Vin was greasing up a jammed lock when he heard the familiar ring of gunshots outside, down the street a bit. He hadn’t heard them in a while, not since arriving in Vollmond, but during his time roaming around between cities looking for Cicero, he had come into their path a time or two.
He was about to shut down the shot and camp out in the back room, not particularly feeling like dealing with them at the moment. All the better if the town got ransacked, and the so-called leaders realized that they were anything but, and they needed some proper guidance to protect them.
But then Vin heard panicked screams, and he recognized the voice. Shuichi. He hopped up, racing out with the limp in his bad leg ignored, brandishing a lead pipe as he stormed into the street to see the Omega running as fast as he could.
“Shuichi!” Vin shouted out, running towards him.
The Omega’s lungs were burning as the pushed himself to run as fast as he could through the streets. There had to be some Sanctuary, some refuge where he could hide himself. There was no air in his lungs to keep screaming, so he poured all of his energy into just moving forward. The sounds of the brawlers weren’t far behind him, their steps not as quick as his, but he knew from his own training these men were meant for the endurance kill, they would run him down until he couldn’t run anymore if they had to. Further behind that was the faint sound of guns being cocked for another round of firing.
The ear splitting CRACK of the gunfire hung in the air, echoing off the empty streets, drowned out only by the sound of Shuichi’s cry as silver grazed his arm. The metal sizzled and smoked as it split his shirt and skin, but at least he wasn’t actually shot.
Shuichi balked at the figure suddenly in front of him, a pipe raised for attack. His tear blurred vision made it hard to see who it was, until that voice called out to him. “Vin....VIN!” The Omega rushed practically into the Alpha’s arms, twining himself around his middle for a second, before he tugged at his waist.
“We have to hide...it’s hunters....they have...we have to...” Shuichi pulled harder, toward the relative safety of the shop.