Detective Ava Locke 0.5-Vanished by Clara Lewis (reader novel txt) 📗

“It’s just you and me now. When you’re dead, there will be no one else to stop me.”

Ava glared at him. He was close enough now. She brought her other hand up and punched him in the face. It wasn’t hard enough for it to properly bruise but it was enough to cause him pain. He stepped off her hand and Ava scrambled to her feet.

Her gun was still too far away. Ava looked around for something to use as a substitute. She had to knock him out somehow. Murphy was on her in seconds, raining punches which Ava deflected to the best of her ability. Their size difference was too great. Within a few blows, Ava brought her arms down and ran down the hallway.

She flung doors open, hoping to hide from Murphy and hopefully regroup. She needed to think and find a way to defeat him that didn’t involve having to go toe to toe with him in a physical fight.

One room in particular made Ava pause momentarily. It smelled strongly of copper, and when Ava opened it, she let out a gasp.

On a bed lay Lena’s body, badly beaten and barely alive. Ava dropped to her knees and let out a relieved sigh when she saw Lena’s chest move with shallow breaths.

“There’s no hope for her.”

Ava turned around and stood up, taking on a defensive position.

“They wouldn’t pay… I had no choice.”

She saw a baseball bat in the corner. Ava dove for it the very same moment Murphy raised his arm and fired the gun she had pushed away earlier. It hit the wall right next to her head. Ava breathed in sharply, her brain coming to terms with how she almost died. However, there was no time to waste. Ava looked at Lena and decided she had to leave the room. Murphy was firing everywhere, and Lena had already been through enough.

Ava lunged at Murphy, bat in hand. He sidestepped, causing the bat to only brush up against his shoulder. He laughed darkly when he heard Ava curse for missing. She ran into the hallway as he shot at her again. This time a bullet grazed her arm.

Ignoring the pain in her arm, Ava kept running until she reached the end of the hallway, her head ducking every time she heard a bullet. His aim was trash, but Ava guessed she had Ellie smashing a chair over his head to thank for that. Ava then whirled and charged at Murphy.

She swung the bat again. Murphy aimed at her. Confusion filled his eyes when he saw Ava hadn’t dodged at all. She ran straight at him, the bat in the air, leaving her vulnerable.

“Got a death wish?” Murphy asked.

He pulled the trigger and Ava ducked her head, ignoring the stinging pain of a bullet going through her shoulder. She brought the bat down with all her strength, striking at Murphy’s hand. The gun flew in the air and clattered across the floor. Murphy yelled in pain and cradled his injured hand as Ava smiled down at him breathing heavily. She needed to knock him out.

“Just one more,” she said, breathless as she raised the bat once again.

With her remaining strength, Ava swung the bat. Before it could deal enough damage to make Murphy black out, he stuck his good hand out and caught the bat. He was a big man; it took only one hand to grab the thickest part of the bat.

He wrestled it out of Ava’s hand while she stared in disbelief. She had been so focused on what had happened that she didn’t notice him produce a knife from within his boot.

All she felt was a cold blade cutting through her abdomen. Ava looked down at her shirt, going from white to red. She brought a shaky hand to it and touched on the cut. It was deep.

Murphy grabbed the bat and threw it across the room.

“You’re finished.”

Murphy put his weight on his good hand and hauled himself up. He stood over Ava who sunk to her knees on the floor. He was saying something. Judging from the look on his face, he was gloating.

Ava tilted her head at him as his voice faded away, and the only sound she could hear was the rushing of blood in her ears. Her eyelids started to feel heavy, and she blinked her eyes rapidly in an effort to stay awake. Ava brought her hands up to rub her arms she felt so cold, but was distracted by how they were stained red.

“This is my blood,” she mumbled.

In the distance, Ava heard the familiar sound of sirens. Through the window, she saw a flurry of blue and red lights coming closer. She laughed the moment she heard the sirens, her head craning to look up at Murphy’s terrified face.

“You lose, Murphy,” she said, laughing.

Murphy looked out with a panic. His fists clenched at his sides as he counted the number of people who surrounded his house. In his anger, he turned to Ava and grabbed a handful of her hair. He knelt down on the ground with her and brought the knife up to her neck.

Ava winced but she kept on laughing. This meant that Kate was safe and successful. Footsteps thundered into the room and surrounded the both of them.

“Let her go!” a voice yelled out.

Oh! Carl was here.

Then suddenly it was chaos all around. Ava couldn’t see much anymore; everything was so blurry, and she was so… tired. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes resting her weight on Murphy.

Someone shouted. Her head was being pulled. Ava’s eyes opened and she faced Murphy’s own crazed eyes.

“I’m not going out alone.”

“What do you m— “

Before she could finish her question, a sudden force