Vengeance [Avengers Fanfiction]

Vengeance

[Quinn]

    My bare feet skidded against the pristine marble floor as I ran for my life, adrenaline, fear, and rage roaring in my ears. Blood stained the perfectly waxed floors, drops of crimson speckling the tiles.

    I ran through the twisting hallways of the house that I thought I once felt safe in, my pounding footsteps matching the heavy thrumming of my heart. I knew that they were behind me, chasing me. He wouldn't let me get away that easily. Father always gets what he wants, and what he wants right now is me.

    I turned a corner to be met by angry shouts. I darted down another corridor, the cries of "I see her!" becoming fainter as I ran. I ignored the blood streaming from my wrists and the gash on my head, only having time to focus on one thing. Escaping.

    The floor tilted under my feet, spots dancing in my vision. No. No, keep going, I pleaded with myself. You just have to get into the city, and then you're free. No more cages. No more torture. Freedom.

    Finally, I saw the large oak doors that would lead me out onto the driveway, where I would cut though the thin layer of woods that surrounded the house then escape into the outskirts of the city. From there I would trust the darkness to cover my tracks and shroud me until I found a place to hide. What I would do next, I didn't know.

But does it matter? I have nothing left, why not die here, now? I have nothing to live for. Everything I was, everything I am is gone, ripped from me.

    I burst through the doors, gasping the cold night air. The first time I had breathed fresh air for nearly a year. Tattered clothes hung off of my painfully thin and weak frame, the bitter cold biting my skin. The dark blood covering my body starkly contrasted with my paper white complexion.  

    As I entered the woods, something like a half relieved, half hysterical laugh bubbled from my chest as I realized I was free. It was soon smothered as pain and grief overtook my mind. Echoes of her strangled screams, pleading for me to stop them from hurting her, vibrated in my mind. I could do nothing but watch her be tortured. Images of her blood splattering the floor and her pale, tearstained face flashed behind my eyes.

    Branches, brambles and rocks cut into my feet and grabbed at my skin as I tore though the woods illuminated by a sliver of the moon, just enough light to allow me to see a few feet in front of myself. I stumbled and fell, my palms and cheek meeting the cool, damp forest floor, the scent of earth and leaves invading my senses. Shaking off the sudden wave of dizziness, I unsteadily scrambled back up and continued my frantic escape, noticing the foliage was becoming less dense. 

    Eventually I was aware of my feet hitting pavement, the sharp slaps of my footsteps echoing around me and fading away into the darkened corners of the rough, paved road I was on which was surrounded by a few shambling buildings past the point of repair. I didn't stop running until I reached the outskirts of the city where I stumbled into a dark, dank alley. Sinking onto my knees, sobs wracked my body. I couldn't save her. It's my fault. It's all my fault.

    My fault that she's dead.

    I now felt empty, the void engulfing my body with every sob, every tear that fell onto the cracked asphalt. There was something else though, slowly growing and swelling as I laid there, the rough pavement biting into my palms.

    Soon, my sobbing stopped, but warm tears still trickled down my face. The burning inside of me filled a small part of the emptiness that now consumed my body, and I realized what I had to do. What I needed.

    Vengeance. They were going to pay.