End of Days: The Hunted

Chapter 14

"Move, move, move!" Saul ordered right after Slash threw a grenade. The car exploded into a burst of orange, red, and black. Sparks flew across the dark sky as the destroyed car skidded toward the edge of the cliff. Slash laughed menacingly as he ran forward. He peered through the smoke, searching for any survivors. As he went to click on his thermal vision, a man roared from out of the dark smoke. His eyes filled with tears, but red with rage. His fists clenched, ready to tear apart whatever he touched. He ran swift and heavy, his feet pounding against the ground. For a moment, Slash felt scared. As he tried to shake the fear, the man jumped and kicked him in the head. Slash felt intense pain as his helmet was clipped off of his head. With a thud, he fell to the ground and frantically searched for the man. He looked up to see a fist smashing down upon his skull. Darkness.

"Get him up!" yelled Saul as he watched all of the runaways escape once again.

Brute bent over and slapped Slash's face, "Wake up!"

Shadow silently pushed past him and knelt over Slash. He took two fingers and pressed them against Slash's neck. "He's alive."

"Then let's get him up!" Brute commanded.

"You do it." said Shadow as he walked away.

Brute picked Slash's limp body up and put him over his huge shoulder.

Saul wiped his face of the frustration he was emitting. He looked over the wreckage, all of the chaos. The car now completely destroyed and burning. Metal and smoke settled everywhere. And not a soul to show for their attack. How did they mess up? How did they all escape from that? They should be dead. The job should be done and Saul should be home with his family. But no! They failed again. he knew not to trust Slash. Brute came over, Slash slung over his shoulder. "Put him down!" Saul demanded.

Brute placed Slash down on the hard ground. Saul looked over him. His limp body displayed his weakness, the slash across his face no longer had fear over anyone. He was pathetic. Saul threw a hard punch at Slash and yelled "Wake up!"

His eyes flashed open and he became scared.

"You failed me again!"

"But sir..."

"No!" Saul screamed, "You failed me! What now? They have escaped. We have nothing to show for this mission. Nothing!"

"Sir, I tri..."

"Shut up!"

Slash grew smaller under Saul.

"Boss?" questioned Brute.

"Go ahead." Saul said as he walked away.

Pow!

Saul cried as he walked toward the car, "It had to be done."

Behind him, Brute carried away Slash's limp body.

"It had to be done. I can't have any more failures on my team." he wiped a tear from his eyes, "I just want to be home."

He dried his eyes and went back toward his now depleted team. "We have work to do. Let's go."