Assassin

Blood stained walls

"Are you okay?" A soft voice asked.

I nodded, knowing I'd dealt with much worse. My head would soon stop spinning and my burning limbs would remember how to move. "Are you?" I asked her, slightly breathless.

"Yeah, I'm fine. We need to find the others."

I could tell she was still nervous and on edge so I forced myself to sit up. I was surrounded by the bodies of the dead and some that were still breathing but too injured to move. With a nod, I rose to my feet, despite the wave of nausea that hit me as I did. "Let's get moving."

She nodded and started forwards, away from the bloodied floors scattered in bodies. "I have no idea where we came from," I said in a low voice. I didn't want to draw any attention to us and encourage any more attackers to come looking.

"This way," she answered, gesturing to the left.

I frowned and followed her as she navigated her way through every channel. "How do you know where you're going?" I asked her, watching her lips move every time we reached a split in the pathway.

"I have a photographic memory," she explained, "that's why I came with the others. If we got lost, I was the best chance at getting us out." I nodded, impressed, and continued to follow her. Eventually, we came across a much smaller pile of bodies and she slowed to a stop. "This is where we lost them."

I glanced around. "Any idea which way they went?" I asked her, studying the hallways that branched off the main corridor. We'd taken one of the three on the left but there were also two on the right and I had no idea which of the pathways they'd run down.

She shook her head. "I didn't see. Maybe we should wait for them here?"

I shrugged. "Maybe, will they know which way they went? They could be anywhere by now." She sighed and glanced around, slowly nodding her head. "Do you know which way we were heading? Maybe we should carry on and try and leave."

She nodded up ahead. "It's that way."

"Then let's go."

We started to walk again, remaining silent and listening out for voices or footsteps. Despite the fact they were strangers, I found myself hoping that they were still alive and safe. However, the hope that we'd find them started to diminish the longer we walked. It felt like hours passed but eventually, the blonde girl started to lag behind me and my head began to pound.

"Maybe we should stop for the night," I suggested. We were in a long, straight passage with no smaller hallways branching off of it, meaning someone could only come at us from two directions.

The girl didn't exactly argue as she shrugged off the large bag on her bag and dropped to the ground. "Do you think we're safe here?"

I shrugged. "As safe as we can be."

Her only response was a nod and with that, she curled into a ball on the floor, using her bag as a pillow. I leant my head back against the wall behind me, relieved to be able to stay still for a while. I didn't dare close my eyes, listening to every slight sound that echoed through the maze. The bright, overhead lights stayed on all night in the maze and small moths fluttered around them.

I kept my gun clutched in my hand, glancing constantly from left to right as I prepared for another attack. I stayed like this all night, on edge, waiting for people that never came. I had no idea what time it was when the girl next to me finally woke up, time had completely eluded me since the moment I left my cell. It could've been the middle of the night or the middle of the day; it all looked the same.

"Didn't you sleep?" she asked as she stretched out, glancing up to see me in the exact same position as when she'd fallen asleep. I only shook my head and she frowned before moving to sit up. "I hope we find the others today," she muttered.

So did I. Although I didn't say anything, I simply raised to my feet, glanced from left to right and then raised an eyebrow at the one who knew which way to go. She pointed to the right and I nodded, waiting for her to stand and gather her things before we started to move.

Again, we walked and walked, turning left and then right and then left again until eventually, we slowed to stop. "Are you sure you know where you're going?" I asked her with a sigh. "It feels like we're going around in circles."

She shook her head. "I'm sure it's this way."

She continued forward and I followed her with reluctance, watching as she turned right down a small hallway that then emerged into a larger one. As she reached the end, she gasped, her eyes wide as she turned back to me. I frowned and stepped past her, unable to see what she could see, and then I frowned.

"So, we are going in circles," I muttered. Ahead lay the remnants of a massacre, the bodies looking particularly familiar. "These were the people we killed yesterday, we're back where we started!"

I turned to the girl who started to chew on her lower lip. "Sorry," she mumbled, "everywhere looks the same, I must've taken a wrong turn somewhere."

She slumped against the wall; her eyes downcast. "It's fine," I said, "let's just go back that way and try and figure out what direction the others ran in. They might've stayed put and waited for us to find them."

She nodded and we started back down the passage, the way we'd just come. There were blood stains on the wall from the attack but no bodies were around. "Let's try over there," she suggested, gesturing to the hallways on the opposite side. I agreed and started towards the nearest one, close to a particularly large puddle of blood that was still wet.

We stayed silent for a moment as we walked but eventually, she couldn't keep quiet any longer. "Do you think they've been found?" She asked me, glancing over at me with wide, pleading eyes.

I felt a twinge in my chest as I looked back at her. I should've told her the truth – that yes, they'd most likely been captured or killed. That they were outnumbered and would've needed similar training to my own to be able to defend themselves. I should've told her that her friends were probably dead. I should've, but I couldn't. "I'm sure they're fine," I lied, keeping my gaze focused on the path ahead rather than on the hopeful expression written across her face.

There weren't many people that made me feel guilty, but this girl did. She made me feel guilty for lying and she made me hope that the others were alive and safe. She seemed so scared and reminded me so much of someone I used to know, the only friend I ever had in the compound. She was always so scared, so shy and submissive and it got her killed. I didn't want that to happen to this girl.

She didn't say anything else, just kept her head low until the sound of footsteps caused her to stop dead. "Do you-."

I held a finger to my lip, ordering her to stay quiet as I listened to the echo of heavy footsteps. The sound was loud, and that meant close. I pulled my gun out of my holster as fast as possible, aiming it ahead to where I though the noise was coming from.

"It could be them," the blonde whispered, her voice so quiet I almost missed it.

I wasn't willing to take any chances. "Get ready," I mouthed, my gaze falling on her own gun before turning back to where the men would appear. My finger rested on the trigger, twitching in anticipation as the footsteps grew closer and closer and closer until finally, someone appeared from around the corner.

I fired.

The man dropped to the floor just in time to avoid the bullet and then raised his head to look at me, his own weapon raised. I met his eyes and froze, recognising him before the rest of the group came around the corner, guns aimed at me. They all stopped when they caught sight of us and the blonde girl beside me ran towards them.

The boy I'd shot at raised to his feet, a frown on his face as he looked at me before switching his gaze to the girl. "Lia," he called, "are you okay?"

The two grabbed hold of each other before she moved to the other girl and then the other boy, each throwing their arms around her in what I assumed was relief. "I'm okay," she told them, a smile lighting up her face. "We're okay."

All three of them seemed to still be intact and once they'd fully assessed each other for injury, we started moving. The one boy had somehow managed to keep hold of the device while fighting off attackers so the man inside the device started to lead us once again. "Let's get out of here."