Assassin

Escape

John grabbed my arm and pulled me towards him, pressing me against his left side. He wrapped a protective arm around me.
“It’s going to be okay,” he lowered his lips and whispered in my ear. I was now shaking with fear, “Just stay close to me and they won’t be able to hurt you.”
“John Grimes,” one of the men on top of the roof said, “Someone told us you’re the one who caused the big loss in our gang. You can’t fight us. You and your girl are going to be dead today. There’re too many of us. That’s what you get when you killed our members.”
“That’s what you get when you become the bad guys and hurt the innocents, and this is not my girl; she should be released. She’s innocent,” John replied calmly, and whispered to me again, “(Yn), just stay calm and I’ll protect you, okay?”
I nodded weakly, and hid myself under John’s protective arms, trying to calm myself. I pressed my face firmly against his chest, and I could feel his steady heartbeat. He really was not scared at all.
“Who are you joking, huh?” that man laughed sarcastically, “Who’s going to believe such a lie!”
John hissed, and gave my arm a gentle squeeze.
Even though he was an assassin, now in this situation he was the only one I could trust and I could rely on. And now I did completely believe that he was the good one. Although an assassin could be dangerous, he was not a dangerous one, and only what might happen to him was dangerous.
He slowly withdrew a shiny sword from the pocket inside his boot.
The huge group of men all aimed their swords and axes and other weapons at us as the one who just spoke to John gave an order. John tightened his arm around me and raised his sword, blocking the attacks. He dodged and fought back, keeping me tightly by his side all the while. I was absolutely horrified; I just let John pushed me around like a doll.
A man plunged his sword at us from my side and John quickly made me crouch down. The sword whooshed above my head and I screamed. It seemed like the situation was very bad, although John had already defeated a couple of men.
“(Yn), get ready to run!” John whispered to me urgently, and he began to just block the attacks instead of trying to fight back.
We started to move slowly, trying to get out of the crowd of attackers. I did not dare to look, and just buried my face under John’s arm. Suddenly I felt something slice across my waist and the next second, a stabbing pain was felt there.
I looked down, and gasped. A massive blotch of blood stained my white dress. I heard John gasped then muttered something, and tightened his arm on me; he must have checked what was wrong with me when he heard me gasp.
He increased our speed, using all his strength and effort to bring us to safety. I pressed my hand against my wound, panting heavily while dragging my feet along. I was feeling dizzy and weak.
I grasped a handful of his shirt, gripping onto his back. The pain was almost unbearable; I could hardly move.
John felt my grasp and yelled. He swung his sword like a mad person and heaved me up with one arm secured under my arm. He ran into the men blocking our way and fought them almost blindly. He gave everything he had and finally we were out of the crowd. John slid his sword back into its case and picked me up bridal style while running.
I closed my eyes, the pain in my waist overwhelming. I pressed another hand on top of my now blood-stained hand to increase the pressure. I was panting so hard that my chest rise and fell ever so quickly.
“(Yn), you’ll be safe soon,” John croaked, voice full of worry, “Don’t fall asleep, okay?”
I nodded weakly and focused on minimizing the pain by limiting my movements. John kept running, and I did not even care where he was heading to. The pain was the only thing that I could think about.
John kept murmuring sweet and comforting things to me on the way. They somehow helped reduce the pain.
At last I could feel John slow down and he kicked open a door. He rushed inside with me still in his arms and he pushed through another door. I opened my eyes as John set me down on a bed, and I could tell I was in a decent looking house.
I groaned as John set me down, and I shot out my hand to grab his hand in fright as I saw him leaving, “Don’t go, John!” I might be a bit unsure of him in the beginning, but now I did trust him with all my heart. I did not want to be left alone. He could not leave me alone!
“Shh (Yn),” he said, kneeling down beside the bed and swept some stands of my hair which were falling into my eyes away, “I’ll get something for you and I’ll be back in a minute; I’m not going anywhere.”
I gulped and released his hand. He went out of the room and I looked up at the ceiling, heart beating fast and hard. Blood was still gushing out from my wound, further staining my hand.
I was in a simple bedroom – there were only a double bed, a closet and a desk and chair. There was a window beside the desk, and beige curtains framed the window. I could see trees surrounding the house; it was like we were in the middle of a forest.
I closed my eyes, and a couple of minutes later, John returned with a basin and a box. He put them down on the bedside table. I was starting to have difficulties breathing.
“(Yn) you’re going to be alright,” John said, and it seemed like he was trying to persuade himself, “Everything will be okay.”
He pulled the chair and sat down beside the bed. He took out a pair of scissors from the box, “I’ll have to take off your dress so I can treat your wound,”
I nodded and closed my eyes again, trying to steady my breathing. I felt the ice cold blade touch my bare skin on my collarbone; I shivered.
I heard the faint noise of fabric being cut, and felt the blade glide down my body. John cut open my dress and peeled it off me, leaving me lying in my underwear on top of my torn and blood-stained dress in front of him, but I did not care – all I could think about was the pain.
John gasped looking at my wound. “I’m so sorry (Yn),” he whispered.
I just nodded and could not do anything more; the cool air hit my skin and I felt a bit uncomfortable. John started to work on my wound, and it stung so much. I kept groaning involuntarily and John mumbled a few ‘sorry’ and did my wound as carefully and tenderly as possible.
After endless stinging, John had finally finished.
“It’s done now (Yn),” he told me softly, cleaning up and pulling the dirty dress from under my body slowly. He got me a blanket and laid it on top of me. I opened my eyes and he was staring at me right above me, his arms supporting his upper body, “You can take a rest, and I’m so sorry for everything. I’ll explain everything to you when you feel better. And you’d better stay here for a while; it’s going to be easy for the gang to track you down seeing as you live in town, and it’ll be dangerous because I won’t be able to protect you then.”
I smiled weakly at him and my eyelids began to get heavy. John kissed my forehead gently and I felt it send electric shock throughout my body again, and it helped numb the pain in my waist.
John straightened up himself and turned around.
“John,” I called out weakly, and he turned around immediately.
“What is it, is anything wrong?” he asked, panicking.
“Calm down,” I breathed, “I just don’t want you to go.”
He seemed relieved. His taunt shoulders relaxed and he sat down next to me, stroking my cheek. My skin tingled and I had a warm and nice feeling in my stomach. I knew this was wrong; even though he was a good guy, I should not feel anything for him. After all, he lived a dangerous life and I should not have a strong bond with him. But I could not care at that moment.
John kept stroking my face softly and hummed to himself. I did not want to fall asleep as I was enjoying this moment so much, although the pain in my waist was still inevitable. But I could not fight with my eyelids long; a while later I fell asleep with a small smile on my face.