New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

As the goon lunged at him like a wild boar, Alexander stayed before his open patio door. The balcony on the other side was tiny, and the railing had long since been maintained.

He was hoping the big guy would go over the railing and down the third floor, all the way to the pavement. But he planned to hitch a ride with him, using him as a landing apparatus.

As the goon ran at him, Alex ducked under his bear hug and followed behind. At this point, his back was exposed to the butler, and he had a clear firing line on him.

But by the time he could shoot his pistol, it would be too late for him to get a lethal shot in. Or at least Alex hoped as much.

When the tall gorilla of a man passed over Alexander, he quickly tackled his back, keeping him from stopping his momentum. The two of them hit the railing like a runaway train.

Alexander had thought the railing would bend, and they would topple over. But it was in worse shape than he had thought.

When the goon hit the balcony guard with his momentum, and Alexander’s extra push, the railing snapped off from the floor, and they both fell off in a straight line.

A three-story drop wouldn’t be lethal, in normal circumstances, unless you dropped on your head. But the goon had extra weight latched on to him, which would make his landing very painful at the very least.

Time seemed to slow down for Alexander, as he felt his body become weightless, and plummet to the ground, still latched on to the big man. The fall took less than two seconds, but ended abruptly.

Alexander had been so caught in his mind when he went overboard that he hadn’t heard the gunshot resound behind him. After impact, his breath still short, he got up and started running away as best he could.

A gunshot resounded again, the bullet hitting a car near him, but he didn’t stop. Stopping meant death, and he couldn’t afford to die.

After a few seconds of running, the adrenaline pumping rapidly through his system, he finally noticed his arm was flapping around weirdly. He looked at it while running and noticed a lot of blood.

There was a hole in his shoulder, leaking blood rapidly, but he couldn’t even feel pain from it. He grabbed his shoulder and kept running.

There was a police station a few blocks from him, but he didn’t know if he would make it. Already, he could hear heavy footsteps behind him.

And they were gaining on him fast.

‘These big guys sure run fast.’ he thought, trying to turn into an alley to ditch his pursuer.

He knew this neighbourhood like the back of his hand, since he had been living here for a while, and started zigzagging through the many alleys, always keeping his destination in mind.

But as luck had it, he wasn’t the only one that knew where he was going. The butler turned the corner of the alley up ahead, lifting his gun.

Alexander turned into another alley, as yet another gunshot resounded.

‘There’s no way the cops aren’t hearing this!’ he thought, furious at the speed of their reaction.

Already, the people in the streets around were taking cover and hiding inside shops and houses, not wanting to take a stray bullet. The police had already been called, but would they make it in time?

Knowing he was getting cornered, Alexander chose the lesser of two evils, and tried to confront the butler while he was still alone. He changed courses again, making sure he kept his distance from the goon.

After turning two corners, he ran face to face with the butler, who was looking for him. The poor skinny man didn’t have time to lift his arm this time, as Alex ran into him like a mad bull.

Ensued a minor scuffle, Alexander coming out on top, as the skinny man had probably never fought a person once. But just as he delivered a knockout punch, the goon turned the corner of the alley, too.

Alexander got up from the butler, his shoulder hurting him like crazy. His adrenaline levels were going down, since he was trying to fight with a level head.

This was half playing against him, since now he had to deal with the pain of the bullet wound, and possibly bruised ribs from the fall. He lifted his arms into a defensive position as best he could.

“You killed my cousin! I’m gonna kill you!” the gorilla yelled at him, lunging forward.

They fought for a minute, Alexander becoming more of a punching bag with every passing second. He was heavily wounded, and this man was no slouch in fist-fighting.

Alexander’s mind was slowly slipping, punch after punch hitting his face, making his brain ring with every impact. But suddenly, the punches stopped coming.

He couldn’t see the reason, since his eyes were almost swollen shut, but he could still hear, ever so faintly.

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Alexander woke up several hours later in a hospital bed. He tried getting up to see where he was, but something was restraining his wrists.

When he turned his head to look, he noticed he was cuffed to the bed on both sides. A police officer was with him in the room, and hearing the cuffs jingle brought his attention to Alex.

The man took his shoulder radio and called in that he was awake. After that, he put his hand on his sidearm, looking at Alexander wearily.

Another man came into the room after a minute, looking at the police officer.

“Get your hand off that pistol, officer. He’s cuffed. Do you think he’s magically going to kill you, from two meters away?” the man said.

The police officer looked sheepish for a second, before he said he had somewhere else to be, and left the room. The other man looked at Alexander, displaying a confident smile.

“Excuse the cuffs and the armed babysitter. They were necessary precautions. My name is detective Trudeau. I would say I’m happy to meet you, Mr. Leduc, but circumstances aren’t that good.” The man said, introducing himself.

Only one thought crossed Alexander’s mind.

‘What the hell is happening?!’