NINE

Chapter 9

STACEY

Bronze city five years earlier

Stacey screamed loudly. "Shhh" Gino hushed trying to quieten her down. Her father's mansion was under siege, they had played into the enemy's hands

Her dad and the rest of the crew had gone to the designated place of battle only for Marco's men to make a detour and attack their home instead. There were no rules as far as gang wars were concerned, either parties were allowed to deploy whatever dirty tricks they wanted, all in a bid to emerge as the victor. She heard heavy footsteps approaching the door where she and Gino hid and tried to suppress the squeal threatening to come out of her mouth. Gino cocked and uncocked his gun in anticipation, though they were roughly the same age, he was bigger, stronger and tougher than she could ever be. The footsteps slowed, then retreated. She heaved a sigh of relief as the steps resounded farther away from them. The door they hid behind, wasn't actually easy to spot, twas made to look like an extension of the wall and only those who knew the code could get it to open. Gino had hurriedly dragged her to hiding here immediately he heard the first shot, his ears as alert as his mind. She remembered how peaceful things still were some years back, when her grandma was still alive, twas always weird referring to her as grandma, cause the image that usually came to mind when one heard the name, was some sickly old woman, but 'Madam Marilyn'(Madam or mother Mary) as the bronze city residents liked to call her, was far from sickly before her death. Sure she had been nearing her 70s, but she still yielded a gun like she was in her twenties, was sharp as a knife, and moved as briskly and swiftly as a fox. She had always idolized her grandma, and her death had shook her to her very core. High blood pressure had gotten the best of her grandmother. She had always thought her Gran Gran was above death, she had forged head on into countless and terrifying duels in the past, all the tales she had heard from family attested to the fact. Her Gran Gran had single handedly put bronze city on the map, ruled the town with an iron fist and commanded respect from everybody in the town, only using force when needed. The people listened to her and adored her, and in turn she developed the place, putting infrastructure the government couldn't put in place, therefore making her more respected than the entire governing body. Long story short her Gran Gran was the motherfuck!ng coolest, and now the empire she had sweated to build was about to go to shit all cause her Uncle Marco was a covetous bastard. The crazy man had decided to form his own gang in a bid to usurp her dad even though he was the rightful head Gran Gran had chosen. Uncle Marco wouldn't let it go though and decided to wage war. Stacey found it funny how he thought he could lead a group of people that clearly detested him, the townspeople thought of him and his men as a nuisance. Sure they were feared,but they weren't respected neither were they loved, and to Stacey she felt that was probably the most important thing that mattered in leadership. She was already making the people of the city warm up to her, so it seemed there would be no problem during her tenure as leader.

A loud thud brought her out of her reverie. "I think they know we're here" Gino said, rechecking his gun for the hundredth time. Stacey didn't think they had any chance of escaping if Marco's men caught them. Sure Gino tried to appear brave and all, but she knew deep down he was scared, she liked to think she understood him more than he even knew himself. Like the way he cracked his fingers when he got nervous, and the smiles he gave that never reached his eyes when he was sad so nobody would bother about him. But she bothered anyway, she'd let him cry on her shoulder when he lost his dad a few years earlier. He had gone a whole day acting all tough and trying to be the man for his mother, but the moment she hugged him in the privacy of his room, she felt the tears spill, she held him that way for hours, and felt his body shake with dread and sadness. They had never spoken about that day after that, it had been their little secret. She liked how he could never lie to her, loved the way he could be vulnerable with her, and she always tried to be there for him in her own little way. For one, she had always been the overachiever, while she had always indicated interest in being the leader of the gang one day, he had always maintained a passive attitude towards the whole thing. Gino had always been the questionable nerd. Preferring to spend his days in solitude buried in books upon books, some of which he was the author of, or he could stay just painting and nature gazing. His mum said he had been a very quiet baby, the first time he smiled, being the first day he saw her, just some days after she was born. She was the only one who could bring him out of his shell. They'd become even closer after his father's death, each of them acting like extensions of each other, even though they were solar opposites.

Another loud thud sounding nearer this time, startled her causing her to jump. Her dad and Marco had agreed to a duel. It was decided that whoever had the most men alive after the fight, would be the leader of the gang, all gang clashes would seize and the loser would fully throw his support behind the champion. But instead of Marco's men to be at the site of the fight, they were here wrecking havoc on their home instead. She knew before her dad would discover he'd played into Marco's trap, it would be too late and great damage would've already been done.

"I think we should start a fire or sum, create a little chaos before the rest of em come after realizing the whole deal was a fluke" Stacey heard one of Marco's men say in the distance.

"That's not what the boss, sent us here for dumbass. Just find the frigging kids and let's get the hell out here, we've done more than enough damage already" another of his men countered back.

"Look all I'm saying is start a little something to drive them out of hiding faster, yunno what I mean, I ain't got all day to stay searching. I got a fine redhead with big 'ol titties waiting for me back home" he retorted, further punctuating his sentence with the smacking of his lips. A sound that made Stacey cringe badly.

"Well if you've got so much shit to do, why don't you search faster and stop all that stupid mumbling huh" the man Stacey decided was the superior spat back, retreating away from where they hid. She heard 'Mr redhead waiting for me at home' light a cigarette as he muttered a barely audible"whatever" behind his superior. She strained her ears against the door and heard him settle down at the settee beside the door of their hiding. It looked like he wasn't planning on leaving there anytime soon. She heard him take loud heavy puffs of his cigar and exhale into the air. She couldn't stand the smell of the smoke, it was one of her few allergies, alongside peanut butter. She automatically started having panic attacks anytime she got too much smoke into her system, the smoke from a cigar really didn't do much damage, but it still made her feel light headed. She made a show of covering her nose with her hands as she mouthed a "I'm fine" to Gino who was visibly worried about the impact the smoke was having on her. She heard 'Mr redhead' take several more puffs before proceeding to get up from the settee.

"Let's see how well this drapes serve as an ashtray now, shall we?" She heard him say to no one in particular before walking away.

A few more minutes passed before she felt a zapping pain in her head, accompanied by more smoke, smelling stronger this time. Her hands did little to repel the pungent smell of the smoke seeping into their hiding.

"Damn the fucking bastard used the drapes to put off his cigar for real" she heard Gino curse next to her. Her head was beginning to spin real fast. She looked around the safe,the makeshift room they were in, it was void of windows which meant two things; no ventilation and no means of leaving the room without getting caught. She knew there were more of Marco's men positioned around her father's mansion and to worsen matters, it seemed the smoke was spreading faster. The air around them was clouded with thick smoke and she felt a sweat breakout on her forehead, but she couldn't tell if it was as a result of the air becoming hotter, anxiety or her allergy. She imagined this situation going a couple ways for her and her cousin, but all the scenarios she drafted in her head, showed bad end results. They'd only stand a chance if someone eventually found and rescued them.

She collapsed against the door, her legs suddenly felt too weak to carry the rest of her body.

"I'll get us out of here I promise" Gino assured her, holding her hand and muttering a string of curses under his breath. She tried to gather her strength together. She needed to be strong for Gino and be brave just as he'd been all this time for her. She knew it would be difficult for both of them to be rescued at the same time, and it would even be more difficult for their rescuer(s) if she was passed out and unconscious. She tried to focus her mind on something else other than the smoke in a bid to keep her senses alert and prevent herself from passing out, but it was proving to be insanely difficult. "I'll get us out of here, I'm thinking something up" Gino reassured some more, but she could barely register his voice anymore. After what seemed like an hour, but wasn't nearly up to a minute, Gino nudged her.

" Okay I have an idea". Gino had suggested they'd make a run for it apparently there was a fire extinguisher in the safe with them that she had failed to notice, he would step out first, her trailing behind him as he would try to extinguish the fire in their path and fire shots at suspected enemies that might be around them. Stacey doubted there would be any potential human threats around, their main threat would be the fire which had already spread far, because she heard Marco's men trying to rush out of the house, in a bid to escape the fire. Gino had decided they took a less conspicuous route, but she didn't feel like she had it in her to take the journey. He might as well just escape without her, someone would eventually find her, she just hoped it wouldn't be when its just ashes that's all that's left of her. She really didn't want to slow him down or decrease the chances of one of them getting out alive, that would be a big win for Marco and she would really hate that.

" I think you should go without me, I'll be fine really, I don't want to slow you down" she muttered to him, barely able to convey her words as each one was punctuated with choking coughs.

" You must be stupid, to think I'll willingly leave you here to die. I promised to get you out of here alive, and that I will. Now get on my back if you're too tired to walk" he urged her. There's no way she would let him carry her, it was to big a risk for him to try to maneuver her, the extinguisher and the gun. She moved her head in a way she hoped would convey her 'no' as answer. With one scoop, she felt Gino sweep her off her feet and position her on his shoulders despite her refusal.

"Did it look like I was letting you decide that" Gino sighed as he grabbed hold of the extinguisher and positioned it under his armpit. "Now just stay still, lets get out of here" .

He punched the security code in and the smoke that greeted them was nearly enough to make her topple over, save for Gino's hand securing her in place. He sprayed the extinguisher as they managed to weave their way through the smoke. She collapsed against him, trying not to put too much weight on him as she knew she would weigh a lot more in her nearly passed out state. So far she had heard no gunshots, meaning there was none of Marco's men around, maybe their escape would be successful after all.

After what seemed like hours of alternating between extinguishing smoke and moving towards the exit, they were finally approaching the back door. Stacey could hardly keep her eyes open, she knew she would need a good rest and a ton of painkillers after that day was over. She had stretched herself to her limit already. The only thing keeping her eyes open was the will to not give Gino extra weight.

" Hang in there Stacey, we're almost out now" she could hear the hint of a smile in his voice.

After a few more of his sordid steps, Stacey finally heard the exit door shift to make way for them, a gush of fresh air hit them and she took a good whiff of it to calm herself

" I told you I'd get you out, didn't I" Gino questioned her, half laughing, half smiling in relief. She smiled a little to herself too, as he steadied her on his back. She still felt lightheaded, she knew she would pass out anytime soon.

"There's none of your dad's men in sight tho, its crazy that none of them are here yet though. I'll just try to get to my truck" he steadied her some more on his back as he took long purposeful strides in the direction of his car. She mouthed an inaudible 'thank you' at him, she didn't even think he heard, until she felt her body meet the soft leather of the backseat. " You'll have to thank me with something better tho, how about buying me that kicks I've been dying for" he mouthed back as her, as he rounded the car to try to get to the driver's seat.

She would buy him the whole world and every sneaker in it if she could. She knew there was no way she would've made it out of the house without him.

"I love you cuz" she whispered inaudibly as she felt her mind drift away. Shots sounded loudly behind her, just as she heard Gino try to unlock the door to his seat, followed by screams of pain, muffled shouts and the voice of her father in a split second, right before her world turned blank.