The Chains — Chapter 9 — The Boost
A shootout in the bar, bottles on the stairs and a hand boost to the first floor.
Kim doesn't like telling stories. So Jack tells it with him.
JACK
When I got upstairs, I saw the damage.
Nobody was left standing in the bar. Blood was painting the floor. You could see bone sticking out on more than one guy.
But it wasn't the massacre that worried me.
It was Kim.
Kim was different.
I'd seen him serious before. But this was something else. Serious serious.
He'd let loose a few chains.
KIM
He calls it that. I don't call it anything.
JACK
I call it that because that's what it is. Normal Kim thinks about consequences. That one didn't give a damn. The few still awake on the floor had limbs sticking out. He had no mercy on anybody.
I was gonna say something. Didn't get the chance.
Kim just looked at me and said:
— Jack.
That's it. And I jumped behind the bar counter without even thinking.
Kim threw himself behind an iron table.
And the hail of gunfire started from upstairs, all over the place.
There wasn't much to do. I was behind a bar. Not that I wasn't taking it seriously. But there was booze back there.
I picked a bottle up off the floor and took a swig. To really wake up.
The good stuff went down burning.
I couldn't lift my head. I didn't know how Kim was doing.
KIM
I stayed behind the table a few seconds. Realized it wasn't going to take that many bullets. I got out and found better cover.
And I waited.
A crew like that usually has one or two kinds of gun, tops. See the first one, everybody's got the same, except for one or two. Fifteen-, twenty-round mags.
With that many shots at once, it's hard to count. But you don't need to. These people aren't trained. They shoot till the mag runs out.
When the click-click starts, it's our turn.
JACK
I heard the click. Popped up from the bar and yelled:
— Kim!
And I started throwing bottles to him.
Kim caught every one in the air and hurled it at the first floor. Pow. Pow. The bottles burst on the wall, and the glass flew onto the guys who were reloading.
You could hear the screams. You could hear guns hitting the floor.
Then Kim started throwing bottles at the stairs. One after another.