Chapter 3

Airport security was not ready for a trained assassin that was determined to sneak on their plane. April slipped past everybody easily and was hiding out in the cargo hold. She could have just a bought a plane ticket but that would have meant leaving her gun behind. That was just something she didn't want to do. She wanted her mother fucking gun.

Of course she didn't actually need it. But seven years of being made to do things she didn't want had taken their toll. Things were going to be done her way, and that was all she had to say on that.

She laid down on the floor. It was hot and uncomfortable in here. She tried to focus her mind on other things. Phil was the first thing that popped up. Her big brother Phil. Would he remember who she was? Would he believe that it was really her? Would he believe all the things she could do now?

That last part will be easy enough to prove. Who else but an assassin can kill like I can?

Somehow that last part didn't comfort her at all. To tell the truth, she didn't really want to tell anybody what had happened to her. What would be the point? Nobody could change anything. She guessed she would just decide what to do when the time came.

She dozed off and on for the rest of the flight. Three hours later, the plane landed at her intended destination. She hid in the shadows and snuck off while the people who came to unload the plane were distracted. Now all she had to do was find Phil and everything would be alright.

000

Punk walked down the streets by himself. It was a cold and rainy but he didn't care. The weather fit his mood at the moment. Sure, he knew if he didn't snap out of this depression soon he would go insane and take everyone down with him, but he needed some more serious brooding time before he could move on.

"GET OFF OF ME!" he heard Maria scream. There was anger in her voice but the fear was more obvious. Concerned, he ran to find her.

She was being cornered behind a building by four large men. She was fighting them off the best she could but she was no match for them. He grabbed one of them and threw him against the wall. He ducked a punch from the second one and kicked him in the stomach.

One of the other two hit him from behind with a lead pipe. He went down and three of them began to kick the shit out of him while the fourth one held a screaming Maria back. Fighting them from where he was at didn't do any good so he tried to protect himself the best he could.

"Run! Call the police!" Maria screamed at someone.

"Little girl, I would stay right there if--" the rest of his sentence was cut off by gunfire. The other three stopped kicking Punk and turned around, only to get shot down in quick succession.

"Phil!" Maria yelled. She ran over to him with tears of concern streaming down her face. "Oh my God, Phil, are you alright?"

Punk groaned. His nose was bloody and his entire body ached. "Oh shit, I just got my ass kicked." He stopped and tried to catch his breath. "How are you? Did they hurt you?"

She shook her head. "They tried but they didn't get very far."

"Good," he said in relief. He sat up and saw the person who had saved them. It was a girl that couldn't have been older than seventeen. She had really long black hair that was wild and untamed. She was tall and extremely pale; he thought she either had been deprived of sunlight, or she was part albino or something like that. The gun was still in her hands and she was now staring at him. There was something about her that was familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on it. "Uh…hi," he said awkwardly.

The girl cocked her head to the side. She put up her hand and waved a little.

"What if she's dangerous?" Maria whispered to Punk. "She just shot these guys without any question. What if she's like some crazy serial killer or something?"

"Okay, you have officially spent way too much time with Jeff," he replied. He stood up slowly, ignoring the throbbing in his head. "So, do you go around shooting people a lot?" he asked the girl. "And do you have a name or something?"

The girl pulled out two candy bars from her pocket and handed one of them to him. He looked down at it. "Your name is Snickers?"

"I was going to get a Snickers that day," the girl said. She seemed to be talking to herself rather than him and Maria. "I wanted to get you one so you would play with me. You liked Snickers. I would have bought you one if you had gone to the gas station if you had gone with me. But I bought you one now to show you I wasn't mad."

Punk stared at her. April always tried to bribe him with Snickers when they were kids. This girl was the right age to be April and she did look very familiar. "April?" he said slowly.

She nodded. "Hi." Then she turned around and ran away.

"April wait!" he yelled. He chased after her, leaving Maria to catch up. He followed her down several dark alleys before catching up with her in an abandoned factory. She was sitting in a corner, rocking back and forth. "April?" he said again. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. It felt like he was going to wake up any moment and this would all be a dream.

"Where did Mommy and Daddy go?" she asked. Her voice sounded like a little girl's. "Why did they leave me? I went back home and nobody was there. One two three four, one two three four…little dead children all lined up in a row. Didn't want to…oh god, there was so much blood." She buried her face in her lap.

He sat down next to her. Gently, he pulled her into a hug. "Where were you?" he asked. "Where did you go?"

"Hell," she replied.

"Phil who is this?" Maria asked. She looked almost jealous.

"It's my sister," he confessed. "She's the secret I've been keeping."

Maria's look softened. "But why? Why would you keep that from me?"

"It's a long story."

"I've got time."

"There's never enough time," April muttered. "There's always tests to be done and numbers to check." She chuckled. "I never used to talk this much. Didn't say a word for three years straight." She said something else but it couldn't be heard by anyone else but her.

Punk picked her up and took her and Maria to his hotel room. April was asleep by the time they got there. He put her down on the bed next to his and tucked her in. The entire situation felt surreal.

He told Maria everything. The day April disappeared, being turned into an outcast by his family, his mom's nervous breakdown that led to her suicide, his dad's car accident that might not have been an accident, and every other little ugly detail. They sat in silence for a little while after that, because there was really nothing to say.

"Phil I'm sorry," Maria said. "For you know everything that happened. And not just about the stuff that happened when you were a kid. I'm sorry about what happened between us."

Punk nodded. "Yeah, I am too." He looked over at April. "I have to take her on the road with me."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"That's the only idea. I have no relatives that'll talk to me. And even if they would, she came to find me. I owe it to her to take care of her this time."

Maria nodded in understanding. "Okay." She paused. "Do you think I could stay with you tonight? I don't want to be alone tonight."

"Sure," Phil agreed. They laid down on his bed and he held her until they both fell asleep.

000

It began to storm that night. April woke up to a very loud crash of thunder. She took a few deep breaths. She hadn't heard a storm for seven years and she had forgotten how much they scared her. She crawled out of bed and stood in front of the window, the gun clutched tightly in her hand. "Come on," she dared the thunder. "Come on it and try me." She stood perfectly still, completely focused on protecting herself from the threat outside. She didn't move an inch or blinked at all, and this was how Punk and Maria found her the next day.