Assassination 2136

Chapter 11: Obedience through Chaos

My footsteps echoed down the tall stair well as I ran down the steps, taking them two at a time. My sniper was folded, tucked away within the recesses of my jacket. My hands were splayed out to stabilise myself, feet rapidly pounding the concrete stairs.

I needed to flee the scene, I needed to get away, deep down I knew that I was not meant to have survived tonight.

My breathing was erratic, my lungs emptying and filling sporadically as I launched down the stairs. Half from physical exertion, but also half from an impending panic attack I felt coming on. My chest feeling as if a tonne of bricks had been placed atop it, squeezing and compressing my torso as I struggled to breath.

Just get to the bottom, I said to myself.

At the bottom I shoved the door open, barely feeling the weight of the emergency exit door through my panicked haze. I stepped out into the night, and ran into the street.

The city was in chaos.

The flames from the apartment were growing, reaching towards the sky. They engulfed anyone and anything in it's path, it's destruction knew no boundaries. The debris from the explosion littered the street, rubble and metal shards all strewn across the road.

The people. The people were everywhere. Screams, wails, agony surrounded me as I walked out in awe. Some people had managed to get out in time. Clutching their only possessions to their chest as they just stood and watched, mouths agape. Others were not so fortunate. Humanoid figures leapt from buildings, their bodies made of flesh and flame. Others dragged their loved ones out of the building, unmoving and devoid of life.

I refocused myself, turning towards the subway station a few blocks away. I practically ran, desperate to escape the screams and agony of the people behind me. The fire cast an eery glow through the polluted air, singing my back as I desperately fled the scene.

I was so focused on leaving that I only just noticed my wrist buzzing. I ceased my dash, chest heaving and glanced down. It was Dovima.

"Dovima, I-," I panted, leaning against a nearby building. That small stretch of exertion had worn me out, the adrenaline now starting to fade from my weary body.

"Sagi you're ok!" She sobbed, voice catching in her throat. Tears welled up in my own eyes. I was alive. Barely.

"Of course I'm ok, I will always be ok," I reassured her. I was lying, trying to downplay the situation. Truth was, I don't know how I was still alive, and I don't think I was supposed to be.

"Sagi, I kept digging into that contract you had," Dovima continued, voice still shaking. She was hyperventilating, and I could hear her rapid breathing through the transmitter in my ear.

"What do you mean?" I asked slowly, hesitating on the response. So far, Dovima had uncovered that the Government had been the ones to issue me that contract. Case closed, right?

"There's more. There's so much more. You need to get home. Can't talk on the phone. Come home. Now!" She spoke rapidly, her words flying into my ear at breakneck speed. I then heard a beeping sound, signalling she had hung up the phone.

The stress of almost dying, combined with Dovima's mysterious call spurred me on fast. I made it into the train just as the doors slammed shut. Sitting down in a huff, I finally allowed my body to relax. There was no adrenaline left, the last trickles falling from me as I sat down. What was left was an exhausted mess, yet I was finally able to process what had happened.

Four assassin's, one target. My job had been to protect the target from other assassin's, however thinking back something wasn't quite right. None of the other three had even attempted to kill the target, hadn't even fired one shot at them not even the sniper. Instead, we were all preoccupied with one another.