Fate's Punishment

He was standing in front of the window, so Daniella saw his silhouette as he aimed his gun again. Apparently he'd missed the first time... but she realized it wasn't her he was aiming for.

"Poppy, watch out!" She yelled as the dog leapt at him.

Poppy hit the man just in time to knock his aim off, the bullet hitting the ceiling. Daniella backed unconsciously through the open bathroom doorway, and the agent saw this opportunity. Quickly, he rushed at her, the dog close behind. She gasped, backing into the counter. Her fingers searched it desperately in search of something to hit him with. He made it through the doorway, and quickly slammed the door shut in Poppy's face. She saw him smile... he knew she was trapped.

"There's nowhere to run, girl... Just come with me and I won't hurt you. It's that simple."

She struck out at him with the porcelain toothbrush holder she had grabbed onto, hitting him across the face with it. Catching him by surprise, she shoved him out of the way, ripping open the door and running back into the bedroom. She heard him yell "Bitch!" from the bathroom, but kept running, not looking back. Poppy appeared at her heels, running along with her. Daniella ran out of the bedroom back into the dark hallway, yelling for help. Her voice echoed along the stone walls, but she knew nobody would come. She looked around frantically in the hallway, not knowing where she could hide. In the corner of her eye, she saw the agent appearing out of the doorway, one hand to his face. He looked down the hallway at her, aiming his gun. She had to run... anywhere. Poppy stayed by her, growling loudly. She ran for the stairs in the middle of the hallway, and heard him shoot once more, a sudden, stabbing pain entering her left leg.

Weston heard the telltale cry of pain and saw her go down on one knee, and knew that he had hit her. He hadn't shot to kill, just to cripple. The Ainu circled him, barking loudly. He aimed again, this time to get rid of the mutt once and for all... The dog, much quicker than he was, circled and jumped on his back, biting at his neck. Weston screamed, dropping the gun and reaching behind him in an attempt to get the infernal creature off of him. He slammed his back against the wall, hearing a yelp, and the dog let go. When he looked up again, the girl was gone. What the...

Damn it. He must not have hit her in the right spot. He was aiming for the back of her knee, which would have brought her down for good. But she was apparently still able to move. He saw a trail of blood shimmering in the moonlight, going down the stairway. It was not a big deal. She would never be able to escape him now. The dog ran down the passage and disappeared down the stairway. Weston, bleeding from the back of his neck, walked after them. This would be it. He would have her cornered.

Daniella dragged her leg down the dark stone stairway as she looked for somewhere, anywhere, to escape now. She was in a state of almost total panic, not noticing anything around her, just moving as fast as she could. She couldn't think; her whole world had turned grayscale. She was vaguely aware of Poppy running around her, and of the approaching footsteps close behind...

She made it to the bottom of the stairway and shoved open the door. She looked around frantically... what the hell wasthis place? She saw various torture devices, all sorts of spikes and racks, an empty noose hanging from the ceiling... she took all this in in one glance, still moving as fast as she could, crying out with pain. There was a passage at the far end of the room with a door at the end, and she headed desparately for it. She saw Poppy run ahead of her, leading the way, and heard the man's voice somewhere behind her. She made for the passageway, it being her only hope, when something made a loud noise and flew across right in front of her nose, causing her to scream and fall backwards.

Daniella heard metal hit the floor, and saw a group of long, sharp-looking nails hit the ground in front of her. She saw Poppy continue on, oblivious to them, and the brick he was standing on raised slightly after he stepped off it. She forced herself to think... Poppy must have triggered those nails by stepping on that brick, but they didn't hit him because they were too high... She leapt over the "trap brick", landing on her bad leg, and screamed again, falling to the ground. With the last of her flagging strength, in excrutiating pain, she crawled toward the big red door, a gold symbol now clearly visible on it, a cane with snakes wrapped around it. She reached up for the handle... and found it locked. That was it. She could run no more. She turned around to see the agent reaching the bottom of the stairs and entering the room.

Weston saw her. She was laying in the passageway on the other side of the room, holding her leg and looking at him with pure panic in her eyes, a primal sort of look he'd seen in animals when they knew they were about to die... He noticed he was in some kind of sick torture chamber, filled with all kinds of twisted instruments, but forced his attention toward the girl. He was going to have her now. She had given up. The dog stood by her side, growling and baring its teeth. If it gave him any trouble, he would just shoot it. He walked through the room, actually savoring the moment, half-appalled at himself. And as he saw her lying there in that revealing nightgown, chest heaving, completely and totally vulnerable, he realized she was actually very sexy. He shook his head, trying to keep such thoughts out of it.

He reached the start of the passage, aiming his gun for the final time at the dog, still advancing on the mortified girl.

"I hoped it wouldn't have to end like this-"

A sound off to the side, then all went black.