Resurgence

Chapter 20: Blood Bath

     Erin lived in a luxurious countryside house with a lot of land. Her neighbors were probably a mile away. We sat outside on her patio drinking our usual coffee and gossiping about her usual stories and my made-up ones. SHIELD agents were always around her and her husband but Kai and Henry always gave me the heads up to make sure the one woman that knew me was never assigned to her. Lucky, or not so lucky, for me she was in high enough ranks to not have to worry about little assignments like this one.
      Erin asked me her usual questions about who my mystery husband was. I always gave her very vague descriptions of who he was and what he did and would manage to steer the conversation away from the imaginary spouse. But today she asked for a picture of him to see what he looked like. I lied and told her I had recently gotten a new phone but forgot to transfer my pictures from my last one. She laughed at my sad excuse and snatched my phone and snapped a selfie of us to say that my first picture would be of us. We laughed at our adorable picture before she asked me to describe my made-up husband's appearance to get an idea of what he was like.
      "Well he is very handsome if I don't say so myself. He has soft brown hair that's probably getting too long for someone in his line of work," for some reason I began to describe James, "He's strong, very well built I mean. Like he has these abs and these arms. And his smile... he's a very serious man, but when he does smile...his smile is just amazing. And he has these eyes that are just mesmerizing. They're a blue I've never seen before until I met him. I could look into them all day if I could. He's kind, and respectful, and very protective. He's a bit reserved, probably because of the job and all. He's kind of an old soul."
      "Wow. He sounds like a very attractive man, Ava. And how's the bedroom life?" She asked, making me almost spit out my drink.
      "Oh. Uh— Well— He likes to cuddle." I responded awkwardly.
      She giggled at my reaction then went on to talk about how she missed having that with Erik. I got lost in my own thoughts as she babbled about her no-good husband. All I could think about how whatever James and I have was purely platonic. I had to focus on getting us out of our prison. I came back to the conversation when she mentioned that SHIELD was going to send more protection because they had reason to believe the Reynolds' were a major target. Before she could give me any more details, my phone rang. It was Williams. I excused myself and moved a distance away from her to avoid her hearing anything suspicious. He informed me that the team was heading my way to execute the Reynolds because SHIELD was getting too close and he wanted to avoid Erik's spilling any secrets about the blackmail to them.
      Before I could hang up, I heard gun shots from inside the house. I quickly hung up and ran to Erin. The SHIELD agents ran to her and took us both into the house to find their safe room. As we ran through the halls I caught glimpses at the team attacking the agents. We approached the area of the house where the safe room was. Erik Reynolds' was rushed in before us and kept us out. The agents escorted us to another part of the house but were soon intercepted by the team. They began fighting causing Erin to scream in fear. Henry grabbed me and began to pull me away from the fight. He pointed his gun at Erin and pulled the trigger. Thankfully, I was able to push it away in time and told her to run. He turned me around and questioned me. I lied and told him I needed to be the one to do it. He nodded and gave me his gun, and said they'd take care of the Erik and the other agents.
      I ran and caught up to Erin in the backyard. We got close to the forest part of her land. She was panting from the running. Her eyes were blood-shot from the stressful crying. A tear of my own cascaded down my cheek. I pointed the gun at her. She looked at me with confusion and betrayal.
      "What? Where did you get that? What are you doing? Ava?" she asked.
      Another tear rolled down my face, "I'm sorry. I swear, I did everything I possibly could to get them to leave you alone."
      "So you're one of the people after us? You were just pretending to be my friend?" she began to raise her voice, "I poured and gave my heart to you and you betrayed me! How could you?"
      "No! At first yes, but I grew to see you as a real friend. I love our talks and our coffee and our silly pictures. I wanted to tell you the truth. I wanted to ask for your help, but I knew they'd kill you sooner if I did. I didn't want this. They made me."
      "You don't have to do this. Who's making you do this? Why?"
      I shot my gun to the ground then looked back at her, "I can't tell you. But you have to run away. Hide. They have to think you're dead. Don't trust anyone."
      Even as she was filled with pure terror she managed to have sympathy in her eyes. She asked me to go with her, and as much as I wanted to I knew I couldn't. Another tear escaped me when I heard a gun cock behind my head. Erin gasped. A bit of relief caught me knowing that I was being stopped. With one hand holding my weapon then releasing it on the ground, I rose my hands in surrender. I turned around slowly to reveal the person standing behind me. The woman holding the weapon in front of me was the same woman from the night of my arrival to this world. Her hair and outfit were the same with the exception of a small cut on the left side of her forehead. Both of our eyes widened.
      "You're that girl. The girl from that night." she said lowering her weapon but still holding it with a tight grip.
      "Oh my God." I let out a breath I forgot I was holding.
      "We've been looking for you. We thought you were killed. Where have you been? What are you doing? Why are you trying to kill her?" she asked.
      Erin intervened, "She's not. Well, she was, but she was just letting me go before you got here, Agent Hill."
      "They wanted me to kill her, but I can't. I won't. You have to get her out of here." I explained.
      "Who's 'they'?" Hill asked.
      "They call themselves HYDRA. They've infiltrated SHIELD. They had captured a Dr. Russell who told me to only trust you, Agent Hill and Director Fury. He said you were the good guys. I think they killed him."
      "Woah woah woah! HYDRA? They're back? You're working for them?" Hill seemed angry and confused.
      "Not by choice." I said.
      "Then come with me."
      "I can't. There's someone else. I won't leave them. Look, we don't have much time. You have to get her out of here. They need to think she's dead. She has my number. Use it to track me. I'm not the only prisoner they have, so if you really are the good guys I hope you can find us."
She paused for a moment, contemplating if she should believe me or not. Putting away her weapon, she nodded and told me to go.