Chapter 65 Goodbye Peru
Serena's POV
Dante's face said it all, he'd had just about enough of all these, I too.
Dante stepped forward towards Nico and shook his head. “Save it,” he said sharply.
“But, Don—” he tried to say but Dante cut him off.
“I said save it!” Dante yelled, snapping immediately and I instantly took a step back without thinking.
He's probably lost it.
Dante rubbed the bridge of his nose with his head to the ground and his hand on his waist.
Then he paced around a bit, then marched towards Nico like he was going to say something, but stopped and went back to pacing before stopping abruptly and taking a deep breath.
“I've been through hell in the past 24 hours, I just want to get the fuck out of here. Whatever it is, I'll handle it when I get home,” he finally said in a softer tone.
Nico looked troubled, like he still had it in him to say it. But he didn't, he just nodded and went back to his phone.
“The jet's on its way?” Dante asked.
“They are trying to get a few logistics right as flying at an unauthorized time could bring much more attention,” Nico explained.
“Fuck that,” Dante said, marching towards him. “Give me the phone,” he ordered.
Nico nodded and handed it over to him and he took it, touching a few things before bringing it up to his ear.
“Listen, I need a jet right now, and I need you to send one to me right now. I don't care about the consequences!” Dante barked into the phone.
I couldn't hear what the other person replied but he went on gibbering something to Dante who didn't look to care the slightest.
“Fuck all that,” Dante finally cut in. “Just get me a jet, and get me one now!” He yelled.
The other person said a few words but it ended with Dante nodding his head and saying, “good, don't keep me waiting.”
He hung up and handed the phone back to Nico. Then he turned to us and tilted his head, looking beyond me.
That's when I remembered mom and her injury. I rushed back to where Aunt Maria was sitting on the ground with mom in her hand.
Mom was still bleeding from her left foot and she was quickly turning pale from the loss of blood.
“Mom, you'll be fine, okay? Help's coming,” I said as I reached her side and knelt beside her.
Dante drew nearer to us. “She's losing too much blood, we need to get her to a hospital as soon as possible,” he remarked.
“That's too risky,” mom practically whispered as she looked so weak.
“Shh,” Aunt Maria hushed her. “You shouldn't even be saying anything at this point. Let's do the thinking,” she added.
“What's the nearest hospital around here?” Dante asked in Aunt Maria's direction.
“No idea,” she replied at first. “I'm not really familiar with this side. I don't do anything here,” Aunt Maria added.
“No hospitals down here,” mom choked out. “Only clinics and small health centers,” she replied.
“How far is it from here?” Dante asked.
“I can't tell where we are. But from my apartment, it's a 10 minutes drive to the nearest clinic,” mom added.
Dante nodded and paced around a bit before coming back closer. “I'll go back there and get the car so we can drive over to the nearest clinic here,” he announced.
“I'll tag along,” Nico said from behind him.
“No, someone needs to stay back and watch over them,” Dante said, gesturing towards us.
He then walked over to the dead men, taking their guns from their hands and handing one over to Nico.
“Let me have one,” Aunt Maria called out from my side.
Dante gave her an odd look, then shrugged before throwing one over to her. She caught it with one hand, turning it around her hand expertly.
Dante nodded and turned away to leave. I wanted to call out to him to be careful, but the words couldn't just leave my throat.
After he had gone, Nico walked away from us towards the path Dante left, leaving the three of us alone.
“You know, I never imagined dying in your hands,” mom said with her head raised to Aunt Maria.
“You are not going to die, mom,” I interjected.
“Yes, Nessa. Stop talking like that,” Aunt Maria said while looking away from us and holding the gun tightly.
“Aunt Maria? You alright?” I asked, noticing how uncomfortable or agitated she looked.
She turned to me immediately and smiled. “I'm fine, my daughter. Been meaning to ask, where did you both go earlier? I mean you and Dante,” she shot back.
I looked away from her, smiling as I didn't know how to tell her.
“I searched around for you when those dirty bats scrambled from that cave, meaning some dumb teenagers had gone there to give themselves a dumb excuse for fucking around,” she spat out.
I instantly folded back, hiding my face as my nerves got the best of me. “Ohh, I saw that. Dante and I just went for a stroll around town,” I said while sweating unnecessarily.
I could feel Aunt Maria's eyes on me but I didn't turn to meet hers. “Really? Where did you guys reach? See anything worth talking about?” She asked.
I gulped, thinking hard of what to say. “Nothing much, just went around then to the market. Only noticed how the people avoided eye contact with us and even ran off when we got close,” I admitted.
“Oh, yeah. The people here tend to be very careful with strangers. Especially those who look anything like Dante,” Aunt Maria replied.
I nodded, grateful to have that conversation finally end. I couldn't even tell how it had started with Dante back there.
Hell, I couldn't even tell why I was so interested in the damn statues anyway.
“Arghh,” mom groaned from beside us as she tried to move her leg.
“Take it easy, mom,” I said softly.
“Must be your first bullet strike,” Aunt Maria remarked with a smile down at mom.
“Fuck you Maria,” mom spat out, causing Aunt Maria to burst out laughing.
“Don't worry, help's on the way,” Aunt Maria remarked.
It wasn't long later before Dante pulled up with Aunt Maria's car. “Get in,” he called out as he swerved the car around.
We got up and helped mom into the back and we entered with her. Nico jumped into the front and Dante zoomed off.
The streets were nearly cleared as the attackers had gone but the people still scrambled around.
We arrived at the clinic and slowly got mom out and in a stretcher. It wasn't long before she got attention as Dante went around barking orders.
And when mom had been stabilized, Aunt Maria and I went to see her.
“How you doing, Nessa?” Aunt Maria asked.
“I feel like shit,” mom replied, drawing a smile from me. She's back.
We didn't have much time to talk as Dante stormed in through the doors.
“Sorry to interrupt, but it's time.”