How Stories Unfold

Round 3: One Shot

The sound of silence deafened Danny. She had gotten used to artillery flying around her ears, but this peaceful silence far away from the battlefield maddened her. People were risking their lives while those who started this mess dined in huge mansions laughing away.

People are dying, for goodness sake!

Danny grinded her teeth. She lay in some bushes she had found up a hill. She readjusted her binocular.

***

Danny's eyes followed a stately butler as he carried a tray full of cake from window to window all the way to the man in charge: a short round pig in a white suit.

Danny spat on the ground. All those atrocities she had witnessed, all the pain she had to bear... That pig was responsible for it all.

Danny squinted as the pig wolfed down the cake. "I'll get you," she said. "Watch my words. I'll get you."

***

Bushes behind Danny rustled. A voice sneered: "Oh, but we got you first."

Danny felt a bayonet poke her shoulders.

The voice taunted: "Now be a good girl and get up!"

Danny took a deep breath as she surpressed a smile. Exactly according to plan, she thought.

She held up her arms and slowly rose to her feet. She turned around and measured up her opponents.

They were with two.

The left one was blond. His bayonet poked Danny's chest. A mouthwatering grin played on his lips as he gradually dug his bayonet deeper into her skin.

This one kills innocent puppies for fun, Danny thought. A real monster.

The right one had rusty hair and freckles and stared wide eyed at the bayonet slowly piercing Danny. They muttered at their companion to not press too hard. "We're all different sides of the same coin, after all," they tried to reason with Blondie.

Danny smirked. And this is his innocent puppy.

Danny sighed. She half-heartedly pleaded for her life. "Please listen to your friend and don't kill me," she said trying to not roll her eyes.

Blondie pressed the bayonet deeper into her skin. "Don't worry about that," he said. "I'll prolong your life as much as possible. I don't want you to die on me before we've had fun."

Danny's eye twitched. That's it. Screw the plan. And screw you!

Danny laid her hand on the rifle.

She swung her leg over Blondie's arm. She forced both the arm and Blondie down and smashed the riffle onto Blondie's inner elbow.

Blondie screamed out in agony.

Danny spun the rifle in the air. She caught it and pointed the bayonet at Blondie. "You said?"

Blondie cursed. He yelled at Freckles to do something.

Danny glanced at Freckles from the corner of her eyes.

Freckles' lips quivered. Their knees shook as they stared at the scene. "I-  I..."

Blondie threw his arms in the air. "You idiot! Attack her. Hurt her. Run for help. Do something!"

Sweat trickled down Freckles' forehead. "I- I.."

Blondie screamed bloody murder. "I'm gonna kill you once I'm free. I'm gonna kill you too, Stevens. Watch my words, you useless piece o-"

Danny swung the rifle and knocked Blondie out cold. "That will keep him sweet for now."

Danny took Blondie's belt off as Stevens stared in disbelief.

Stevens muttered: "Please don't hurt him. He's rough, but he means well... Please?"

"Don't worry, ehrm... Stevens, right? I'm not going to hurt him. I'm going to prevent him from hurting others." Danny looked up. "Especially you."

Danny tied the belt around Blondie's wrists. "That will do it," she said with a nod.

Danny looked at Stevens. "You look like a decent human being. What do you say you help me end this war?"

Stevens looked doubtfully at Danny. "How?"

***

Danny held up her arms as a bayonet gently poked her shoulders. Her footsteps echoed through the marble hallway.

Soldiers rushed towards Danny. "Stop it right there!"

Stevens poked out their head from behind Danny. "It's okay, I've got this. She's my prisoner."

The short fat pig remained standing in the doorway as he watched the scene. "What is this nonsense? What is a prisoner doing in my mansion? Get her and that foot soldier out. They'll ruin my floor!"

Fire lurked in Danny's eyes. Her arms trembled with rage. She clenched her fists and steadied her nerves.

She had dreamed of this moment for so long. She had that pig within arm's reach. She just had to trigger the mechanism hidden up her sleeve and send a bullet straight in the pig's heart.

The soldiers came closer. Time was running out. Danny cursed. Why didn't she take this shot?!

A shot rang through the hallway.

The pig fell. His blood scattered across the marble floor.

Danny stared at the blood on her hands as smoke left Stevens' rifle.

***

Total amount of words: 800