier.
Focused. Determined. Lethal.
For the first time, I glimpsed the woman she’d been in the
military, and a shiver snaked down my spine. I pitied anyone
who had to face her on the battlefield.

Ryujin counted down in the same calm voice. “One, two…
three.” I didn’t think. I ran.

Another gunshot fired behind us, and I flinched and
stumbled over a loose rock. Ryujin grabbed my arms with firm
hands, her body still shielding me from behind, and guided
me to the thicket of trees at the edge of the park. We couldn’t
reach the exit without passing directly by the shooter, where
there was no cover at all, so we would have to wait until the
police arrived.

They had to be here soon, right? One of the other people
in the park must’ve called them by now.
Ryujin pushed me down and behind a large tree.
“Wait here and do not move until I give the okay,” she
ordered. “Most of all, don’t let anyone see you.”
My heart rate spiked.

“Where are you going?”

“Someone has to stop him.”
A cold sweat broke out over my body. She couldn’t possibly
be saying what I thought she was saying.

“It doesn’t have to be you. The police—”

“It’ll be too late by the time they get here.” Ryujin looked
grimmer than I’d ever seen her. “Don’t. Move.”
And she was gone.
I watched in horror as Ryujin crossed the wide-open
expanse of grass toward the shooter, who had his gun aimed
at someone on the ground. A bench blocked my view of who
the victim was, but when I crouched lower, I could see
beneath the bench, and my horror doubled.

It wasn’t one person. It was two. A man and, judging by
the size of the person next to him, a child.
Now I knew why Ryujin had that expression on her face
before she left.
Who would target a child?
I pressed my fist to my mouth, fighting the urge to throw
up. Less than an hour ago, I’d been teasing Ryujin over bread
and wine and thinking of all the things I still needed to pack
before we left for New York. Now, I was hiding behind a tree
in a random park, watching my bodyguard run toward
possible death.

Ryujin was an experienced soldier and guard, but she was
still human, and humans died. One minute, they were there.
The next, they were gone, leaving behind nothing more than
an empty, lifeless shell of the person they used to be.