I heard Mia scream as pandemonium broke out in the room behind us. I reached forward with my left and grabbed Campbell’s outstretched arm as he stepped back into the hallway, pushing the gun downwards and to the left away from us. It took long enough for him to pull the trigger three more times before I finally wasn’t in its crosshair anymore. The first two hit me in the front of my vest, and I STILL felt the impact! The third one, however, hit me in my left thigh, since I was stupid enough to make my first step to follow him into the hallway with my left leg. This last impact felt like he hit my leg with a baseball bat! Suddenly, I couldn’t put any weight on it anymore and somehow ended up going down on my knees while still holding his gun-arm with my left.
I have to hand it to Mia’s big brother, though. The guy did not hesitate for even a millisecond when it came to protecting his sister! The moment he heard her scream, he wrapped one arm around Mía’s waist to pull her further into the room, while simultaneously grabbing the door with his other hand in one fluent motion. By the time I had redirected Campbell’s gun to point at the floor and was down on my knees, I heard the door behind me slam shut and the automatic locks engage.
The shock of this guy suddenly showing up, paired with the more than concerning pain that quiet little gun had caused, made me want to end this as quickly as possible and throw caution out the window.
Hearing the door slam shut caused Campbell to raise his head and look at the newly appeared barrier between him and his target. Being on my knees when he looked up allowed me to drive my right fist directly into his throat with everything I had, though I screamed when it connected with his adam’s apple. I didn’t scream with anger, but because the pain in my shoulder grew to previously unknown heights when I put my weight behind the already connected punch. His eyes flew wide open as he let go of the gun to grab his gagging throat with both hands.
I didn’t register at all that, at that point, he was basically already incapacitated, so I followed up immediately with a strong left hook to his ribs. I heard a faint crack and he opened his mouth in an almost silent gargled scream, his eyes bulging out of their sockets, before he fell to the ground. I followed right behind him to make sure he stayed there.
Sitting on Campbell’s back, I took stock of the situation, and realized how many mistakes I made. The gun was on the ground, which meant that I had unconsciously let it drop to punch the guy in the chest. The wheezing sounds that emanated from underneath me made me worry about the consequences of what I did to him. And finally, I didn’t have anything to restrain him with, other than my own hands, so now I was stuck in this position.
The whole crap-situation could have been fully avoided if I had simply closed that damn door instead of debating with Mia first. I was the one who configured the router to give us a warning and a headstart, and then I didn’t act on it. Because I spent the entire evening suspecting Mia’s friends of plotting something, even washed out the damn beer bottle that I considered potentially spiked, but that had me so occupied that I completely forgot about the real reasons for my presence there! All the while, I was wondering why the fuck the pain in my shoulder and leg wouldn’t let up! Quite the opposite, actually, it seemed to get worse the longer I knelt on him while holding him in place.
After a few more seconds that felt like an eternity, Michael came running towards us while heatedly talking into the radio he carried, and thankfully relieved me of any decision making responsibilities.
He stopped barely long enough to take in the situation, before turning towards the door and using the intercom to make sure nobody in there was injured. My attention on Campbell, I could only hear his conversation that concluded with him telling Jack to keep the door closed until he got the all-clear, but couldn’t see his expression. I also noticed how he simply ignored the pleading inquiries about my status that came through the intercom.
I did not notice him kneeling behind me to wrap something around my thigh, until I felt a sudden but massive pain when he roughly tightened it. He then beckoned me off Campbell, cuffed his hands behind his back, and proceeded to order me to lay down on my back. I had to suppress another scream when Michael then pressed both of his hands onto my shoulder. It was at that moment I realized that the damage this weird little gun had caused was probably worse than I initially thought, and the persistent pain made sense.
“Why didn’t you answer your damn phone!?” I asked him through gritted teeth.
