The Assassin's Shadow

Chapter 15

When I woke up the next morning I immediately went through my morning routine of jogging on the treadmill. Since Ash's death I had been pushing my body to it's limits to an extent that was almost unhealthy, but I didn't care. It felt like I could still hear her before she died, her words haunting me. She was everywhere I turned, appearing in my dreams at night to haunt me. Sometimes she was angry at me and would accuse me of betraying her, but the worst dreams were when she was kind and told me it wasn't my fault. For some strange reason those times made me feel more guilty than ever.

After jogging to the point where my legs felt numb, I forced myself over to the punching bag and began attacking it ferociously. Once done with my violent morning ritual, I went to the kitchen and grabbed an apple, avoiding eye contact with anyone, and returned to my room. I quickly took a shower and looked around my room for anything I might need to take. Unfortunately they had taken the suitcase away from me that I had taken to New Mexico, so there was nothing I could carry clothes in. It seemed I would have to do a bit of shop lifting if I needed anything.

A knock on my door quickly took me out of my thoughts and I jerked upright to see a human guard I believed was called Eric come into the room.

"Cody's leaving and until they're gone he would like you to stay in here."

"He never mentioned this to me." I told the man, narrowing my eyes. The poor man looked a bit nervous.

"I'm sorry, Cody's orders."

"Yeah yeah, story of my life." I responded, kicking at the bedpost to relieve my frustration as he closed the door and locked it behind him.

I became bored after a while with just sulking so I popped in a random movie into the DVD player to watch. I hardly ever glanced at the screen but the flickering lights seemed to calm my thoughts and it allowed me to think.

"When Cody leaves to go on a mission by himself..."

Well that was a check. Cody was gone, the place was just about mine, so now was the time to get out. I silently mapped out a sketch of the building in my head, trying to find a route that would get me out of the building without meeting that many people.

The door opened and Eric came in, setting a glass of water and a cup of instant ramen noodles all ready to eat down on my bedside table. He shut the door behind him as he left. I picked up the cup of noodles and suspiciously licked at the hot water before spitting it out.

Poisoned. Even after she was gone, her training still took it's effect.

I didn't bother trying the water, I was fairly certain the results were going to be similar. Instead, I took the cup and the glass to my bathroom and dumped them down the drain. I set them back to their original position and then collapsed on the bed, making sure the glass made a loud thunking noise as it fell out of my hand onto the floor. I heard someone come into the room and take the articles away. The person didn't bother checking if I still had a heartbeat or a pulse. However they shut the door behind them and I did hear the key turn in the lock. Apparently they weren't that foolish.

I opened my eyes after a minute and stood up, straightening a bobby pin from my bedside table. I inserted it into the lock and quickly picked the lock. I opened the door as quietly as I could and saw Eric standing against the other wall, looking down the hallway. He noticed me as soon as I saw him.

"Ela-"

That was all he could get out before I jabbed my fingers into his trachea and he gasped and clutched at his throat. I gave him two sharp jabs in the back with my elbow before kneeing him in the face as he bent over. He collapsed to the ground, unconscious.