They Call Me Daring

Chapter 45

Sometimes you get those days when you just feel like giving up. You just want to lie on your back and say "Take me. Take me away". There are those days when you want it all to end, and you'd do anything for that. This is a story about why you don't surrender, why you don't stop fighting, not even when death is personally staring you down in the face, and why you never, ever give up.
"Impossible..." Bill gasped, whirling to stare at me. For the first time, there was real, actual terror in his insane eyes.
"You might want to reconsider your definition of that word." I muttered coldly. Then I clenched my fingers and drove my fist into his face as hard a humanly possible.
Humanly.
And maybe a little inhumanly.
He was thrown off his feet by the raw, unleashed power of the blow. He flew ten feet in the air, and landed on the ground, hard, blood oozing from every inch of his face. He groaned, but didn't move.
His cronies moved forward, surprising me, cowards that they were. They fired at me, of course. If I let myself red out, I could take them easily. But I wasn't going over this time- not even when I needed to. I was going to do this, and I was going to do this as Liam.
As a human, fighting for humans.
Of course, I couldn't quite get rid of the reflexes.
I tucked and rolled beneath the hail of bullets that tore up the earth where I'd been standing. I came up behind them because they were running like idiots, and kicked their legs out from under them, knocking them to the ground.
Clark came running over, the rage of battle once again ignited in his eyes, and he plunged into the fray, firing strategically, aiming to maim- never to kill.
Together, we danced through the whir of bullets and guns, of fists and boots. Inseparable, yet apart, deadly, but restrained. I watched his back, he watched mine. And none could stand in our path.
Brothers.
I raised my fist, about to bring it down on a man's shoulder- when suddenly he crumpled to the ground without warning. I frowned, and looked down at the tiny whirlwind of blond hair spinning through the mass of limbs and deadly weapon, taking out people's shins as he went.
The three Trackerson brothers, now.
I ducked a blow and spun around, kicking up my leg in a perfect karate-kid kick that I shouldn't have been able to do, nailing them in the back of the head. They fell.
I leapt over a ducking Clark and caught his attacker in the head with a spinning air-borne round-kick. I landed, tucked and rolled. Every muscle in my body was back on line, responding to my will in a second's flash.
Tuck, roll, punch, kick. Slowly their numbers grew less, and still we three Trackersons remained strong. I only saw a few other friendly faces in the mix- most of them were too scared to join in. They had no way of knowing whether I was just a killing machine or not- for all they knew, I would strike them down too, and I'm sure that was a pretty scary thought.
I ducked another blow, watched out of the corner of my eye as Clark took him down with a kick to the groin. I saw a man raise his gun to bring it down on my head, and I wrenched it out of his hands, spinning around and about to smack him in the head- and stopped just short, because my Dad was standing in his place.
"Dad!" I said in surprise. I ducked the swing of a knife.
"Liam-" He grabbed my shoulders, oblivious to the fight around us. "I'm sorry, son. Please, forgive me."
I grinned. "Apology accepted. And, uh, ditto. Except for the son part." He grinned thankfully, and then we were parted by the the throng.
Now it was all of us. The entire Trackerson family. The four of us, together, doing what Trackersons do best. Which is fighting back.
I saw Clark wrestling a man to the ground with his raw strength, Jess kicked at people's shins and scurrying away before they saw what hit them, to look up to my father's fist in their face. Myself? I kind of helped distract them.
They would be too busy watching me approach, fear in their eyes, to notice Clark sneaking up behind them. Then, once they were turned away, about to give him the smack down, I would come up behind them knock them to the ground.
I grinned, despite the fact we were being pummeled by a small army- this was quality family time. Sure, it's not what most families, normal families, would do for fun. But we're not exactly a normal family.
We're the Trackersons. Always have been, always will be. And it will take a lot more than an attempted murder, or even a small military force, to shake us apart. Because we don't give up, not ever. Not even when the odds are unbeatable, the enemy invincible.
Never.
We keep on going, because we know, somewhere out there, the sun is gonna rise, and at some point, it's going to get better- because it sure as heck can't get any worse!
I spun and dove at a man posed to strike my father in the back with a knife, tackling him to the ground. Since only my head was free as we wrestled, I rammed it into his, knocking him unconscious. I didn't even feel the pain.
I stood, panting, and watched Clark and my father work together to wrestle another into submission. The last few men raised their hands above their heads in surrender, and Jess ran around collecting all the spare guns for good measure.
"Now then." I whirled, grinning. "Are there any others who want to become absolute ruler of the world?"
"Liam!" Meg shrieked, and I spun to greet her as she sprinted across the lawn. I caught her in my arms, literally sweeping her off her feet- which I was very proud of, by the way.
"I thought you were- I thought-" She stopped, staring into my eyes, and I couldn't stop smiling, even though I looked like an idiot.
"Come on," I shrugged, unable to stop grinning. Nobody else existed at the moment. Just me and Meg. "It's gonna take more than a little euthanasia to get rid of me!"
"Besides," I added. Her eyes. Huge and full of trust. "I'm not going to let myself get killed just when I'm on the brink of the cure. The world is going to be a better place, soon. We'll rebuild." Her eyes were freezing my soul, taking the words right out of my mouth. "We're going to be around for a long time yet, Meg. You'll see."
"Liam-"
"And when the sun rises-"
"The sun is already up-"
"The day will be better, and we'll be together-" I grinned, knowing she couldn't stand that mushy stuff. I carried on just to be annoying, her warmth glowing on her skin. "And we'll live-"
"Liam?"
"Shut up?" I finished with a crooked grin, and she closed the kiss.
I closed my eyes. My heart didn't beat faster that time. I relaxed. I let Meg be my world, and for once, I just went with it. She was there. I was there. And she lit the darkness, driving it away.
It seemed to last forever, but I wasn't keeping track. When she finally pulled away, she smiled up at me, and I decided it wasn't just a crush.
Yeah, I was in love.
"Happily ever after?" She raised an eyebrow in what was meant to be a sarcastic way, but now she couldn't stop smiling either.
"Happily ever after." I confirmed, not able to look away from her eyes.
Bang.
A single shot shattered the air, and screams erupted. I blinked, confused, looking around- what had happened?
The Meg screamed, and I whirled to look at her, my eyes searching her face. For a split second, I thought she'd been shot, but then-
"LIAM! NO!" Her scream rang in my ears, and suddenly everything got echo-y and I stumbled back, pressing my shaking hands to my chest in disbelief. They came back dripping red.
"Oh," I grunted, staggering backwards. I was seeing double, everything throbbing, stars floating across my vision. My eyes tried to close, but I fought to keep them open, at least a second longer. I fell to my knees, raising my head to see the bald-headed man's hand clatter to the ground, along with the now empty pistol he was holding.
I looked up and saw Jess, Meg, Dad, Clark- the faces of everyone in the world I cared about, waving in front of my eyes, already so far away- and then Liam Trackerson was no more.
          Just like that.