With All That I Am: Blood, Sweat, and Tears

Bloodbath

"Jimin!" Winter screamed and took a step after her, only to stop in her tracks as she got a firsthand glimpse of Karina in combat mode.

Karina disarmed the man with the gun with a brutal chopping motion. Winter heard something break and the man dropped to his knees with a scream.

Karina kicked him savagely in the face, toppling him backwards. Karina turned to the next man and executed an uppercut punch. There was a sickening crunch as the man hit the wall. He crumpled to the ground and left a gruesome red smear behind. One of the gangbangers tried to run out of the elevator. Karina hauled him back just as the elevator dinged and the doors closed, locking her into the enclosed space with three armed men.

"No!" Winter screamed.

"Winter."

She turned and saw Mark on his knees beside the hospital director who lay in a pool of blood.

"No, no," she whispered, shaking her head. "What's going on? Who are they?"

"Yeji's men." Mark rose, hand dripping with the director's blood. "He's gone."

"He's dead?" She couldn't comprehend it. Everything happened so fucking fast. Not even two minutes ago, the director had been talking passionately about the new wing of the hospital and now he was a lifeless heap on the floor. "This can't be happening."

"It is." Mark pulled out his phone and speed dialed a number. "V, access the hospital cameras. We're gonna need some interference." He hung up and looked at the other guards. "Two of you clean this up. The other two, follow me."

Mark grabbed her arm and led her back into the new wing. A ding stopped them both in their tracks. The elevator doors opened and Karina appeared with bodies in disturbing positions at her feet. Even as Winter took a step towards her, Karina's head turned sharply to the left.

The two guards standing over the director went down on one knee and cleared their guns even as shots were fired down the hallway.

"Fuck, let's go," Mark snapped.

Karina pulled the fire alarm. Lights flashed and a deafening blare echoed down the corridor. Her guards threw open the door that led to the emergency exit stairs. As Mark propelled her into the stairwell, she looked back and saw Karina cut a man's throat with a knife and then toss it into another man's face. Men were converging on her like ants. None of the cholos seemed to care that she and her guards were getting away.

They were here for Karina.

"We can—" Winter began, not wanting to leave Karina.

"Karina can take care of herself. She can't focus with you around. We gotta get you out of here," Mark said.

The stairwell was filled with people. Mark and the guards holstered their weapons as they climbed down three flights of stairs. Winter focused on putting one foot in front of the other. She wanted to fight by Karina's side, but she knew Mark was right. Her combat skills were sloppy and amateur compared to Karina's.

Karina could hold her own.

The confusion and panic of those around her amplified her own fear. The edges of her vision darkened with memories just waiting to latch onto her and send her spiraling into waking nightmares. It was happening again. Another battle, another tragedy, another scene with bloody bodies in her wake.

Mark grabbed her arm in a painful grip as they entered the lobby, which was a hubbub of chaos. Patients in hospital beds and wheelchairs were everywhere. Medical personnel struggled to be heard over the blaring alarm. They yelled for help to get the patients onto the front lawn. Miyeon and Minnie were in the midst of the fray, directing people outside.