00 • Prologue
When living a life like mine, you find yourself in all sorts of situations. Like being held at gunpoint or having a knife dangerously close to your throat or hey if you're lucky, maybe even being tortured! And right now, I'd much prefer either of those.
"The fuck you mean 'deal with the bomb'!?" I scream frustrated into the comm. "You damn well know that isn't part of my skill set— hey! Don't you fucking ignore— oh for fucks sake!" I rip out the comm from my ear and throw it to the ground, crushing it under my foot in anger.
I glare at the numerous dead bodies around me. These assholes just had to die after activating the bomb. I kick the nearest corpse before turning to stare distatefully at the black box with a timer on it.
I don't know much on bombs, my knowledge is practically nonexistent beyond the fact of not going anywhere near the fucking thing. As it is, I can't just abandon the damn thing, not when my stupid ass employers are still in the fucking building.
Why did I agree to this contract again?
I click my tongue and bend down to pick up the bomb. There's ten minutes left. If I can just get it out and away from the building then it should be fine. Across the street should work, the explosion can't be that big or bad.
Right okay. Just need to account for the fact of me being no where fucking near the place when it blows.
"Fucking hell," I mutter, standing back up to leave. It's also just my luck that I'm on the top floor of a six story hotel with twisting halls. "Fan-fricking-tastic," I snarl while making my way down the stairs.
I pull out a gun, spotting someone that isn't my ally or employer. They're crouching by a doorway looking where I can hear some yelling and screaming. I'm about to shoot only to stop and almost shout in frustration.
What in the fucking hell is a kid doing here!?
I quickly put away my gun and ran up to the boy. He doesn't notice me, not until I poke him with my foot. He jumps, quickly turning around to point a gun at me. I grab it and pull it out of his hands while glaring down.
"The hell are you doing here kid?" I hiss, quickly taking a look down the hall. The screaming and yelling has died down, I should hurry up and get out. "You shouldn't be here. And where the hell did you get this gun from?"
He's pale, dressed in rags, covered in bruises, and shaking. He looks terrified as he weakly points to a dead body in the room behind him.
Shit, I didn't mean to scare the kid.
"Raided a dead body, huh?" I murmur, nodding my head in slight approval. You do what you gotta do and sometimes you gotta raid a corpse. "Nice."
He doesn't respond, just flinches, looking on the verge of a panic attack. I grimace. I can't leave the kid here, not when it's pretty damn obvious he was a prisoner to the assholes my team is attacking. But I have a bomb to take care of…shit! The bomb!
I grab the boy's arm and pull him up before dragging him with me down the halls. I should probably be concerned over the lack of resistance but I don't have time for that. I need to tell the others I have a kid—
I freeze feeling nothing in my ear.
"Fuck!" I shouldn't have destroyed my only source of communication. Shit. Stupid, stupid, stupid. A quick glance at the time bomb does not help. I only have six minutes left.
I won't make it. Not with the kid slowing me down.
"Damn it all," I snarl, turning to the nearest room. I kick down the door and run up the nearest window. I'm facing the back side of the hotel, I need the front side.
Still pulling the kid after me, I run through the halls, look at all the windows of the hotel to find the front side. It doesn't take long to find one facing the front of the hotel, though when I finally do there's only three — almost two minutes — left.
"Get in the closet kid," I mutter hurriedly, already pushing him in the general direction before pulling out my gun. He doesn't listen right away, only complying once I start firing at the windows.
Stupid ass windows taking several fucking bullets — argh, just fucking shatter already!
When the window finally shatters, I throw the bomb out aiming for across the street. I don't wait around to see if it landed where I wanted, already rushing over to make sure the boy is alright. Just as I reach the closet there's a loud bang behind me. I could feel the heat and force of the bomb as it went off. I throw myself against the closet door, covering it as best I could to add an extra layer of protection for the kid.
There's a ringing in my ears and I wouldn't be surprised if they were bleeding too. I stumble away from the closet, wincing as I stretch my arms out. A thousand tiny splinters in my arms has got to be the most painful thing I've ever felt, and I've had a bullet go through my leg before.
I call out for the kid, or well I try, seeing how I can't hear anything past the ringing in my ears. I can't even tell if I said anything at all. I must have said something since the kid's peeking out the closet cautiously. I wave him over, blinking away black spots in my vision. That probably isn't a good thing. Ah, to hell with it. I have a kid with me and we're still on the top floor.
I quickly grab the kid by his shoulders and drag him out of the room. I keep him close as we make our way down the halls, my other hand raised with my gun. I'm quick to shoot down any that don't wear the blue mark of my associates. I grunt a greeting to any I do know, tilting my head to the kid. I always get nods in response and formation shifts to let us through while covering our backs.
It's harder to go down the stairs than the elevator but the elevator holds a higher risk. I keep the kid behind me as we descend. It helps that we're taking the facility and employee stairway. Everyone always goes for the main stairways.
We're quick to reach the lobby floor without interference. I grimace at the metal door as I pull it open slightly. It opens up in what appears to be the mailroom. Double checking that it's empty, I grab back for the kid. Gently tugging him behind me, I listen for any sounds on the other side of the walls. There isn't much. Some gunshots but it seems to be dying down, hopefully with my side winning.
I don't move us from the room, simply looking around for another possible exit. Wouldn't want to run the risk of enemies being the ones on the other side of the wall. There's only a small window atop one of the many shelves holding mail.
Shifting my gaze between the window and door, I bit my lip in annoyance. I most certainly won't be able to fit in the window, the kid probably can but it's unknown what would await for him outside. Damn my soft spot for shit under twenty-one.
Clicking my tongue, I quickly check my gun. Only five bullets left. I should probably be able to make do. If not then well….dying as a human shield doesn't seem that bad, especially for a kid.
"Stay behind me and stay low. Not a sound kid," I murmur as we begin making our way to the door leading out to the lobby.
Opening it as quietly and slowly as I could, I quickly checked the surroundings. Two dead just feet away, enemy; three alive and standing ten meters away, ally. I couldn't see anything on the opposite side but from the sound of things, there's about three or four enemies. Overall, perhaps the best I could get from this situation.
It wasn't long before bullets started flying. Making use of the noise and distraction, I opened the door some more and pulled the two of us out. I pushed the kid to run for the front door as I stood and turned my gun on the enemy. I kept myself in front of the boy so as to give him some cover.
Of my allies, only one seems to be alive. Another looks to be bleeding out fast. And the last is most certainly dead. Two of the four enemies were already down, one was crippled (a shot to the legs and arm), and the last one was hiding by the stairs.
I aim for the guy's head but he ducks just in time.
One bullet.
I'm successful in my next shot for his hand, effectively getting him to drop his gun.
Two.
I quickly turn to look at the kid. He's at the door, pushing it open. He's looking down, using his little strength to push the rusted metal doors. He doesn't see the man outside when he opens the door. Doesn't see his knife —
Three. Four.
The kid startles away from the shots and sudden dropping of a now dead body. He looks over in surprise and I grin in response. He flinched though, and before I could wince in guilt for it, he opened his mouth, a scream at his throat.
Getting shot isn't a new feeling, pretty familiar. But being shot so dangerously close to the lung? Not cool, fun, or nice.
I gasp as I fall to the fall, a curse slipping past my lips as I turn around. It's the last enemy guy. I had assumed my ally would shoot him dead - didn't hear any bullets though. Looking past the guy, I can see my co-worker lying in his blood, knife lodged in his head. Of fucking course.
I scream for the kid to run just as the man starts walking closer. Luckily, he doesn't pay the kid any mind but focuses on me instead. I glare and bare my bloody teeth in annoyance. He leans down, gun pressing against my breast, over my heart.
"Who would have thought," he comments lightly, grinning smugly. "The great and feared Anna Hethingway. Dying to protect a no-good runt. Ha!"
I spit blood in his face in response, grinning at his disgust.
"Any final words?" His finger closes around the trigger, squeezing lightly.
"Yeah," I gurgle through my blood and panting. Just as I finish saying, "See you in hell," his finger closes completely on trigger.
But then so does mine.
Five.
ʕง•ᴥ•ʔง
Done! This is the rewrite guys! So sorry it took so long, I just have so many projects and well, interest in this one dropped for a while. But I'm not giving up! Thanks for sticking around though!
