Fire Wall (Book 1: The Fall)

5 | The Way

I can't believe this is happening.

I throw water on my face and lift my head to the mirror.

There are terrorists after me.

Moments before I was ready to fight but looking at myself now, I'm not so sure.

My long, black hair falls around my pale, ghostly face and clings to my bruised cheeks. Exhaustion and stress dropped their bags under my eyes and dimmed my irises to an unusual faint blue. They're almost grey...I've never looked so awful in my life.

I raise a hand to the dark bruise on my forehead and touch it lightly. I suck in a breath as pain spikes on the surface of my skin and shoots to the back of my head.

"Ah!"

The pain has me doubling over the sink and I breathe heavily staring into it.

Am I crazy to think I can stand a chance against Phantom? Where can I go? Where can I hide? There are cameras in every square inch of this country. I can't fight like L and I can't hide forever in an apartment. At some point, one of us is going to have to leave this place and they'll find us.

They'll find me and kill me. No, it will be worse than that...They think I work for Haven, and that I'm connected to that sick experiment, Project Beta.

Oh God...

At thought of someone reaching into my body to take control of my mind, my stomach turns and something rises to my throat. I grip the edges of the sink and gag hard. My head swirls as vomit floods the sink.

Haven could do it any moment, they could flip the switch. They could take control instantly and for some reason, they haven't, not yet. Now this Phantom group wants to be the one to do it?

I gasp for air and turn the faucet on, cleaning out the sink thoroughly with hand soap.

The effects of the booster L gave me are wearing off. I got more dinged up from that crash landing than I realized.

Despite knowing what will follow, I decide to use the pain to numb my buzzing brain. I don't want to think about it anymore. This is a nightmare I can't wake up from.

I bend my neck to throw water on it, triggering a fiery shock down my spine that trembles my body. I clench my teeth, clamping my lips shut so L doesn't hear my cries. Despite my efforts, I groan uncontrollably and the agonized cries make my own heart shutter.

Shut up! I tell myself.

It hurts badly but I don't want to stop because the pain freezes my thoughts. It's doing the trick.

I force myself to wet my hair to give it a quick wash. Tears roll down my cheeks as I lean my head into the water. Hot fiery pangs gnaw at my spine and sear my brain. To my horror, images intrude into my mind, people losing control of themselves, and being used against their will. They live mindlessly going about normal activities, with no free will, with no joy or remorse for their actions. It's horrific. We may as well have no souls.

There's enough pain in the world as it is. Being damned as a mindless slave of another's bidding is even crueler than death.

How far we have fallen.

I weep softly visualizing my father's face. I remember the veins of metal on both sides of his forehead, branching vertically from the top of his head and inverting as they moved down, touching his thick eyebrows. The metal plating was a body upgrade often used for street fighters or law enforcement. He was the second of the latter, a Watchman. They're a special police task force in Haven that take on cases beyond the normal petty crime, cases that would make the average cop scratch their heads or pee their pants. So it made sense for him to need the extra protection.