Marry or Kill

18

N O A H

I rake my eyes over Sol's high, cutting cheekbones and full, blue eyes. I see her irritatedly narrow them at me. Then she flicks her fingers at my face, twice. "Noah, are you even paying attention?"

I watch her rosy lips move, mouthing words that can't quite reach my ears. Her fingers wrap around her rifle, whitening in frustration, and she quickly angles it to the ceiling. While her lips twist into a crude smile, she fires the bullet.

The bang throws me out of my head and the smoke from her rifle reaches my nostrils. My head snaps to the ceiling with a black hole embedded in it.

"Jesus!" I choke, feeling the muscles in my face go slack. She stifles a chuckle. "Do you want to let everyone know that we're here?"

I hear urgent footsteps running toward us in the distance. She doesn't falter, nor look afraid. Just great. As the guard abruptly turns into the hallway, Sol points her rifle at him and concisely fires, hitting him square in the forehead.

I watch him fall onto the floor, blood gushing out of his head. "Do you just simply enjoy murdering people?" I deadpan, turning my head to Sol, who looks blood-driven and... beautiful. I shake the thoughts away and awkwardly scratch my head.

She struts beside me, golden hair swaying and gives me a slight, playful nudge. "Are you scared?"

I sigh and roll my eyes. "No, I'm questioning if you're mentally stable."

"It would make no difference to you." She starts running down the hall, rifle slicing through the thick, warm air. I can briefly smell the linger of strawberries in her trail. Usually, she has her hair in a neat plait, but today her golden hair is overflowing down to her back.

What's that even supposed to mean?

I realise I'm standing still in my place, pistol hanging in my hand, trying to understand her words. When she rounds a corner where the dead body is, as fast as my legs can take me, I begin to hastily run after her.

My hands meet my thighs as I try to regain my breath. When I turn my head, there's another guard down the hall. I tersely land a bullet in his chest with an irritated groan. The sound of a body falling on the ground still gives me uneasy shivers down my spine.

I quickly place my back against a wall, putting more bullets in my pistol. We've taken the long way round. Mina and Elias have taken the shorter route; it's a pain in the ass. I nearly contemplate turning back around, but Sol has run off without me.

A bullet cuts through the air in front of me and I quickly drop down, firing at where the bullet came from. I see a glimpse of a manly figure, bigger than me on the other side.

I know one has landed in his ankle because I hear an angry roar through his red teeth bellow down the putrid, blood-stained hallways. My nose wrinkles, he must have been struck in the face with teeth like those.

It seems like he takes offence to my face because he bares his teeth at me, raising his gun. Oh shit. I feel my mouth fall open at the size of that gun for a brief moment.

Yeah, I'm not getting shot by that.

Before I trap a godly bullet like that in my body, I turn the corner and place my back against the wall. His footsteps boom as he comes closer to me. My head rolls on the wall and I take a sly look at him, gun beside me and ready.

A bullet is fired at me nearly instantly.

My head leanly tucks back in.

I think. If I run down the long stretch of hall, he'll shoot me on the back as soon as he rounds the corner. Hopefully, I don't die. I drag a large, uneasy breath in, then leap out, firing at him.