Nation Assassination

Chapter One

I woke up from my sleep abruptly, my auburn hair flying everywhere as i sat up. I was lying on an old, cobblestone floor, surrounded by similar walls. My head started pounding, and my stomach didn't feel much better, either. It must've been from hitting my head... My vision was still blurry and unfocused and my ears were ringing. Flashbacks of the little girl flashed behind my eyes, the horrors of her bloodstained dress and the look of terror... of helplessness she looked at me with before they... cut her up.

 i cringed. They must've grabbed me while i was out and locked me up here... but why didn't they just kill me? I mean, I'm a scrawny nineteen year old... i would be of no use to them and i don't know any secret information or whatever. What could they possibly want me for when they could just kill me like all of the others? I unsteadily got up to my knees and stayed like that until my vision focused, then continued to my feet where i steadied myself using the wall. 

"Now... just to figure out where i am." I said aloud.

 Just as the words had left my lips, loud thudding footsteps rang down the hall. I pressed my face to the bars, then cautiously pressed my back to the opposite wall. A raider was coming down the hall with a tray of food... but not even food could draw my eyes away from the gun strapped to his side and the black sword on his back. 

His hood covered his face, but he had a sort of bounce in his step... he was either happy or excited. Hopefully, he wasn't trigger happy. I laughed a bit at my own pun, despite my current... predicament. The raider drew nearer... and as he got closer i realized he couldn't be no older than i was. His hands looked soft and delicate... to soft to have ever killed, despite his weapons. Maybe he was just a guard... never had to actually kill anyone... But i didn't know enough about the raiders to know how they operate things.

 "Food." He said, looking at me.

 He brought out a large key ring with about ten or fifteen keys on it and looked at me from under his hood.

 "Look, I would rather not... but if you try to run then i have to shoot you. Please, make this easy on the both of us and stay in that corner." He said, gesturing to me and shrugging his shoulders.

 "Fuck off." I growled and took a step forward off of the wall.

 If he hadn't said anything, i would have just stayed where i was... but i was not going to listen to these animals. Whatever they want me to do, i'll do the opposite. He began reaching for his gun as he unlocked the barred door, one hand balancing the tray of food an the other rested on his gun.

 "I'm warning you... don't do it." He said, shaking his head.

 "Up yours, you monster." I said, my eyes flickering to the door, which stood slightly ajar.

 He definitely knew what i was going to do... and i wanted him to. He unhitched his gun from his waist and pointed at my chest. I took a step forward.

 "Do it." I dared him.

 His eyes flickered just a bit... he really wasn't going to pull the trigger, no matter how much he wanted to threaten me. I took another step forward. 

"Do it." I said again, my voice calm and flat.

 "One more step and i will have to shoot." He said threateningly.

 "No, you wont." I said, and took another step forward, placing my chest against the barrel of his pistol.

 I took the front of the gun in my hands and positioned the barrel over my heart. Honestly, i didn't care if this monster shot me or not. if i was dead, i could see my family... and if i lived, i could avenge them and the rest of the town. His hand began shaking, then he dropped the gun. it clattered onto the floor, and he just stood and looked at me. 

"Well then, I'll be showing myself out now." I said and pushed him aside. 

"Wait... At least eat before you go?" He asked.

I turned around shocked, in disbelief in his voice and the way he said that sentence... I remember I once had a friend named Francis... His family had a lot of money while mine was poor. Sometimes I would go over to his house to play house, and because he knew I hadn't eaten he would ask me to eat before I left. Although that was many years ago, it was unmistakable.

"Francis?" I asked, turning all the way around to face him.

He paused with his answer, then a slow expression of familiarity crossed his features as he drew back his hood to see me better.

"M-Mercy....?" He asked, hope in his voice as he took a step towards me.

A tear fell down my cheek as I pulled out the pendant necklace he gave me the day the raiders took him. He smiled and took his necklace from his pocket. Both where made of twine, paper and some clay beads, but I always had carried mine with me... And it seems he did too.

"It's been forever. " I said and ran to hug him.

"I know. " he said and hugged me tighter.

We had always played together as kids, and then as young teenagers... Until the day they took him. We where sitting in his living room, making bracelets and jewelry out of string. We made a matching pair... To always remember our friendship. Then, his mother raced into the room and ordered us to hide.

Francis hid in the dresser and I under the bed. We had found our hiding spots just as the front door splintered and four raiders stormed in. They killed his mother and father brutally, then tore apart the house stealing all of the nice valuables. I began to cry as they walked into the bedroom we we're hiding in. I could see a raider's shadow bending down to look under the bed before Francis jumped out of his hiding spot and ran out of the room... The raiders soon on his heels. I could hear the struggle in the kitchen before I heard francis yell, then a few moment later I climbed out from under the bed and looked all around the once beautiful home... Turned into a run down house in just minutes. Francis and the raiders where no where to be seen. 

"I thought you where dead! " I cried into his shoulder.

"Honestly, I thought I was too. " he said somberly.

Our 'moment' was interrupted by heavy footsteps pounding down the hall.