Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 92392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
The pistol rose off the floor and back into his shattered hand, and the hand made itself whole around the grip.
Soon, the Fox was alive again at the bulkhead with two guns, shooting at me.
And then time slowed.
The cold thing in my chest loosened.
The reverse stopped.
My niece ceased with giggling.
And for one breath the world did not know which way it was supposed to run.
What? The? Fuck?
I stood, suspended in time. I did not know if I was alive or remembering being alive. I did not know if my body was mine or a thing I was about to be poured back into.
Then the world chose forward.
What now? I don’t understand.
I stood there looking like an idiot as all this action happened around me.
Akiro's guards were already down—the twins had cleared the front ring, Reo had cleared the right, and the bodies lay where they'd fallen. The kusarigama hung in Kenji's grip; he'd already torn it from Akiro's hands.
Akiro stood empty-handed and furious in the center aisle.
But. . .is this a cruel dream or what? Will I wake up and cry?
And the Fox crouched at the rear bulkhead preparing to shoot those guns at us.
Dream or not, I’m fixing this!
This time I didn’t focus on the Fox or my revenge, I concentrated all my energy on the twins.
I raced for them.
Aki stood on the starboard side, near the crates, with his shoulder turned at the exact angle that would put his throat in the path of the Fox's third shot. He didn't know it. He and everyone else were watching Akiro.
This is how he dies.
Yuki had his blade out and a hand near his holstered gun, three feet from his brother, alive, whole, his eyes on the same place every eye in the cabin had landed.
I had seven seconds, maybe ten.
I sprinted. “DUCK!!!!”
The twins turned to me.
Reo snapped his gaze my way and appeared bewildered and utterly confused.
Three steps to Aki.
I hit him low at the hip and high at the shoulder, the way I'd been taught to take a man down without breaking him.
“Ah!” Aki went down sideways and hit the metal under. "Hiro, what the—"
I was already up, closing the two steps to Yuki. Fast, I took his gun out of the holster and shoved him to the ground.
“Hiro, have you lost it?!”
Gun in hand, I spun around, raised it in the air, and shot Akiro through the eye.
The sound of the round was the loudest sound in the world for one full second, and then it was the second loudest, because I had already turned the barrel toward the bulkhead.
The Fox's two guns came up shaking. He was too slow. I pulled the trigger again, before he could fire a single shot. My bullet hit him in the middle of his forehead.
Then, I went back to Akiro and delivered the remaining bullets to his chest.
Blood sprayed.
Akiro fell forward.
And that was the only moment, I lowered the gun.
My hand was shaking. My whole body felt wrong, light and far away, like I'd given blood I didn't have to give. I was insanely exhausted, but I locked my knees and stayed up somehow.
My face was wet. I couldn't remember crying, yet tears spilled from my eyes.
Please, don’t let this be a dream. Please. I’ll do anything. God. Please.
Kenji's mouth was open.
Reo's hand was on his pistol, half-drawn, frozen at the draw.
"Hiro. . ." Kenji's voice came out thin. "I thought you. . .wanted to kill our father together. . .”
Aki walked over to me. “You killed him.”
“Too fast.” Yuki blinked.
“No reckoning.” Aki shook his head.
Yuki took back his gun. “What about Nura?”
My chest rose and fell fast.
I just stared at them, and tears spilled from my eyes. “I-is this a dream?”
My niece giggled.
I scanned the space and couldn’t find her.
Kenji came over to us. “What do you mean is this a dream?”
“Is it?”
“No.” Kenji turned to Reo. “Tell the plane to head back to the island.”
I watched Reo go off. “I would wake up by now. Right? So. . .maybe this isn’t a dream.”
Kenji’s hand rested on my shoulder. “We’re going back to the island. Okay? You need to rest.”
I looked at him. “But is this a dream?”
Kenji pinched my shoulder hard. “How about this?”
I flinched. “I felt that.”
“You did.” Kenji grinned. “Should I punch you in the face too or are you convinced?”
“But. . .”
The twins watched me with concern on their faces.
More tears left my eyes. “You both are alive.”
They exchanged odd looks, turned back to me, and nodded.
“How is this possible? Was it the baby ghost?” I closed the small distance between them, grabbed them both, and cried into the warm skin of my brothers' necks. And for a moment I didn't think about the rewind, the baby, or whether any of it was real.
I just held them.