Giovanni nodded to Na, somewhat surprised that she was actually showing concern for him. He considered dwelling on it, but eventually decided against it. After all, there was something more important to worry abo-

"DRIFTER!"

"For gods sake, fine, yes, I'm here! Now will you [i]please[/i] stop shouting?! You're really stressing me out here!"

"Ha, I knew we'd catch up with you eventually!" The man said. "Nearly lost you in the Alps, but you should've known you'd never [i]really[/i] escape us."

"Well Franky, I'm gonna be entirely honest, I wasn't so much hoping you'd lose my trail and more that you'd freeze to death up there. But hey, I guess we don't always get what we want, do we?"

"Hey, you show me the proper respect you little snake!"

"Fine, [i]Francesco.[/i] I'd ask if you're happy now, but I'm pretty sure you never are, so instead I'll go ahead and say this. You can't beat us. You can't catch us. I'm a god. You're a sheep. And I can say all of this because I [i]know[/i] you still haven't found any guns, because if you [i]had[/i], you'dve shot me already. So come at me, you worthless underling!"

By the end of Giovanni's rant, Francesco was trembling, face red.

"Drag him out." He ordered, not even turning to the men behind him. "I don't care what the boss said, he's [i]done[/i]."

"I do so love our talks." Giovanni said, a mocking smile on his face. "See ta outside, [i]Franky[/i]..."

And then he ducked his head away from the window, just in time to avoid a knife flung by the seething man.

[hr]
Meanwhile, about eight hundred metres away, Alistair lay atop a small hill, looking through a small pair of binoculars.

"God damn it, I can't fucking see [i]shit[/i] through this fucking kids toy!" He ranted silently. "Why the hell couldn't we have a real fuckin pair?!"

Despite his words, he could [i]kind[/i] of see enough to get a vague idea of what was happening. Mostly he could see people through the windows, most of them heading towards the stairs.

"Well... He's probably fucked." He said. "I... Jeez, this is gonna sound really bad, but I think we need to leave. We can't be here when they... Well, when they finish their business in the house..."

However, before he could continue, he saw something that made him pause.

Something had just fallen down the stairs.

Something big enough to crush a number of the men on the stairs, leaving a pile of broken bod-

"Ah." He said simply, as he realised what he had just witnessed. "Aah."

For a moment, he wondered why the house was beginning to shake, but it only took a few seconds for him to realise [i]he[/i] was the one who was trembling. With an effort that felt [i]monumentally[/i] more difficult than it should've been, he finally managed to tear the cheap binoculars away from his eyes. However, even more difficult was the task of looking away from the house.

He had seen something [i]no one[/i] his age should've seen.

Slowly, he turned to his sister, a shocked expression on his rapidly paling face.

"Sis..." He managed to force out, before running up to her and burying his head in her stomach. "Sis... We... Can we leave? Please?"