Forewarned (BEING REWRITTEN)

Forewarned

I knew I should have stopped when I saw the sign reading "KEEP OUT".

And I guess I should have backtracked at the 'Trespassers will be shot," sign glittering in the sunset. And maybe I knew I was in for it when I got out the wire cutters and cut the tough metal in the wire fence.

But this was just too much. A whole government palace popping up in less than a week, crawling with buzz-cut men and snarling dogs might be the stuff of Hollywood adventures, but this is Washington state, not Washington D.C.  Nothing ever happens this close to Canada except for the occasional polar bear sighting. Besides, it's not like I had something better to do.  

 A bark rang out.

I froze, the wire cutter clamped on the last strand. My breath stopped in my throat. Thud, thud, two heavy mud-colored boots flash across my vision. I go cross eyed as I flatten myself to the ground, thankful that it was almost dark and I had my ninja clothes on. All I could hear was the steady pulse of my heart banging in my ears, straining with lack of oxygen. I thought I had their schedules down! He was supposed to be in the fourth quadrant right now!

  "What is it, girl?" It's a deep man voice, the kind that you expect the owner could throw a good punch. The red dirt crackled as he squatted. Sweat dripped into my eye. Should I make a run for it? I wondered. No, he'll see me anyway. 

 Something wet shoved itself onto my forehead and I bit my tongue to keep from screaming. Snuffling, the wet nose disappeared before a series of barks, every one more jarring than the last broke the silence. Fudge Swirls.  A dark hand grabbed the front of my jacket and pulled me out of my hiding place like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a top hat. "What have we here?" he drawled like the typical amused side character in a children's superhero film. In the looming darkness, his caterpillar eyebrows complete swallow his eye sockets in shadow while his brandished teeth remain a stark white against his dark skin.  But it's not his eyes or his teeth that caught my attention, but a long pink scar from his jawline to lower eye. It bulged out from his face like an infection that never healed. For a moment I imagined him to be like Nick Fury, with a patch over one eye and a trench-coat swishing at his heels. 

His breath washes over my face. Peppermint. "A kid," he said slowly, as if depressed I wasn't the President he caught hiding under the fence.

I struggle in his grasp pathetically, "I'm not a kid," I bristle, "I'm sixteen."

 He laughs dryly, "A kid."

I looked around quickly. The dog was still barking but no one was rushing over to help. Huh. 

"Hey Ricky," a garbled voice hissed through the radio transceiver strapped to his shoulder. "Everything alright over there?"

I struggled just a little in his arms like a half-dead salmon on the hook. The big guy looked at me and smirked before pressing his chin to his left collarbone to  reply after pressing his walkie talkie. "Yeah," he drawls with a smirk before his finger slipped from the talk button as his face slacked in horror. "What the...." he managed as he sunk to his knees, staring at me with eyes that now defied the darkness in their bulbous whiteness. I adjusted my coat, unleashing a breath. "Night night," I whispered, smacking the palm of my hand against his forehead. He fell over backwards, landing awkwardly on his back, his legs splayed like the open wings of a butterfly. 

I barely have time to click the tiny syringe back in my watch before the dog jumped over its sleeping owner and clamped its jaws shut an inch away from my throat. Its hot breath flushed over my skin and my body reacted by flinging me out of its reach. My mind finally caught up on the escape plan my legs were making  as my shoes hit the ground hard, my feet struggling to keep my footing. "Good boy, good boy!" I wheezed, holding out my backup doggy treat.