The Chains — Chapter 13 — The Fourth Chain
Four chains loose. Jack tries to hold Kim back — and Kim is no longer the Kim he knows.
Kim doesn't like telling stories. So Jack tells it with him.
JACK
Up to then, nothing wrong. At least nothing off the plan.
I was causing chaos. A gun here and there went off, obviously, but it was too confusing for the guys to aim at anyone. Kim was tearing it up.
And I kept making sure. Dropping one here, another there, to end it fast. Before Kim crossed the line.
That's when I heard him yelling.
— You know the only rule of a street fight? You know the only rule of a street fight?!
When I looked, there were three guys aiming at his back.
Up to that moment, Kim didn't stay on any one guy for any time at all. But right there he got distracted.
And I had nothing left to throw. No bottle, no pipe, nothing.
So I took off a sneaker and threw a spinning kick.
The sneaker flew. And I got insanely lucky: it hit the first one's hand, his hand hit the second one's hand, the second one lost his balance onto the third.
All three shots went wide.
I needed to get to Kim. I threw the other sneaker at him, so he'd snap out of it.
Didn't work. His instinct was so sharp he jumped off the guy he was on and dodged the sneaker without even looking.
And went for the next one.
I was left in my socks in the middle of a shootout.
KIM
I don't remember the sneaker.
I have some flashes. They're distant. Very distant.
I have a flash of my hands red. Bathed in blood. Really dirty.
I start wiping them. Wipe them on my face. Wipe them on my clothes.
I have a flash of my clothes torn. Completely torn. I don't know if they tore them or if I did.
And the rest are blurs. I jumped from one side to the other, fast. Every blur, a guy on the floor. Screaming or out cold. Always with something broken.
JACK
It was a horror scene.
Fire. Screams. Gunshots. And every time someone screamed, it was because Kim had gone after someone.
When I finally got a good look at Kim, his face was covered in blood. With the finger marks from where he'd tried to wipe it off.
That's when I realized.
Four chains.