The setting sun gives the appearance of a roaring fire to the dingy walls of the room. The colors distract me and I find myself wondering if I could really burn this place to the ground without getting caught or killed. Someone is saying my name breaking me of my reverie.
I'm supposed to be getting my debriefing after bring in Asset, but I'm so close to her that I can't focus. My SO goes to repeat himself when a sudden bang stops him. Someone is shouting, then there's another bang. Not a bang, a gunshot. A third gunshot sounds. I can feel the adrenalin kicking in, time seems to slow and I am acutely aware of my surroundings. I quickly count the six men in the room with me, and how they'll need about two minutes to be fully ready to engage. I feel the rough leather of my holster as I draw Frieda – my modified pistol designed to fire hard and quietly, issued to me by FEDRA. I dash down the hallway and can count the number of men rushing with me where we find Ethan's body, his eyes staring at nothing as the blood coagulates around the bullet-hole in his head. But the thing that scares me the most, even as they scramble shouting about Ethan, Daniel, where is the Smuggler? Daniel, run! I run down the hallway, all pretenses of courage and honor left with the distant stare of that bloody corpse.
The others can't understand my fear – they didn't have to track the Smuggler through Pittsburg. I've seen what this monster can do. And I can't die yet, not until I can get Lissy's ruined face out of my dreams. I hear gun fire again – they've cornered the Smuggler they say, but I know that it's only a moment before…oh God. The sound of a small bomb is nearly drowned out by the screams of the dying. I keep running, further and further from the demon. I find myself in the MRI lab, and I quickly duck behind the machine to catch my breath. Outside the room I can hear men running, but a loud crack of a rifle rings out and one of the men falls back. I can see him through the door to the lab, and I can't help but to shudder at the visible grey matter spilling out of the ruined head. One of his comrades shows up to collect his tag and spots me.
"Hey, D…" The arrow sprouting from his throat quickly stills the question. I start to rise when I hear an ominous thud, followed by quick footsteps. I shrink even further and see a dark form run past, only pausing to rip the arrow out of the corpse. I remember to breathe when he disappears down the hallway.
Daniel, you have to keep moving, he's likely to return here. You need to find her, and find her before he finds you! Move! It's enough to shake me from my stupor, I rise on shaky legs and start running blindly when someone grabs me on the shoulder; I react on pure instinct, swinging a wild haymaker. That gets blocked, and I go for my knife in its sheathe when I'm thrown to the ground. Before I can rise my assailant shouts, "Daniel! Where the fuck are you going?" It's Jack, my closest friend in this shit hole. He's wearing helmet and armor and I rise as he finishes loading his assault rifle.
"Did they use those already?" He only gives an incredulous head shake at my question and pushes me on the shoulder.
"Daniel, do your duty! He's killing our family! I know you're fucked up, but goddamn, you have to feel something!"
"I do! I'm terrified Jack! Please, you didn't see Pittsburg, you didn't see the men with their necks snapped, shivs in their fucking necks! Jack, the Smuggler isn't human. You think I'm fucked up? That guy makes me look like a fucking nun!"
"Daniel, fucking fight or I swear to God I'll…the fuck is that?" We look down at the small cloth package that has rolled into view.
"Cover!" I call out as I dive into the nearby tarped triage center. Before I can even hit the ground the smoke bomb explodes and the smoke completely eliminates any chance of seeing what's going on. I can hear Jack hacking and wheezing, but it's cut short by the unmistakable sound of a stab and the wet smack of a body hitting the ground. His flashlight disconnects from the gun and illuminates my foot, but the Smuggler just picks up the gun and takes the ammo from the magazine. I hear him move off, and I wait for the smoke to clear before I even dare to move. I look over and see the broken shiv still in Jack's throat, a look of horror on his face.
"Oh God, Jack…I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." I say as I cross over to him and close his eyes and arrange the body before I loot it for anything I can use. I manage to find a few pistol bullets and load them into my gun before moving on. If the reports about the Smuggler are to be believed, he'll be moving towards the surgery room for the Asset. But my target lies on the other side of the hospital, guarding Queen. I pull out my knife and startle at the look my reflection has in the knife.
Kill her Daniel…gut her the way she gutted Craig. Bleed her like she did to Claire. Kill Rip!
A/N: Hello! This is a piece of a second longer story I worked on. Yes, it is Daniel from the first story but no, the timeline does not match up - it isn't supposed to. The original plan was to have a collection of drabbles and one shots exploring how Daniel and Michael would interact with the world around them, and try my hand at fiction writing as I've never done it before. If you guys (yeah, you awesome people who review/read/favorite my work 3) want I can continue like this, or I can expand one of these into a longer section, which ever you guys want!
-Intro