Chapter Two:

Two Years Afterwards

2012

"This is the absolute last race!" Ryan exclaimed. "You can do it, Sam!"

"I'd better! Or else I'll never be able to live it down!" I joked as he patted me on the back. "I'll get glares from the entire school for the next hundred years if I don't win!"

"I'm sure it won't be that long…" Ryan grinned nonetheless. "Just imagine you're running from Tyler, because he's trying to get you with his toy guns again."

I nodded as the runners were called up to the starting line. Strangely, I never got that feeling of "butterflies in stomach" or whatever. I was always calm, my breathing was always even, as it was now.

I looked at my opponents and smiled. They glared at me, but I ignored it. This race was already won.

The gun sounded, and we all took-off. I matched the pace of the person in first and held it, even as we turned the corner. She was obviously getting angry at me, but I smiled and waved to taunt her. She started running harder, and that's when I took my queue and sprinted towards the next corner, making some serious distance in-between us. By the time I was on the next corner, one lap finished, I was rocketing past the person in last place. I could tell by the look on their face that they couldn't tell where I'd come from, and it was kinda funny to see their look change when they realized that I was in first. I was rounding the corner to the finish line when I heard a bouncing sound, but it was echoing. I looked to the bleachers and saw people scrambling off as barrels were bounding down the hill.

Shit! I kept my pace up as the other racers started slowing down, and eventually passed the person in second place. I don't care if I've lapped them, but I won't let this get in my way!

I met the barrels head-on. I leaped forwards and flipped my body off of a bouncing barrel, then angled my body so that a few barrels coming at a bad angle would miss me. I landed on my hands and gave one last push so I back-flipped over the last barrel, and then quickly made my way to the finish line. I sat down just ahead of it and patiently waited for the other contestants to cross. When they did, I didn't know if they were glaring or watching me in awe.

For me, that reaction was natural. I'd always been able to do some crazy things, especially when adrenaline was pumping through my veins. Like when I'd seen a man actually try to steal candy from a baby. It was funny to watch, since it seems a lot harder than the saying suggests. Anyway, he was evil, and I'd attacked him without so much as a thought, then returned the candy to the baby before her mother came back.

"What… the hell… kind of 'roids… are you on?" the girl in second asked me in short gasps.

I shook my head. "None, obviously. I wouldn't have been able to race today if I was."

She shook her head as if she didn't believe me, but I didn't really care.

After the winners had been announced and I got my gold medal, I joined Ryan on the bleachers and we talked. Ryan was used to the strange way I was, and he didn't mind. I'd gotten him out of a few fights by being that way. We ended up talking for a few hours before we realized that everyone had left the track meet.

"Damn. Is it wrong that we always have way too much to talk about?" he asked in a joking manner.

I shrugged. "I dunno. You talk more than I do."

Ryan frowned. "Geez, woman. You're killin' me!"

"Then you aren't the first." Ryan and I looked at the other end of the bleachers to see a man in a black suit and dark sunglasses. He was looking back at us, and smiling smugly. "And I doubt you'll be the last."

One of my eyebrows rose. "Can I help you?"

"Actually yes," he said, and rose to stand beside me. "I've been looking for you for a while, kid."

Ryan stood up, and almost matched the other guy's height. "What do you mean?"

The man shrugged and put a hand on my shoulder. I immediately tensed, and he seemed to notice. "Sorry, I forgot. I was told that you probably wouldn't understand."

I felt his grip tighten, and that's when I stood up. I jerked my shoulder out of his grasp and backed into Ryan, my arm blocking my adoptive brother.

"Who the hell are you?" I growled.

"Sam…" Ryan seemed a bit confused as to why I was so quick to anger, but I felt like this guy was hostile, and I decided to trust my instincts.

The man smiled, and that's when I noticed the other guys in black suits, surrounding the bleachers.

"Ryan, stay close to me," I whispered. "This could get ugly."

"What're you doing?" Ryan hissed. I decided that his guy pride was kicking in, since I was making it seem like I was protecting him.

"I can see the confusion in your eyes, Assassin," the guy said as he pulled out a gun. "I read in our reports that you lost your memory. That's okay; we need the other memories locked inside of you, so it doesn't matter. As for your friend…"

I grabbed onto Ryan's head and thrust him down to the floor of the bleachers, then my leg kicked out and my foot smashed the guy's hand away.

"Ryan! Get out of here!" I ordered.

"Sam—!"

"Now!"

I kicked him under, and he hit the ground with a thump. He started running, and so I made it to the top of the bleachers and flipped off, landing in-between the retreating Ryan and the guys in the suits.

"You aren't getting near my brother!" I yelled, my fists rising.

"Take care of her!" the main guy ordered. "Forget the boy! We need the Assassin alive!"

"And I don't know why you're calling me an Assassin!"

One of them came at me, and I instinctively reacted. When I hit his throat with the heel of my hand, I felt like something should have been there. Same for when I reached for something on my back and it wasn't there. I quickly dismissed it, and attacked them like there was no tomorrow, because I had a feeling that—if they got me—there would be no tomorrow.

And I was right.

One of them hit me on the back of the head with a thick branch, and I fell to the ground. The world suddenly became black around me, and all I could feel was the back of my head throbbing.

"Get 'er in the van."

"And the boy?"

"… Kill him."