Chapter 156: Just Looking For The Restroom
[Music: Experiment On Me By Halsey]
"Annabeth."
The moment she uttered those words, my world spun.
"She’s alive, and she has been the one pulling the strings behind Shane."
"N-No, that’s impossible..." The words left me before I even realized I was speaking.
Suddenly the door swung open, alerting us to Catherine waltzing in, but then she stopped in her tracks.
"Oops! Looks like this isn’t the restroom."
"What are you waiting for? Grab her!" Clara barked, and two of the men moved and seized Catherine, shutting the door behind her and locking it.
"Anastasia?" Catherine said far too calmly, passing a slow look around the room, lingering on an unconscious Luca and then me. "Are you alright?"
I couldn’t answer.
"Shut up!" Clara snapped. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"
"As I said, I was looking for the restroom."
In lightning speed, Catherine jammed her elbow right at the man’s face and proceeded to swing her leg at the other’s groin.
Clara backed away, and I, on the other end, was stunned.
What the fuck just happened?
"W-What are you waiting for? Get her!" Clara yelled.
The other moved, but I stuck out my leg, and he fell flat on his face.
Seeing this, Clara raged and pushed me. I crashed into the floor hard, pain shooting throughout my whole body.
I can’t move.
I heard a series of noises I couldn’t make sense of, and a cold dread washed over me. Catherine might be in danger!
Move dammit!
I kept twisting my wrists around the restraints, but the more I did the more difficult it got.
"Anastasia!"
I heard a snappy click of heels, and next thing I knew, the restraints were cut off, and I was helped to my feet.
"C-Catherine..." I stuttered, checking if she was okay.
Hearing struggling grunts, I snapped my eyes to the three men.
"Holy shit!"
I was in shock by how she reduced these men to this state. Did she have a black belt or something?
"Stay alert," Catherine said. "This isn’t over yet."
She may have given them a beating, but they looked very pissed.
"Here..."
I darted my eyes to the small knife Catherine handed me.
"W-What about you?" I asked, worried, realizing she was now unarmed.
She took off her heels, holding them like a weapon. "I’m covered."
Damn.
"Good thing I took a trip to the restroom. This night was boring me out. It’s nice to have some fun for a change," she said.
"Get up, you arses and get them!" Clara barked orders, her black eye already beginning to swell.
Catherine must have done that.
"Here they come," Catherine said.
One came toward us, dipping his hand in his jacket for a gun but the next minute he was knocked off his feet.
"Luca!"
They engaged in a brawl, but I got distracted when the other two came after us.
Catherine dodged a punch by ducking, and slammed her heel right at his thigh, earning a pained noise.
I screamed when the other man ran into me, and I clashed into a heap of chairs. He was over me, but I stabbed him on the arm with the knife, seizing that opportunity to kick him off me.
I backed away when he took off the knife and glared at me with bloodlust.
"You gonna pay for that!"
He came at me, but before he could hit me, Luca grabbed a hold of him and punched him repeatedly in the face at speed. Then he wrapped a cloth around his neck to strangle him.
"Go!" He barked in a struggle.
In a sharp breath, I crawled, but halfway through the other side of the room I stopped, seeing the other man Luca had tackled earlier.
The bruise on his neck signified he had been strangled to death.
The sharp cock of a gun drew my attention.
"Going somewhere?" Clara said venomously. "I didn’t count on this happening, but that doesn’t mean we’re done."
I tried to move.
"Stay down!"
I froze where I was, keeping my eyes trained on her. "It’s over, Clara..."
"Is it?" she hissed in rage.
"By the time Luca’s done with that man, you should be out of here before it’s too late."
She blinked, puzzled.
"I’ll tell them you ran. Just leave."
She huffed. "Do you expect me to believe that you’re merciful? I was gonna kill you, Ana. I still wanna kill you."
"It’s not too late."
She gripped the gun with two hands. "It is already."
My heart dropped when her finger curled around the trigger, but unexpectedly, the doorknob rattled like someone was trying to get in.
Using that momentary distraction, I ran Clara down to the floor, the gun slipping off her grip and sliding across the room.
"Bitch!" I yelled, punching her in the face, ignoring the breaking pain from my knuckles.
She screamed and gripped my hair with force, and that seized my action; then she pushed me off her, my body colliding with the floor.
I picked myself up, pristine pain shooting across my body, but that didn’t rival my rage.
"Tell me the truth!" I yelled before my voice lowered to a whisper. "Is Annabeth alive?"
She gave me a bloodied grin before dashing toward me and tackling me to the floor. We brawled across the floor, knocking items in every direction as metal objects clanged against the tiles.
Somehow, we were up on our feet, and we pulled at each other’s hair. The pain was endless, but I was determined to get her off me. So I pushed as hard as I could until I did.
I dropped to my knees, face down, as I breathed hard, trying to catch my breathing. Suddenly someone helped me up, and I realized it was Catherine.
Then she looked ahead, and my eyes followed. Horror filled my lungs. A metal rod, knocked loose during our fight, was pierced through Clara’s chest.
She choked on her own blood, as though struggling through the little life she had, blood pooling down to her chest and dyeing her silver dinner gown red.