✔ᵉⁿᵍˡⁱˢʰ War Dogs [The Punisher | Frank Castle]✔

─⌖❖ 27

Without exaggerating, the shelter resembled a slaughterhouse. Blood was everywhere, on the floor, on the walls and other objects that were in the rundown room. Wherever the eye could see and one or the other corpse, lay here as well.

With his gun raised, Page walked over the stairs and with a silent hand gesture motioned for the men from the S.W.A.T. team to fan out and shortly after could hear the first shots. Enemy person sighted, she heard through the headset in her ear, hit, it was Russo.

"Secure everything," Page instructed her people over the radio, lowering her weapon after the last step, "No one gets in or out. If anyone tries to escape, shoot them. No more prisoners."

"Are you serious?" asked Madani, stunned, giving her own instructions to her people, "Spread out all over the compound. We're locking everything down.  Russo is injured but armed. Search everything."

"Hey," Lieberman's voice suddenly rang out in all the confusion, kneeling on the ground next to a bloody person, "Hey, look at me."

It was Castle, and to Page's amazement, alive, at least for the moment. An ambulance was on the way, Madani said, but Lieberman reminded the young woman that there were police at the hospital, making it impossible to get Frank there, and that the Punisher would die for Madani's justice but get none himself.

"Uhm....  fuck.... that problems is, he's going to choke on his own blood," beside Lieberman, Page went down on her knees, lifted Castle's head and placed it, turned to the side, on her thighs, "How severe his internal injuries are likely to be, we can only guess. It doesn't fucking matter if there are cops in the hospital or not, because without a doctor, he'll die all the more. So the choice should be clear."

The question remained whether Castle would even make it despite the help of a doctor. With all the blood and the way Rawlins had beaten Frank, it was a miracle that the man was still breathing. However, the man was no longer conscious.

"Hey Frank hey. I betrayed you, okay listen, I betrayed you. I brought them here, brought them here. You know what I mean? Call me a son of a bitch, come on. Call me an asshole, a scumbag. Come on. Please....  " Lieberman pleaded, shaking Frank to regain consciousness, "Please..... Please."

Lieberman might as well have prayed then, which wouldn't do any good either. No words in the world heal wounds.

Despite his condition, Castle opened his eyes and uttered some, unintelligible words.

"I know where we can take him," Madani said shortly after Frank woke up.