A limp body drifted slowly downwards towards the bottom of the pool. Debris was scattered all around her, pool chairs, dirt, rocks, anything naturally surrounding a home
in-ground pool. As I ran towards her, I stripped off my kevlar under-armor and shots pinged off the ground in front of me. When I dove into the water, a bullet ripped off a chunk of rubber from the bottom of my shoe. Everything blurred for a second, then cleared as I opened my eyes. The contacts I was issued when the S.O.A. (special operations of America) had special consistencies which allowed me to move quickly and efficiently while underwater.
The seemingly lifeless body had almost reached the bottom of the pool when I slammed into her. Instantly I bulleted upward toward the surface. As I went I pulled a 5 shot revolving hand-gun from my leg. The very second I breached the surface, the murderer aimed at me and tried to fire, but failed. Just as his finger had reached the trigger, one of my bullets pinged off his M85 and it sparked and flashed.
"Don't… Move." I gently laid the young teenage girl on the edge of the pool.
The older man slowly began to move his foot. "DON'T… MOVE", I said firmly, gun aimed again at his head. "Lay down on the ground… now." He did so, reluctantly, as I quickly jumped out of the pool.
I knelt down beside him and poked the pistol into his head.
"Anyone with you?"
"No, I'm alone…"
"Your lying" as I poked the pistol a little harder in to his skull.
"NO, I Swear I'm Alone"
I then took a small watch from the back of my belt. While I clamped it to the back of his wrist, he questioned, "What are you doing?" By the time I was done, he was fully confused. "Go to this address by tomorrow at 12:00" and I handed him a small slip of paper "or it will melt, go more than 20 miles way from the location, and it will simply explode, no question. Go, now"
He got up and ran out to the front of the house to a small 1980's gremlin and took off.
As soon as I heard him leave, I picked up the girl and carried her to a small crotch rocket parked also out front. As she sat limply on the bike, I strapped her feet to the foot-pegs of the passenger section. It then occurred to me that my Kevlar and MP5 SMG were still by the pool. I ran back and grabbed them. That was a stupid mistake.
I could now hear the bikes starter trying to fire up. When I got around the house, a man dressed in dark black clothes was trying to start the motorcycle and yelling curses at the gas tank.
Within seconds, one bullet pierced his ribcage, and another went in one temple and out he other. Instantly, he fell off the bike, dead. I ran back to the girl and carefully put the Kevlar vest around her. As soon as I sat down, I ripped out the fake key and inserted the real one and screamed out of the neighborhood. People stepped out of the comfort o their homes, calling police and family. Regardless I fled full speed from the house, knowing full well the man was not working alone.
A black Mercedes slid out of a street and nearly crushed me as another motorcycle pulled up in front of me with its passenger sitting backwards. Well this cant be good, I thought to myself. Shots pinged off the windshield. Thank God for bullet-proof glass.
As I ducked down below the protective barrier, I pressed a button on my glove. A slight beep confirmed to me that the com channel was open.
"I need some backup now and an evac at rendezvous point Epsilon5 in 10 minutes."
Another
beep. Just then I looked in my rear view mirror and saw a man pop out
of the sun roof on the car with a large rocket launcher over his
shoulder. Oooooh Crap!
I watched the rocket leave the
barrel and swerved. The other bike never saw it coming. Just after I
swerved, they burst into a million pieces. I hit a couple pieces of
rubble and the 600cc motorcycle jostled and the girl riding passenger
shook a bit.
The backup was finally here. 2 more bikes pulled up on either side of me, one rider on each wielding 2 UZI full auto handguns. I pointed back at the car still behind me which had been trying to run me down since the rocket incident. At my very command, four fully automatic guns opened fir on the Mercedes. The sound pounded in my ears then then grew louder as the driver was shot and the car swerved into a tree and exploded. Again, I opened the com channel, "Go check for survivors, call for an escort if needed." With that one of the other Yamahas steered off towards the burning wreckage. This is so cool. Over my headset I heard the incoming choppers pilot report his status. "Inbound on rendezvous point Epsilon5, preparing for quick evac." The last bike followed me to a harbor and down a set of docks to a large transporting ship. I could see the chopper touching down on the main deck.
The backup I had been sent both vaulted over the edge and ran to the chopper with their heads down. I wonder what happens to people that don't put their heads down?
I held the girl over my shoulders as I climbed the long ladder to the rim of the boat and also jumped over. The helicopter sat ready for takeoff while I ran to the open side door. Something doesn't feel right. I hopped in and set the girl down in one of the flight seats and strapped her down. When I stood up, a burly boy of about my age and size stepped out of the cockpit. It was not until he looked directly at me that I realized he was the exact image of me. He spoke to me, but at the same time, didn't "It was your fault Jess." An anger welled up inside me that felt very familiar. "No It Wasn't! She Forgave Me!" At that, my twin jumped at me like an angry mongoose. All of the people in the room stood idly by as though nothing was happening. As we fought, I heard a voice in the distance. "Jess… Jess". I stopped for a second, and listened, "Jess". I felt a sting on my face as someone slapped me. With a glare of anger in my eyes, I swung a punch that shot a satisfying pain through my arm.
He heard a scream of pain, then Jess Aarons woke up. May Belle lay sprawled on the floor, nose bleeding lightly and tears streaming down her cheeks. "MAY BELLE!"
He jumped out of bed and ran over to his young sister and helped her up, "May Belle are you okay? I'm so sorry! I was dreaming and…"
The tears stopped and she piped up a little bit. "Its okay Jess." Jess, still shaky, helped her up and into the bathroom to clean the blood off her face and tears off her cheeks. Once they were done Jess asked her one more time, " Now, are you sure your okay?" She had toughened up a lot in the past half a year. "Yeah, I'm fine." Jess let out a sigh of relief inside. "Good, now, why did you wake me up?"
"Its time for breakfast" By that time he realized that he was hungry. Very Hungry.
"Okay, tell mom I'll be right down. Oh, and id kinda like to keep this between you and me, okay?" May Belle thought for a second. "Okay." Another sigh of relief. She ran down the stairs and out of sight. Jess walked back to his room to grab his notebook
and headed down the stairs. "Hey, mornin' sleepy head." He sniffed quietly and responded to his mothers greeting. "Hey mom, what's for breakfast?"
She faked a thinking expression for a second. "Well, lets see, I was thinking jail slop with a side of lima beans." Jess laughed and walked over to the dining room table and sat down. His mother set a plate of very well prepared food in front of him. "Bacon, waffles and eggs, just like you've always liked them." He took I the awesome scents of the meal.
"Thanks a lot mom." "Yup, your dad left early for work today and you don't have any chores so your free all day." Jess brightened up at this. "Really, all day? Sweet, thanks mom!" The only thoughts going through his head were of Terabithia… and Leslie.
After Leslie died, Jess' life slowly began to slowly spiral downward. Until he finally went back to Terabithia. Before he left with Ms. Edmonds, he had never seen a person in Terabithia, only creatures. They had never actually seen the dark master together or any of his henchman. But now that had changed, Jess was seeing someone that he missed very, very much.
"I'll be back later mom!" he shouted as he ran out the door. "Okay, be back before dark!" He didn't even stop to respond but just yelled back, "Alright, love ya!"
Jess, ran until he was out of breath, and then ran some more until he reached the bridge which he had built just after Leslies death. The inscription lining the top of the arch read, "Nothing Crushes Us." He stared at for a bit, then proceeded past towards the great fortress of the King And Queen of Terabithia. While he climbed up into the great courtroom, he called out, "Where art though, milady?" A voice not only came in through his head, but through his ears also. "I am in the tallest tower of our great fortress, watching for followers of the dark master." A great smile grew on Jess' face. Although Leslie didn't excist any longer in the real world, in Terabithia, she was very real. "Its good to see you again." Leslie smiled back at him. "Yeah really, where have you been?"
Jess thought for a second. "Well, ive had a lot of chores after school lately, and there has been a lot of homework, Motor Mouth is really dishing it out lately."
She began to climb down from the top of the tree house. "So, how's the kingdom been handling?"
"Well, the dark master has really been 'dishing it out lately' but the Terabithian warriors have held them off for the most part. How are my parents?" Jess had then realized that he hadn't seen the Burkes in a long time. "Well, umm, their okay I guess, they haven't really called in a while or anything." Out of nowhere, Leslie jumped on Jess, embracing him in a great hug. He blushed a little as she released him. "Why can't you be real?" She looked confused for a second, then responded, "Jess, I am real, you can touch me cant you? I could go back to me house right now if I wanted to, I just choose not to." He looked confused for a bit, with a lump in his throat he looked at her. "No your just part of Terabithia, part of my imagination." Since the incident with the rope, Jessie had never really thought about Leslie in Terabithia, she just sort of appeared there. "Its sad to hear you say that, Jess. I thought you really believed" After that she jumped out of the tree house and began to run away from it. "Les, wait! I'm Sorry!" He ran after her and she turned a corner. He followed closely after but she had disappeared around the large tree.
Kinda bummed out, Jess slowly walked back to the bridge to Terabithia and back home.
