Chapter 5 - Blood in the Rain
The deafening roar of automatic gunfire shattered the quiet, stormy night.
Dante shoved Vanessa and me violently back inside the narrow doorway.
Bullets tore brutally through the wooden frame, sending sharp, dangerous splinters flying everywhere into the air.
Dante returned fire blindly into the blinding white glow of the spotlight.
A man screamed out in agonizing pain as Dante's bullet instantly found its mark.
"Get to the cellar right now!" Dante shouted over the chaotic, deafening noise.
I grabbed Vanessa's cold hand and dragged her desperately toward the main kitchen.
The heavy oak floorboards splintered violently behind us as Silas's men aggressively advanced into the house.
We finally reached the heavy, reinforced iron door of the old wine cellar.
I threw it open and aggressively pushed Vanessa down the steep concrete stairs.
Dante sprinted in right behind us, breathing heavily.
He slammed the iron door shut and quickly slid the heavy deadbolt firmly into place.
"They will easily blow that door off its hinges in less than two minutes," Dante panted.
He leaned heavily against the cold brick wall, tightly clutching his left side.
Dark, thick blood was rapidly soaking through his black tactical shirt.
"You are hit," I gasped, my hands shaking in pure terror.
"It went straight through my side," he gritted out, wincing in obvious, intense pain.
"There is an old smuggler's tunnel hidden directly behind the wine racks," I told him frantically.
My father had shown it to me as a secret game when I was just a little girl.
I desperately pulled the dusty glass bottles from the heavy wooden shelves.
Vanessa helped me push the massive wooden rack aside with all our combined strength.
A dark, damp earthen tunnel was fully revealed behind the crumbling brickwork.
A massive, terrifying explosion suddenly rocked the entire foundation of the house above us.
Thick dust and concrete debris rained down heavily onto our heads.
"Go!" Dante commanded fiercely, pushing us forcefully into the dark passage.
We crawled through the claustrophobic, muddy tunnel for what felt like endless hours.
We finally emerged into the freezing rain nearly a full mile away from the ruined estate.
Dante collapsed entirely onto the wet grass, his skin turning dangerously pale.
"I cannot go to a normal hospital," he whispered weakly, coughing up a small amount of blood.
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Vanessa pulled a ringing, cracked burner phone from her dress pocket.
"I know an underground doctor who hates Roman just as much as we do."
