(2013) Shooter by Jack Parker

wheezing from that last blow.
    I shot to my feet with slightly more power than I meant to and aimed a punch at him, barely brushing his shoulder as he dodged it, boxer-style, and returned my feeble strike with another sweeping kick that knocked my legs out from under me and throwing me to the floor.
    Got to get away. It was my only chance of minimizing his size advantage at all.
    I threw all my strength into scrambling back, and putting my gun up to aim. But when I was flat on my back, I didn't have enough leverage to fight him off when he grabbed one of my ankles and slid me across the linoleum flooring, and I slammed into the cabinets, shaking the items inside, a mug fell right next to me, shattering. My head hit the wood, and my gun discharged accidentally as stars danced in my vision.
    I somehow managed to scramble to my feet and flip on the light so that I could see. But then he could see better, too. But that was a risk I was going to have to take in order to defend myself.
    My attacker was wearing a mask, so I couldn't see his face. Not that I was too concerned with identities at the time, but it might be handy in case I survived this fight.
    I didn't have time to react before my assailant crossed the kitchen in one stride and caught me across the face with an impossibly hard punch, spinning me around about one hundred and eighty degrees, and pushing me into the wall.
    I felt a strong hand grab me roughly by the back of the neck and hold me there, against that paisley wallpaper that I had secretly hated for years. I coughed and spluttered, blood welling up from several loose teeth, splattering the wall with crimson.
    A thought bubbled up. I'm going to die right here. Right now. What a shitty way to go out, huh?
    Those fingers tightened, and I was finding it difficult to breathe. My neck popped. He lifted me a few inches, and my toes were no longer touching linoleum.
    I decided I'd might as well try to fight back.
    Flattening my palms on the wall for leverage, I pushed with all my little might against that hand, but it didn't give, and I couldn't get my feet under me to get away.
    The edges of my vision started going black as oxygen stopped moving to my brain, and my thoughts went hazy.
    I heard the soft whisper of a knife leaving its sheath. This is going to hurt. Or maybe not? I truthfully hoped for the latter, knowing what he would probably do. Either slit my throat, which would be efficient but messy, or, depending on how long the blade was, slip it in-between my ribs to reach my heart.
    Dude; just get it over with, already. Give me that much, at least.
    "Let go of her!!" Constance's voice came from what seemed like a mile away.
    Ding.
    Those fingers loosened and then dropped away entirely, and I stumbled, but kept my footing as I heard a masculine grunt behind me, and I spun around to look at the attacker and found Constance holding a saucepan and looking terrified. She met my gaze for the tiniest fraction of a second.
    My attacker growled in frustration and turned to deal with my sister, and a sort of animalistic rage welled up inside me.
Who in the hell does he think he is, going to hurt
my sister
?
    "Bad idea, friend."
    I seized his shoulder with more force than I thought myself capable of, and whirled him around to face me, grabbed him by the shirt collar, flung him to the wall, where I had been not a moment ago, and struck, open palm, right in the center of his face.
    The attacker's head snapped back and hit the wall with a thunk, and with no more give between my hand and the immovable wall, I felt his nose give way beneath my hand.
    Hm. Let's see what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object.
    I pulled back and hit again.
    And again.
    And again.
    Each time, I was rewarded with a crunch, until the attacker finally went limp and fell to the floor, dead from the pieces of bone and cartilage being shoved into the brain.
    The facemask underneath my fingers was damp with blood.
    I suddenly