Birds of Prey

Chapter IV: Him

Kyiv, Ukraine

The soldier opened one of the wardrobe doors, still keeping his gun up poking it around the curtains. When it reached my arm, I quickly grabbed it and threw a strong kick into his chest, making him drop his weapon. He took a few steps back stunned as i attempted to jump on him with the screwdriver in my hand. But he was too heavy, and much taller than me and grabbed my hand hard, making me yelp in pain.

"Fucking woman" he yelled in Russian, throwing me off of him. I landed onto some bottles that shattered under my body from the impact, making me feel sharp pain in my abdomen and lower back. I crawled over to reach for my screwdriver but he stepped hard on my hand. I let out a sharp cry and started hitting his lower leg but it was all in vain.

He grabbed my face and started caressing it with his thumb. It made me sick to my stomach. They really are animals. I’ve had enough. I spit in his face and I was very proud of that.

"Na na na, that’s not how we do things here" he said in a sarcastic manner and slapped my face with the back of his hand, making me split blood. He grabbed the hem of my shirt wanting to remove it. I put my hand over his softly and grabbed one finger. Without second thought I twisted and broke it, making the man grunt. As expected, his fist connected to my face once again. Then with my ribs. Then with my face again. My vision was slowly going blurry.
When he was about to throw his finishing punch, I heard a loud gunshot and the man dropped dead in front of me. What the fu-

The next thing i remember was a tall, heavily geared masked man walking towards me, crouching in front of me.

"Are you hurt? Hello? Do you understand what I’m saying?" He questioned in English, grabbing my face, removing some loose hair strands with his gloved hands. He must be american. I was obviously hurt and I was also understanding everything he’s said. But I didn’t respond. I didn’t trust anyone at this point. And i had no energy left to do so. I just nodded.l and he looked at me with confused dark eyes.

"You’re safe now. Can you stand?" he asked and again, he didn’t recieve any reply from me. With that, he threw my arm over his head and grabbed my waist with his free hand, making me stand on my feet. Well- barely. I yelped in pain as his grip tightened.

"Watcher-1, we need medical support down in the blue house. We have a survivor here. All Red, regroup at the entrance now. We are leaving." he commanded through the radio as we were slowly climbed the stairs. Leaving? There are people out there who need your help. I felt the warm liquid drain from me even more until my legs had finally given up, making me almost trip and fall.

"No, you won’t. Come on now" the man said, picking me up in bridal style with so little effort. We eventually exited the house only to meet with three more men. They were also ruffled from the gunfight as they took some steps towards me. I suppose he was their superior or something like that.

"Is she okay?" a blonde man asked.

"She took some punches from one of the russian assholes but she’ll be fine. She doesn’t seem to be knowing any english though." Suddenly I saw something shining out the corner of my eye. Realising what it was I yelled instinctively in my native language.

"Sniper! Get down!" Not a moment passed and bullet went flying right in front of the captain’s chin, making him jump a little. The man and his subordinates were now alerted and got behind the cars nearby. He carefully let me down leaning against the cold metal and took out his rifle. I saw around a dozen of men charging at us in the distance, a couple of them dropping dead from the shots fired already.

"Pearl! The sniper!"

"On it sir" the other man yelled as they both were doing their best to keep off the incoming gunmen. The other two soldiers were gaining ground, using their heavy guns fearlessly.

"Sniper down" the blonde man confirmed. What a relief.

"Watcher-1, this is Red 0-1 we need air support. We’ve got another gang of russian terrorists incoming. WHERE ARE YOU LUKE?!" the captain spoke through the radio in annoyance as he reloaded his gun. Bullets were flying everywhere but now they were also flying from the sky.

The sound of a helicopter approaching came closer and closer which made me bury my face into my hands, not wanting to hear any more of these sounds. The warm blood that stained my hands was flowing like a river from my nose. I felt like a helpless child. Where are my parents? Are they even alive? I refused to open my eyes until the captain picked me up to enter the helicopter, back pain hitting again.

When I finally opened my eyes, I was on a bench, facing three soldiers. A muscular figure with dark hair slicked back, an afro american with a buzz cut and the blonde from earlier. I noticed a short haired woman with asian features beside me, closing a first aid kit that was sitting on her lap. I tried moving but i instantly regretted it because my back hurt to my core. I slowly lifted my tshirt and noticed the bandages on my abdomen. I looked at her, wanting to thank her but she didn’t seem to notice.

My eyes flew outside the window where multiple explosions and gunfights took place in the distance. I searced for my parents building in distance and spotted something going down in flames and smoke. It was burning. A thick trace of smoke was now invading the dark sky.  They should’ve escaped. What if they didn’t? I felt tears build up on my waterline. What if they are still alive there somewhere? And the worst thing was that WE WERE FLYING IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION.

"Sir, the closest refugee camp is all the way over in Romania. A small naval city called Galati. What should we do with her?" I recognized the blonde man’s voice from behind.

"We’ll take her to the airport alongside the other survivors and-"

"NO!" I interrupted their conversation. "We have to go back. The NC building… my parents-" I shuttered managing to get up, holding my hand against my abdomen, applying pressure.

"So you do understand english." the captain begun as they all turned their heads to me in shock. "We can’t go back. We saved as may people as we could. We are outnumbered here, girl." his words made my blood boil, especially at the nickname he just gave me. HOW COULD YOU BE OUTNUMBERED?! YOU BROUGHT AN ENTIRE ARMY HERE!

"Squad Black and Damask are retreating from that place. The building went down in flames before they even got there" the black haired man spoke calmly and steady, looking through his eyelashes at me. A moment of silence fell between us as I tried to process everything that's going on.

"Did they find any surviviors?" I finally ask trying not to break down in front of everyone. The leader pressed a button on his radio and asked the other teams, giving me a deep glare.

"Black and Damask, this is Red 0-1. Do you have any survivors?" His eyes were locked with mine as he spoke.

"Damask 3-1, negative Red. The place was swarming with russians." My heart sank at his response.

"Black 2-1, no survivors. We are headed to the base. Out" The other man replied.
« Roger that. See you there boys. Out » the captain replied, straightening his pose and crossing his arms. "You got your answer now. Any more questions?" My eyes fell to the ground as I replied silently.

"No…"

"Good, now sit down. You are still injured." I did as he said and sat down against the steel wall fighting back tears. I felt the team’s eyes on me the whole flight but didn’t care.
So they are gone. My only family was now gone, dead under a demolished building, like goddamn dogs. Lost forever.

I stared blankly at the floor as my entire life came crushing down. No one deserves this. Not even my worst enemies. My city, my home, my parents. They were all gone. What’s gonna happen to me? Am I going to become a homeless freak somewhere? Am i going to starve to death or even worse? Get kidnapped, become an adult entertainer and never see the sunlight again I didn’t have the energy to worry about that. For now I had to survive these stupid injuries.

They will pay. The russians will see fire. I will make sure they will.