The Hope Of Humanity (Discontinued)

Chapter 12: Golden Bullets

I watched in horror as the floor fell away beneath Pedro's feet. I scrambled over to him and turned to Raven and Phoenix, who seemed to be in a slight state of shock.

"What are you doing? We have to help him!" I cry.

Raven shakes her head. "Petro's either dead or too injured to move now. Phoenix and I have people we need to lead. We're getting out of here." Quick as a flash of lightning they both had shot wires onto the next building and zoomed through the air, out of sight.

"Pedro!" I yell, looking over the edge cautiously. I see Petrol on the next floor, sprawled on his back. I couldn't tell if he was breathing.

There was another explosion, and it shook the building. Another hole opened up right next to Petro. He didn't stir.

There was a loud crack and my hand fell through the floor. I caught myself and stood up, running to the stairs. I took the steps three at a time, nearly tripping before reaching the next floor. I entered the room Petro had fallen into and found him still there.

I grabbed his arms and pulled him backwards towards the stairs, right as half of the room broke off and fell onto the next building, scraping along side it until it broke in half again and fell to the street.

I looked at my mechanical hand. It had to to something other than a gun. I dragged Petro across the hall to the next room, where a window led to the main square. There was as much chaos down there as there was here. A man stood in the middle of the square, with an assortment of weapons on his back. He had a sniper rifle, a bow and quiver, a spear, and two other guns I could not name we in his hands, firing into the panicked crowd.

Petro groaned and sat up. It was only now I noticed a large gash on the side of his head, near his left temple. I look at him with a concerned expression, but he stares past me into a new hole in the wall that revealed the square to his view.

He stood up quickly. "No. No no no. Not him. Not now. He can't get you, AJ, no matter what."

"What? Why? Who is he?"

"She is the Golden Assassin. She works for the Enclave. She was probably sent here to kill you."

My eyes widened. "What do we do?"

Petro led me out of the room and into another one, the same one I dragged him out of earlier. Now three fourths of the floor and ceiling were gone.

Petro grabbed his pistol and plugged something into it before aiming at my hand. There was a sudden jerk and I almost fell off out, but Petro was holding my waist, which made me blush. I looked down at my hand, which now looked a lot like the guns Raven and Phoenix used to escape.

I pointed it to the next building and suddenly a line shot out. My hand connected to the line and I looked at Petro. Luckily he had his own contraption that he hooked to the line in front of me. Soon he was off, and I was waiting.

"Just jump!" Petro calls from the other side. "Jump or die, Ani!"

I jumped, but halfway across the street I realised what he had called me.

"Ani Jane! Come here!" Her voice was sickeningly sweet.

"Come on, Issacc. We aren't going to hurt you." Don't answer him don't answer don't.

"Sweetie-poo! All we want is to make you better! Don't you want to be better?" Monsters. They killed my sister. They killed the police. How is that better?

"AJ, it's okay, I've got you."

The memory that seemed to only last a second had lasted much longer. We weren't in the city anymore, and it was nightfall. We were on horseback. I was in Issacc's arms.

But how could that be? Issacc was being held by Sam. How do we have a horse? Where was Petro? What happened?

"What..?" Is all I'm able to choke out before coughing violently. I looked down at my hand. There was blood there. There was blood peeking through a bandage around my midsection, as well.

"Petro, we need to stop! Her bandages--"

"Got it!"

We slowed down. My blood tinged red before fading to black. I still did not understand what was happening.

Petro POV

When AJ was halfway across the line, I knew something was wrong. Somehow I knew that me saying her name had caused her to have a flashback.

She slowed down slightly, but her momentum was forward. Unfortunately, she slowed down enough for an arrow to shoot directly into her midsection.

She coughed blood and zoomed into my arms. Her hand returned to normal, probably because all systems were going into shut down. Now, as well as suffering from a flashback, her systems were overriding from pain and blood loss.

I picked her up. She was surprisingly light despite her metal parts. I ran down the stairs as carefully as I could. I kept running down the stairs after we reached ground level. I used AJ's foot to press the button that closed the secret door, and just in time, because a large explosion shook the cavern. I kept running.

I couldn't stop running.

This was bad. This was really bad.

When I found Issacc, we became friends. I helped him survive until he was caught by Sam. From then I sent him extra provisions and talked to him whenever I got back from a mission. It was there where I learned about AJ, but I hadn't heard of their gruesome past until I actually met her.

AJ was someone I'd always wanted to meet. I didn't understand her. Issacc had always told me of how good she was. Protested for human rights, donated to charity whenever possible, and volunteered at an animal shelter. She still had the time to have a fulltime job and provide for her broke and jobless brother.

She was my hero. And now she was bleeding out in my arms.

I wasn't sure if I should take the arrow out. It could hurt her worse if it was barbed, but it might be doing more harm inside with how much I was jostling her. It also might be poisoned, which would be no good at all.

The end of the tunnel was just ahead. I laid AJ down carefully next to some crates full of supplies. If Raven hadn't made this emergency tunnel, I don't know what I'd do.

In fact, if it wasn't here, I'd be dead. Not just from this one occasion.

I made a decision when I found the bandages. I ripped out the arrow. I winced when I saw that it was barbed. I pulled her shirt up just enough to wrap the wound tightly. I didn't know how well I did.

"I'm an assassin, not a doctor." I groan. "She's going to die because I wasn't humane enough."

"Its a good thing, then, that you have good relations with a doctor."

It was Issacc.