Page 112 of Scarlet Vows

Two waves, one right after the other. We’re the first wave.

We approach the side entrance of the club, which has been left unlocked. On a silent count of three, we storm inside.

The men are on fire, and they surge past, gunshots blasting apart the night.

As I’m about to round the corner into the club, Denis slams me against the wall.

I ready to fight him off when I hear it.

Too much gunfire. Too fast.

Fuck.

We’re the ones being ambushed.

“Pull back, pull back!” I shout.

But it’s too late. We’re caught, and the only way out is through.

I blast a path and watch in horror as a bigger army than ours surges. Thank fuck the corridor is narrow.

A man in front of me is shot in the chest. I grab him and drag him out with me as cover, shooting until my gun’s empty. I grab another from a dead man, a semi-automatic, and shoot as many of the fucks as I can. We back up and out.

Denis turns back with a roar, reaching into his coat and pulling something out.

A fucking grenade.

He hurls it inside. We dive down as it explodes, shaking the building’s foundation. He then tosses me one, and we rush back in, over the dead and dying and into the main room.

We throw in more of the grenades and pull the door shut. But someone rushes from another room, gun drawn.

Shit, they’re everywhere.

Denis shoves me out of the way, getting shot in the process.

I kill the fuck who shot him and then grab him, right as the grenades explode within the room.

Everything shakes and we call. I don’t know what the fuck was in that room, but whatever it was, it added to the explosions.

I stagger up, we’ve slowed them but not stopped. There are definitely way more than we thought. And I know we need to get out of there.

I shoot another and another as they stagger out of another door.

Shit, my gun’s empty. And Denis falls again, unable to stand.

I drag him into a corner in the rubble and reload. “You okay?”

“Give me a motherfucking gun. I’ll hold them off.”

I grab a weapon from the ground, and hand it to him then run out.

It’s carnage. The dead and dying are everywhere. For a second, it looks like we won this battle, but it’s not true. I can hear cars approaching. Whoever was inside, we got them, but now…

Shouts in Russian, many demanding my blood, rise into the night.

I don’t see Melor. I hope to god he’s not dead.

“Get the fuck out of here,” I shout. “We can’t win this. Get back to the compound. Take those of you who can walk.”