p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanNina was on the run for what appeared to be hours straight. The adrenaline started to fade, and the pain on her right leg was becoming more pungent by the minute./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanAs she went deeper and deeper into the streets of the city, her body started to cool down, and her pace slowed. Before she realizes, she was limping, leaned against the walls. She was feeling her leg wet, so she took a look down, only to see a trail of blood droplets behind her. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanem style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Shit./em That would draw unwanted attention for sure, when all she needed was a quiet, calm place, for her alone. Forcing her mind to reason under all the pain, she looked upwards. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"A window. All I need is a window./em She ran to the alleys for a reason: nobody likes to go through them alone, when they have wide, lit streets to roam by. There, it was less likely to come across with somebody… the only drawback is that, if that happened, it was likely to be some drug addict, a thief… or even a rapper. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanStill, nothing to afraid of… not when you're a skilled assassin yourself…/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe was in a narrow alley between two damaged buildings. In there, she passed in the middle of stinky trash cans, and even spotted the shadow of a giant rat, running into hide. She painfully moved forward, only to encounter a wire fence, about five meters tall, barring the way to the other side. She crossed her fingers to the wire, inspecting the area ahead: the scenario repeated, with rotten trash bags leaned against the walls, and rooky, signature-like, graffiti's. It caught her interest when she spotted a glassless window, burned all around./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe had to try: she was already beginning to feel an uncomfortable tingling spreading down her right leg. She had to be quick to get there before she stops feeling it. She inhaled deeply before searching a good place between the wires to place her feet. Firstly, the one of the wounded leg, then the other, which she used to push her body upwards. Her right leg was acting like a dead weight she had to drag – as it passed through the fence, Nina felt the barbed wire thorns sticking through her suit into her flesh. She shivered in pain, the palms of her hands now sweaty and slippery. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"C'mon! You didn't put yourself to all this effort for nothing!/em /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe focused, trying to release her leg, while getting a grip over her current position. A battle between mind and body that took several minutes, before she finally crossed her legs to the other side, falling helplessly./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe felt dizzy and nauseated, when she slowly opened his eyes to a blurry grey sky above her. Every breath was painful, her hip was hurting badly, and her right leg fell into dormancy./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThe clouds became darker, and soon it started to rain. The drops of water were uncomfortable at first, but then they had calming effect, and even helped to ease her pain enough for her to reunite her remnant strength to carry on./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe dragged herself to the nearest trash-can. If she could climb it, she would easily enter in the building through the burnt window. She was leant against the dustbin, and her hands reached its top and applied as much pressure as she could. She managed to stand on a single foot, before throwing herself over the container. Then, she tried the same prowess towards the window, but it was too high: she had to stand up to reach it. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"You're close. Don't give up now./em She took another big breath, before seeking support in the brick wall. She slowly stood up, but the container was too much slippery to keep balance on one foot. She knew instinctively she wouldn't keep herself up for long. If she falls again, it is likely to never rise again. And so, as soon as stood, she immediately stretched her arms up: she grabbed the window frame a second before her left foot gave in./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThen, she pulled herself up, her arms trembling violently under the tremendous effort, whining like she never thought doing in her life. But, finally, she managed to enter in the dark room, head first./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe was panting heavily, but felt a smile emerge in her lips, as she had a thought of triumph. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"I made it…/em/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe almost felt invigorated by it. However, the moment she rose, a voice echoed, deep and rough, through the darkness, making her shiver. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Who are you? This is MY place! Go find one to yourself!" Ahead, she spotted the shadow of a dirty, raw-boned man, dressed in ragged clothes, aiming a baseball bat. She ignored him. She had come too far to get back. So she locked her gaze in him, and awaited his move. As soon as the man tried to hit her, she quickly blocked the baseball bat, and, taking the blade she was keeping hidden on her belt, she stabbed his neck, and left him choke in his own blood, while she took advantage on the adrenaline rush, provoked by her recent kill, to find the bathroom./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanOn the way, she inspected the kitchen. Near the carburized stove, laid a pair of scissors and over-placed pots; and under the balcony, the cupboard with the damaged door, had some tableware. She took the scissors and one more knife… just in case of finding more people in that place. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThe bathroom was a small cabin, with a broken, moldy tub, a sink with large roasted-yellow stains, and a small, cracked mirror-cabinet. She didn't recognize the shattered image of the woman it was giving her: she was pale as a ghost, her eyes wet and sunken, like she doesn't sleep for a month. Inside the cabinet only figured a few empty tubes of toothpaste, a plastic cup holding an old toothbrush and a pair of syringes, a bottle of medicine with a label she couldn't identify, and a small box of sleeping pills. She opened the bottle only to twist her nose. God knows for how long that bottle was there, judging by the mold circling the bottleneck. Additionally, she also found some pliers, a nail file and a bag of cotton, in the drawers beneath the sink./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanWith the scissors, she cut a blaze of fabric over the bullet wound. The blood immediately started to flow. Nina thanked for the fact she was wearing a tight latex suit, otherwise she could have bled out on the run. Then, she used the rags to make a tourniquet. Her whole body was trembling and her stomach was threatening to vomit, even knowing it was empty. Then, she took a hand full of pills down her throat, looking the nasty whole, where she could see the metallic shine of the bloody projectile, stuck in her flesh. She passed her hands through running water, and took a breath. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Here goes nothing./em/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe applied pressure around the bullet. She whined, and the bullet barely moved, so she tried to pull it out with the pliers. She bit her own gums to distract herself from the pain. Even with the poor grip, she managed to pull the small, bronze colored, bullet out of her leg, ending soaked in sweat, in whose longest fifteen minutes of her life, for sure… even if she doesn't remember most of it. For a minute, all she could do was cry. But then she ordered herself to recompose: she held her breath to stop whimper, and released the air slowly. The bullet was out. Now, she needed to treat the wound. She needed an aseptic of some sort. But unfortunately, there wasn't any. Her head was hurting badly, threatening to faint at any moment. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanReviewing her tools, she took one of the bullets of her 9mm, and used the knife she encountered on the kitchen to empty it of gunpowder. However, that kitchen knife was fragile, so the moment she opened the bullet' casing, the knife's blade separated from the wooden cable. She poured the black powder over the wood, and with the snatched blade, she fractionated both, until a bright yellow flame rose. Now taking her assassin blade, made out of a single piece of steel, she roughly cleaned it against her suit; then passed it through the fire, until she obtained incandescent metal. Nina could feel its heat already. She swallowed, facing the blade. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"You were made to kill, but today I'll ask you to cure./em/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe held her breath. When the lit steel touched the wound, her flesh hissed, and Nina Williams screamed her lungs out. Outside, a bolt tore the skies with the sound of a hundred explosions./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe dropped the knife, taking a look on her burnt wound. The sound of a door knocking made her quickly grab the blade, tensing her muscles to fight once more./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Who the hell screamed?" Asked a man, who have entered the apartment. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"I don't know." Another replied. "But it couldn't be the old Freddy." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Oh no, oh no! Sam! He's… dead!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"What the… Shit! Search the whole house! The Sinfold Gang must have sent thugs for us!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Damn bastards…"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanNina tried to breathe as quietly as possible, not only to not be spotted, but also to have notion on her enemies' position. And she could hear one, coming closer./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThe guy only had time to make the rusty gun pass through the bathroom door. Nina quickly held it, twisting his arm, and blew his head with a single shot. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanAs the other one rushed to her site, she used the corpse as a human shield, and finished his colleague with two shots in his chest./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe slowly moved to the living room. The only thing she could hear was the rain, hitting the building' walls: she was finally alone./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanA quick inspection to the two armed men brought her some extra bullets for her pistol, and she even found small plastic bags of cocaine in the pockets of one of them. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Dealers. Great./em /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanRight from the bathroom, there was the remaining of a bedroom. The wind enveloped the place with a ghostly murmur, lifting the ash cloak on the floor, and the window through which it entered had the scraps of the old curtains, dyed black, curling violently in its passage, along with the droplets of rain, and the flash of a bolt. The bed had its iron structure relatively intact, excepting the dry, burned mattress, which formed a concave surface. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanAside of that, figured an end-table, which was an ash pile with a broken lamp o top. Of all furniture, only the huge wardrobe was burned, but surprisingly solid. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanEven in front of such horrifying scenario, the temptation for her to rest was too high. Her body dragged itself to the bed. She doesn't even remember of lying down./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanWhen Nina raised her eyes again, the Sun was bright, its rays bathing the whole room. Her arms were hurting badly, and she soon realized she had them stretched upwards, her fists strongly tied to the iron structure of the bed with some plastic strips. Her right leg started to wake up as well, greeting her with elevating pain. Not that she had much time to complain. She had already a rush of adrenaline running through her system to get herself free. She bent her knees, pulling the strips, in the hope of them to break. They didn't: the more she pulled, the more those strips strangled her wrists, threatening to cut them off if she doesn't stop./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanNina then heard voices approaching, and forced herself to stand still. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Never show fear to an enemy./em This was one, in the middle of a vast series of rules, deeply enrooted in her brain; a code she has been following since she woke on that damn bunker. The distant voices became three men, invading the room with sulky expressions. One of them, heavy-built monster, whose arms were enveloped in a strange web of tattoos, spoke with a deep voice. "So, you're awake…" He contoured the bed slowly, with his eyes rolling to the figure of her body. On his belt, a familiar shine caught Nina's attention: he was carrying her gun. He pulled a chair and sat at her left. He then took the 9mm, inspecting it with a smile. "Quite unusual to find a woman with one of these… Unless she's a cop." He pointed the gun at her head. "Is that what you are?" "No." His expression became bitterer in a second, and his eyes began shining with fury. "Do not lie, woman!" He roared. But Nina kept her cold, apathetic expression. In an access of rage, the man hit her with the gun barrel, and Nina's felt her heart pulsating on her lips, before the ferruginous taste of her own blood invaded her mouth. "If you're not a cop, who the hell are you?!" He demanded. His colleagues, silently observing the scene by the entrance, giggled./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanNina's throat dried in that instant. The same where time had stop, and her mind got stuck in that same question: em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"who am I?/em She bit her lip, without remembering it was wounded, and the sudden pain brought her back of that vicious cycle. She didn't even notice she had the pistol pressed to her cheek. She answered with the systematic, and coldness, of a robot. "Nobody." The man inhaled deeply, to ease himself down. "The Sinfold?" She didn't answer. "The Vipers?" And the silence remained, much for his disgust. "Who the hell sent you?!" "Nobody." "'Nobody' doesn't simply come here and murder two of our guys!" He hit her face again on the other side, and she ended with a nose bleed… "Let's try again…" He showed a pervert smile, as his fingers swiped her right leg, before sunken in the cauterized wound. She tried her best to maintain her composure, but she couldn't handle it. As her screams echoed to the apartment, so did those guys' laughs, as they mocked at her state. Ten awfully long seconds were all it took to make her soaked in sweat, trembling violently, once again. "You're tough." The man beside her recognized, releasing the pressure on her wound. "And you can't imagine how lucky you are. You see, if it depended on them, your corpse would be feeding the rats outside." He pointed to his colleagues. "But I have plans for you." He smiled. Then, the pistol pressed to her face started sliding down: contoured her throat, passing slowly between her breasts, as Nina caught the bastard salivating from the corners of his mouth. He kept its descent, passing the gun through her belly. Outraged by such advances, she tried to release herself, only to have a pair of fingers pressing into her wound once again. The message was clear: sem style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"tand still or it will hurt./em She had no option but to see the men's expressions of joy, as the gun reached her core. The room was silent when they heard a clicking sound of a loading pistol. Nina shivered for a moment, a glimpse of wariness which lasted two seconds; time enough to amuse the guy almost laid on top of her./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"I have to go now. Have business to attend. You better prepare yourself for my arrival. I shall treat you like a doll… literally." He finished with a pervert smile, leaving the room, after ordering one of his guard dogs to watch her./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanAs she went deeper and deeper into the streets of the city, her body started to cool down, and her pace slowed. Before she realizes, she was limping, leaned against the walls. She was feeling her leg wet, so she took a look down, only to see a trail of blood droplets behind her. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanem style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Shit./em That would draw unwanted attention for sure, when all she needed was a quiet, calm place, for her alone. Forcing her mind to reason under all the pain, she looked upwards. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"A window. All I need is a window./em She ran to the alleys for a reason: nobody likes to go through them alone, when they have wide, lit streets to roam by. There, it was less likely to come across with somebody… the only drawback is that, if that happened, it was likely to be some drug addict, a thief… or even a rapper. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanStill, nothing to afraid of… not when you're a skilled assassin yourself…/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe was in a narrow alley between two damaged buildings. In there, she passed in the middle of stinky trash cans, and even spotted the shadow of a giant rat, running into hide. She painfully moved forward, only to encounter a wire fence, about five meters tall, barring the way to the other side. She crossed her fingers to the wire, inspecting the area ahead: the scenario repeated, with rotten trash bags leaned against the walls, and rooky, signature-like, graffiti's. It caught her interest when she spotted a glassless window, burned all around./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe had to try: she was already beginning to feel an uncomfortable tingling spreading down her right leg. She had to be quick to get there before she stops feeling it. She inhaled deeply before searching a good place between the wires to place her feet. Firstly, the one of the wounded leg, then the other, which she used to push her body upwards. Her right leg was acting like a dead weight she had to drag – as it passed through the fence, Nina felt the barbed wire thorns sticking through her suit into her flesh. She shivered in pain, the palms of her hands now sweaty and slippery. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"C'mon! You didn't put yourself to all this effort for nothing!/em /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe focused, trying to release her leg, while getting a grip over her current position. A battle between mind and body that took several minutes, before she finally crossed her legs to the other side, falling helplessly./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe felt dizzy and nauseated, when she slowly opened his eyes to a blurry grey sky above her. Every breath was painful, her hip was hurting badly, and her right leg fell into dormancy./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThe clouds became darker, and soon it started to rain. The drops of water were uncomfortable at first, but then they had calming effect, and even helped to ease her pain enough for her to reunite her remnant strength to carry on./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe dragged herself to the nearest trash-can. If she could climb it, she would easily enter in the building through the burnt window. She was leant against the dustbin, and her hands reached its top and applied as much pressure as she could. She managed to stand on a single foot, before throwing herself over the container. Then, she tried the same prowess towards the window, but it was too high: she had to stand up to reach it. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"You're close. Don't give up now./em She took another big breath, before seeking support in the brick wall. She slowly stood up, but the container was too much slippery to keep balance on one foot. She knew instinctively she wouldn't keep herself up for long. If she falls again, it is likely to never rise again. And so, as soon as stood, she immediately stretched her arms up: she grabbed the window frame a second before her left foot gave in./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThen, she pulled herself up, her arms trembling violently under the tremendous effort, whining like she never thought doing in her life. But, finally, she managed to enter in the dark room, head first./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe was panting heavily, but felt a smile emerge in her lips, as she had a thought of triumph. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"I made it…/em/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe almost felt invigorated by it. However, the moment she rose, a voice echoed, deep and rough, through the darkness, making her shiver. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Who are you? This is MY place! Go find one to yourself!" Ahead, she spotted the shadow of a dirty, raw-boned man, dressed in ragged clothes, aiming a baseball bat. She ignored him. She had come too far to get back. So she locked her gaze in him, and awaited his move. As soon as the man tried to hit her, she quickly blocked the baseball bat, and, taking the blade she was keeping hidden on her belt, she stabbed his neck, and left him choke in his own blood, while she took advantage on the adrenaline rush, provoked by her recent kill, to find the bathroom./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanOn the way, she inspected the kitchen. Near the carburized stove, laid a pair of scissors and over-placed pots; and under the balcony, the cupboard with the damaged door, had some tableware. She took the scissors and one more knife… just in case of finding more people in that place. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThe bathroom was a small cabin, with a broken, moldy tub, a sink with large roasted-yellow stains, and a small, cracked mirror-cabinet. She didn't recognize the shattered image of the woman it was giving her: she was pale as a ghost, her eyes wet and sunken, like she doesn't sleep for a month. Inside the cabinet only figured a few empty tubes of toothpaste, a plastic cup holding an old toothbrush and a pair of syringes, a bottle of medicine with a label she couldn't identify, and a small box of sleeping pills. She opened the bottle only to twist her nose. God knows for how long that bottle was there, judging by the mold circling the bottleneck. Additionally, she also found some pliers, a nail file and a bag of cotton, in the drawers beneath the sink./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanWith the scissors, she cut a blaze of fabric over the bullet wound. The blood immediately started to flow. Nina thanked for the fact she was wearing a tight latex suit, otherwise she could have bled out on the run. Then, she used the rags to make a tourniquet. Her whole body was trembling and her stomach was threatening to vomit, even knowing it was empty. Then, she took a hand full of pills down her throat, looking the nasty whole, where she could see the metallic shine of the bloody projectile, stuck in her flesh. She passed her hands through running water, and took a breath. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Here goes nothing./em/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe applied pressure around the bullet. She whined, and the bullet barely moved, so she tried to pull it out with the pliers. She bit her own gums to distract herself from the pain. Even with the poor grip, she managed to pull the small, bronze colored, bullet out of her leg, ending soaked in sweat, in whose longest fifteen minutes of her life, for sure… even if she doesn't remember most of it. For a minute, all she could do was cry. But then she ordered herself to recompose: she held her breath to stop whimper, and released the air slowly. The bullet was out. Now, she needed to treat the wound. She needed an aseptic of some sort. But unfortunately, there wasn't any. Her head was hurting badly, threatening to faint at any moment. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanReviewing her tools, she took one of the bullets of her 9mm, and used the knife she encountered on the kitchen to empty it of gunpowder. However, that kitchen knife was fragile, so the moment she opened the bullet' casing, the knife's blade separated from the wooden cable. She poured the black powder over the wood, and with the snatched blade, she fractionated both, until a bright yellow flame rose. Now taking her assassin blade, made out of a single piece of steel, she roughly cleaned it against her suit; then passed it through the fire, until she obtained incandescent metal. Nina could feel its heat already. She swallowed, facing the blade. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"You were made to kill, but today I'll ask you to cure./em/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe held her breath. When the lit steel touched the wound, her flesh hissed, and Nina Williams screamed her lungs out. Outside, a bolt tore the skies with the sound of a hundred explosions./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe dropped the knife, taking a look on her burnt wound. The sound of a door knocking made her quickly grab the blade, tensing her muscles to fight once more./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Who the hell screamed?" Asked a man, who have entered the apartment. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"I don't know." Another replied. "But it couldn't be the old Freddy." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Oh no, oh no! Sam! He's… dead!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"What the… Shit! Search the whole house! The Sinfold Gang must have sent thugs for us!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"Damn bastards…"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanNina tried to breathe as quietly as possible, not only to not be spotted, but also to have notion on her enemies' position. And she could hear one, coming closer./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThe guy only had time to make the rusty gun pass through the bathroom door. Nina quickly held it, twisting his arm, and blew his head with a single shot. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanAs the other one rushed to her site, she used the corpse as a human shield, and finished his colleague with two shots in his chest./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanShe slowly moved to the living room. The only thing she could hear was the rain, hitting the building' walls: she was finally alone./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanA quick inspection to the two armed men brought her some extra bullets for her pistol, and she even found small plastic bags of cocaine in the pockets of one of them. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Dealers. Great./em /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanRight from the bathroom, there was the remaining of a bedroom. The wind enveloped the place with a ghostly murmur, lifting the ash cloak on the floor, and the window through which it entered had the scraps of the old curtains, dyed black, curling violently in its passage, along with the droplets of rain, and the flash of a bolt. The bed had its iron structure relatively intact, excepting the dry, burned mattress, which formed a concave surface. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanAside of that, figured an end-table, which was an ash pile with a broken lamp o top. Of all furniture, only the huge wardrobe was burned, but surprisingly solid. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanEven in front of such horrifying scenario, the temptation for her to rest was too high. Her body dragged itself to the bed. She doesn't even remember of lying down./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanWhen Nina raised her eyes again, the Sun was bright, its rays bathing the whole room. Her arms were hurting badly, and she soon realized she had them stretched upwards, her fists strongly tied to the iron structure of the bed with some plastic strips. Her right leg started to wake up as well, greeting her with elevating pain. Not that she had much time to complain. She had already a rush of adrenaline running through her system to get herself free. She bent her knees, pulling the strips, in the hope of them to break. They didn't: the more she pulled, the more those strips strangled her wrists, threatening to cut them off if she doesn't stop./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanNina then heard voices approaching, and forced herself to stand still. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Never show fear to an enemy./em This was one, in the middle of a vast series of rules, deeply enrooted in her brain; a code she has been following since she woke on that damn bunker. The distant voices became three men, invading the room with sulky expressions. One of them, heavy-built monster, whose arms were enveloped in a strange web of tattoos, spoke with a deep voice. "So, you're awake…" He contoured the bed slowly, with his eyes rolling to the figure of her body. On his belt, a familiar shine caught Nina's attention: he was carrying her gun. He pulled a chair and sat at her left. He then took the 9mm, inspecting it with a smile. "Quite unusual to find a woman with one of these… Unless she's a cop." He pointed the gun at her head. "Is that what you are?" "No." His expression became bitterer in a second, and his eyes began shining with fury. "Do not lie, woman!" He roared. But Nina kept her cold, apathetic expression. In an access of rage, the man hit her with the gun barrel, and Nina's felt her heart pulsating on her lips, before the ferruginous taste of her own blood invaded her mouth. "If you're not a cop, who the hell are you?!" He demanded. His colleagues, silently observing the scene by the entrance, giggled./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanNina's throat dried in that instant. The same where time had stop, and her mind got stuck in that same question: em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"who am I?/em She bit her lip, without remembering it was wounded, and the sudden pain brought her back of that vicious cycle. She didn't even notice she had the pistol pressed to her cheek. She answered with the systematic, and coldness, of a robot. "Nobody." The man inhaled deeply, to ease himself down. "The Sinfold?" She didn't answer. "The Vipers?" And the silence remained, much for his disgust. "Who the hell sent you?!" "Nobody." "'Nobody' doesn't simply come here and murder two of our guys!" He hit her face again on the other side, and she ended with a nose bleed… "Let's try again…" He showed a pervert smile, as his fingers swiped her right leg, before sunken in the cauterized wound. She tried her best to maintain her composure, but she couldn't handle it. As her screams echoed to the apartment, so did those guys' laughs, as they mocked at her state. Ten awfully long seconds were all it took to make her soaked in sweat, trembling violently, once again. "You're tough." The man beside her recognized, releasing the pressure on her wound. "And you can't imagine how lucky you are. You see, if it depended on them, your corpse would be feeding the rats outside." He pointed to his colleagues. "But I have plans for you." He smiled. Then, the pistol pressed to her face started sliding down: contoured her throat, passing slowly between her breasts, as Nina caught the bastard salivating from the corners of his mouth. He kept its descent, passing the gun through her belly. Outraged by such advances, she tried to release herself, only to have a pair of fingers pressing into her wound once again. The message was clear: sem style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"tand still or it will hurt./em She had no option but to see the men's expressions of joy, as the gun reached her core. The room was silent when they heard a clicking sound of a loading pistol. Nina shivered for a moment, a glimpse of wariness which lasted two seconds; time enough to amuse the guy almost laid on top of her./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"I have to go now. Have business to attend. You better prepare yourself for my arrival. I shall treat you like a doll… literally." He finished with a pervert smile, leaving the room, after ordering one of his guard dogs to watch her./span/p