The first thing in her memory when she woke up was pain, a hot, scorching pain crossing through her little body at every direction. It was as if every inch of her body had been sent ablaze by an invisible force, only cooled down by the red blood stains running down her wrists onto the ground below.
The faint echo of her ragged breaths were the only source of noise that she could heard of, each intake coming at a random pace through dry lips, specks of blood coating the soft flesh into an organic dark shell. Her vision was hazy at best, like looking through a cracked mirror with only one eye opened, it was not aided by the laid out she found herself in.
A rather small room, shrouded in complete darkness, only beret by the light of the moon crashing down her back through a rather small circular window and the thin slits of the door before her. She tried to speak...but nothing but a wordless gasp left her lips, her tongue refusing to obey her will as it remained still in her mouth.
The effects had weaken….but they were still there, or that was what she thought.
She did not know for how long she had been placed in that position, but her limbs felt completely numb, or they should have been. The burning sensation of weak muscle fiber long extenuated from hours of been forced into an unnatural position as her arms were held up by a pair of worn out ropes was still there. Pulling her up from the ground floor just barely, never allowing her to set foot on it, nor swing to far when hit.
Like a doll dangling by strings….
She did not look down to see whether her clothes remained as they should have or he had done….more. Her eyes felt heavy, almost as if clinging to remain shut while she sensed the air grow thicker and harsh around her, warmer even, almost clogging her throat when she took a wrong timed breath.
Everything around her felt dry...to dry for an attic in the middle of winter. Did they leave the stove on?
That did not stop her from trying to peer through the poorly lit room in search of something, or someone…..the silence had always been a welcome friend of hers, but something told her she was not alone.
It did not took long, for there he was, a few feet from her the only thing that humanly should definitely not belong in such secluded room. Large like one of those bears she had saw once in the distance of her first attempt out but with nothing of their grace…
The darkness shrouding his form quickly dissipated as her eyes tried to burn an imprint of him in her corneas, thinking about it...he was not that tall nor imposing now he was hunched over, what once was an elegant suit was now in a rather unkempt manner.
He was pressed against the wall to her right, his head hung down between his legs, but not enough to cover his face completely from view nor the grimace of agony settled in stone on it, though it sometimes changed forms into a wicked grin between each blink of her eyes. Pale skin like the fresh snow of winter now adorned his once disgusting features, a peculiar purity that was only tainted by the large cavity caved over his skull, a now noticeable trail of blood falling down from the clearly open wound.
That would explain the puddle of blood he was standing over.
Dead, he was dead. That stillness was far too rigid to be anything else and yet she glared at him for a minute, then another. Almost uncertain whether she was still within the realms of reality or delusion as she refused to even blink, her eyes crying out by such strange refusal, but she could not help it.…
As she glared at the hollow husk of her former tormentor, her hands started to flex weakly at first before they closed into two tight fists, a strange sensation started to stir up inside her, like meat hooks clawing her flesh from the inside out until she could no longer ignore it. Eyes narrowing into a distasteful frown, disparaging emotions flashing through them that did not manifest on her face.
How dare he….how dare that thing die without her been aware? What had she done to not be a conscious participant? It did not seem fair.
Nothing was fair….
Whether it was fueled because the situation or her newfound anger at the seemingly unfairness of his premature departure or a desire to move away from her confinement, she soon found herself tugging at the cords downwards with what little strength she had left.
A futile effort that had been proven correct time and time again every other time as the angles her arms were held would prove hard to manage such feat by others, let alone for someone of her meager stature and strength. They seemed to enjoy her attempts though...
Creeak…..
The rough sound of strands snapping one after the other would not be what she was expecting, nor she fully comprehended what was it at first. Had she looked up, she would have noticed that the very same cords that held her seemed to have been slashed by a very pointy object, leaving only a skeleton of the strong and resilient rope behind.
One that she had unknowingly torn through in her ignorance….
A second later, the next thing she found out was the way the solid surface of the floor would fare against her skull as gravity pummeled her against the ground uncaring of her wellbeing. Not something she had really put much thought on it sadly, but it strangely felt warm instead of the eerie sterile cold she was used to...
A muffled grunt of pain escaped through her bruised lips as a result, tears falling down her cheeks as her lungs almost burst through her chest as a result of the fall, a clear indication of a few broken ribs now puncturing the flesh inside her. She would have cried out…, but nothing else would come out from her throat.
Even now she barely could keep herself away from fading away in the comfortable embrace of the nothingness, the darkness that was calling out to her as she lay down on the floor, obscuring her eyes. It would be so easy….to let her loose herself to the such painless embrace.
But she refused. Something was….different, and it was not the dryness spreading through her throat as the air around her became a bit more thicker.
The thought of staying there crossed her mind for a second before it was pushed aside, she lacked the naivety to think this... was a ploy of some sort. They never killed their guests, it was bad for business.
What would they do to them like this? The thought sent shivers down her spine, all the more reason not to stay put like a "good" doll.
She slowly rose up, grinding her teeth against one another while cold sweat slid down her forehead as her muscles flared up in protest. Her feet staggered as she moved towards the only exit, it did not take long before she realized the new addition her body carried. His vile blood had smeared all her sickly skin and hair like some sort of scarlet natural paint.
She would soon realize that would not the be the last thing she would get for free...
Her legs shook as she heard the unmistakable sound of flesh heating up at an extreme pace, a pained scowl in her lips as she found herself unable to pry her hand away from the source of it. The handle was burning, and along side her palms. She should have tried to move away, to put as much distance as she could from it, instead her grip grew stronger and started to pull over and over the door towards her.
She had no time for this….
She could heard the sound of the door cracking, slowly opening with the motion, but falling short each time. Meaning that it had been left open, but something was blocking its path. The smell of burn flesh reached her nostrils, but did not stopped her. With one final push with she managed to pry it open, her pained fingers finally been able to slip away from their hellish grip.
Opening up the gates of heaven...
And hell welcomed her with open arms...
She rose her arms more by instinct than nothing else, trying to shield herself from the unexpected flash of light assaulting her eyes as well the scorching air that was cooking her skin just by brushing with her. By the time her eyes managed to catch a glimpse of what was happening she was already halfway the hallway.
Fire, the building was on fire….., bright flashes of orange and red smearing the walls and the ceiling above her in their incessant hunger to consume everything in their path, furniture, paintings..nothing was spared. Tears started to fall down her now puffy eyes in a rapid pace as the thick smoke hanged above her started to burn them.
Her mouth tasted of ashes and lost dreams...
She slowly made her way through the hallway towards the main entrance, leaning against the scorched surface of the walls where the flames had left their ardent touch, though failed to break down as her legs remained too tired to carry her all the way without collapsing, while her other hand tried to pry off the sweat from falling down her eyes as it quickly evaporated at the same time by the heat.
She noticed that there were other bodies around her too, though with the chaos surrounding her she could do little to recognize any of them, probably more of the guests. The scent of burn flesh quickly mixing up with the toxic wastes of smoke made her gasp, but not because of the horrid smell….
Shadows danced all over the corners of her eyes, uncaring of the situation. Their bodies mangled and torn moved swiftly through the air, sometimes they closed the distance around her, sometimes they did not. Curved horns protruding from their heads and slim slits of crimson where eyes should be only to disappear as flashes of white obscured her vision between blinks.
Like a broken screen….
After a long, grueling time….., she finally reached the staircase, prior that night it was, now nothing more than a hellish landscape brought out by a fever dream. A man made furnace where the flames flooded the entirety of the room, though she tried to gaze at a larger corridor between the main exit and the inner house, but a thick curtain of blackness obscured her path to the point of near blindness.
But not near enough to hide the next following lament.
``No, it cant be..…...´´
The words echo strongly in her mind yet nothing but a ghastly whimper comes from her mouth as smoke clogs her windpipes, eyes widen in half felt shock. The wooden stair steps, the ones that would lead her out...were long gone, the fire had gotten there before her, leaving nothing but an emptiness where the slabs of wood had once resided.
The only way out would be to learn to fly….
Weakly, she extended her arm forward towards the shambling form that her tired eyes provided of the door, an image growing smaller and smaller with each passing second. Fingers flexing over and over as if she could reach it.
So close, so close….and yet so far away, if only she could….just...
Her body started to shake, a strange screech…, barely audible under the hunger of the flames started to grow stronger as time went by, as if someone was tapping the floor. It took her a bit to realize that it was coming from.
She was laughing, a sharp, bitter laughter that held no mirth yet none of the acrid despair that her heart was swelling with. Wasn't it funny? The ever changing fortune that seemed to grant her a new path only to take it away
Much to her distress she would not have much time to ponder about it as a sudden fit of coughing brought her to her knees, each burst wheezing air feeling like a stab in her guts. A grimace formed around her lips as she viewed with neither stupor or resignation the blood slipping from her fingers onto the ground below. The bitter taste of metal now fully saturating her senses as she smeared the rest with her torn up sleeve.
What could she do now? Was anything left to do? Did she even want to….?
Her thoughts would come to an abrupt end when a thunderous sound struck the entire house, the very ground she was standing shaking uncontrollably before to her horror it gave in. The structure no longer able to withstand her weight as its foundations were ravishingly consumed.
A muffled shriek was the only thing she could say as she fell down through the infrastructure in a matter of seconds, landing hard over a once proud oak table that probably had a richer history than hers. Smashing it into rubble along side her legs.
It was then that she lost consciousness….
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She woke up far sooner than she expected, given the circumstances….
Mangled and twisted into angles that they should not be her legs remained as unresponsive as they could be expected to be in their state, curiously, she did not felt as much pain as she thought it should. Probably a result of the substance still lingering in her bloodstream…, but for how long?
She cocked her head to the left, an action that demanded more force than it should have, a faint trail of blood following her movement from what seemed to be a cut on the back of her head. It would explain the deafening noise ringing through her ears….leaving her unable to hear a thing.
The world around her was still a raging fire, what little free space had remained free from the terrible reach of the flames had either succumbed or was on the way, though much to her surprise the air had grown lighter.
The heat had busted every single window of the small mansion as well the door had fallen from its hinges, allowing for some of the venomous air to slip by the now open gaps.
The door….
She did not know when she started, but she found herself crawling towards the broken remnants of it, with only her hands to push herself forward through the blazing inferno the task became nothing more than a slow paced torture each time her legs bumped with the ruble.
One crawl after the other…. Ignoring the burns her hands suffered by her stubbornest , she made it to the snowy plains outside.
The outside world was a stark contrast from the one she just came from. The air was cold, daggers made of ice clawing their way inside her battered lungs with voracity between each pained breath that she took, threatening to freeze on the spot if she so dare continued. A pain that she fully embraced as she laid down over the white fresh snow.
Tainting its soft and pure surface with the acrid smell of ashes and the taste of fresh blood. The silver moon and the stars above as her only witness, the wind howling above her head, brushing her face...almost playfully.
It was a strange sight to behold, the black silver of the night sky combined with the vibrant oranges and reds from the fire. She would have loved to continue to gaze at it...but the numbing of her legs had started to spread through the rest of her body. Everything around her felt….slower. The constant throbbing of her heart within her chest had started to dull, bit by bit...
A final sigh left her lips as she felt the last of her strength vanish, no longer able to keep the dark spots from forming over the edges of her vision. There was so little time left….
``So this is it…?´´ She muttered to no one in particular, her head downcast onto the humid white surface. Perhaps that was the reason why she did not notice the shadow that loomed above her, nor she heard the sound of footsteps on the snow until it was directly in front of her.
A feeling of dejavu struck her as she looked at her, a strange thing to consider as most of her features were obscured from view, as if a child had smeared a drop of black ink all over it. With the exception of its eyes. A pair of two cold sapphires that observed her in silence. She easily towered above her by a large margin, its thin body clothed in black only adding to that perception.
The figure cocked its head to the left, perhaps puzzled by her appearance or her unexpected arrival before she pulled a strange metallic object from their back before aiming it at her direction. She barely made out the sound of a faint click through the distant roars of the flames consuming the building and the violent winds brushing against her face.
One last glance at the blocky tool told her what it was about to happen, what needed to happen as she felt the cool surface of the weapon pressed against her forehead, a mumbling sound reaching her ears from the stranger, though she could not understand it. A question of sorts or something else?
She tried to to stand up, but it was a futile effort as her body refused to move an inch. After everything she had endured, she should be lashing out, spatting with incredibility at the unfairness of this tale which was not even hers to write off, but she did not….
Why had she tried so hard? The thought lingered in her mind for a few moments before it was pushed aside, it did not matter, nothing from before mattered at this point in time. Why fret over such meaningless things?
`` I never imagine it would be this way... ´´
``…...´´
It was then, for what could have been the first time in years that she allowed herself to smile. An indescribable feeling of gratitude washing over her as she softly closed her eyes before her dark savior. At long last it could finally be over…
``Thank you….´´
A loud detonation quickly torn through the night sky like the rabid howling of the predators of the night.
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She woke up in silence, her eyes opening up slowly, almost sluggishly in their wake as they tried to adapt to their new reality. Her body felt numb and tired, as if she had been awake all night even though she knew that was not the case.
She remained still for a while, the throbbing of her heart slow and peaceful, slowly picking aside certain thoughts lingering in her mind before focusing on others which held a higher priority, one by one until she left the board empty.
It wasn't the first time she had that dream, the impact it had in her psyche far more stronger than she would have anticipated in her youth as the events remained engraved by fire both in her flesh and soul. And she did not mind in the slightest.
That day had meant a before and after her path, the very moment in time she had died and became something else…..something stronger. She fought back the ghost of a smile from forming around the edges of her lips, it was not a bad memory...though nothing mayor to celebrate over.
The room was shrouded in darkness..or whatever it was left of it anyways, beret of anything that it once made it held, it resemble more a worn skeleton. A crumbling ceiling from where the water rain would slide down onto the dirty mattress she was resting on, the walls striped of their paint and a floor that had seem better days…..
There was only one window from where came the only source of light from the full moon looming statically over the large buildings over the of the river. to small for a man to slip by through them and to big to shield the occupant from the inclement weather. The bars, although few in numbers compensated with their size, it had taken a bit of time to even remove all of them.
The prison had been built over two centuries ago under the pretense to treat the most of unsavory individuals, especially those diagnosed with mental illnesses in an effort to "treat" them, a smokescreen to gain public support for the reelection as mayor. Luckily for the inmates it had not even lasted half that time before it had fell into disused thanks to a series of rumors circulating from the guards. Plans to remodel the now abandon building into a war museum had been made, but the great depression and the following wars that had taken the world by storm had pushed those aside before they were thrown into the nearest trashcan.
Now a then of beggars and junkies the building continued to rot in the backyard of the New Yorkers ignorance. Curiously they never touched the mental section, perhaps fearful of whatever may have been done there.
It worked just fine for her, she would be long gone before anyone would think of taking a look. A large barrel protruding from the gap in the wall into the world beyond. Its scope directed towards the Shield island, awaiting for its owner to pick it up and use it after such a long, boring wait.
Her eyes then met the broken remnants of what what once would have been an inside mirror in the cell, the cracks all over its dusty surface as well the mold growing at the very edges felt far more real and accurate than the image that they showed back.
Clothed in a raven black trench coat that almost reached her knees and the large hat of the same shade covering her head it would have been hard to notice her from the distance as nothing else than a large blob of black or another ominous entity of this forsaken place. Not that the rest of her was any better….
Skin painfully pale, to the point that one would think she had bathed milk a few too many times. Her hair had lost its golden brightness, those brutal years taking a heavy toll on her, given way to a silver snow shade that fell over her back wildly as some sort of ethereal cascade. Her amethyst eyes were the only thing that had remained unchanged for the most part...though they had lost some life within them, replaced by a cold ruthlessness.
She looked sickly…
Why did she saw in her that she did not?
"You should try to smile more my snowflake…., that frown settled in your face is ruining a rather attractive face. You should take better care of it…."
Shyly she rose her arms…., gloved fingers slowly trying to pry off a smile from her stiff lips that closed tightly into a deep frown. Eyes drilling holes into her own reflection as if disappointed for her decision. A minute passed, then another. In the end she shook her head, a tired sigh leaving her lips as she moved away from her reflection in defeat. She couldn't do it, it just wouldn't come naturally…
Not as she was right now.
"Things are never easy, if they were everyone would do it….but you wont give up, would you? Not for me….."
The words hanged calmly in her mind, soothing her like a warm blanket. For a moment she thought she could feel the warmth of her arms embracing from behind, that soft golden locks like the sun of mid day interlocking with her own, the way her lips barely caressed her skin. Playful hands moving down….
``Fuck!´´
She spatted, covering her mouth as she barely could fight back the bitter taste in her mouth from spreading, her throat lit on fire by the unexpected wave of bile rising up her throat as those feelings turned repugnant and bitter in the heat of the moment. She should have known better, to allow her mind to wander off towards those...places.
It was only after a few minutes that she managed to regain her composure, cold sweat crawling down her back. She quickly closed her hands into tight fists, hearing the way the leather growled because of it, then slamming it against one of the walls, leaving a fist size hole on the already weakened surface before she moved towards the window. Teeth grinding against one another as she ignored the pain from the effort.
``No...I wont….´´ She growled more than said, spitting at the ground.
There was almost no haste in her movement, no flaw in her approach as she put herself into position, fingers dangling as they took hold of the C15, placing it right where it had to be. Fingers tugging the gears of the scope as she tried to get a better look through it.
She had done a dozen times since she arrived, but she could not help but try to get a better zoom each time. Three miles separated her from her target, two thousand yards more than what her modify C15 could cover under untrained hands.
She knew she could make it…., she only needed to wait for him to show himself.
It should be just about right… Her words came to an abrupt end as a whistling sound pierced the air before the night skies erupted in a bright series of colorful explosions. Dozens more following its example as they turned the horizon into an ever changing theater were the bright yet fleeting lights were the actors.
For the people that laid below the lights it would have been a sight to remember, for those who could barely see them from their homes it would have been a rather entertaining distraction of their mundane lives. For her it was just the ring bell calling her out to play.
She merely look at the soft tickling sound emanating from her left arm, the constant humming of old gears trying to move the inner workings of the antiquated strapped to her. Both silver pointers signalizing the full moon engraved on the rusted gold plating metal.
It was midnight.
``Ah, just in time…..´´
Only three miles separated her from the artificial island built over the late eighteens now covered by hundreds of colored balloons and a few spotlights situated all over the main plateau, their lights illuminating most of the field by themselves. She did not need to look through the scope to notice the silhouettes of the myriad of guests moving around, nor to hear the livid echo of the orchestra trying to lighten up the night. A task becoming even harder at the non stop apparition of the fireworks.
She would need to be blind not to know what they were doing. A celebration, they were hosting a celebration. He was using the summit of his party to celebrate his birthday. She did not know whether applaud his foolishness or his boldness.
Perhaps neither….
Slowly her eyes wandered through the island, though mostly at the makeshift podium that it had been prepared for the speech. Her lips turned downwards slightly, her heart beat pausing for a second as her eyes caught a glimpse of the target as it came out from hiding, standing tall over the podium as he started working on the microphones.
He was small, perhaps a bit more than she had thought possible for some to stir up such problem as he barely reached the five feet up off the ground. His eyes were nothing but small buttons, carved deeply on what would be a round, gloated face after years of lack of care. Though he did not resemble the picture of the "Strong man" he loved to talk about, he surely did look the par of a crooked politician in a children's comic book.
With such an appearance it was a wonder the disgusting thing could even manage to create an image of a fair working man, while in truth been no better than his fellow schemers. The city denizens were blind to the truth…, only seeing what they wanted to see, as usual. Perhaps things could have ended there...had he not tried to black mail the wrong people.
Not even an ounce of fear could be spotted in his features, perhaps deluding himself even further in the treasures thought of safety on the cusp of his power, the masses surrounding him ignorant meat shield to use at his disposal. A needles task, for no gunslinger would have made it through the heavy security measures.
And yet his foolishness had left his fate to chance
``Payne Winston, how arrogant can you be...´´ She muttered, mostly to herself as the scope aimed half a meter away from the little mans heart as she sensed the wind increasing from that direction. Of all the things the man could have done, he had to show off with been the only one wearing a bright red suit into that tide of black and whites of his guests.
It was fitting though, to wear a scarlet shade on what would be a crimson night. She almost felt sorry for the mess she was going to do to that fine silk, almost. But greed had no qualms of what it did, and neither did she.
A second later the soft click prior to the detonation reached her ears, one finger pressed strongly against the trigger. Eyes almost unresponsive and bereft of any emotion while her lips slowly warped into a dispassionate scowl, a ghastly sound slipping through them that did not seem to align with what had just been done.
`` Happy birthday..….´´