Page 2 of Fighting Salvation

Pushing the door open slowly he looked around, initially not seeing anything untoward, but on the second sweep he saw it—a foot sticking out from behind the solid wood desk. “Dad!”

Niall rushed around the desk and stopped short, a gasp of horror slipping past his lips at the sight of the man he loved lying dead on the floor. Blood covered his entire chest and even as he dropped to his knees beside him, he knew from the wide, unblinking gaze that he was dead. “Nooooo!”

He tried to make sense of it, to make his training kick in and guide him but he felt blinded by horror and grief. His body was there but his mind couldn’t compute anything as if it was all a nightmare and he was a spectator.

His cheeks were soaked with tears as he gripped his father’s hand. A sound seemed to punch him from the stasis he was in and he looked up. He couldn’t see anything but he was on his feet moving toward the area he thought he’d heard it come from. Blood covered the walls and he had to force himself to keep moving, his heart already knowing what he’d find.

The kitchen smelled sweet, like the bread and butter pudding his mum had promised him. A sheet of cookies lay on the counter cooling, and his body rejected it when the metallic scent of blood mixed with it. He braced against the wall as he wretched but managed to keep the contents of his stomach in place.

A wheezing sound made him turn toward the dining area and what greeted him would haunt him for the rest of his life. His brother was draped over the prone body of his mother. Her shoes were the only thing he could see.

He rushed to his brother’s side and gripped his hand, trying to assess his injuries through the volumes of blood. “Sean.”

“Ni…all.”

The wheezed broken word and his brother’s lose grip on his hand terrified him.

Niall lifted him slightly, exposing his mother’s dead body. “It’s okay. I’m gonna call for help.”

Sean’s grip tightened. “I tried to save them.”

Niall felt his throat close on the choked emotion running through him. Sean was losing so much blood and the rattled breaths were ones he’d heard all too often in battle. Cheyne Stokers or the death rattle as it was so often referred to. “Don’t speak, Sean. Save your energy.”

Sean’s bright blue eyes held his and they were cloudy, his face paler than usual. His brother was dying. He knew that even if he called for help, he wouldn’t be able to keep his brother alive long enough for the ambulance to arrive.

A sob tore from his chest as he gathered his brother against him on the floor and braced him with his legs. Blood sputtered from Sean’s mouth as he tried to speak and Niall knew he was losing him. “What happened?”

“G..g..gunmen came.”

That was evident by the bullet holes that riddled his family. Niall held his hand against his brother’s chest trying to stem the bleeding but he had three gunshot wounds he could see and it was a miracle he was still alive at all.

“You tried to be the hero, Seany?”

His brother’s lips quirked and his heart broke into a thousand pieces. “Can’t h..h..have you hogging t..t..the glory.”

“Ha, as if I’d do that.”

Sean said something but he couldn’t catch it, so he leaned closer. “What did you say?”

“Hands.”

Niall shook his head not understanding but knowing Sean was trying to tell him something. “Hands?”

“Joel.”

Niall felt his skin go cold, but still, he couldn’t make sense of the name on his brother’s lips. He looked at his brother, who had so much to live for, so much life left to live, and he wanted to curl up on the floor and die with them.

Sean smiled but closed his eyes, his breathing shallow and spaced out now. Niall held on, stroking his hand across his baby brother’s face. “I love you, little brother.”

Sean’s eyes opened for a brief moment and he smiled and then he was gone.

Niall tilted back his head and bellowed his pain to the universe until his throat burned, wondering if they’d hear it in heaven. Pain like nothing he’d ever felt before hit him as he sat on the floor cradling his brother’s body, while his mother lay dead next to them. He didn’t know how long he sat here but it couldn’t have been long before police officers rushed into the house.

Guns aimed at his face as they shouted and screamed at him. Bewildered, he did as they said knowing he’d never be able to avenge his family if he was dead, and vengeance would be had if it was the last thing he did.

As he was cuffed and taken to the police station, his mind went over and over that name as he tried to figure out what his brother had meant. How had this happened and why? Was it random or targeted? He quickly shook off the idea of it being random. The guards were gone, as were the staff. Only his parents had been there and that screamed suspicious to him.

At the police station, he was questioned for hours as they tried to get him to change his story. Niall held fast until he was given his call. It rang and rang and then a voice he knew he could count on answered.