In The Bleak Midwinter | T Shelby

THIRTY FOUR - GUNFIRE

The bullet fired straight from the end of the gun into the brick wall, missing Kaia's head by less than three inches. Cement crumbled from the force, Kaia's eyes widening as she reached up and touched her face, running her hands through her hair, not sure whether she was dead or alive.

The next gunshot rang loud in Tommy's ears, the piercing howl from the barrel of the gun muffled everything else around him. He watched as the commotion unfolded in slow motion. Arthur and John had arrived not a minute late, precisely at three o'clock.

He turned his head and saw Luca Changretta stumble backwards, his hand over his chest as he fell into the wall, slumping down as he looked at the blood covering his fingers. Turning back to Kaia, Tommy's world suddenly began moving at reality's speed once again.

She was gone. He watched as she ran across the room towards Finn who was curled up in the corner covering his ears with his hands and his eyes squeezed shut. Kaia pulled the child to his feet and took his hand, the two of them running out of the door while John and Arthur continued to take out Changretta's men.

He felt powerless, useless, almost, as his brothers did all the hard work and he stood frozen to the spot. He looked at Arthur who's mouth was wide open, screaming something at Thomas who couldn't hear for the shrill still ringing in his ears.

The force of a bullet striking him in the shoulder pierced the shield from sound, Kaia's horrified scream pulling his eyes over to her as she stood with Finn in the doorway, tears streaming down her cheeks as he reached up and touched the tender wound in his shoulder, struggling to breathe as he saw the blood seeping through the white of his shirt.

"Go!" John shouted over at Kaia who reluctantly pulled Finn away from the door, disappearing into the night as Tommy stood and watched, feeling paralysed with heartbreak and pain.

Kaia ran out into the warehouse, looking over to the corner where she'd last seen Bonnie alive. There was nobody there, just a dark pool of blood staining the concrete that made Kaia feel sick to her stomach.

"Bonnie..." she whispered, her bottom lip quivering as she looked around the room with teary eyes.

Finn yelped in fear at the sound of another bullet being fired, tearing Kaia's eyes away from the blood on the ground and back to the boy who looked shaken to the core.

The two of them ran out of the building and into the dead of the night, heading back across the bridge over the canal and into Small Heath. The town was silent but Kaia could still hear the gunfire and feel the crumbling of bricks down onto her shoulders as if she was still in the warehouse.

"Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

They eventually stopped when they reached The Garrison, catching their breath as they leant against the door underneath the street lamp.

Finn shook his head, his chest rising and falling, "No, I'm not hurt. I knew Tommy would come back for you."

Kaia looked down at him with a raised eyebrow, "He came back for you, Finn, to save you. I would've taken the bullet for you and Tommy knew that, he was never going to let anything happen to you."

Finn sniffled, wiping his forehead with the sleeve of his coat. He might've been not a day over ten, but the boy was already a carbon copy of each of his brothers in his own way.

"Maybe. There was no way he would've let you die, Kaia."

Finn's words rang clear in her mind. For a moment, even though it felt like an eternity when Tommy held the gun pointed between her eyes, she really believed that he was going to kill her. The way he was stood so still, his eyes dark and heavy and his shoulders firm, jaw clenched, looking at her as if he'd never seen her before in his life, Kaia was convinced he was going to pull that trigger and not feel bad about it at all. The pause he took before firing was his way at disassociating all his feelings from her, erasing her from his memory so he could take another life in cold blood without remorse and move on with his own life, Kaia thought.